The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors Saastr 015: Nicolas Dessaigne @ Algolia on Prioritising Company Culture and Empowering Your Team To Be Owners
Welcome to Episode 15 of The Official Saastr Podcast. Joining me today, I am delighted to welcome, Nicolas Dessaigne. Nicolas is the CEO and Co-Founder of Algolia, Algolia are a brilliant case study for the successful pivot, having started off life as an offline search engine for mobiles but really took off by helping companies deliver an intuitive search-as-you-type experience on their websites and mobile apps. They participated in Y Combinator's Winter 2014 batch and raised $18.3M in May 2015 from the likes of Accel Partners, Point Nine Capital, Storm Ventures and many more incredible investors. and in today's show with Nicolas we discuss:
- Why is company culture so important and was it fundamental for Nicolas and Julien to have this outlined from the beginning?
- How did Nicolas implement the vision for the company future when founding the Algolia?
- How does Nicolas look to balance the scaling of the business with maintenance of company culture?
- What were Nicolas' biggest takeaways from his time at YC?
- How can SaaS startups optimise the fundraising process to also be a source of business development?
In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear:
- Hiring Your First VP of Sales: When and What Questions To Ask?
- Nicolas' favourite SaaS resource?
- What would Nicolas do differently if he were to start the journey again?
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