EP 122: Okta CEO Todd McKinnon on Scaling to $13B, High-Stakes Decisions, and Market Dynamics

32 snips

Nov 8, 2024

Todd McKinnon, Co-founder and CEO of Okta, shares insights from scaling his company to a $13B industry leader. He discusses the high-stakes decisions that shaped Okta, including the importance of market timing and building a strong team. Todd reflects on the psychological shifts in leadership and the critical relationship with board members. He also emphasizes the need for long-term thinking in investor relations and the challenges of innovation amidst growth, offering compelling anecdotes from his entrepreneurial journey.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Startup Uncertainty

Starting a company has inherent uncertainty, unlike working in established ones.
Success depends on chance, requiring a psychological shift to manage execution despite the odds.

ADVICE

Balance Decision-Making with Execution

Balance measured decision-making with a strong culture of daily execution.
Create daily to-do lists to maintain momentum and avoid stagnation.

ANECDOTE

Early Milestones

Okta aimed for early milestones like securing a paying customer within six months.
Their first $400 order came on Christmas Eve from Flextronics International.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

What does it take to scale a company from an idea to a $13B industry leader? In my latest episode, Okta CEO Todd McKinnon dives into the essential lessons he’s learned on high-stakes decision-making, managing up to the board, and competing against tech giants like Microsoft.

Todd also reflects on his journey to founding Okta, his bold choice to team up with a co-founder he hardly knew, and the motivations that have fueled him for over seven years as a public company CEO. Some key takeaways…

[0:00] Intro
[0:33] Todd McKinnon's Early Career and Founding Okta
[1:38] Challenges and Psychological Shifts in Leadership
[2:49] Decision Making and Company Culture
[6:10] Milestones and Early Successes
[18:03] The Importance of Market Timing
[30:34] Hiring and Building a Strong Team
[39:22] Setting Expectations with Board Members
[40:50] The Shift in Board Dynamics
[41:41] Maintaining Context and Strategic Input
[43:15] Navigating Public Company Governance
[45:21] Trusting Instincts and Founder Mode
[47:11] Breaking Out of the Echo Chamber
[51:00] The Importance of Prioritization
[53:05] The Loneliness of Innovation
[1:05:33] The Role of a CEO in Decision Making
[1:18:17] The Journey to IPO and Beyond

Executive Producer: Rashad Assir

Producer: Leah Clapper

Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky

Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA

🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1

Follow on Socials

📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow

📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow

🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow

About the Show

Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member.

Tap follow and enable notifications to stay ahead of the game.