EO What I Learned From In Hyper-growing Startups | Troy Malone | EO
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Dec 22, 2025 Troy Malone, a serial tech executive known for leading international expansion at startups like Evernote and Weebly, shares his insights from over 15 years in Silicon Valley. He discusses the challenges of launching startups during crises and the importance of early monetization. Troy details strategies for building scalable global sales teams and emphasizes the value of experimenting in one’s career. Now a mentor for seed-stage founders, he reflects on the joy of nurturing talent and the personal shift that brought him to Utah.
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From Investor To Builder
- Troy Malone turned down a term sheet, joined a VC fund, then got pulled into operating a software acquisition and fell in love with building.
- That transition from investor to operator set his career direction toward founding and building companies.
Building Through The 2008 Crisis
- In 2008 Troy built a project-management product for his video-production team but the financial crisis forced them to cut growth and make it profitable.
- That decision removed runway and he later called the company a failure that taught him product and fundraising lessons.
Evernote Growth And Hackathons
- At Evernote Troy joined when the company had ~59 employees and 10 million users, adding 120,000 new users daily.
- He organized global hackathons to jumpstart the platform after releasing the public API and learned that 'be awesome' was his KPI.