This week we are taking it back to one of our favorite episodes where we interview Shishir Mehrotra, founder and CEO of Coda. Coda is a venture-backed workflow tool valued at over $600 million dollars. With Coda, docs are now as powerful as applications. Although Coda was started in 2014, Coda is more relevant now than ever as a key player in 2020’s “future of work.” Coda continues redefining what it means to stay organized, engaged, and effective even in our remote-first culture.

In this episode, we explore Shishir’s path to building one of the world’s most powerful work tools- where the flexibility of a doc is combined with the power of a spreadsheet and application. We’ll explore insights and themes such as prioritizing opportunities that foster personal growth, the benefits of building a company in stealth and, scaling a distributed workforce and culture well. Let’s open the door.

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8:27 - Did Shishir always think he would become a founder?
10:39 - Before the Cloud was standard use, Shishir founded Entrata, a data center management tool. What data did Shishir store and how?
14:28 - What was it like fundraising right out of college?
17:32 - How was Shishir’s experience working at Google and Youtube?
23:15 - How did Shishir’s experience inspire his approach to starting Coda?
29:52 - How has the company culture changed as Coda has scaled?
33:52 - How will the return to work affect Coda and other companies?
38:43 - What is Shishir’s unique philosophy to frame big problems?
44:58 - How does Shishir balance work and family, especially during the pandemic?
46:56 - Who is a woman in Shishir’s life that had a profound impact on his career?

WX Productions

BONUS: Exploring Coda's Innovative Approach to a Workflow Document with Founder Shishir Mehrotra [From the Archives]