#176 CEO MongoDB, Dev Ittycheria: Edge

4 snips

Feb 5, 2024

Dev Ittycheria, CEO of MongoDB, discusses the importance of intellectual honesty, being vulnerable, and recognizing strengths and weaknesses. They explore topics like looking for bad news, Ivy League schools, imposter syndrome, introverts, and time management.

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INSIGHT

The CEO Must Hunt Bad News

Senior leaders often receive filtered bad news, making problems seem less severe than they are.
Actively seeking out bad news helps mitigate risk and stay ahead of issues.

ANECDOTE

Starting Up in Two Cities

Dev started his company in New York but moved it to Boston due to talent availability.
He commuted frequently between cities while managing a young family, which was very challenging.

INSIGHT

Psychological Endurance Is the Edge

Psychological endurance including long-term focus and delayed gratification is the key lasting advantage.
Being comfortable with low status and adversity creates a powerful competitive edge.

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Guest: Dev Ittycheria, CEO and President of MongoDB

When you think about who you were and the decisions you made two, or four, or eight years ago ... how do you feel? Dev Ittycheria, the President and CEO of MongoDB, says he’s embarrassed about certain things he did — and that’s a good thing. “If you’re not [embarrassed], that means you’re not really growing that fast,” he says. He recalled one of his mentors, former BladeLogic chairman Steve Walske, explaining that everyone has an overinflated opinion of themselves, and the great leaders keep the gap between that opinion and reality narrow. One of the hallmarks of such a leader, Dev says, is that they have the intellectually honesty to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses, which others perceive.

In this episode, Dev and Joubin discuss looking for bad news, chips on your shoulder, Ivy League schools, being an outsider, highly educated parents, “aging out,” Bruce Springsteen, Chief People Officers, Frank Slootman and John McMahon, passive aggression, vulnerability as strength, imposter syndrome, open-source licenses, introverts, and time management.

In this episode, we cover:

Shlomo Kramer and the “burden of persona” (00:59)
Why BladeLogic started in Boston (04:30)
The psychological edge (07:08)
Dev’s family and education (08:56)
“Am I good enough?” (13:11)
“Do not squander this opportunity” (16:22)
Dev’s wife (19:32)
Fear of irrelevance (21:23)
Relevance after retirement (26:06)
Why CEO is a lonely job (28:14)
Trusting your team (31:43)
The meaning of life (35:16)
Judgment and introspection (38:16)
Taking people to the woodshed (40:54)
What matters to other people (44:39)
Taking risks at MongoDB (51:08)
Founder-led businesses (53:26)
What type of company is MongoDB? (57:39)
Work-life harmony (01:00:20)
Who MongoDB is hiring (01:03:17)

Links:

Connect with Dev
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
Connect with Joubin
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm