The holy grail of company building is finding product-market fit. But what most people don’t tell you is that once you’ve found it, product-market fit brings its own set of challenges, particularly when it comes to scaling rapidly and hiring the right executives at the right time.Drawing from their extensive experiences, a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Databricks cofounder and CEO Ali Ghodsi sit down to talk about the hardest things about executive hiring and firing, and what is at stake.They dive into the common reasons an exec fails, why sometimes micromanagement is a good idea, and the difference between someone who has written a playbook and someone who has only run one.If you’d like to dive even deeper, the Growth team at a16z has spent the last year compiling insights from dozens of leaders at late-stage startups to literally write the book on hiring executives to scale. You can find that book at: http://a16z.com/executive-hiring-playbookTopics Covered:00:00 - When is it time to let someone go?05:41 - When do you give someone a chance to grow into the role?07:05-  Let go or level?09:27 - How do you have the tough conversation? 16:39 - Exit packages18:40 - Setting a new leader up for success24:27 - The importance of the first quick win 26:24 - The impact a new leader has on culture32:52 - Common ways new leaders fail37:35 - Closing thoughtsResources:Read the Executive Hiring: The Key to Scaling in the Growth Stages: http://a16z.com/executive-hiring-playbookLearn more about Databricks: https://www.databricks.comFind Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhorowitzFind Ali on Twitter: https://twitter.com/alighodsiStay Updated: Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16zFind a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zSubscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithioPlease note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures

In this discussion, Ali Ghodsi, co-founder and CEO of Databricks, dives into his journey from AI researcher to leading a $61B company. He breaks down the AI hype cycle, discussing both the challenges and the future landscape of AI technology. Ali emphasizes the importance of robust data strategies before venturing into AI and shares pivotal lessons from his leadership experiences. He also covers innovative hiring practices and the transformative potential of AI in various industries, highlighting successfully navigating enterprise sales in a rapidly evolving market.

Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi discuss obstacles in implementing generative AI, building large models, fragmentation of AI use cases, impact of open source in AI, limitations and future possibilities of AI.

Ali Ghodsi is the Founder & CEO @ Databricks, bringing together data engineering, science and analytics on an open, unified platform so data teams can collaborate and innovate faster. To date, Ali has raised over $897M for the company including from the likes of a16z, NEA, Microsoft, Battery, Coatue, Greenbay and more. Prior to Databricks, Ali was one of the original creators of open source project, Apache Spark, and ideas from his research have been applied to Apache Mesos and Apache Hadoop. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ali made his way from fleeing Iran as a refugee to living in a Swedish ghetto? What was the founding moment for Ali with Databricks? 2.) How does Ali think about and evaluate risk today? Why does Ali always make his team do downside scenario planning? How does Ali think about his relationship to money today? Why does Ali disagree with gut decisions? What is his process for making decisions effectively? 3.) Stage 1: The Search for PMF: What are the core elements included in this phase? What types of leaders thrive in this phase? What type struggle? How can leaders sustain morale in the early days when it is not up and to the right? Who are the crucial hires in this phase? 4.) Stage 2: Scale Go-To-Market: What are the core roles needed to expand GTM fast and effectively? Why should you hire sales leaders before marketing leaders? Why is hiring finance leaders so crucial here? What mistakes are most often made here? How do the board resolve them? 5.) Stage 3: Process and Efficiency: What are the first and most important processes that need to be implemented? How does Ali need to change the type of leader he is to fit this stage? How does one retain creativity and nimble decision-making at scale and with process? Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode Ali’s Favourite Book: Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why it Matters As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

“I literally thought to myself, I probably made the biggest mistake of my life taking this job.” That’s what Ali Ghodsi recalls about his decision step up the CEO role at Databricks, which would mean leaving a desirable post at UC Berkeley. He wasn’t sure if the company would make it, and some of Databricks’ board agreed that as an academic, he wasn’t right for the job. But they all wound up being wrong: Ali has led the company from $3 million ARR to $800 million, and the data-analytics company was valued at $38 billion after raising $2.5 billion last year.In this episode, Ali and Joubin discuss fleeing Iran in the 1980s, immigrating to Sweden,  coding as an escape, order out of chaos, learning how to value work, right place right time, Ben Horowitz, whole genome sequencing, Turing Tests, academics as CEOs, leveling up executives, what great leaders look like, the communication needed to raise, and the problem with “data-driven” cultures. In this episode, we cover:What Ali remembers from before his family left Iran (01:00)Moving to Sweden and Ali’s first jobs (04:00)What if your wealth and privilege suddenly disappeared? (10:01)Finding time for family and oneself while working insane hours (14:04)Over-working, panic attacks, and PTSD (18:08)Researching cloud computing at UC Berkeley, and the start of Databricks (26:06)What Databricks does for companies with lots of data (31:22)The anxiety of competing against an incumbent as a 10-person team (36:03)The concerns of the Databricks board — and Ali himself — about him becoming the CEO (42:42)Learning from more experienced CEOs and other executives (48:27)Approving new hires and what Ali looks for when grilling job candidates (52:02)Deposits, withdrawals and how much time he spends on hiring (56:08)What it means to have a culture of “truth-seeking” (01:00:03)Links:Connect with AliTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Boss Talk is a  weekly live show on Clubhouse, where a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi discuss CEO stuff, leadership stuff, management stuff… you know, boss stuff. Here we share the second installment; in it, they explain Conway’s Law and shipping your org chart; how to transition from a boss to a boss of bosses; and their predictions for Silicon Valley post-pandemic.For more episodes of Boss Talk and other conversations from a16z, check out our separate feed, a16z Live.

Ali Ghodsi, CEO of Databricks, discusses trust among co-founders, transitioning from open-source to enterprise, building a cohesive team, going public, and navigating company growth stages. He emphasizes diversity, shared values, and prioritizing company success over personal preferences.

Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi and MosaicML Founder Naveen Rao discuss the $1.3 billion acquisition of MosaicML. They explore the importance of considering economics, the risks of highly intelligent AI models, trade-offs in AI company budgeting and IPOs, and insights on successful deal making.

My Guest today is Ali Ghodsi, founder and CEO of Databricks, a data analytics platform for data scientists and developers. He's also the founder of Apache Spark, the open-source project that Databricks is built on, and is an accomplished researcher at UC Berkley's computer science department. Our conversation ranges from the origins of distributed computing to modern data infrastructure, how companies can leverage their massive datasets, and the transformation of Databricks through its phases of growth as a business. While technical, it's exactly the kind of conversation I like to have on this show. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ali Ghodsi.    For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/4919706/ghodsi-the-past-present-and-future-of-big-data    This episode of Founder's Field Guide is sponsored by Klaviyo.  Klaviyo is the ultimate marketing platform for ecommerce. With targeted segmentation, email automation, SMS marketing, and more, Klaviyo helps you create your ideal customer experience. See why Klaviyo's trusted by more than 50,000 brands, like Living Proof, Solo Stove, and Nomad to help them grow their business. For a free trial check out https://www.klaviyo.com/founders.    This episode is also sponsored by Vanta.  Vanta has built software that makes it easier to both get and maintain your SOC 2 report, at a fraction of the normal cost. Founders Field Guide listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick.    Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide go to https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes.    Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week.  Sign up here - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:02:48] – [First question] – What is Databricks [00:03:34] – History of distributed computing [00:05:35] – Hardware that made this all possible [00:07:20] – Early challenges in building out these systems [00:09:43] – What has made networking technology better [00:10:35] – Doing something in storage vs with memory [00:11:45] – Origins of Hadoop [00:12:42] – Use cases of distributed data in 2010 that weren’t possible in 2000 [00:13:35] – Origins of Spark [00:15:25] – Early Spark and then the transformation into Databricks [00:16:50] – Early uses cases [00:17:37] – Their relationship to the open-source project [00:21:07] – What customers need in order to work with Databricks [00:23:11] – Their customer interaction [00:26:27] – How they think about making investments [00:28:24] – Their competitive advantage [00:30:13] – Other companies in moving the needle in building distributed computing industry [00:32:10] – Walls that need to be broken down today [00:34:02] – Best practices for companies when it comes to their data             [00:34:13] – Jeff Lawson Podcast Episode [00:38:47] – Lessons being a CEO [00:39:53] – Working at the University of Berkeley’s AMPLab [00:41:56] – What excites him about the future [00:43:29] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Data, data, data – it’s long been a buzzword in the industry, whether big data, streaming data, data analytics, data science, even AI & machine learning — but data alone is not enough: it takes an entire system of tools and technology to extract value from data. A multibillion dollar industry has emerged around data tools and technologies. And with so much excitement and innovation in the space: how exactly do all these tools fit together? This podcast – a hallway style conversation between Ali Ghodsi, CEO and Founder of Databricks, and a16z general partner Martin Casado – explores the evolution of data architectures, including some quick history, where they’re going, and a surprising use case for streaming data, as well as Ali’s take on how he’d architect the picks and shovels that handle data end-to-end today.