Experienced CRO of Snowflake, Chris Degnan, discusses his challenging childhood that molded his drive and anxieties. Topics include adjusting to tech fame, detecting lies, fear of flying, living your values, trimming down meeting sizes, and managing anxiety.

Jim Lanzone, CEO of Yahoo, discusses his experience in brand rejuvenation, building successful teams, and making tough decisions. He shares insights on growing up in Silicon Valley, his time at Ask.com and Tinder, and becoming the CEO of Yahoo. Lanzone emphasizes the importance of focusing on growth and user goals, rather than worrying about others' opinions. With a passion for people and product, he believes success and financial gains will follow.

"Remix: Tornadoes, Unicorn Meat, and Hypergrowth Sales" features industry experts Mike Clayville, Marcy Campbell, Dan Shapero, Jim Herbold, and Chris Degnan. They discuss building sales operations in rapidly-growing companies, including first principles, successful sales motions, effective sales leadership, "unicorn meat" theory, and pivotal sales strategies.

Yan-David Erlich, COO and CRO of Weights & Biases, discusses his decision to leave venture investing and join the AI industry. Topics include Snowflake vs. Amazon, Slack vs. Microsoft Teams, regret minimization, leaving LinkedIn, the failure of Happiness Engines, and the growth of Weights & Biases.

Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight, talks about his personal growth journey, including therapy and exploring religion. He discusses the mystique of Sand Hill Road, un-measurable marketing, and his experience with venture capitalists. The episode covers the importance of genuine values in companies, the immigrant mindset, and building a human-first company culture. Mehta also reflects on selling his previous company and analyzing CEOs' time with CODA.

Guest: Manny Medina, CEO of OutreachIn its Seattle headquarters, the sales execution platform Outreach has at least one wall covered in AI diagrams and architectural flows. CEO Manny Medina says that’s because he believes “there’s no world in which reps don’t have an assistant the way that coders do.” The AI revolution has also given Manny — who got his M.A. in computer science at Penn — a chance to be more hands-on than your average CEO of a $4 billion company. “I try not to think myself as a CEO,” he says. “I try to think myself as a team member that is doing something useful.”In this episode, Manny and Joubin discuss northern New Jersey, American opportunity, going to the future, crossing the chasm, jujitsu, Tony Robbins, winning on your own terms, shifting motivations, inspiration through transparency, Moonwalking with Einstein, Lululemon, hands-on CEOs, and “been there, done that.”In this episode, we cover:Leaving Ecuador for the US (02:21)Would Manny do it all again? (07:45)Finding product-market fit (10:09) Scaling, scarcity, and stability (14:41)AI-assisted sales reps (18:59)Winner takes most (24:20)Placing long-term bets (26:42)Imposter syndrome and chips on your shoulder (32:59)“Ten million or die” (35:15)Irrational forces (42:33)Manny’s weekly internal emails (44:17)Memorizing names and making sacrifices (48:00)Personal and professional goals (52:23)“All the other jobs were taken” (56:53)Do-overs (01:00:18)Bad and good startup advice (01:03:24)Who Outreach is hiring and what “grit” means to Manny (01:05:58)Links:Connect with MannyLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Guest: Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, and Mamoon Hamid, partner at Kleiner PerkinsWhen he was a newly minted venture capitalist at USVP, Mamoon Hamid got a tip that he should meet a young entrepreneur named Aaron Levie, and fought for the right to invest in his cloud storage startup, Box. For years after that initial investment, the two men say, Box’s fate was precarious: “We could have died any day,” Mamoon says, and Aaron recalled several times he had to be talked “down from a ledge.” Today, they tell us how Box established itself as “open for business” — a concept Mamoon hounded Aaron with in the early years — and grew into success.In this episode, Aaron, Mamoon, and Joubin discuss Box socks, authenticity at work, Josh Stein, living in the office, over-diligence, Google Platypus, the 2008 crash, nostalgia, everything is personal, the ten-person test, burnout, Dan Levin, ChatGPT, Parker Conrad, and Silicon Valley as “technology town.” In this episode, we cover:“Make mom proud, unless she’s evil” (01:59)How Mamoon and Aaron met (04:38)Mamoon’s first investment in Box (11:15) Pausing the term sheet (16:08)“We could have died any day” (19:01)What is company-building? (23:23)Open For Business (25:27)Getting to cash flow positive (27:52) Slow growth with no burn vs. fast growth, high burn (31:15)Tough feedback (34:31)Overcoming challenges around the Box IPO (36:31) Growing as CEO (38:35) The Apple Vision Pro and AI (44:15)Investing in cutting-edge companies (49:15)Using AI to re-juice growth (51:48)How Aaron educates himself (54:22)Business as a sport (57:14)Who Box is hiring and what “grit” means to Aaron (01:00:44)Links:Connect with AaronTwitterLinkedInConnect with MamoonTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Guest: Carl Eschenbach, co-CEO of WorkdayWhen Carl Eschenbach decided to leave VMWare after more than 14 years as COO, no one believed it: Not chairman Joe Tucci, not CEO Pat Gelsinger, and maybe not Carl himself. But he needed a more predictable work-life balance to help raise his teenage children. For the next seven years, he served as a partner at Sequoia Capital. And every day, he thought — and to his wife’s chagrin, talked — about going back: “It was always on the back of my mind,” he says. After the kids were out of the house, in late 2022, he jumped back into operating and became co-CEO of Workday. “It’s what I love to do,” he says. “I feel like I’ve been called to do it.”In this episode, Carl and Joubin discuss jumping rope, Mike Clayville, the Flowbee, focusing on the family, wrestling, commuting cross-country, servant leadership, Sequoia Capital, Aneel Bhusri, co-CEOs, and Palo Alto Networks.In this episode, we cover:Working on Sand Hill Road (00:55)Carl’s workout routine (03:15)Staying humble and grounded (08:04)Carl’s family and dinner table conversation (11:41)Drive and ambition (16:08)College vs. trade school (19:53)3Com, Inktomi, and EMC (24:33)Deciding to join VMware (28:02)Virtualizing the data center (31:48)The pressure of an incredible ride (35:54)The infamous CFO story (40:14)Eyeing the CEO job (46:00)Carl’s one “big regret” (47:40)Refocusing after a tragedy (52:05)A left turn into venture (55:37)The “itch” to go back to operating (01:00:17)Joining the Workday board (01:04:37)Building an enduring business (01:07:15)“End[ing] my career in an operating role” (01:09:09)Transitioning out of venture (01:15:56)Who Workday is hiring and what “grit” means to Carl (01:18:01)Links:Connect with CarlLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Guest: Bob Muglia, “The Datapreneurs” Co-Author and Former Snowflake CEOLongtime Microsoft executive and former Snowflake CEO Bob Muglia was done with his book about using data to drive the digital economy — and then ChatGPT came out. “The timeline for artificial intelligence moved in by 50 years in my head,” he recalls. Bob then told his co-author Steve Hamm that they needed to update “The Datapreneurs” to focus more on AI. “For the first time, we have intelligence in a computer,” he says. “English has become the primary programming interface of 2023!”In this episode, Bob and Joubin discuss weekly meetings, Amazon’s values, the tech industry’s Yoda, antitrust lawsuits, the media and Bill Gates, tangling with Andy Jassy, gold rush times, FoundationDB, executive coaches, firing people faster, leaders vs. managers, deepfakes, and the zeroth law of robotics.In this episode, we cover:Bob’s post-Snowflake career (00:57) How he advises startup CEOs (04:12) Getting fired by Steve Ballmer, twice (09:36) Why didn’t he quit? (14:09)Satya Nadella (16:09)Immigrant families and early jobs (17:21)United States v. Microsoft Corp. (21:14)“It may be shit, but it’s compliant shit” (25:26) Antitrust is not about the law (29:18) Rose-colored memories (33:01)Competing with Microsoft and Amazon (34:41)Two years at Juniper (37:45)Transitioning into Snowflake (39:38)Earning credibility (42:32)Chris Degnan, Snowflake’s first sales rep (45:07)Near-death experiences (50:05)Finding traction & taking off (55:33)Surprising challenges (01:00:55)Fired, again (01:02:16)Tough feedback (01:07:01)“The Datapreneurs” and the AI acceleration (01:09:19)Optimism about the future (01:13:36)The Terminator and Isaac Asimov (01:17:48)Links:Connect with BobTwitterLinkedInBuy “The Datapreneurs”Connect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Guest: Noam Bardin, founder of Post NewsOne of the “aha” moments that could sway a dubious Waze user, recalls former CEO Noam Bardin, was navigating around “all those idiots sitting in traffic... and you’re like, ‘I’m a genius.’” Now, at the social news app Post, Noam says the “aha” is avoiding partisan gridlock and paywalls. Social incumbents boost engagement by making users angry, while Post just wants you to read. “If we can remove friction and give you the right articles at the right time, so you feel smarter when you walk away,” he says, “that’s the aha moment.”In this episode, Noam and Joubin discuss stories vs. execution, ROFRs, culture clash, timing an acquisition, corporate tags, fear of going bigger, joining big companies, mobile app retention, big tech monopolies, competing against Foursquare, and not optimizing for “culture warriors.”In this episode, we cover:Putting your opinions out there (01:15)Waze almost sold to Facebook (06:10)Getting in the room with Google (13:04)How the first Google deal fell apart (15:10)Back to Facebook — briefly (17:15)The news begins to leak, and Google returns (20:26)Grinding for five years at a startup (23:57)“Hockey sticks” are never smooth (28:32)The personal impact of volatility (31:37)“Everything is a mess in startups” (34:38)The worst day of Noam’s life (38:22)How Waze started, and how Noam joined (42:22)The failure of Intercast Networks (45:07)Brave faces and “corp-speak” (48:33)Integrating into Google’s culture (53:13)No constraints and too much money (01:01:08)Defining metrics that matter (01:04:11)Maps and social (01:06:46)Silicon Valley’s worst invention: “Pivoting” (01:09:56)The social news problem Post solves (01:14:51)Misinformation and authoritarianism (01:18:42)Post’s microtransactions (01:21:08)Being misunderstood and the “aha” moment (01:23:58)Who Post is hiring and what “grit” means to Noam (01:27:09)Links:Connect with NoamTwitterPostLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm