B2BaCEO (with Ashu Garg)

Dorm room startup co-founder Aaron Levie tells me how he made the decision to pivot Box from a consumer product to an enterprise solution.___Getting Mark Cubanhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/how-a-cold-email-brought-mark-cuban-to-box-11554474601Aaron’s 2006 email to an investor about the need to pivothttps://www.fastcompany.com/1787627/starred-how-box-cofounder-aaron-levie-enticed-vcs-mark-cuban-battle-microsoft-googleAaron talks to Harvard Business Review about Box’s pivot to enterprisehttps://hbr.org/ideacast/2017/12/boxs-ceo-on-pivoting-to-the-enterprise-market.html

Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan tells me why and how happiness is an essential part of his multi-billion-dollar company.___Glassdoor names Zoom the best tech company to work for in 2019https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/best-tech-companies-2019/… and the second best company to work for overallhttps://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Best-Places-to-Work-LST_KQ0,19.htmZoom’s first customerhttps://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2013/08/15/stanford-continuing-studies-takes-education-online-with-zoom-video-conferencing/Yes, there really is a happiness crewhttps://www.builtincolorado.com/2018/07/27/spotlight-working-at-zoom-video-communications-cultureZoom goes public, happiness (and stock prices) increasehttps://www.marketwatch.com/story/zoom-video-rockets-to-nosebleed-valuation-after-ipo-but-ceo-says-he-is-comfortable-with-it-2019-04-18

The man, the maniac.

Tien Tzuo, Co-Founder and CEO of Zuora, tells me how he tells his company’s story when he pitches to customers and investors and how to scale up to $1 billion.___Tien’s bookhttps://www.zuora.com/subscribed/author/Zuora prepares for its IPOhttps://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/zuora-prices-ipo-at-14-per-share--valuing-the-company-at-1-point-44-billion.htmlTien’s daughter rings the opening bellhttps://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/04/12/opening-bell-april-12-2018.htmlTien’s interview with NYT where he mentions his dislike of one-on-oneshttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/business/tien-tzuo-of-zuora-dont-expect-me-to-manage-you.htmlTien’s “climb to $1 billion” strategyhttps://www.zuora.com/guides/climb-build-billion-dollar-run-rate/Tien discusses his three room structurehttps://www.zuora.com/2017/09/14/3-questions-for-tien-tzuo-ceo-founder-of-zuora/

Frederic Laluyaux’s first startup flopped but he has taken that experience with him to his current position as president and CEO of Aera Technology. Frederic tells me how to new founders can find what they’re looking for.___Aera Technologyhttps://www.aeratechnology.com/Anaplan’s re-launchhttps://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20170620-fusionops-rebrands-as-aera-technology-after-landing-50-million-in-venture-funds/Anaplan’s $1 billion valuationhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-14/anaplan-valued-at-1-1-billion-after-90-million-pre-ipo-round

Co-Founder and Co-CEO of FreeWheel Doug Knopper tells me how he uses his considerable Silicon Valley experience to train the next generation of talent with his new project, CEOhacker.___DoubleClick acquiredhttps://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/technology/14DoubleClick.htmlFreeWheel acquiredhttps://techcrunch.com/2014/03/01/comcast-freewheel/Silicon Valley’s diversity problemhttps://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/20/silicon-valleys-diversity-problem-is-its-achilles-heel.htmlFreeWheel’s commitment to diversityhttp://freewheel.tv/freewheel-views/engineers-week-thriving-through-diversity/CEOhackerhttps://www.ceohacker.com/

Super-networker and Gainsight CEO Nick Mehta tells me how listening to people and creating a good company culture has turned the customer success software platform into a market leader.___Nick Mehta’s sitehttps://www.mehtaphysical.com/Gainsighthttps://www.gainsight.com/The one page strategic planhttps://scalingup.com/book/Shoshinhttps://alyjuma.com/shoshin/Gainsight was one of the best small companies to work for in 2018https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/12/10/costco-google-t-mobile-ranked-best-companies-work-2018/2202327002/

Co-Founder and CEO of Nutanix Dheeraj Pandey took his company from an idea to a unicorn in just five years. He tells me how he still feels like an underdog and why simple, reliable products make successful companies.___Nutanix is a unicornhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2014/01/14/nutanix-101m-round-unicorn/#429b0793582aNutanix goes publichttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/30/business/dealbook/ipo-values-cloud-company-nutanix-at-2-18-billion.htmlRed ocean vs. blue oceanhttps://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/red-ocean-vs-blue-ocean-strategy/Dheeraj’s “focus, listen, respect” and “less is more” parenting advicehttps://www.quora.com/What-are-the-most-important-lessons-youve-learned-from-founding-that-youre-teaching-your-kids

Jyoti Bansal’s AppDynamics recently sold to Cisco for $3.8 billion. As a first-time sole founder and CEO from a tech background, Jyoti tells me what he learned about the business side of things.___Cisco buys AppDynamics for $3.7 billionhttps://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/24/cisco-buys-tech-ipo-candidate-appdynamics-for-37-billion.htmAppDynamics completes first funding roundhttps://www.appdynamics.com/press-release/appdynamics-secures-55-million-venture-funding-greylock-ventures-and-lightspeed/“The Four Horsemen of Saas”https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-four-horsemen-of-saas/AppDynamics raises $11 million in Series B roundhttps://www.appdynamics.com/press-release/appdynamics-raises-11-million-series-b-round/Jyoti Bansal’s new company:https://harness.io/