Doug Leone

Then you have to find the optimal curve with the optimal leads. You don't have too few because the greatest sacrilege is to hire an expensive sales rep if you go the direct sales route. If you go PLG, it's a whole different game because the worst case is to hire expensive people with not enough leads.

Then you have to find the optimal curve with the optimal leads. You don't have too few because the greatest sacrilege is to hire an expensive sales rep if you go the direct sales route. If you go PLG, it's a whole different game because the worst case is to hire expensive people with not enough leads.

And so to find that balance, to figure out where that slope curve is in the ability to close account, you over invest and you have too many people, word gets around, your salespeople cannot make money in your company, nobody's gonna wanna join you. So you have to make them very successful. If you will overpay,

And so to find that balance, to figure out where that slope curve is in the ability to close account, you over invest and you have too many people, word gets around, your salespeople cannot make money in your company, nobody's gonna wanna join you. So you have to make them very successful. If you will overpay,

because word gets around this is a place to make money, and then at some point figure out the optimal curve and be fearless in that growth. You also have to understand for each product you sell, how much drag is it on the back of the company? If I sell you a pencil, there's no drag on the back of the company.

because word gets around this is a place to make money, and then at some point figure out the optimal curve and be fearless in that growth. You also have to understand for each product you sell, how much drag is it on the back of the company? If I sell you a pencil, there's no drag on the back of the company.

If I sell you a solution that everyone requires, six months implementation plan, three features for each one, then you can go as far as you can because your bottleneck is no longer the front end, it's the back end, which sometimes goes back to cash because now it's a lot of people. So getting that soup right.

If I sell you a solution that everyone requires, six months implementation plan, three features for each one, then you can go as far as you can because your bottleneck is no longer the front end, it's the back end, which sometimes goes back to cash because now it's a lot of people. So getting that soup right.

getting that right and figuring out that optimal point and doing it in the linear growth so you can readjust, re-forecast every quarter and not hire your 32 people in Q1 and then no one for the rest of the year so the CEO has room to maneuver

getting that right and figuring out that optimal point and doing it in the linear growth so you can readjust, re-forecast every quarter and not hire your 32 people in Q1 and then no one for the rest of the year so the CEO has room to maneuver

Along a backup plan of what if I don't do X, I do 0.7X, it is back pocket from the CFO that I always ask him, please arm the CO with that, should give the chief executive officer and the knowledge of everything I just told you, that in many cases, I have to tell you, it's the first time they hear this, should give them the armament to begin to learn how this thing is done.

Along a backup plan of what if I don't do X, I do 0.7X, it is back pocket from the CFO that I always ask him, please arm the CO with that, should give the chief executive officer and the knowledge of everything I just told you, that in many cases, I have to tell you, it's the first time they hear this, should give them the armament to begin to learn how this thing is done.

So as usual, what happens outside the building dictates what happens inside the building. So if you do a marketing strategy, don't just talk to me about a marketing trend. Talk to me about the dynamics in a market first. That's the reality you can't change. And then you apply the strategy based on those. Same thing to the question you answered.

So as usual, what happens outside the building dictates what happens inside the building. So if you do a marketing strategy, don't just talk to me about a marketing trend. Talk to me about the dynamics in a market first. That's the reality you can't change. And then you apply the strategy based on those. Same thing to the question you answered.

So when we were building technology, and now with AI, we may build in tech again. There are these cycles. But I think of technology as semiconductor system software. The founders were older because you didn't want first-time founders. You wanted people that had done it before. Suddenly, the internet connects us all. Mobile connects us all with, as we move around, new technologies. business model.

So when we were building technology, and now with AI, we may build in tech again. There are these cycles. But I think of technology as semiconductor system software. The founders were older because you didn't want first-time founders. You wanted people that had done it before. Suddenly, the internet connects us all. Mobile connects us all with, as we move around, new technologies. business model.

It turned out people who were 20 who had never seen a business model were more creative, and they're the ones that did that. And it also happened that you can build a prototype, whether it's open systems or whether it's hosted services or low cost of computing coming down, you could build a prototype in 90 days. Thus, the advent of seed investing. Seed investing didn't happen.

It turned out people who were 20 who had never seen a business model were more creative, and they're the ones that did that. And it also happened that you can build a prototype, whether it's open systems or whether it's hosted services or low cost of computing coming down, you could build a prototype in 90 days. Thus, the advent of seed investing. Seed investing didn't happen.

We're building chips because what would a million do? It wouldn't do anything. And now you have this competitive nature, a whole bunch of seed funds, try to get in front of you, trying to position Sequoias, go to them later, i.e. we want our own 20% and you let Sequoia own 10% for working for the next 10 years. just so you know, it changes everything. It changes your strategy.

We're building chips because what would a million do? It wouldn't do anything. And now you have this competitive nature, a whole bunch of seed funds, try to get in front of you, trying to position Sequoias, go to them later, i.e. we want our own 20% and you let Sequoia own 10% for working for the next 10 years. just so you know, it changes everything. It changes your strategy.