The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Scaling ServiceNow to $5BN in ARR | Leadership Lessons from Doug Leone, Frank Slootman and Bill McDermott | VC Value Add: Is it Real and Why the Worst VCs are "Seagull VCs"
Wed, 11 Sep 2024
David Schneider is a General Partner @ Coatue and one of the great operators of the last 20 years. Prior to Coatue, David was instrumental in ServiceNow’s growth to over $100B+ public market value. David led the growth of the company from $100M to $5BN in revenue. Before joining ServiceNow, David held senior positions at Data Domain, the company he joined at $0 in revenue and scaled to $1BN in revenue and an IPO and acquisition. In Today's Episode with David Schneider We Discuss: ServiceNow: Secrets to Scaling to $5BN in ARR: What are David's biggest lessons from scaling ServiceNow to $5BN ARR? What worked? What did not work? What are the most common reasons companies plateau? How did ServiceNow roll out so many different products so effectively? How did David hire and ramp 180 people in 90 days? 2. From OG Operator to Newbie Investor: What have been the single most challenging elements of making the transition to VC? What advice did David get from the biggest names on entering venture? How long did it take David to do his first deal? What advice does he give other operators entering? How does doing deals in 2024 compare to when David started doing deals in 2021? 3. VC Value: Do 90% of VCs Really Damage Companies: Does David agree that 90% of VCs actually detract value? What does David mean when he says that the worst VCs are "seagull VCs"? What are David's biggest tips to founders on how to get the most out of their board? What is enough ownership for David to really give the time needed to a company? 4. Lessons from the Greats: Doug Leone, Bill McDermott, Frank Slootman: Doug Leone: What has David learned from Doug on what it takes to be a great investor and board member? Frank Slootman: What has David learned from Bill on how to be the best leader of a mega company? Bill McDermott: What has David learned from Frank about decision-making and execution.
Full Episode
People buy product for three reasons. They either buy it because it's going to help them make money. They buy a product because it's going to save them money, or it's going to keep them off the front page of a newspaper. There are VCs that are seagulls, fly into a meeting, fly into a location. They basically take a shit and they fly away.
When you're interviewing potential board members, look for relevant experience. Not the fact that they've been on eight other SaaS boards, but have they ever done anything themselves?
This is 20VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and our guest today is one of the greatest operators of the last 30 years, David Schneider. David scaled ServiceNow to over $100 billion market cap and from $100 million in revenue to $5 billion in revenue. Before ServiceNow, David was at Dated Domain, where he joined at $0 in revenue and scaled to a billion in revenue and an IPO and an acquisition.
Today, he is a general partner at KOTU. But before we dive in today, all of you listening use tons of software every day. Sometimes it fills us with rage. You can't figure something out. The chatbot in the bottom right is useless. You keep getting bombarded with these useless pop-ups. And for those of you who build products, no one wants their product to feel like this.
Thankfully, a company exists to help users without annoying them, CommandBar. It does a couple of very helpful things. First, it's a chatbot that uses AI to give users extremely personalized responses and deflect tickets. But it can be beyond just text. It can also co-browse with the user and show them how to do things inside the UI. Magic.
But it can also detect when users would benefit from a proactive nudge, like a helpful hint, or an invitation to start a free trial. CommandBar is already used by world-class companies like Gusto, HashiCorp, Yotpo, and Angelist. If you're a product CX or marketing leader, check them out at commandbar.com slash harry.
And talking about incredible companies with Command Bar, I want to talk to you about a new venture fund making waves by taking a very different approach. It's a public venture fund anyone can invest in. not just institutions and accredited investors. The Fundrise Innovation Fund is democratizing venture capital, which could have big consequences for the industry.
The fund is already off to a good start with $100 million into some of the largest, most in-demand AI and data infrastructure companies. Companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Databricks. Check out the Innovation Fund's impressive list of investments for yourself by visiting fundrise.com slash 20VC.
Carefully consider the investment material before investing, including objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information can be found in the Innovation Fund's prospectus at fundrise.com slash innovation. This is a paid sponsorship. And finally, let's talk about Squarespace. Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online.
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