How far would you travel for a good conversation? For hosts Tyler Hogge and Sterling Snow it was a no brainer to fly 2000 miles to talk with Kaz Nejatian, the COO of Shopify in their Toronto HQ.

Kaz is a fascinating mind in tech and an unconventional thinker shaping the the product culture of Shopify. He shares his story of growing up in Iran, experiencing the Iran-Iraq war, and eventually immigrating to Canada at age 12. In Canada, Kaz gets even deeper into his fascination with computers and goes onto found a YC company, run a product line at Meta and now acts as the COO and Product Evangelist at multi-billion dollar company Shopify.

Tyler and Sterling find out why Shopify employees have no meetings, how big tech companies are doing product wrong, and why Shopify's unique culture will create a 100 year company that just keeps getting bigger.

Chapters:

01:50 - Kaz's Childhood in Iran and Fleeing to Canada

06:49 - Hot Takes on Current Protests on College Campuses

07:55 - Early Exposure To Computers and Path To Tech

11:17 - The Best Product Managers Are Weird People

13:30 - "I Cannot Take An Average Person And Train Them To Be A PM"

21:25 - How Shopify Is Different Than Other Big Companies

31:00 - How Kaz Killed Meetings At Shopify

37:30 - Write Code And Talk To Users, Do That Over And Over Again

43:39 - Why Getting Married Will Be Your Best Career Accelerant

50:00 - Wrap Up questions

57:25 - Tyler & Sterling's Recap

_________________________

Connect With Kaz

https://x.com/canadakaz

Kaz@shopify.com

Connect With Tyler & Sterling

https://x.com/thogge

https://x.com/sterlingmsnow

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCayuY0VO95kQTUXJvh9T0oQ

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When Blake Murray came up with the idea of Divvy, it was because he had a problem: he couldn’t get real-time data on the financial health of his business. So in 2016, Blake set out to find a solution and realized there was none. Blake spent the next several years building what would become one of the fastest-growing startups in history—a platform combining expense management software and a corporate card to help businesses of all sizes manage their finances.

Blake, along with Tyler and Sterling—Divvy’s SVP and CRO—break down why this startup was such a remarkable success: a world-class team, a world-class product and a performance culture that pushed Divvy and it’s people to the top.

Chapters:

01:38 - How Blake Knew Divvy Would Be A Big Idea

07:17 - The Insight: No Real-Time Financial Information For Businesses

09:20 - The Idea: Blake Lands A 7-Figure Deal With Only A Deck

14:15 - Sell, Design, Build: How Divvy Built First Then Sold To Solve GTM

24:30 - Hire Like-Minded People Instead of People Who’ve Done It (Culture vs Acumen)

37:00 - ’Nobody’s Coming, It’s Up To Us’. How To Do More With Less

42:27 - Founder Advice: Have A Short Memory

43:45 - Founder Advice: Build A Performance Culture

49:52 - Work-Life Balance Myth: Big Sacrifices Are Required for Asymmetric Upside

59:00 - Investor Advice: Founders Want Investors Who Will Be Loyal To Them

1:04:45 - Tyler and Sterling’s Recap

_________________________

Connect With Blake

https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-murray-79655665

https://x.com/blakemur

Connect With Tyler & Sterling

https://x.com/thogge

https://x.com/sterlingmsnow

Follow The I/O Podcast (New Episodes Monthly)

https://x.com/IO__podcast

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCayuY0VO95kQTUXJvh9T0oQ

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-investor-operator-io-podcast/id1678642609

https://open.spotify.com/show/0J92LTLgpHe8C0CzEaCBDG

Scott Sandell, Executive Chairman and Chief Investment Officer at NEA is truly one of the great venture capitalists of our generation. With nearly three decades at NEA he leads the field with a track record of dozens of successful investments including unicorns like Salesforce, Plaid, Workday, Robinhood, Cloudflare and Tableau.

How has he done it? Scott shares his investment philosophy influenced by other greats like Dick Kramlich and John Doerr: understand an individual's life story, decision-making process, and future goals as key in making successful investment choices.

Chapters:

00:02:17 What Are The Characteristics Of Unicorn Founders?

00:10:16 "I Look For Passion-Driven Missionaries"

00:16:05 Building Tableau's Success: Lessons in Slow, Purposeful Growth

00:27:13 Make Your Investors Your Partners. Navigating Board Relationships

00:40:55 The Era of Decreasing LP Commitments

00:52:39 Tyler and Sterlings Recap

Connect with Scott and NEA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottdsandell

YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTU3mQDqk3QyB4WeDQwZ1YQ

Connect with IO Pod

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IO__podcast

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@io_podcast

YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCayuY0VO95kQTUXJvh9T0oQ

Website: https://www.investoroperator.io/

This episode of the IO Podcast is brought to you by Pelion Venture Partners

https://pelionvp.com/

There may be no better pair of fintech investors than Better Tomorrow Ventures Jake Gibson and Sheel Mohnot. After successful exits in the industry -- Jake as the co-founder of NerdWallet, one of the OG consumer fintech companies, and Sheel with FeeFighter and Innovative Auctions, Jake and Sheel saw a gap in the market and started a fund to help fintech companies at the earliest stages. And they've already had some big wins, counting Ramp and Unit as Portcos.

Jake and Sheel joined us on the pod to tell us how they built their previous companies and talked to the future of fintech and the the trends they're seeing across the industry. We cover the pandemic-induced surge in fintech interest and how their big bet is on embeddable fintech, where financial services are seamlessly integrated into non-financial platforms.

Chapters:

00:00:35 Tyler & Sterling's Intro

00:07:05 Starting NerdWallet during the 2008 Financial Crisis

00:12:34 How Jake Gamed Google SEO To Grow NerdWallet

00:19:08 How Better Tomorrow Ventures Started

00:24:17 Early Support from Andreessen Horowitz for Fund

00:30:08 Fintech Investment Opportunities During The Pandemic

00:37:38 Embedded Fintech Is The Future

00:45:52 The Durbin Amendment & Changing Bank Profit Pools

00:55:47 Jake And Sheel's Nominees for Best Operators & Investors

Connect with Jake And Sheel

Twitter (Sheel): https://twitter.com/pitdesi

Twitter (Jake): https://twitter.com/iamjakestream

Website: https://www.btv.vc/

Learn More About The Mint

https://www.themint.vc/

Connect with IO Pod

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IO__podcast

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@io_podcast

YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCayuY0VO95kQTUXJvh9T0oQ

Website: https://www.investoroperator.io/

This episode of the IO Podcast is brought to you by Pelion Venture Partners

https://pelionvp.com/

#StartupLife #StartupMentality

Immad Akhund had the idea for Mercury years before they started. In fact, he'd launched 3 other startups and been through YCombinator twice before even starting initial validation on what would become the beloved neobank of startups everywhere. And opinions were mixed. Immad himself recognized the need for a simpler and more efficient banking service while while operating Heyzap his previous company. But when he shared the concept with other startups, not everyone grasped its potential.

Today, Mercury dominates in the neobank industry. Immad walks hosts Tyler Hogge and Sterling Snow through the early days of Mercury, shares advice on how to operate and his strategies on investing.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:56 Immad's Entrepreneurial Journey - Previous Companies & Learnings

00:08:27 What Does Mercury Do?

00:11:24 How He Launched Mercury

00:14:35 The Neo Bank Industry and Launch Timing

00:21:50 The SVB Fallout & How That Led To Big Growth For Mercury

00:32:50 Operating Advice: The Six-Year Vesting Plan

00:43:35 Immad's Hot Takes & Predictions: AI Is a Hype Cycle

00:57:17 Rapid Fire & Wrap-up

Things to Check Out:

Immad's Memo - How to Not Be A Bottleneck as a CEO

Immad's Podcast - Curiosity Podcast

Immad's Advice on Operating - @immad on X

___________________

This episode of the IO Podcast is brought to you by Pelion

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Andreessen Horowitz General Partner Alex Rampell may be the most true version of an investor-operator. Alex's first entrepreneurial endeavor started as a child when he built and sold shareware out of his parent's house. Eventually he added more businesses to his portfolio before launching the payment platform TrialPay after college and eventually Affirm. Today, Alex invests in some of the largest companies at Andreessen Horowitz and he shares with Tyler and Sterling what he looks for in entrepreneurs and shares tactical advice from his days building.

Chapters:

(00:03:00) How Alex Started His First Company in Middle School

(00:14:46) Investing in People: The Key to Startup Success

(00:18:33) Building Relationships for Business Success

(00:21:23) The Advantage of Naivete in Entrepreneurship

(00:26:41) Interconnected Attributes for Building a Successful Business

(00:28:44) Building a Strong Entrepreneurial Framework

(00:36:04) Mitigating Risk of Overdependence on Initial Customers

(00:42:20) The Battle for Market Dominance

(00:46:05) The Crucial Role of Distribution for Startups

(00:57:17) The Challenge of Convincing Buyers

(01:00:38) Leveraging fear to drive successful acquisitions

Geoff Lewis is a titan in the VC world as both the lead investor and founder of Bedrock Capital, the firm backing some of the world best-known tech companies. Geoff joins Tyler and Sterling on the podcast to share his insights on venture capital and what it takes to consistently make money for LPs. Geoff discusses the unique decision to raise Bedrock's fund size in a time when other funds are downsizing, the importance of assessing founders and their unique qualities, and the challenges and rewards of starting a venture capital firm. He also shares his thoughts on the future of social media, the venture capital industry, and the power of authenticity in building strong partnerships.

Chapters

00:04:10 - Why Bedrock Is Upsizing Their Fund Structure.

00:06:54 - How Geoff Assesses Entrepreneurs and Raises Capital.

00:10:10 - Building Relationships Brings Smart Investments

00:14:13 - Achieving Work-Life Integration For Entrepreneurs.

00:17:49 - Why The Best Founders Are Authentic

00:21:29 - Different Investment Styles in VC

00:26:44 - When To Double Down

00:38:04 - The OpenAI Situation

00:40:37 - Geoff's Hot Takes

00:57:08 - Rapid Fire and Wrap-up

We think you'll love this conversation. Don't miss hearing from one of the industry's top investors and operators.

How did this small town farm kid go on to lead the revenue orgs for Silicon Valley's biggest companies? Mark Cranney credits his success to the lessons he learned growing up: work hard and run things efficiently. Mark shares the playbook he's used to build billions in pipeline through his career as an executive, sales leader and most famously as a partner at Andreessen Horowitz. If you're a founder, there's no better person to learn from than Mark.

Chapters

00:37 Introducing Mark Cranney

04:45 Find Sales Leaders Who Can Perform

07:03 What To Look For In Potential Hires

13:03 Find Courageous People To Join Your Team

17:07 The Sales Playbook - Are You Running It Or Can You Put It Together?

22:51 Putting Together The Revenue Org At SignalFx

25:15 How Mark Uses Company Bootcamps To Build Cohesion

31:47 Getting Everyone To Buy Into the Vision

37:25 Common Mistakes First Time Founders Make With Their Sales Org

48:27 Wrap up and Takeaways

Read 'Hard Thing About Hard Things'

Connect With Mark

Follow us on X

Find Highlights from the show on TikTok

Check out our website

Brought to you by Pelion Venture Partners