Scaling Product & Operational Excellence - Charles Zedlewski (COO, Temporal & GM, Cloudera‪)‬ Software Snack Bites

Scaling companies is incredibly difficult but at each stage the building blocks need to be set in place properly. Charles Zedlewski has been COO, GM, and a product leader at companies like Temporal, Cloudera, and SAP. In this episode, we cover what the COO & GM roles do, stories from early Cloudera days especially around figuring out what products to sell and pricing and packaging. We cover hiring Player/Coaches, nailing positioning, and talk about countless anecdotes from both Temporal and Cloudera to learn how to build and scale a great org.
Where to Find Charles:
·       Twitter: https://twitter.com/zedlewski
·       LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleszedlewski/
Where to Find Shomik:
·       Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
·       LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
·       Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com
·       Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(01:02) – Joining Cloudera Early from SAP
(04:14) – Fighting Company Politics in Culture
(07:38) – Figuring Out Commercial Products to Sell At Cloudera
(14:58) – How Customers Weight Support & Services Differently Over Time
(16:42) – Closing Early Customers at Cloudera
(19:14) – Embracing the GM Role at Cloudera
(23:41) – Reasons Cloudera Wasn’t Able to Realize Full Potential
(31:00) – Moving from Cloudera to Temporal
(34:34) – Differences Between COO and GM Roles
(38:29) – What a COO Does in the First Few Months
(44:02) – Nailing Positioning & Product Messaging
(50:00) – When’s the Right Time to Hire a COO
(54:35) – Hiring Player / Coaches
(59:27) – Common Failure Paths of Startups
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.


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