CEO as Architect of the Future

How does a leader evolve the business and their role for future time horizons? In this episode, Rich sits down with Assaf Resnick, CEO of BigPanda. Assaf’s journey is anything but conventional—transitioning from venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital to founding a successful software company. He shares invaluable insights on fostering a first-team culture, maintaining differentiation in a competitive market, and mastering strategy iteration for long-term success.

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Key Quotes:

“I've got a framework for my job description around people, strategy, execution, and cash which are four big buckets that you need to all be in good shape in order to succeed.”

“Every six months or so, I sit down and I re-architect my CEO job description.I sit down and I start with a blank sheet of paper and I ask myself, Alright, what kind of CEO does this company need me to be right now? What was I doing that I don't need to be doing anymore? What do I need to start doing? And what does that mean for me in terms of, are there any skill gaps that I need to bridge? Are there any behavior gaps that I need to bridge? Are there any knowledge gaps that I need to bridge?”

“When you get to a certain scale, you've really got to start thinking in 3 year horizons. When you start getting near $100 million business and above, that ship moves a little slower. And so you've really got to start layering on 3 year visions of where's the market going, how am I capitalized, what are the big bets I'm making. And then you have to think about how do you operationalize that strategy? How do you make sure that everyone in your company is really, really clear about where we're headed as a company and what does that mean for my team and for me personally. That's a lot of work.”

“I want to make sure that it's really, really thoughtful and it's been prepared with all the stakeholders in mind. I do prefer that strategy is done in iteration. That's very important for me. So don't go into your cave and come back in two months and present to me and the executive staff. Here is my vision from Mount Olympus, because it could be all wrong. I'd rather someone come and create and make it an iterative process with myself and the stakeholders involved.”

“You need to be really, really clear about your foundational differentiators. You need to be really, really clear about what is it that I'm doing that is fundamentally different from anything anyone else can get in the market. And that could be in your technology, that could be in your services. That could be in your go to market and you have to be really, really honest with yourself. Do I have meaningful differentiation and is that leading to really good outcomes? And if you don't, you have to go on a spiritual journey to figure out what is my vision to produce that significant differentiation?”

Practice Makes Profit: Why differentiation is crucial to beat your competition and how to confirm your core of differentiation using the Differentiation Detector tool.

League of Strategic Minds [listener question] What does it mean to be strategic, and how can I tell if a person really is strategic?

Winsights: Ideas for Advantage

Sam Palmisano, former CEO of IBM said, “The holy grail of strategic thinking is how do you come up with a business model that differentiates you, creates value for your customers, and puts you in a unique position in your industry?” 

When was the last time you and your team discussed how to best evolve your business model for the future? 

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Time stamps:

(01:04) Deep Dive Interview with Assaf Resnick

(47:33) Practice Makes Profit

(49:18) League of Strategic Minds 

(50:54) Winsights, Ideas for Advantage 

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