In Depth

First Round
In Depth

Welcome to In Depth, a new podcast from First Round Review that’s dedicated to surfacing the tactical advice founders and startup leaders need to grow their teams, their companies and themselves. Hosted by Brett Berson, a partner at First Round, In Depth will cover a lot of ground and a wide range of topics, from hiring executives and becoming a better manager, to the importance of storytelling inside of your organization. But every interview will hit the level of tactical depth where the very best advice is found. We hope you’ll join us. Subscribe to “In Depth” now and learn more at firstround.com

  1. How to find customers in the Dept of Defense: From prototype to the Pentagon | Steve Blank (Hacking for Defense)

    14 NOV

    How to find customers in the Dept of Defense: From prototype to the Pentagon | Steve Blank (Hacking for Defense)

    Steve Blank is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University, where he co-created the "Hacking for Defense" curriculum for the Department of Defense. As a consultant to top defense and intelligence organizations, Steve brings cutting-edge strategies to the national security sector. Before entering academia, Steve built eight different startups. He helped launch the Lean Startup movement with his May 2013 Harvard Business Review cover story. Steve also authored the acclaimed business books "The Four Steps to the Epiphany" and "The Startup Owner's Manual.” This episode’s is guest host is Meka Asonye, a Partner at First Round Capital. Before joining First Round as an investor, Meka led go-to-market teams at both Stripe and Mixpanel. – In today’s episode we discuss: Commercial versus military market strategies Finding mission solution fit The hidden challenges most startups miss Building relationships in National Security The new generation of “defense founders” Much more – Referenced: Alexander Osterwalder: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osterwalder/ Department of Defense: https://www.defense.gov/ Eric Ries: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/ Hacking for Defense: https://hackingfordefense-prod.stanford.edu/ How Saboteurs Threaten Innovation: https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/ How to find your customer in the Dept of Defense: https://steveblank.com/2024/09/17/the-directory-of-dod-program-executive-offices-and-officers-peos/ Mission Model Canvas: https://steveblank.com/2019/09/ Pete Newell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petenewell/ Special Operations Command: https://www.socom.mil/ The Frozen Middle: https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/ The Hacking for Defense Manual: https://stanfordh4d.substack.com/p/the-hacking-for-defense-manual-a The Hacking for Defense Course: https://www.h4d.us/ The lean launchpad at Stanford: https://steveblank.com/2011/05/10/the-lean-launchpad-at-stanford-–-the-final-presentations/ The Secret History of Silicon Valley: https://steveblank.com/secret-history/ – Where to find Steve: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveblank/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/sgblank Website: https://steveblank.com/ – Where to find Meka: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mekaasonye/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/bigmekastyle – Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast – Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (02:27) Validating ideas for defense products (03:57) Guide to military sales and procurement (07:15) Rethinking GTM strategies (10:13) Building a network in national security (15:07) The dual-use debate (18:35) Behind the rising number of “defense founders” (22:30) “Mission solution fit” (24:35) Breaking new ground in military tech (26:09) Essential resources for any defense founder (28:59) What’s missing from Silicon Valley

    34 min
  2. Shifting Career Altitudes: Insights from a CPO’s Journey Leading in Nearly Every Function | Anneka Gupta (Rubrik, ex-LiveRamp)

    10 OCT

    Shifting Career Altitudes: Insights from a CPO’s Journey Leading in Nearly Every Function | Anneka Gupta (Rubrik, ex-LiveRamp)

    Anneka Gupta is the Chief Product Officer at Rubrik, a cloud management and data security company with a US$6B market cap. Before Rubrik, Anneka spent 11 years leading various teams at LiveRamp, including product, go-to-market, and operations. In today’s episode, we discuss: How LiveRamp went from $30M to $200M ARR in 3 years Anneka’s jack-of-all-trades career Why specialist hires can backfire When leaders should get in the weeds One area every PM can improve in Rubrik’s approach to building product Much more – Referenced: Acxiom: https://www.acxiom.com/ Acxiom’s acquisition of LiveRamp: https://tinyurl.com/2shm83de Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ Auren Hoffman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/auren/ Dentsu: https://www.dentsu.com/ Dentsu’s acquisition of Merkle: https://tinyurl.com/yvxe6fws James Arra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-arra-a43a06/ LiveRamp: https://liveramp.com/ Merkle: https://www.merkle.com/ Rubrik: https://www.rubrik.com/ Slack: https://www.slack.com/ Travis May: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stmay/ – Where to find Anneka Gupta: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annekagupta/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/annekagupta – Where to find Brett Berson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson – Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast – Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (02:11) Inside LiveRamp’s unique growth journey (12:18) Anneka’s first PM role (14:20) Leading LiveRamp’s marketing function (16:17) Why the best product doesn’t win (21:06) Crafting products for different personas (24:53) Transitioning Acxiom’s customers to LiveRamp (33:54) Why Acxiom chose to buy not build (36:40) Anneka's leap to GM and product leader (38:22) How 17 diverse roles shaped Anneka’s CPO approach (40:54) The hidden career growth hack (43:15) Where domain experience is overrated (50:33) Mastering the art of altitude shifting (53:54) PMs should undergo the same training as sales reps (59:37) Strategies for selling to new personas (62:40) Lessons from Anneka’s mistake at LiveRamp (67:56) Who had an outsized impact on Anneka

    1 h y 10 min
  3. How to find and pull startup growth levers | Matt Lerner (Founder and CEO at SYSTM, Author of Growth Levers)

    26 SEPT

    How to find and pull startup growth levers | Matt Lerner (Founder and CEO at SYSTM, Author of Growth Levers)

    Matt Lerner is the Founder and CEO at SYSTM, a startup coaching consultancy that helps high-potential companies grow their business. Matt also authored the book “Growth Levers”, which shares his framework that's helped over 200 seed-stage startups grow as much as 100x. Previously, Matt was on the early growth team at PayPal, a partner at 500 Startups, and a guest lecturer at Stanford Business School. - In today’s episode, we discuss: Understanding the key drivers of startup success Applying the Growth Lever framework Several case studies Customer-centric growth tactics Adapting growth levers for different business models - Referenced: Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/ Bold Commerce: https://boldcommerce.com/ Calm: https://www.calm.com/ Caribou: https://www.usecaribou.com/ eBay: https://www.ebay.com/ FATMAP: https://fatmap.com/ Growth Levers and How to Find Them: https://www.systm.co/growth-levers-matt-lerner-book PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/ Peter Karpas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkarpas/ Popsa: https://popsa.com/ Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/ Sonic Jobs: https://www.sonicjobs.com/ SYSTM: https://www.systm.co/ - Where to find Matt Lerner: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewlerner/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/matthlerner - Where to find Brett Berson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson - Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast - Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (03:11) The hidden truth about startup success (05:10) Popsa's journey: A case study in growth (07:31) Breaking down the growth lever framework (11:30) Understanding the customer's journey (14:14) The art of customer interviews (18:07) Unlocking growth through customer insights (24:23) The triple threat: Founder failure modes (27:32) The power of founder-led growth strategies (32:42) Unlocking growth bottlenecks (36:40) Timing and implementation of growth strategies (39:43) Founder red flags (41:32) Crafting effective growth experiments (43:14) Why customer mindset is the ultimate growth driver (46:19) The power law of business (48:59) Why startups don’t need paid marketing (50:47) Growth levers for sales-driven companies (53:43) Matt's own application of growth principles (55:39) Growth levers in B2B sales (57:05) Finding customer "locksmith moments" (64:08) The mentor who shaped Matt's thinking

    1 h y 6 min
  4. How to find — and keep — product-market fit | Bob Moore (Co-founder and CEO at Crossbeam, ex-RJMetrics and Stitch Data)

    19 SEPT

    How to find — and keep — product-market fit | Bob Moore (Co-founder and CEO at Crossbeam, ex-RJMetrics and Stitch Data)

    Bob Moore is the co-founder and CEO at Crossbeam, a “LinkedIn for data” platform that helps companies find overlapping opportunities with their partners. Crossbeam has raised US$117M to date and recently acquired Reveal in 2024. Bob previously cofounded RJMetrics (now part of Adobe Commerce Cloud) and Stitch Data (acquired by Talend). He is also the author of Ecosystem-Led Growth. In today’s episode, we discuss: The unique way he evaluated and validated startup ideas Lessons learned from falling in and out of product-market fit How to recognize and act on market shifts that impact your business Specific tactics for distribution and building with conviction vs. consensus Creating scalable and durable startups Unlocking network effects in software Getting mergers right – Referenced: Adobe’s acquisition of Magento: https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/21/adobe-to-acquire-magento-for-1-6-b/ Amazon Redshift: https://aws.amazon.com/redshift/ Chris Merrick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merrickchristopher/ Crossbeam: https://www.crossbeam.com/ Crossbeam/Reveal merger: https://www.crossbeam.com/crossbeam-and-reveal-merger-announcement/ Ecosystem-Led Growth: https://www.robertjmoore.com/book Jake Stein: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakestein/ Nick Mehta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickmehta/ Reveal: https://reveal.co/ Rick Nucci: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricknucci/ RJMetrics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RJMetrics Simon Bouchez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonbouchez/ Stitch Data: https://www.stitchdata.com/ Talend’s acquisition of Stitch Data: https://www.businessinsider.com/talend-acquires-stitch-2018-11 The 4 Levels of PMF: https://pmf.firstround.com/levels – Where to find Bob Moore: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertjmoore/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/robertjmoore – Where to find Brett Berson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson – Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast – Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:44) Tactics for finding founder-market fit (06:17) Speaking to founders about startup ideas (11:16) Why founders loved Crossbeam (19:34) How RJMetrics found market fit then lost it (29:46) Lessons from RJMetrics’ exit (38:06) The importance of intellectual honesty (39:33) Building with conviction versus consensus (42:41) Lessons from a three-time founder (50:26) Building and distributing Crossbeam (57:58) The “joint jam” sales tactic (60:35) Unlocking network effects in a software business (63:27) Why Crossbeam merged with its competitor (72:51) Who had an outsized impact on Bob

    1 h y 19 min
  5. Rebooting Intercom: Eoghan McCabe on Defying Silicon Valley Orthodoxy

    5 SEPT

    Rebooting Intercom: Eoghan McCabe on Defying Silicon Valley Orthodoxy

    Eoghan McCabe is the CEO and cofounder at Intercom, an AI customer service platform. Intercom has raised over $240M, and was last valued at $1.3B in 2018. After spending 9 years building the company, Eoghan left Intercom in 2020, but he’s since returned, reshaping Intercom and pioneering its pivot to an AI-first service. This episode highlights his unabashed takes on leaning into your intuition as a founder, and his perspectives on the critical junctures in company building. – In today’s episode, we also discuss: Eoghan's reflections since leaving Intercom The value of intuition and first-principles thinking The changes Eoghan made upon returning to Intercom How Eoghan increased Intercom's productivity by 41% Tactical advice on hiring top talent Why you can't make small improvements in big categories Crafting a culture of ruthless honesty and transparency Why software branding is in crisis – Referenced: 37signals: https://37signals.com Basecamp: https://basecamp.com Brian Halligan (HubSpot): https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianhalligan David Heinemeier Hansson (37signals, Basecamp): https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-heinemeier-hansson-374b18221 Intercom: https://www.intercom.com Jason Fried (37signals, Basecamp): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-fried Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com Marc Benioff (Salesforce): https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbenioff Zendesk: https://www.zendesk.com – Where to find Eoghan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eoghanmccabe/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/eoghan – Where to find Brett Berson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson – Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast – Timestamps 0:00:00 - Founder intuition vs. standard practice 0:25:00 - Silicon Valley knowledge loops 0:28:13 - Building an executive team 0:36:38 - Eoghan’s return to Intercom 0:42:02 - Transparent and honest leadership 0:46:42 - Changing Intercom’s strategy 0:54:22 - AI and category disruption 1:03:17 - How Intercom thinks about brand 1:10:40 - Eoghan’s inspirations

    1 h y 15 min
  6. Inside marketing at Stripe, OpenAI and Retool | Krithika Muthukumar (VP of Marketing at OpenAI, ex-Stripe, Retool, Dropbox, Google)

    1 AGO

    Inside marketing at Stripe, OpenAI and Retool | Krithika Muthukumar (VP of Marketing at OpenAI, ex-Stripe, Retool, Dropbox, Google)

    Krithika Muthukumar is a marketing veteran. She is currently the VP of Marketing at OpenAI where she was the first marketing hire. Before that, she was Head of Marketing at Retool. Her longest tenure was at Stripe where she was hired as the first marketer and scaled with the company over nine years, from a 60-person team to 7500+. She began her career in Product Marketing at Google and Dropbox. – In today’s episode, we discuss: Marketing lessons from OpenAI, Stripe, and Retool The 3 pillars of Stripe’s approach to brand How to manage resource allocation as a marketer Adapting marketing strategy to different business models Advice for early marketing hires – Referenced: Coca-Cola AI-generated wish card campaign: https://theprint.in/ani-press-releases/coca-cola-ignites-diwali-celebrations-with-unique-personalized-ai-generated-wish-cards/1840093/ Cristina Cordova: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinajcordova/ Gong: https://www.gong.io/ Greg Brockman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thegdb/ Kenzo Fong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenzofong/ Retool: https://retool.com/ Stripe’s “Capture the Flag” campaign: https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/22/stripes-capture-the-flag-2-0-a-hands-on-contest-for-app-developers-to-test-their-security-know-how/ Stripe Press: https://press.stripe.com/ Stripe Sigma: https://stripe.com/us/sigma Tanya Khakbaz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanya-khakbaz-a725732/ – Where to find Krithika Muthukumar: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krithix/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/krithix – Where to find Brett Berson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson – Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:43) Getting involved in Stripe (05:37) Evaluating success in product marketing (06:35) The 3 pillars of Stripe's approach to brand (12:10) Managing resource allocation as Stripe grew (17:22) How Stripe scaled taste (21:30) Were Stripe reviews micromanaging? (24:16) Marketing under founders with strong marketing skills (26:44) Advice for early marketing hires (31:52) Marketing at Retool vs Stripe (33:59) Marketing to mid-market vs SMB vs enterprise (37:02) Marketing programs that had an outsized impact (39:59) Marketing horizontal vs vertical products (43:20) Lessons from OpenAI (52:22) Inside OpenAI’s recent website relaunch (55:57) How OpenAI’s marketers use OpenAI tooling (59:53) When to start hiring marketers (61:34) How to screen early marketing hires (66:39) The biggest influences on Krithika's career (67:52) Outro

    1 h y 8 min
  7. Developing technical taste: A guide for next-gen engineers | Sam Schillace (Deputy CTO at Microsoft, creator of Google Docs)

    6 JUN

    Developing technical taste: A guide for next-gen engineers | Sam Schillace (Deputy CTO at Microsoft, creator of Google Docs)

    Sam Schillace is the CVP and Deputy CTO at Microsoft. Before Microsoft, Sam held prominent engineering roles at Google and Box. He has also founded six startups, including Writely, which was acquired by Google and became Google Docs. – In today’s episode, we discuss: Sam’s advice for future engineers What’s next for AI How to develop technical taste The importance of asking “what if” questions Lessons on market timing Scaling a software company in 2024 – Referenced: Amazon: https://amazon.com Box: https://www.box.com/ Elon Musk: https://twitter.com/elonmusk Google Docs: https://docs.google.com Itzhak Perlman: https://itzhakperlman.com/ Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com Netflix: https://www.netflix.com Tesla: https://www.tesla.com/ The Innovator’s Dilemma: https://www.amazon.com.au/Innovators-Dilemma-Clayton-M-Christensen/dp/0062060244 TurboTax: https://turbotax.intuit.com/ Uber: https://www.uber.com/ Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ Workday: https://www.workday.com/ Writely: https://techcrunch.com/2005/08/31/writely-process-words-with-your-browser/ – Where to find Sam Schillace: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schillace/ Newsletter: https://sundaylettersfromsam.substack.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/sschillace – Where to find Brett Berson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson – Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast – Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (02:54) Lessons on market timing (07:30) Developing technical taste (09:51) Asking “what if” questions (14:03) Building Google Docs (19:32) The decline of Google apps (20:57) The Innovator’s Dilemma facing Microsoft (22:53) The differences between Google and Microsoft (24:42) How to build a winning product (27:46) Becoming an optimist (29:12) Why engineering teams aren’t smaller (32:00) Sam’s prediction about AI (34:11) Capturing the value of AI (37:43) How you should think about AI (45:33) Advice for future engineers (48:18) What makes a great engineer (49:45) One thing the best engineers do (51:37) Microsoft’s new leverage (56:01) Scaling software in 2024 (59:50) The future of AI across several sectors (64:28) What Sam and a violinist have in common

    1 h y 5 min
  8. How to build and scale winning marketplaces | Casey Winters (Eventbrite, Pinterest, Grubhub)

    30 MAY

    How to build and scale winning marketplaces | Casey Winters (Eventbrite, Pinterest, Grubhub)

    Casey Winters is a legendary advisor on scaling, product and growth. He’s worked with companies like Airbnb, Faire, Canva, Whatnot, Thumbtack, Tinder, and Reddit. Until recently, Casey was the Chief Product Officer at Eventbrite, and has also led growth and product teams at Pinterest and Grubhub. – In today’s episode, we discuss: What every marketplace founder should think about Why marketplaces are different Finding product market fit Key ingredients to scaling a marketplace Strategies for acquiring demand and supply – Referenced: Airbnb: https://airbnb.com/ Bill Gurley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgurley/ Blue Apron: https://www.blueapron.com/ Booking.com: https://www.booking.com/ DoorDash: https://www.doordash.com/ eBay: https://ebay.com/ Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/ Expedia: https://www.expedia.com/ Faire: https://www.faire.com/ Fermat Commerce: https://www.fermatcommerce.com/ Grubhub: https://www.grubhub.com/ Lyft: https://www.lyft.com/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ Postmates: https://postmates.com/ Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/ Simon Rothman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonrothman/ Square: https://squareup.com/ Tony Xu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xutony/ Turo: https://turo.com/ Uber: https://www.uber.com/ Zillow: https://www.zillow.com/ – Where to find Casey Winters LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseywinters/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/onecaseman Website: https://caseyaccidental.com/ – Where to find Brett Berson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson – Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast – Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (02:30) Ingredients for a successful marketplace (05:34) Creating scalable growth loops (08:42) Emerging marketplaces in 2024 (10:56) 2 ways to acquire supply and demand (15:39) What’s unique about building a marketplace (18:27) When to focus on the demand side (23:10) Who to hire (26:22) Finding sticky customers (26:27) What Grubhub should’ve done (30:19) Uber versus Lyft (34:23) One thing all marketplace founders should know (34:45) Finding product market fit (40:45) Single versus multi-category marketplaces (43:02) When to expand (44:22) The best low-frequency marketplace (46:00) The product is supply, not software (50:48) No value in car-sharing (56:11) Improving supply and demand over time (61:04) The “setup, aha, and habit” framework (66:27) Avoid these marketplace mistakes (71:16) 2 people who influenced Casey’s thinking

    1 h y 13 min
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Welcome to In Depth, a new podcast from First Round Review that’s dedicated to surfacing the tactical advice founders and startup leaders need to grow their teams, their companies and themselves. Hosted by Brett Berson, a partner at First Round, In Depth will cover a lot of ground and a wide range of topics, from hiring executives and becoming a better manager, to the importance of storytelling inside of your organization. But every interview will hit the level of tactical depth where the very best advice is found. We hope you’ll join us. Subscribe to “In Depth” now and learn more at firstround.com

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