Klaviyo’s Andrew Bialecki on proving a tech startup can be built anywhere | S2E1

When Klaviyo became a public company in 2023, we celebrated a moment over a decade in the making. In this episode of Spotlight On, Andrew Bialecki shares learnings from Klaviyo’s unique growth story, from the diligence that came from bootstrapping to the 'unfair advantage' gained by scaling a startup outside a typical tech hub. 

Klaviyo is an intelligent marketing automation platform. Under Andrew’s leadership, Klaviyo has grown to support over 143,000 brands. The discussion covers how a startup changes during various stages of growth and offers an open look into the evolving nature of the CEO role—from the earliest stages to operating as a public company. 

Conversation highlights:

00:00 – Background and Klaviyo’s founding story

06:03 – Reflecting on the hustle it took to gain early customers

10:27 – Challenges & benefits of bootstrapping, what Andrew would do differently today

18:36 – Launching in Boston and learnings for startups building outside of a tech hub

22:47 – Building enduring partnerships like Klaviyo x Shopify

27:20 – How Klaviyo stays ahead by being a customer of their own products.

32:54 – Benchmarks Andrew looked for during the pre-IPO journey

35:53 – Klaviyo AI, and the impact Andrew sees from the technology in the future

41:00 – Advice for the challenges a founder faces as their roles change and evolve

Featured: Andrew Bialecki, CEO and Co-Founder of Klaviyo and Ping Li, Partner at Accel

Learn more: accel.com/spotlight-on/episodes/klaviyo-andrew-bialecki