How to Operate a SaaS Startup

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[00:03:32] - [First question] - Defining what it means when a company can explode

[00:05:41] - What it would look like if a company didn’t have what it takes to explode

[00:06:19] - Key factors that make for a strong product hook

[00:08:53] - Whether or not there has been a divergence at the early stage of B2B investing compared to B2C

[00:11:38] - Why products that make people collaborate are always stronger

[00:14:16] - Nuances between team subscriptions and team product use

[00:15:39] - Describing the burn multiple metric and how it can be applied to companies

[00:18:20] - The gross margin problem and issues for businesses in this area writ large

[00:22:36] - Common practices amongst sales programs that have and haven’t worked

[00:24:24] - What about new founders makes him most excited

[00:26:00] - Explaining cadence and why he groups product and marketing as one bucket and sales and finance as another

[00:30:46] - The anatomy of a great product launch 

[00:32:19] - Ways in which external dependencies can be landmines for growing companies

[00:34:08] - Whether or not he’s willing to invest in a business with regulatory variables

[00:37:01] - What he’s seen in company culture that breaks a company as they scale

[00:39:57] - Things a founder actually does in order to reign in and tame their culture

[00:42:10] - Unique traits of founders who are both investors and operators

[00:44:14] - Peter Thiel’s superpower 

[00:44:59] - Max Levchin’s superpower

[00:45:40] - Elon Musk’s superpower

[00:46:09] - Roelof Botha’s superpower

[00:47:17] - Reid Hoffman’s superpower 

[00:47:45] - Keith Rabois’ superpower

[00:48:43] - What zones of change in the world have his attention writ large

[00:51:45] - Why teams want to be pushed and how we can apply that to business

[00:55:27] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him