Podcast Summary
Navigating a crisis as a CEO: The importance of hiring and empowering the right team: During a crisis, hiring and empowering the right team can help a company adapt, shift its business model, and ultimately come out stronger on the other side.
Navigating a crisis as a CEO requires hiring the right employees and providing them with the necessary context to help the company bounce back. Ariel Cohen, CEO of Navan, shares his experience of starting the company pre-revenue, growing it to post-revenue, and then losing all revenue due to COVID-19. Despite the challenges, Cohen emphasizes the importance of staying in the market and accelerating product development. He also highlights the critical role of employees during a crisis, as they can help the company adapt to new circumstances and shift its business model if necessary. Cohen's journey serves as a reminder that even seasoned CEOs can face unexpected challenges, and the ability to hire and empower the right team is crucial for navigating those challenges and ultimately coming out on the other side.
Navigating unexpected crises as an entrepreneur: Adapt quickly, make tough decisions, maintain positivity, focus on customers and employees, learn and grow from crises
Unexpected crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, can significantly impact businesses and challenge even the most successful entrepreneurs. The emotional journey during such crises can range from suspension and execution to depression and introspection. In the face of adversity, it's essential to adapt quickly and make tough decisions, even if they come with negative consequences. It's also crucial for founders to maintain a positive mindset and focus on customer satisfaction and employee morale, even during challenging times. Ultimately, crises can serve as opportunities for growth and learning, helping businesses emerge stronger than before.
Hiring for Character is Key During Growth and Crisis: Hire employees based on drive, smartness, qualification, and character for long-term success. Character is crucial and can be assessed through personal interactions.
Hiring the right employees is crucial for a company, especially during times of growth and crisis. The speaker shared his experience of growing his company from 200 to 1200 employees in a year, which brought about numerous challenges. He emphasized that while it may be easy to hire employees in places like Silicon Valley, it's important to consider the type of employees being brought on board. Some employees may be more focused on their personal gains and may not be as committed to the company's mission during difficult times. The speaker learned the hard way that hiring based on qualifications alone is not enough. Instead, he now hires based on four criteria: drive, smartness, qualification, and character. Character is the most difficult to define, but it's essential. The speaker suggests asking yourself if you would want to have a beer with the candidate to gauge their character. Ultimately, hiring employees who are committed to the company's mission and have the right character traits can make a significant difference during times of crisis.
Acknowledge the reality of the situation and make tough decisions: During crises, be honest about challenges, prioritize, pivot, and adapt to survive and thrive
During times of crisis, it's essential to be honest with yourself and your team about the reality of the situation. This means acknowledging both the business and personal challenges, and making tough decisions about who and what to prioritize. It also means having the courage to pivot and adapt, even when it seems counterintuitive. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, some companies in the travel industry might have assumed that expanding their product line was the last thing they should do. But by building an expense and payment business, one company was able to not only survive but thrive. This required a strong gut feeling and a clear mission, even in the face of uncertainty and adversity. Ultimately, being authentic and resilient can help you and your team navigate even the most challenging crises.
CEO's story of pivoting during the COVID-19 pandemic: Agility, adaptability, and staying informed were crucial for a travel expense management company during the COVID-19 pandemic. They expanded their customer base, created a new segment, invested in technology, managed finances, and raised funds to become more resilient.
During times of uncertainty and crisis, focusing on essential services and adaptability can help businesses not only survive but thrive. The CEO of a travel expense management company shared how they pivoted their strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic by continuing to sell and implement their software, even for free, to their enterprise customers. This allowed them to expand their customer base and create a new segment, which was crucial for their business continuity. The CEO also emphasized the importance of staying informed and adaptable during the pandemic, predicting its duration and planning accordingly. Another key aspect was their investment in technology, such as building a machine learning model to understand the spread of COVID-19, which proved to be valuable in the long run. The company also learned to manage their finances and raise funds during the pandemic, becoming more resilient to future waves and challenges. With the advancement of generative AI, there is a potential for significant changes in user interfaces, shifting towards natural language interfaces, which could impact the business landscape. Overall, the CEO's story highlights the importance of agility, adaptability, and staying informed during uncertain times.
Implementing Generative AI in Travel: Personalization, Analytics, and Hybrid UI: Travel industry uses generative AI for personalized recommendations, cost savings through analytics, and hybrid UI for smooth transition, making it an ideal use case due to vast user data and existing infrastructure.
Navaan, a travel company, recognizes the potential of generative AI in travel and has implemented it in three steps: personalizing AI support, saving company money through analytics, and creating a hybrid UI for a smooth transition. Travel is an ideal use case for generative AI due to the vast amount of data from frequent users, allowing for personalized recommendations. However, the infrastructure required to book a flight is significant, making the connection to this existing infrastructure a powerful advantage. Despite having a large workforce, not all engineers will be directly relevant to the new architecture, but the company plans to experiment with the hybrid UI to gauge user preferences.
Navigating the Shifts in Tech: Ariel and Todd's Stories: Stay informed and adaptable to new technologies, pivot when necessary, and lead a team that can quickly adjust to changing circumstances to thrive in the tech industry.
In the rapidly evolving tech industry, the ability to learn and adapt is crucial for both individuals and organizations. The speakers in this discussion, Ariel and Todd, have experienced this firsthand as they navigated the shifts from on-premises software to SaaS, mobile, and now generative AI. They emphasized the importance of staying informed and adjusting to new technologies, as well as the value of having a team that can adapt quickly to changing circumstances. Ariel shared his experience of pivoting his company in response to the emergence of generative AI, while Todd discussed the challenges of leading a publicly traded company and the importance of keeping up with industry trends. Both CEOs highlighted the potential consequences of falling behind, whether it means struggling to find employment or facing competition from new technologies. Overall, their stories underscore the importance of staying curious and adaptable in the ever-changing tech landscape.
Navigating challenges as a CEO: Stay focused on goals, be confident in decisions, find balance between employee happiness and clear company vision, and have a challenge-driven mindset to navigate obstacles.
Leading a company, especially during times of significant change, requires a mindset that embraces challenges and adversity. The CEO of Okta shared how they have navigated financial, cultural, and personnel changes by staying focused on their goals and being confident in their decisions, even when faced with potential backlash. They also mentioned the importance of finding a balance between keeping employees happy and maintaining a clear company vision and strategy. A concrete example given was the shift from trying to please everyone to having more conviction in leadership decisions, which ultimately leads to less confusion and more alignment among employees. In essence, the journey of building a successful company involves constant challenges, but a challenge-driven mindset and clear leadership can help navigate these obstacles and keep the team moving forward.
Making tough decisions for the betterment of a company: CEOs must make difficult decisions, even if controversial, for long-term success. Delaying integration of teams can lead to security issues, while public expectations vs internal progress can create a disconnect.
Making tough decisions for the betterment of a company, even if controversial, is crucial for long-term success. The CEO shared an example of integrating two companies, where the integration of security teams was delayed due to excuses and fear of upsetting the status quo. So when security issues arose, the CEO made the difficult call to combine the teams, resulting in some turnover but ultimately benefiting the company. Regarding being a public company, the CEO noted the challenge of setting realistic external expectations and then internally pushing for aggressive growth. The quarterly reporting and the impact on stock price can create a disconnect between internal progress and external perception. However, the CEO also highlighted the benefits of public status such as access to capital markets, fair compensation for employees, and the predictability it demands.
Importance of a stable business model during economic uncertainty: Securing funding during economic downturns is easier with a predictable business model and recurring revenue.
Having a predictable and stable business model with recurring revenue is crucial for a successful company, especially when it comes to fundraising and going public. This was highlighted in the discussion about the founder's experience starting a company during the financial crisis in 2009. Despite the uncertainty and fear in the VC world, the founder was able to secure funding from Andreessen Horowitz due to the clear potential of cloud computing and his credibility from his previous role at Salesforce. However, the fundraising journey was not easy, and the VCs were hesitant due to the financial instability at the time. Having a solid business model and a stable base of recurring revenue can make a company more manageable and attractive to investors, even during uncertain economic times.
Lessons from a CEO during tough times: Being decisive and clear about vision and direction during tough times can help steer the company and boost morale.
During tough times in a business, having a clear and decisive leadership approach can make a significant difference. The CEO of Okta, Todd McKinnon, shared his experience of going through rough patches in the company, including a security issue and integration challenges during an acquisition. He admitted that during those times, he made the mistake of seeking too much input from the board, which came across as indecisiveness. Instead, he learned to be more assertive and clear about his vision and direction. This shift in approach led to a dramatic change in tone and confidence among the board members and the team. It's important to remember that during difficult times, having a clear and confident leadership can help steer the company through challenges and keep morale high.
Balancing Confidence and Openness in Leadership: Effective leadership requires a balance between confidence and openness. Openness fosters collaboration and engagement, while confidence inspires trust and decisiveness. Leaders must learn to navigate both, making tough decisions and allowing team members to contribute.
Effective leadership involves striking a balance between confidence and openness. The speaker shares his experience of transitioning from a small company CEO with a "I got this" mindset to a more collaborative approach when the team grew. He acknowledges that his initial closed-off attitude negatively impacted the team and prevented them from feeling engaged and contributing to solutions. However, when he opened up and shared the company's challenges, it galvanized the team and created a more transparent and collaborative culture at Okta. Additionally, the speaker discusses how becoming a CEO led him to make decisions more slowly due to the increased responsibility and the perceived consequences of mistakes. He emphasizes the importance of learning to make tough decisions, even if it means letting go of loyal team members who have outgrown their roles. Overall, the speaker's experience highlights the importance of being a confident leader while also fostering an open and collaborative team environment.
Balancing loyalty and change in leadership: Striking the right balance between loyalty and change is crucial for CEOs. Being too loyal can hinder growth, while being too permissive can lead to chaos. Mindful of pace of change, adaptability, trust, collaboration, and feedback are essential for effective leadership and company success.
Finding the right balance between loyalty and change is crucial for a CEO. Being too loyal and resistant to change can hinder growth and progress, while being too permissive and making hasty changes can lead to chaos. The speaker shares his personal experience of making both mistakes and the importance of finding the right balance. He advises new leaders to be mindful of the pace of change and the need to adapt while maintaining trust and loyalty from the team. It's an art to strike the right balance and is essential for the success of a company. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of collaboration and the value of feedback from others. Overall, the discussion highlights the importance of adaptability, trust, and effective leadership in driving growth and success.
