Acquired founders need to learn to use the parent company's scale

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

1. 24:07

   And is there anything else that you're surprised by? Again, they may look similar from the outside, but the more you dig in, you see why number one is in the position they're in? You know, what's interesting is the hardest thing to put your arms around as a larger company is sometimes number ones also win because of sheer will of the founder, right? Some founders are just, what do you call them, alpha killers or whatever they are.

2. 24:35

   Are we talking about, we need context here. Yeah. Oh, you don't want to be, okay, go ahead. No, no, we've run into each other a few times and I've watched a lot of your interviews and I just think there's like a no bullshit, the reason I asked you to be on the show is because like I like these founders just seem to be like minimal bullshit. Like, we're here to fucking win, and that's what we're doing.

3. 24:53

   Yes. And, like, this is, I think you've already alluded to this a few times, and I was shocked when we were talking before we started recording. We're kind of like playing that down a little bit. I was like, no, no, no, I'm pretty sure I know what's sitting across from me. And I was naming some other founders that remind me of you in the way that you operate. It's one thing to be that as the leader of the entity.

4. 25:14

   It's one thing to have people within your team who are that way. If you acquire a company and the founder is like you described, they're going to break glass and it's okay. But they also have to find a way of coexisting with the larger entity because, you know, What you get with working with the Palo Alto, for example, and if you're a founder, you founder, I have 6,000 people in the field. You have eight.

5. 25:36

   You got to find a way of leveraging 6,000 people. They're not all bad. They're amazing, right? And sometimes when you're a founder, you take on this point of view that everybody's stupid. I'm smart. I'm going to get this shit done. Anybody who comes in my way is basically slowing me down. It's not competent enough. You got to change. You got to need a mental reset. if you're going to survive and succeed in a larger ecosystem.

6. 25:59

   You've got to be able to balance it. I get it. I get 6,000 salespeople. My job is to motivate 6,000 people to go out there and sell my product because they do. My vision of wanting to make this an amazing product is going to be realized because these 6,000 people are going to be my amplifiers. Sometimes founders who are used to doing small team stuff and going and being the underdog don't realize you went from being the underdog, now you're part of the overdog.

7. 26:22

   And that's the only risk that one has to watch out for. But tie that, what you're saying right now, to the will of the founder. So you're saying like the will of the founder running, they're succeeding in a smaller company, largely built due to the will of the founder. They have to modulate their behavior? Is that what you're saying? You have to make sure that they can modulate their behavior and succeed in your environment.

8. 26:41

   Got it. If they can't modulate their behavior and succeed in the environment, then I lose their leadership on the product part because they're going to rub people the wrong way and then they're going to get frustrated. So that's what I have to watch out for. Sometimes the one and two has to be adapted by us for who's going to be a better fit in our environment. I'm kind of like personally obsessed with this idea of like there's usually a gap between one and two.

9. 27:05

   Yes, I heard that the third time, yes. So keep going. You can ask it again. No, no, no. Maybe I'm not a smart enough answer. No, no, I'm not. Again, this whole show is for my personal education. I can see that.