14 Minutes of SaaS - founder stories on business, tech and life

Cameron Adams – Co-founder & CPO of Canva, talks about product innovation and building teams that feel safe enough to express their creativity and take risks. He explains why it's almost impossible to AB test your way to a unicorn.

Cameron Adams, Co-founder & CPO of Canva, talks about his personal history and his decision to become a co-founder of this current rocket ship. Canva is a graphic design platform that has raised $157M dollars on a $2.5B valuation, but he says they're only 1% done!

Chris Wysopal, Co-founder & CTO of Veracode, talks about how startups take time and how some founders may look like an overnight success, but usually they've been at it for years. And how to be a successful founder, you need to love what you do.

Chris Wysopal is Co-founder & CTO of Veracode, a data security SaaS company which sold for $950 million USD. He talks about his hacker mindset and the push Symantec gave him to leave and cofound his company

Whurley discusses his night-time routine and advises founders not to control their teams and to respond rather than react to important events. In essence he advises founders that the need to control oneself is should be much more pressing than any misplaced desire to control one's team

"For me the talent I work on the most is objectivity .. Data, not Drama .. which is my philosophy for how you should run a startup and run your life. So in my startups anyone can challenge any decision I’ve made, they can challenge anything, and they can challenge any authority – they only have to have data they’ve collected that they can show is objective that backs up why they think something is the wrong route for the company, why they think this is the wrong direction. And I think that would help people in their normal life too."

Transcript (under construction)

Whurley:

Data, not Drama .. which is my philosophy for how you should run a startup and run your life. So in my startups anyone can challenge any decision I’ve made, they can challenge anything, and they can challenge any authority – they only have to have data they’ve collected that they can show is objective that backs up why they think something is the wrong route for the company, why they think this is the wrong direction. And I think that would help people in their normal life too."

Stephen Cummins

Welcome to 14 minutes of SaaS, the show where you can listen to the stories and opinions of founders of the world's most remarkable SaaS ScaleUps.

In this episode - episode 7 of 8, Whurley describes 2 qualities that have underscored his success so far.  One of them is an uncanny knack for timing... the other is an ability to see the positive and the creative in those around him. He seeks to influence not control what they do.

Whurley

Now when i go to Japan, professor Mori who kinda invented annealing is there. It'll be harder to get the meetings but more relevant to what I'm doing. .... I'm enjoying the journey immensely.

Under construction ...

Timing is part luck, part opportunity. But if I had something I aspired to ... it would be a Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson etc ...

Did you bring your copy of Quantum Computing for babies with you? ...

The talent is timeing and ...

Inc. Magazine is a Romance Novel for Business Nerds.

“Romancing entrepreneurship is like romanticising people who fly 150,000 miles a year. When you’re successful, it’s all worth it. And when you’re in the middle and fighting those battles and you have those small wins, it’s super exhilarating. But it’s a form of gambling and you’re gambling with your career, and you’re gambling with your family, and you’re gambling with your life. And I don’t know that gambling should be romanticised ... I’ve never done a Series A. I’ve done 2 seed rounds. That’s the most funding I’ve done in my entire career. ….I“It becomes too much about raising money is seen as successful because with the money comes the power – I can hire people, I can acquire, I can do stuff. But the money is a poison because the money can also bring complacency."

Transcript:

WHURLEY

Romancing entrepreneurship is like romanticising people who fly 150,000 miles a year. When you’re successful, it’s all worth it. And when you’re in the middle and fighting those battles and you have those small wins, it’s super exhilarating. But it’s a form of gambling and you’re gambling with your career, and you’re gambling with your family, and you’re gambling with your life. And I don’t know that gambling should be romanticised

Stephen

In episode six have a Whurley describes,how risky the life of an entrepreneur is - although he embraces risk, he believes we should go in with our eyes open. He makes the case for Austin as the greatest city in the world to start a business and talks about the advantages to being an Eisenhower fellow as he travels around Germany and Japan.

WHURLEY

You know, I was just that at this event, right before TOA… these guys like, you know, saying 'I raised 200,000,000 dollars in  blah blah blah blah'.  I asked what happened to the company? Oh, you know, eventually it folded this and that… to me that's even more horrible. I mean, I would never want to say ... I mean I've only raised for one company raised 3,000,000 dollars for Honest Dollar and that obviously worked out great. I've now raised 4,000,000 in a seed for Strangeworks. To be determined.

But, you know, you raise the 3,000,000 for Honest Dollar. And I was the whole time ... was like ... we 3,000,000 dollars in debt. But if we do a series A ...  I've never done a series A. I don't want to go into debt ....  I've only raised 2 seed wounds - that's the most funding in my entire career. I believe, you know the  entrepreneurs credo ... to use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without. That should be, you know, the… the… the Bible, I think for entrepreneurs. Because it becomes too much about raising money and can create complacency in the company. I know how long 4,000,000 dollars will last - to the day ... and I will remind everybody in the company how many days we have left until we run out of this oxygen. That is this money in the startup. I want them to be painfully aware of that. ......

Inc magazine's a romance novel for business nerds ...

Expensive meme. will Quantum kill the Blockchain star? Killer blindspot. Do the best companies canabalise their own markets? Big VC: "Wanna buy a bottle of fear, uncertainty & doubt?" Little startup: "Yes please". Innovation exits stage early

Whurley talks about the great challenge to finding one's purpose being almost infinite choice. Finding this is key to getting up in the morning filled with joy about the day ahead, charged with energy & desire to make whatever it is happen

Our protagonist acquires wisdom & sheds his super-hero costume – he’ll create an interface between a swelling crowd of dev talent and tech that’ll utterly transform our future – in incomprehensible ways. A vision of an AWS for Quantum