Grit

#210 CEO & Co-Founder Huntress Kyle Hanslovan w/ Ev Randle: Deep Roots


Listen Later

Guest: Kyle Hanslovan, CEO & co-founder of Huntress; and Ev Randle, partner at Kleiner Perkins

Talk is cheap, says Huntress CEO Kyle Hanslovan: “I learned real early on that integrity is like one of the very few things, if not the only thing, you can't buy.” En route to Huntress’ current status as a $1.5 billion firm with $100 million in ARR, he took a long time to hire new execs, or partner with VC firms.

Indeed, Kleiner Perkins partner Ev Randle recalls the deliberation Hanslovan underwent before signing KP’s term sheet. “It's pretty rare for a founder's diligence process on you to increase your conviction on them and the business that they're building,” he says. “You just saw that the effort extended across to so many different places and so many details that it's typically not.”


Chapters:

  • (01:03) - Learning how things work
  • (03:31) - Default trusting
  • (05:07) - Over-sharing
  • (10:50) - Kyle’s leadership style
  • (15:44) - Hiring for conflict
  • (19:24) - Scaling execs
  • (22:52) - Evaluating VCs
  • (28:55) - Pattern-matching
  • (32:13) - Why Huntress is worth $1.5 billion
  • (38:34) - Kyle’s childhood and early career
  • (42:00) - The 99 percent
  • (47:49) - Bootstrapping
  • (51:14) - Deep roots
  • (57:47) - Customer love
  • (01:01:14) - “Nothing will stop us”
  • (01:05:50) - Who Huntress is hiring
  • (01:07:22) - What “grit” means to Kyle

  • Mentioned in this episode: Sony, Sam Altman, Nike, Elad Gil and High Growth Handbook, Kim Scott and Radical Candor, JMI Equity, Vinod Khosla, Todd Park, Capterra, Reddit, FUBU, Rippling, the NSA, QuickBooks, Amazon AWS, and South Park.


    Links:

    Connect with Kyle

    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn

    Connect with Ev

    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn

    Connect with Joubin


    Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    GritBy Kleiner Perkins

    • 4.9
    • 4.9
    • 4.9
    • 4.9
    • 4.9

    4.9

    187 ratings


    More shows like Grit

    View all
    This Week in Startups by Jason Calacanis

    This Week in Startups

    1,288 Listeners

    The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch by Harry Stebbings

    The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

    530 Listeners

    The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors by SaaStr

    The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

    173 Listeners

    a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

    a16z Podcast

    1,088 Listeners

    Founders by David Senra

    Founders

    2,078 Listeners

    All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg by All-In Podcast, LLC

    All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

    9,812 Listeners

    ACQ2 by Acquired by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

    ACQ2 by Acquired

    262 Listeners

    No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups by Conviction

    No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

    133 Listeners

    BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley by BG2Pod

    BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley

    510 Listeners

    AI + a16z by a16z

    AI + a16z

    33 Listeners

    Revenue Builders by Force Management

    Revenue Builders

    155 Listeners

    Lightcone Podcast by Y Combinator

    Lightcone Podcast

    19 Listeners

    Training Data by Sequoia Capital

    Training Data

    41 Listeners

    Uncapped with Jack Altman by Alt Capital

    Uncapped with Jack Altman

    39 Listeners

    Cheeky Pint by Stripe

    Cheeky Pint

    18 Listeners