Coda started when they asked themselves: In a world full of applications, why do documents and spreadsheets still run everything? Why haven’t they changed in over 40 years? And what would we build if we started from scratch?

They made it their mission to rip the document down to the studs and build a new set of building blocks that would empower people to make docs as powerful as apps.

Meet Coda (coda.io), a new doc that blends the flexibility of documents, the power of spreadsheets and the utility of applications into a single canvas, so anyone can make docs as powerful as apps.

Companies like Cheddar, Spotify, and Uber as well as small businesses, such as Hudson Baking Company, have been building Coda docs to create solutions for their problems. I invited Shishir Mehrotra, CEO, and Co-Founder of Coda, Inc., onto the show to find out more.

Shishir Mehrotra is also the Director of Spotify Technology and served as Strategic Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer from December 2015 to May 2017. He served as Vice President of Product and Engineering, Youtube/Video at Google Inc. Mr. Mehrotra has served as a Director of Product Management for Google TV Ads and YouTube Ads at Google Inc. He also served as Director of Program Management at Microsoft.

As someone that worked closely with bringing the Microsoft Office email client to the market, I learn more about his story. We also discuss the inspiration behind Coda and making docs as powerful as apps and rethinking productivity from scratch