B2BaCEO (with Ashu Garg)

Kevin Johnson led two companies in very different stages of growth. Here’s how he did it and what he looks for in new hires.

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Ratuken buys Ebates

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ebates-m-a-rakuten/rakuten-says-to-buy-u-s-rebate-site-operator-ebates-for-1-billion-idUSKBN0H40JM20140909

Kevin Johnson becomes CEO of Udemy

https://about.udemy.com/press-releases/udemy-board-appoints-kevin-h-johnson-as-new-ceo/

Managing through influence

https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/how-to-lead-with-influence-instead-of-authority

Two-time founder Mohit Aron tells me how blueprints and checklists can guide your startup in its earliest stages.

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Mohit goes into more detail about his entry point framework

https://rajeshsetty.com/2017/06/29/mohit-aron-evaluating-ideas/

Cohesity is on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/14/cohesity-2019-disruptor-50.html

More about Geoffrey Moore, creator of the “technology adoption life cycle”:

http://www.geoffreyamoore.com/

Burton Goldfield tells me his CEO strategy: know the results you want and build your company towards achieving them.

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TriNet goes public

https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/03/27/san-leandro-trinet-ipo-gives-east-bay-a-new-1-billion-company/

Aaron tells me how to scale your company while maintaining its culture and the benefits of going public.

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More about Andy Grove’s 10X theory

https://thekeypoint.org/2018/03/19/only-the-paranoid-survive/

Aaron talks more about maintaining company culture while scaling

https://firstround.com/review/Aaron-Levie-on-How-to-Scale-10x-as-a-CEO-Built-a-Billion-Dollar-Business/

A Box employee makes his mom proud

https://blog.box.com/make-moms-proud

Box finally goes public

https://money.cnn.com/2015/01/23/investing/box-ipo-tech-stocks/index.html

Dorm room startup co-founder Aaron Levie tells me how he made the decision to pivot Box from a consumer product to an enterprise solution.

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Getting Mark Cuban

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-a-cold-email-brought-mark-cuban-to-box-11554474601

Aaron’s 2006 email to an investor about the need to pivot

https://www.fastcompany.com/1787627/starred-how-box-cofounder-aaron-levie-enticed-vcs-mark-cuban-battle-microsoft-google

Aaron talks to Harvard Business Review about Box’s pivot to enterprise

https://hbr.org/ideacast/2017/12/boxs-ceo-on-pivoting-to-the-enterprise-market.html

Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan tells me why and how happiness is an essential part of his multi-billion-dollar company.

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Glassdoor names Zoom the best tech company to work for in 2019

https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/best-tech-companies-2019/

… and the second best company to work for overall

https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Best-Places-to-Work-LST_KQ0,19.htm

Zoom’s first customer

https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2013/08/15/stanford-continuing-studies-takes-education-online-with-zoom-video-conferencing/

Yes, there really is a happiness crew

https://www.builtincolorado.com/2018/07/27/spotlight-working-at-zoom-video-communications-culture

Zoom goes public, happiness (and stock prices) increase

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/zoom-video-rockets-to-nosebleed-valuation-after-ipo-but-ceo-says-he-is-comfortable-with-it-2019-04-18

The man, the maniac.

Tien Tzuo, Co-Founder and CEO of Zuora, tells me how he tells his company’s story when he pitches to customers and investors and how to scale up to $1 billion.

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Tien’s book

https://www.zuora.com/subscribed/author/

Zuora prepares for its IPO

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/zuora-prices-ipo-at-14-per-share--valuing-the-company-at-1-point-44-billion.html

Tien’s daughter rings the opening bell

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/04/12/opening-bell-april-12-2018.html

Tien’s interview with NYT where he mentions his dislike of one-on-ones

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/business/tien-tzuo-of-zuora-dont-expect-me-to-manage-you.html

Tien’s “climb to $1 billion” strategy

https://www.zuora.com/guides/climb-build-billion-dollar-run-rate/

Tien discusses his three room structure

https://www.zuora.com/2017/09/14/3-questions-for-tien-tzuo-ceo-founder-of-zuora/

Frederic Laluyaux’s first startup flopped but he has taken that experience with him to his current position as president and CEO of Aera Technology. Frederic tells me how to new founders can find what they’re looking for.

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Aera Technology

https://www.aeratechnology.com/

Anaplan’s re-launch

https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20170620-fusionops-rebrands-as-aera-technology-after-landing-50-million-in-venture-funds/

Anaplan’s $1 billion valuation

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-14/anaplan-valued-at-1-1-billion-after-90-million-pre-ipo-round