Greymatter

Enabling efficiency has always been at the heart of Zapier’s mission: the automation software startup was founded specifically to serve as the lynchpin platform between myriad web apps, allowing people to focus on their core projects without getting bogged down with mundane tasks. Moreover, the company has been distributed from the get-go, and has found that the requisite digital tools, meeting structure and business strategies that make remote work possible also happen to be the most proactive, pragmatic and productive ways to run a business. Zapier CEO and co-founder Wade Foster sat down with Greylock general partner Sarah Guo to discuss what he’s learned in the nine years since the company was founded, and how he sees the widespread shift to remote work affecting the way companies operate in the future. This episode is part of the #WorkFromAnywhere series hosted by Sarah Guo and David Thacker.

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At the SaaStr Annual event (held virtually this year) Greylock general partners David Wadhwani and Sarah Guo discussed the key elements to successfully navigating operational phase shifts, which David has experienced numerous times over the course of his two-decade career as a software executive at companies such as AppDynamics and Adobe. David detailed 5 things every company and founder should do to navigate phase shifts successfully, illustrated by examples of how they played out during his own experience.

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Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman shares his experience during PayPal's numerous pivots, and outlines how pivots have built some of the iconic tech companies in modern history. Hoffman describes how pivots are an integral part of the entrepreneurial process for startups: Whether you're pivoting in the early days because you haven't yet found product-market fit, or you're pivoting by reinventing yourself later on, all companies – if they're going to become and stay successful – are going to have to pivot.

You can read the essay based on this conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/reid-hoffman-the-startup-pivot/

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The nature of work today is increasingly dynamic, distributed, flexible, and digital-first. Relying on the extended workforce is more than a short-term, stop-gap solution: businesses are finding this population to be an efficient, viable source of talent instrumental to their core operations. That's why Utmost developed the first ever extended workforce system (EWS) to help enterprises source, engage, pay, and optimize their entire non-employee workforce, including freelancers, consultants and more. The company, which was founded in 2018 by former Workday and Groupon executives, has been a distributed organization from the start and has a unique vantage into the fast-changing nature of work. Utmost COO and co-founder Dan Beck sat down with Greylock partner Saam Motamedi to discuss. This episode is part of Greymatter's #WorkFromAnywhere series.

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This episode of Greymatter features Reid Hoffman in conversation with Peter High, president of business and IT strategy firm Metis Strategy.

In the context of the current pandemic and economic crisis, Reid and Peter discuss strategies and insights for entrepreneurs on building, developing and strengthening their ecosystem (while offering the same level of support and insight back); the importance of co-design in go-to-market strategy; how blitzscaling applies to large companies; and how the pandemic has caused previous market failures to move to market readiness. The conversation took place in front of a live virtual audience during the Metis Strategy Digital Symposium.

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Productivity software startup Coda was founded to empower anyone to make a document as powerful as an app, no engineering required. Now that many businesses have no choice but to be distributed, Coda has seen accelerating adoption as a central collaboration hub within companies. Coda CEO and co-founder Shishir Mehrotra discusses with Greylock general partner Sarah Guo why he believes “the world runs on docs, not apps,” why the core metaphors for productivity systems are stagnant, solving the “tragedy of the commons in enterprise software,” the most commonly pressed three buttons in SaaS, why you want structured participation in your board meetings, lessons learned from the in-office (and not) cultures of Microsoft and Google, and his predictions for the future of productivity. This episode is part of the #WorkFromAnywhere series hosted by Sarah and fellow Greylock partner David Thacker.

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Greylock general partner and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and his Blitzscaling co-author Chris Yeh discuss one the most common outcomes of startups: Failure. But although failure is often the default state for startups, it is neither inevitable nor is it necessarily the end of the story. Even if you are able to bring yourself to look failure in the eye, you can take steps to maximize your chance of success. And even if you fail despite your best efforts, if you behave ethically and demonstrate that you've learned from the mistakes you might have made along the way, failure is definitely not the end. In fact, it may be the beginning. You can read an essay based on this conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/reid-hoffman-myths-about-failure/

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Since Covid-19 first hit, Solv Health has played an instrumental role in helping healthcare organizations connect virtually with patients to provide telemedicine and same or next-day clinic appointments (as well as myriad administrative services such as contactless payments and digital paperwork). CEO and co-founder Heather Fernandez said the sudden, widespread shift to telemedicine meant Solv went from hosting about 9,000 virtual visits in all of 2019 to hosting half a million since March of 2020. The company is also now facilitating Covid-19 testing across its partner organizations. Fernandez sat down with Greymatter to talk about the complexity – and opportunity – in scaling a health tech startup during a public health crisis.

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In an increasingly politicized world, it’s harder and harder for CEOs to keep business and politics separate. And in an increasingly politicized world, they shouldn’t. When an issue creates risks that are severe, broad in scope, and systemic in impact, business leaders have an obligation to speak up, especially if the issue clashes with the company’s ethics, culture, and vision for the future. Reid Hoffman and Blitzscaling co-author Chris Yeh outline a set of principles that can help decide when, how, and why CEOs should speak out.

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Figma was founded in 2012 with a mission to connect designers virtually, enabling collaboration and communication no matter where they were in the world. Fast forward to 2020, and that original operational intent has paved the way for the company to expand significantly in the face of Covid-19’s impact on the working world. Figma CEO and co-founder Dylan Field sat down with Greylock general partner Sarah Guo to discuss how the company has evolved to meet a surge in demand, adapted to going fully remote, and how he is approaching leadership during this time of great upheaval. This episode is part of the #WorkFromAnywhere podcast series hosted by Sarah and Greylock partner David Thacker.

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