The Platform Journey

Highlights of Avanish, Damien, and Nick's discussion include:

• Xero’s growth story from one person’s headache to a global platform supporting over 3 million customers
• The genesis of Xero’s impressive platform strategy
• How the company has created a playground for developers to solve for Xero’s customers in new and innovative ways
• Understanding the role the tension between things that the company could do and things that the ecosystem could do plays in overall platform strategy
• Practicing transparency both internally and with your partner ecosystem
• Defining your ecosystem platform principles to strike balance between first-party and third-party propositions

And much more!

Guests: Nick Houldsworth & Damien Tampling

Damien Tampling, Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer, Xero

Damien leads Xero’s global strategy, corporate development and partnership teams. Prior to joining Xero, Damien spent nearly 20 years at Deloitte in a number of senior strategy, M&A and other executive roles and was a founding partner of Deloitte’s global online and mobile technology practice, Deloitte Digital. He holds a Bachelor of Business from RMIT University, Melbourne and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Nick Houldsworth, Executive GM Ecosystem, Xero
Xero is a global small business platform, with over 1000 connected apps in its ecosystem. In 2021 Nick oversaw the launch of the new Xero App Store, and has held board and advisory roles for a number of startups. He is passionate about building a network of innovation through Xero’s ecosystem community to support small businesses worldwide. He is based in Auckland, New Zealand.

Host: Avanish Sahai

Avanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.

About Tidemark

Tidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.

Links

• Follow our guests, Nick Houldsworth and Damien Tampling
• Follow our host, Avanish Sahai
• Learn more about Tidemark

You can find the full transcript here. 

In this week’s episode, Kathy Tsitovich discusses LegalZoom’s transformation into a platform, with all of the challenges and successes that have occurred along the way.  See key topics from her discussion with Avanish below: 

• The early days of platforms and the LegalZoom customer channel (01:42)
• Identifying stakeholders in order to guide platform strategy (05:51)
• Curating valuable, lasting partnerships (09:45)
• Defining and measuring platform success (14:35)
• The importance of executive support, organizational alignment, and the long view (17:14)
• Kathy’s lessons major lessons learned and final thoughts (23:58)

Guest: Kathy Tsitovich

Kathy Tsitovich is the Chief Corporate Development & Partnerships Officer at LegalZoom – the industry leader in online small business formations and a leading online platform for legal, compliance and tax solutions.  Within this role, Kathy is responsible for driving company growth through inorganic efforts, a robust integrated partner ecosystem created for LegalZoom’s newly formed small businesses and opening new channels for new user growth via strategic partners. 

Prior to joining LegalZoom in 2020, Kathy spent more than 20 years at Intuit, where she held multiple leadership roles, including Vice President of Business Development & Partnerships for the consumer group, leading the Global Partnerships team focused on delivering small business partner solutions and integrations via the Intuit Developer Platform. She was also a key member of Intuit’s Corporate Strategy & Development. Kathy holds a patent for algorithms and models for creditworthiness based on financial management data and is a 2014 winner of the Scott Cook Innovation Award for her contributions to QuickBooks Capital.

Kathy graduated from the University of Missouri with a B.S. in Business Administration and Finance and is currently the Executive Sponsor of the LegalZoom Women’s Network. 

Kathy lives in Chicago with her husband, two kids and dog, Bear.  When she’s not catching up on email or writing a “to do” list, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading and playing golf as much as possible during the super short Chicago summer!

Host: Avanish Sahai

Avanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.

About Tidemark

Tidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.

Links

• Follow our guest,  Kathy Tsitovich
• Follow our host, Avanish Sahai
• Learn more about Tidemark

You can find the full transcript here. 

Tom and Avanish kick off the session focusing on what it means to build a platform, and a partner ecosystem around that platform. Then, they dig into where Tom is on the platform journey. He’s been building OneStream for some time and it has grown amazingly well, with a marketplace of over 50 solutions and over 200 partners. They cover… 

• Driving towards constant improvement and platform dependency (7:23)
• What the true definition of “platform” is and the necessary mindset to achieve platform status (9:27)
• Recognizing the right patterns early on in the platform journey (15:25)
• Separating platform thinking from traditional product thinking (17:00)
• The biggest roadblocks for platform building (19:10)
• The evolution of cloud ecosystems over the last several years (28:09)

Guest: Tom Shea

Tom is an original founder of OneStream Software™, an original architect of OneStream, and serves as CEO of the company.  He is passionate when it comes to delivering value, success, and support. Tom’s vision is to change the entire CPM ecosystem with a solution that combines power and flexibility with ease of use, deployment, and maintenance. Prior to OneStream, Tom was an original founder of UpStream Software in January of 2000 where he invented and architected UpStream TB and later UpStream WebLink. These products pioneered a new space called Financial Data Quality and achieved a better way to manage data quality for Hyperion products by providing a packaged product (UpStream/FDM) every company could use. Tom is a graduate of Oakland University, where he earned his BS in Accounting and Finance as well as an MBA in Systems Analysis and Design.

Host: Avanish Sahai

Avanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.

About Tidemark

Tidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.

Links

• Follow our guest, Tom Shea
• Follow our host, Avanish Sahai
• Learn more about Tidemark

You can find the full transcript here. 

In this episode, Arshad Matin details Avetta’s impressive platform journey and the critical components to developing a successful SaaS platform that provides value to everyone that touches it. See key topics in his discussion with Avanish below:

• Understanding Avetta, a two-sided network for supply chain risk management (0:57)
• Enriching a platform with data and APIs (2:45)
• The tipping point of ecosystem and network growth (7:50)
• Providing multiple pillars of value and capitalizing on industry trends (11:10)
• Creating a “platform mindset”: the win-win-win scenario (17:08)
• How to approach a platform strategy: key questions to ask (23:42)
• The importance of humility and empathy while building a platform ecosystem (26:25)

Guest: Arshad Matin

As Avetta’s CEO, Arshad is focused on enhancing safety, sustainability, and regulatory compliance outcomes for organizations throughout the world. Prior to joining Avetta, Arshad served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a board member of Paradigm, a leading global developer of software and analytics solutions to the global oil and gas industry. Arshad also held senior leadership positions at Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), Seismic Micro Technology, and was a Partner at McKinsey & Company.  Arshad also serves as a board member and trustee for ASGN Incorporated (NYSE: ASGN), and several non-profit organizations including the Houston Endowment, Texas Children’s Hospital, and Asia Society Texas Center. 

Host: Avanish Sahai

Avanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.

About Tidemark

Tidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.

Links

• Follow our guest, Arshad Matin
• Follow our host, Avanish Sahai
• Learn more about Tidemark

You can find the full transcript here. 

In this episode, Anu Bharadwaj shares her tricks of the trade as one of the most impressive product and platform minds we know. She draws on her time at Microsoft, where she launched several products for Microsoft Studio, as well as her current role leading operations for Atlassian, to provide some really fascinating insights. 

• How Atlassian got its start (1:23)
• Anu’s unique  journey from Microsoft to her role as Atlassian COO (3:56)
• The three key things that led to the platformization of Atlassian (11:44)
• The impressive proliferation of the Atlassian Marketplace (17:13)
• The roadblocks and challenges Atlassian has faced with both platform and ecosystem shifts (25:01)
• Is your product right for platformization? What should you consider when making this determination? (30:11)
• Why no strategy is better than its execution (31:13)
• The human side of platform building (32:33)

Guest: Anu Bharadwaj 

Anu Bharadwaj is the Chief Operating Officer at Atlassian. Anu leads transformative projects across product lines at Atlassian, including the enterprise business, cloud platform teams and operations.

An accomplished executive with a track record of growing $1B+ businesses, building great teams and shipping blockbuster products, Anu joined Atlassian in 2014 as the Head of Product for Jira, and has held a variety of roles at the company during her tenure. Prior to joining Atlassian, Anu was at Microsoft, launching several products for Microsoft Visual Studio for over 10 years. Anu is passionate about making the world a better place through technology and effective philanthropy. She is a member of OutSystem’s board of directors and serves as the Director of Atlassian Foundation.

Host: Avanish Sahai

Avanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.

About Tidemark

Tidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.

Links

• Follow our guest, Anu Bharadwaj
• Follow our host, Avanish Sahai
• Learn more about Tidemark

You can find the the full transcript here. 

In this episode, Mike Rosenbaum shares his experience and key learnings on what it really takes to build a powerful platform, drawing on his time leading product management and go-to-market strategy for core CRM products at Salesforce and as EVP of the Salesforce Platform team, to his current role leading Guidewire. 

• The early innings of platform building at Salesforce (3:30)
• What you should be considering as you chart the platform course for your company (6:07)
• Getting crystal clear on what you mean by “platform” (8:28)
• What really made Salesforce unique (12:13)
• Mike’s cardinal rules for platform building (14:26)
• A realistic approach to failure (17:38)
• Always considering your customer’s perspective (23:18)
• What the highest level of platform looks like (27:40)

Guest: Mike Rosenbaum

Mike Rosenbaum is CEO of Guidewire Software, where he has overall responsibility for global strategy, organization, culture, and operations. He is passionate about building great teams and innovative products and platforms that deliver value for customers, partners, and shareholders. Prior to Guidewire, Mike led product management and go-to-market strategy for core CRM products at Salesforce and was also EVP of the Salesforce Platform team. He also served in the US Navy as a submarine officer. Mike’s unique leadership and cloud experience give him the capability to accelerate Guidewire’s role in the P&C industry.

Host: Avanish Sahai

Avanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.

Links

• Follow our guest, Mike Rosenbaum
• Follow our host, Avanish Sahai
• Learn more about Tidemark

You can find the full transcript here. 

Having started out as a marketing applications company, HubSpot’s goal today is to be the number one platform for scaling companies.  In this episode, co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah shares some of the most important lessons he has learned on the journey since HubSpot’s founding in 2006.

• HubSpot’s journey to becoming a CRM platform (1:17)
• How to measure success as a platform (3:14)
• How to attract partners to the platform (5:52) and striking the balance between established partners and new native apps (8:01)
• Importance of being a joy to partner with (8:55) and culture of solving for the customer (11:51)
• It’s ok to have conflict and competition (14:32)
• Investing in the core vs opening up the platform (16:53)
• A couple platforms Dharmesh admires (25:45)
• Parting thoughts on monetization (28:36)

Guest: Dharmesh Shah

Dharmesh Shah is co-founder and CTO of HubSpot. Prior to founding HubSpot in 2006, Dharmesh was founder and CEO of Pyramid Digital Solutions, which was acquired by SunGard Data Systems in 2005.  In addition to co-authoring “Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs”, Dharmesh founded and writes for OnStartups.com -- a top-ranking startup blog and community with more than 700,000 members.  In 2013, Dharmesh published HubSpot’s Culture Code, which has garnered over five million views. Named an Inc. Founders 40 in 2016, he is an active member of the Boston-area entrepreneurial community, an angel investor in over 60 startups, and a frequent speaker on startups, inbound marketing, and company culture.

Host: Avanish Sahai

Avanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.

About Tidemark

Tidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.

Links

• Follow our guest, Dharmesh Shah
• Follow our host, Avanish Sahai
• Learn more about Tidemark

You can find the full transcript here.