Episoder
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For any founders or managers navigating go-to-market, strategy and org structure, this is the episode for you.
Ryan Denehy is Founder & CEO of Electric AI, a leading SMB IT management platform. He previously founded two companies: Royalty Media (sold to USA Today) and Swarm (sold to Groupon). Ryan is never afraid to share detailed advice from his own journey and also from advising/investing in other founders. This episode is rich with insights on how to identify and execute pivots, matching product and go-to-market, and why company building relies on manual hard work at every stage. Ryan also shares lessons on hiring, layoffs, and changing company strategy even at scale. You can see why Ryan is one of my favorite people to talk with and connect founders to for advice from this episode!
Where to Find Ryan:
* Twitter: https://x.com/DenehyXXL
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandenehy/
Where to Find Shomik:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.
In this episode, we cover:
(00:58) – Ryan’s Entrepreneurship Background
(04:00) – Pivoting & Selling Royalty Media to USA Today
(07:45) – Industry Dynamics Around AdTech
(10:03) – Selling Swarm to Groupon and Experiencing Peak of Growth
(13:46) – Starting Electric AI Targeting SMBs
(18:02) – Matching Go-To-Market to SMB ACVs & Velocity
(20:12) – Why You Can’t Rely on Customer Referrals and Need to Cold Email / Call
(22:25) – Lessons Brought from First 2 Companies to Starting Electric AI
(26:15) – Founder Awareness Knowing How to Hire to Augment Weaknesses
(29:12) – Hiring Player Coaches Early
(30:40) – Changing the Business Model and Leadership at ~$50M ARR
(33:26) – How to Prepare For and Manage Large Team & Strategy Changes
(35:47) – Diagnosing Changes to Make in the R&D Org
(38:37) – Managing Culture Through Team & Strategy Changes
(41:37) – Applying AI to IT Ticket Comprehension & Process Automation
(43:11) – Internal Vendor Consolidation and Diagnosing Real AI Use Cases
(44:36) – Shadow IT Data Access & Controls
(47:00) – Wrap Up
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
This episode is for builders experimenting in AI. We dive deep into technical aspects of agent based workflows, data models, and interesting new fundamental research.
Madhav Singhal is a lead AI researcher at Replit focused on the frontier of what AI can enable for Replit users. In this episode, we dive into specific applications of models across code generation, testing, programming languages and more. We get fairly technical into how data maps to ML models and the types of agent based workflows that work today or may work in the future. We cover why focusing time on new model architectures may not be as relevant for founders to spend time on and how everything with new technology always maps to thinking about what solves the core problem efficiently. Enjoy this deep dive into the technical aspects of agent based workflows.
Where to Find Madhav:
* Twitter: https://x.com/madhavsinghal_
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ms337/
Where to Find Shomik:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.
In this episode, we cover:
(00:40) – What does Replit do?
(02:40) – Tackling Data Bottlenecks and the Shape of the Data
(05:50) – Evolution of LLM Usage & Orchestration
(07:58) – Synthetic Data Use Cases
(11:25) – Background Behind Replit’s Program Repair Agent
(14:48) – Sampling Petabytes of Data a Day for ML
(16:06) – Handling Models Across Programming Languages
(17:12) – When to Pretrain Models and Use Smaller Models
(21:53) – Narrower Problems Means Less Hallucinations
(23:05) – Real-Time Inference
(25:51) – How Madhav Allocates His Research Time
(28:00) – Choosing Mixture of Experts or Model Merging Based on Product Use Case
(30:00) – Multi-Modal Applicability for Code
(33:25) – Why New Model Architectures Don’t Necessarily Benefit Users
(34:46) – Binary Embeddings Improving Memory & Performance for Agents
(36:18) – Agent Based vs CoPilot Approaches
(38:45) – Replit’s Culture & How They Ship So Fast
(41:57) – Simple vs Complex Agent Use Cases
(43:56) – New Paradigm: IDE Specific Workflow Models
(49:20) – Wrap Up
Show Notes:
IDE Specific Agent Workflows
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
Mangler du episoder?
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This episode is perfect for those interested in tactical advice from seed stage to IPO around marketing tactics and sales compensation.
Meghan Gill is SVP Sales Operations & Sales Development at MongoDB. She previously joined as employee #8 and has scaled with the org over the past 15 years. In this episode, we cover tactical learnings about early and scaled marketing & sales compensation approaches. We tackle how to incentivize sales teams and how educational content can be effective lead gen for an early go-to-market motion. Meghan also shares many anecdotes from the scaling journey at MongoDB with advice for founders along the way.
Where to Find Meghan:
* Twitter: https://x.com/meghanpgill?lang=en
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanpgill/
Where to Find Shomik:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.
In this episode, we cover:
(00:50) – Joining MongoDB as Employee 8
(04:37) – Moving from Marketing into Sales Ops
(05:45) – Setting Appropriate Sales Compensation
(07:08) – What Early MongoDB Got Right
(08:30) – Early Criticism
(10:27) – Do Things That Don’t Scale Moment
(12:08) – Early Enterprise Customers
(13:42) – Early NoSQL Messaging & Positioning
(16:55) – What Meghan Would Tell Herself Back as Employee 8
(18:30) – Managing 3 Kids While Building Startups
(19:50) – How Meghan Scaled Across Stages
(24:10) – Incentivizing Reps with New Product Rollouts
(26:20) – Focus Drives Efficiency
(29:05) – Career Advice
(31:00) – Early Marketing
(33:13) – Early Pricing
(34:18) – When to Make First RevOps Hire
(36:42) – What Are Common Mistakes with Sales Quotas
(39:45) – When to Adjust Sales Compensation
(40:57) – Most Common Advice Meghan Gives Around Marketing
(42:37) – Education Content as a Marketing Engine
(44:00) – Wrap Up
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
For those curious about the $25B valued business of Canva, this episode is the deep dive you’ve been waiting for.
Sandy Kory is the Founding Partner of HorizonVC, an early stage VC fund, and an angel investor in Canva. In this episode, we cover everything about the company. How it scaled to $2B ARR growing 50-60% while being cash flow positive, it’s unique product and go-to-market motion, and how AI will continue to drive the next leg of future growth. Sit back and enjoy this masterclass on Canva.
Where to Find Sandy:
* Twitter: https://x.com/sandykory
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandykory/
* Blog: https://sandykory.substack.com
Where to Find Shomik:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.
In this episode, we cover:
(00:37) – Canva’s Founding Story
(06:38) – How Sandy Invested in Canva
(08:50) – Canva’s Scale & Revenue Composition
(11:30) – Canva’s Early Land Use Case
(14:27) – Core Land Use Cases Today
(17:45) – Becoming a Platform
(19:47) – M&A Strategy
(21:50) – Personas Who Use the Product
(24:06) – TAM Estimate
(28:34) – Competitive Landscape
(31:15) – Pricing Model & User-Led Motion
(36:30) – Distribution Channels
(38:14) – Evaluating Canva’s Moats
(42:10) – Australia’s Startup Ecosystem
(44:25) – Future Product & Market Evolution for Canva
(46:50) – Potential Risks Ahead
(50:10) – Text to Video Product
(52:22) – Wrap Up
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
For those interested in learning about how tech powers capital markets and how enterprises approach digital transformation, this is the episode for you.
Sid Bala is the CIO of Data & Analytics at BNY Mellon. He is also Head of Public Cloud at the bank. In this episode, we chat about how to approach enterprise scale transformations & architecture and taking a portfolio approach to using new and existing tech. We also cover the use cases for Generative AI and how data sharing advancements across enterprises will continue to change the landscape in the future. This is a great peek into how an enterprise leader is thinking about future use cases that enterprise software could help with.
Where to Find Sid:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coffeehead/
Where to Find Shomik:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.
In this episode, we cover:
(00:40) – Sid’s Background in Enterprise Scale Tech Transformations
(02:50) – “The Art of the Possible”: Shifting to the Cloud at Large Enterprises
(08:41) – Justifying Large Scale Tech Modernization & Migrations
(12:20) – Enterprise Architecture
(13:30) – Knowing Your Own Identity
(16:25) – BNY Mellon’s Data & Analytics Platform
(19:17) – How Enterprise Can Learn From Startups
(21:00) – When to Explore New Tech Vs Improve Existing Tech
(24:17) – How Data Sharing Across Enterprises is Unlocking New Opportunities
(25:54) – Shifting from the World of Math to World of Verbal with Generative AI
(30:52) – Taking a Portfolio Approach to GenAI vs Current ML Use Cases
(33:18) – Tying Innovation to Client Needs
(34:38) – GenAI Unlocking Knowledge in Codebases & Shortening Code Review Cycles
(38:32) – How Startups Can Effectively Sell to Enterprises
(42:12) – What’s Coming Up for BNY Mellon
Show Notes:
BNY Mellon & Microsoft Strategic Alliance for Data & Analytics Platform
BNY Mellon ML Trade Settlement Models
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
For those interested in learning about OneTrust (last valued at $4.5B), this is the episode for you.
Kumar Gautam is a Partner at Sands Capital, a multi-strategy asset manager where he focuses on the late stage venture practice. In this episode, we do a deep dive into OneTrust, the ~$500M ARR business that is scaling rapidly in the data privacy, trust & GRC space. We cover all the aspects of the business in depth including the platform, customer use cases & personas, competitive landscape, go-to-market motion, and the future ahead.
Where to Find Kumar:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/kumargautam11
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kumar-gautam-8736996/
Where to Find Shomik:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
In this episode, we cover:
(00:33) – Founding Story of OneTrust
(03:34) – OneTrust Scale (ARR, FCF, Customer Scale)
(05:06) – Why Cookie Collection is Only the Tip of the Iceberg
(09:24) – Overview of OneTrust Platform’s Components
(12:45) – Buyer & User Personas
(14:29) – Customer Pain Points & Case Study
(19:12) – OneTrust’s TAM
(20:58) – Competitive Landscape
(23:40) – How OneTrust Prices & Generates Revenue
(25:48) – Go-To-Market Motion Behind 14k+ Customers
(27:55) – Why First Party Data is So Valuable
(30:13) – OneTrust’s Moat
(33:42) – Indirect Network Effects Benefiting the Business
(34:58) – Regulations, Data Management, & Consumer Expectations
(37:15) – Future Risks
(39:12) – Wrap Up
Where to Listen:
* Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
This episode is a great balance of the high level impact of AI & Cloud on enterprise use cases and detailed tech deep dives behind how they’re powered. Whether you’re a CIO, Founder, or IC, there’s stuff in here for everyone.
James Barney is Director of Cloud Platform Engineering at Ally Financial. He previously was a data engineer at Accenture and Lowe’s. In this episode, we cover how Ally as a digital bank builds and utilizes cloud technology to deliver a great experience to customers. We talk about migrating through modern tech transitions, centralizing data for internal teams’ efficiency, and of course the impact of AI. James discusses where he sees the impact of AI on enterprise workflows in the future and how to manage the challenges around using LLMs.
Where to Find James:
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-barney/
Where to Find Shomik:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
· Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(01:50) – Migrating to Hadoop & Centralizing Data at Lowe’s
(07:31) – Ally’s Early Cloud Journey
(10:50) – How Ally Innovates Using Modern Technology
(15:46) – Managing Downtime in Systems
(18:58) – Building a Cloud Workload, Security & FinOps Internal Developer Platform
(26:04) – Utilizing GenAI for Platform Eng Use Cases
(30:02) – How Good Are LLMs at Text to SQL
(34:50) - AI’s Impact of Access to Knowledge Across the Org
(38:08) - What’s Slowing Down Potential Enterprise Adoption of GenAI
(42:27) - Wrap Up
Show Notes:
* PII Masking Module for Langchain
* Early Efforts into Generative AI
* Ally Tech Blog
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
The most important trend powering AI is semiconductors and that trend is not slowing down anytime soon. We need to understand what is happening at the semiconductor level to be able to project forward what we think will occur in AI. This episode is the best way to learn what’s ahead of semis.
Doug O’Laughlin is the first 2nd time guest on Software Snack Bites! He is the Founder of Fabricated Knowledge which is one of the fastest growing and highest grossing newsletters out there. The reason for that is because each of his write-ups is packed with insights that even a layperson can understand. We did this podcast right before Nvidia GTC so you’ll have to read Fabricated Knowledge to get Doug’s takes on the new announcements. In this podcast we talk about the inference specific chips (Groq & Cerebras), why HBM (high bandwidth memory) is so important to the future semi story, Nvidia’s current dominant strategy and why they are well positioned to continue winning, where ASICs and Broadcom fit in, and some other trends outside of semis Doug is watching.
If you had listened to Doug’s episode last year, you would be up 250% on Nvidia. If you had read his writing, you would be up even more. Additionally, if you read his writing on Intel, you would have had a 65% gain in < 6 months.
Of course, this is not investment advice, do your own research, but Doug’s knowledge will at least help you figure out where to start your diligence. There are multiple links below with terminology discussed and Doug’s free articles on certain topics. The best way to support him is to subscribe to Fabricated Knowledge.
Where to Find Doug:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougolaughlin/
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoolAllTheTime
* Semiconductor Publication: https://www.fabricatedknowledge.com
Where to Find Shomik:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.
In this episode, we cover:
(02:06) – Why GPUs & CUDA are So Important to LLMs
(03:58) – Why GPUs Are More Specialized Than We Think
(06:47) – The Incentive for AI Teams to Stay with Nvidia
(08:07) – Why the Market is Excited About Groq
(09:17) – SRAM not Scaling and Why That Matters
(12:44) – Why HBM is So Important to Scaling
(15:05) – Why Massive Chips with SRAM Have Constraints (Cerebras, Groq)
(17:55) – The Challenge with Inference Specific Chips (Cerebras, Groq)
(19:27) – What is Infiniband and How Nvidia is Embracing Ethernet
(22:18) – Why Google is the Best Bet to Be Able to Take on Nvidia
(24:00) – AMD’s Challenges vs Nvidia’s Tick-Tock Cadence
(25:37) – Nvidia’s Strategy Around GPU Clouds
(27:44) – Why TSMC Isn’t As Big of a Bottleneck as You Might Think
(31:14) – 14 Nanometer Chips vs Leading Edge as a Strategy
(33:00) – VLIW Challenges to Work With Various Models (Cerebras, Groq)
(36:57) – Why SemiCap Companies May Not Be Overdone in Markets
(42:35) – Broadcom’s Place in This World Given ASICs
(47:15) – What is Under Hyped in Semis Still
(49:55) – Doug’s Call On Intel Outperforming in 2023 (Backside Power Delivery)
(53:10) – Why Yield is the Challenge in Building New Chips
(53:50) – Calling Our Shot on Google in March 2024
(55:34) – Other Trends That Doug is Watching Outside of Semis
Show Notes:
Datacenter is the New Compute Unit (Why Nvidia Will Continue to Dominate)
Why HBM is the Hottest Thing in Memory (and Semis)
Detailed Nvidia GTC Analysis
Is This The Intel Inflection (June 2023)
Terminology:
Backside Power Delivery
Hybrid Bonding
High Bandwidth Memory
Static Random Access Memory
Very Long Instruction Word Architecture
Nvidia SpectrumX Ethernet Networking
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
We hear about hackers all the time but very rarely get a glimpse into the world of what they actually do when exploiting applications. Douglas Day is a top grossing hacker on the HackerOne platform and a Senior Security Engineer at Elastic. In this episode, we dive into all things bug bounties and ethical hacking. How does Douglas find entry points, differences between defensive and offensive security, and escalating user permissions to find deep vulnerabilities are all covered. We also talk about common attack patterns for Douglas and other hackers and why WAFs are more annoying then useful.
Where to Find Douglas:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArchAngelDDay
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-day-39baa8108/
Where to Find Shomik:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
· Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(00:40) – Douglas’ Journey into Ethical Hacking
(05:11) – Winning Most Value Hacker at HackerOne Event
(08:03) – Bug Bounties vs Pen-testing
(11:08) – Utilizing Hacking Exploits for Defensive Security
(12:34) – Proliferation of Open Source Attacking Tools
(14:44) – Flipping from Offensive to Defensive Security
(15:27) – Working with a Team of Hackers
(18:02) – Finding a Vulnerable Entry Point to an Application
(21:16) – Utilizing User Permissions to Hack an App
(25:48) – How Does Multi-Factor Auth Help Be More Secure
(27:45) – Leveraging an Entry Point into Escalations
(29:20) – Phishing As An Attack Vector (Red Teaming vs Bug Bounties)
(31:15) – A Hacker’s Spidey Sense for Common Vulnerabilities
(34:15) – Random Number Generators for Security
(36:07) – APIs as an Attack Vector
(37:32) – Why Exposed Secrets are a Common Entry Point
(41:20) – Why Web Application Firewalls are Not That Effective for Stopping Hackers
(43:30) – How Hackers are Using LLMs in Their Attack Workflows
(45:48) – Utilizing AI Agents in Hacking
(46:30) – Why Ethical Hackers are Assets to Security Teams
(50:30) – Wrap Up
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
Scaling companies is incredibly difficult but at each stage the building blocks need to be set in place properly. Charles Zedlewski has been COO, GM, and a product leader at companies like Temporal, Cloudera, and SAP. In this episode, we cover what the COO & GM roles do, stories from early Cloudera days especially around figuring out what products to sell and pricing and packaging. We cover hiring Player/Coaches, nailing positioning, and talk about countless anecdotes from both Temporal and Cloudera to learn how to build and scale a great org.
Where to Find Charles:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/zedlewski
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleszedlewski/
Where to Find Shomik:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
· Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com
· Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(01:02) – Joining Cloudera Early from SAP
(04:14) – Fighting Company Politics in Culture
(07:38) – Figuring Out Commercial Products to Sell At Cloudera
(14:58) – How Customers Weight Support & Services Differently Over Time
(16:42) – Closing Early Customers at Cloudera
(19:14) – Embracing the GM Role at Cloudera
(23:41) – Reasons Cloudera Wasn’t Able to Realize Full Potential
(31:00) – Moving from Cloudera to Temporal
(34:34) – Differences Between COO and GM Roles
(38:29) – What a COO Does in the First Few Months
(44:02) – Nailing Positioning & Product Messaging
(50:00) – When’s the Right Time to Hire a COO
(54:35) – Hiring Player / Coaches
(59:27) – Common Failure Paths of Startups
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
For those interested in the future of autonomous software testing & code generation, this is the episode for you.
Itamar Friedman is Co-Founder & CEO of Codium AI. He previously was Head of AI at Alibaba Israel and a founder of multiple startups before that. In this episode, we cover why Prompt Engineering is shifting into Flow Engineering. We dive deep into the areas of software verification and testing. We talk about how to bring up a world of zero bugs in software development and what agent-assisted code generation, testing, & completion looks like. We also cover how future coding agents will function with Codium’s AlphaCodium which beat Deepmind and OpenAI in recent code competitions.
Where to Find Itamar:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/itamar_mar
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itamarf/
Where to Find Shomik:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
· Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com
· Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(00:37) – What Codium AI is Building
(01:42) – Itamar’s Background
(04:21) – Evolution of Mobile Machine Vision & Learning
(06:55) – Alibaba’s Applied AI Use Cases
(10:45) – Why Software Verification is Important to Code Generation & Completion
(15:00) – Challenges with Agent-Assisted Software Verification
(19:05) – How AlphaCodium Won Against Deepmind and OpenAI in Competition
(26:04) – Building a “System 2” Brain for Code Generation
(33:54) – Multiple Agent-Assisted Developer Workflows
(36:45) – Design in AI Systems
(40:00) – Why Humans Will Continue to Write Code
(41:25) – Future Products for CodiumAI
Show Notes:
- What is AlphaCodium
- From Prompt Engineering to Flow Engineering
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
For anyone interested in developer tooling, you won’t be able to find better analysis than the Redmonk team and this pod goes in depth into trends, analysis, and AI’s impact on coding.
James Governor and Kate Holterhoff are analysts at Redmonk, the developer focused analyst firm. They have been doing analysis of open source tooling and developer trends since 2002 when the firm was founded (20+ years ago). In this episode, we talk about analyzing what will persist in hype cycles, AI’s impact on coding practices & languages, and how not to extrapolate our biases in outcomes onto data. If you are a fan of dev tools and open source, you will love this conversation as you can’t find two people who spend more time thinking about this area than James and Kate along with the rest of the Redmonk team.
Where to Find Redmonk:
· James’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/monkchips
· Kate’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/KateHolterhoff
· James’ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesgovernor/
· Kate’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateholterhoff/
· Redmonk’s Blog: https://redmonk.com/
· Redmonk’s Podcast: https://redmonk.com/blog/2023/12/07/the-monkcast/
Where to Find Shomik:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
· Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(00:48) – Founding Redmonk Alongside the Rise of Open Source
(03:39) – How Redmonk Analyzes Products
(06:58) – Diagnosing What’s Real in Tech Hype Cycles
(15:56) – Is AI Having a Large Impact on Language Rankings?
(25:50) – Downstream Impact of Having AI Generate Majority of Code
(29:45) – Impact of Agents Managing Code Bases
(34:10) – Rise of Frontend Tooling (Again)
(40:09) – Thoughts on Open Source License Changes in Prominent Projects
(44:40) – New Analysis & Events Coming up for Redmonk
Show Notes:
- Frontend Developers are the New Kingmakers
- What’s Going on With Language Rankings
- AI: The Difference Between Open and Open Source
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
All of us as knowledge workers are interested in improving our time management. This episode is packed with tips from a founder who breathes this with the product everyday.
Matt Martin is the Co-Founder & CEO of Clockwise and previously an Eng Manager at Salesforce through the RelateIQ acquisition. In this episode, we discuss time management tips and calendar optimization. We dive into research behind different aspects of time and behavioral management. And of course, get Matt’s insights from 7+ years of building a rapidly growing SaaS app.
Where to Find Matt:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/voxmatt
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/voxmatt/
Where to Find Shomik:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
· Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com
· Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(01:36) – Overview of Clockwise
(02:50) – Why is Software Useful for Calendar Management
(05:21) – Technical & Behavioral Aspects to Tackle Around Calendars
(10:40) – Balancing Single Player & Multi-Player Use Cases and Motions
(16:00) – Package & Pricing Between Single & Multi-Player
(17:57) – Do Things That Don’t Scale Moment
(22:13) – Lack of Intentionality in Time Management
(23:55) – Importance of Breaks in Back to Back Meetings World
(26:15) – “Attention Residue” (aka context switching latency)
(29:22) – Personalization of Time Management
(32:06) – Weekly Look Ahead Emails Instead of Calendar Audits
(35:15) – Team Discussions Around Optimal Personalized Work Schedules
(37:55) – Software Eng Meeting Benchmark Report Results
(40:40) – Cleaning Slate on Standing Meetings
(41:42) – AI Scheduling
Show Notes:
- Research on “Attention Residue”
- Clockwise’s Software Engineering Meeting Benchmark Report
- AI Scheduler by Clockwise
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
As much as we talk about company building and technology trends on this podcast, one of the most essential aspects of entrepreneurship is maintaining your health. High performance comes first form taking care of your body, mind, and lifestyle to drive clear decision making.
Ben Canning is the Founder of We Hack Health and a trainer to founders & employees across the tech and cybersecurity ecosystem. He has coached many high performers in their jobs and helped them improve even further by focusing on their health. In this episode, we talk about common concerns and blockers that Ben sees amongst various clients. We dive into the four pillars of health (Sleep, Mental Health, Nutrition, and Fitness) and Ben’s basic tactics to approach each of them in a sustainable manner. Ben provides a tactical roadmap to how to approach a sustainable healthy lifestyle and how so much relies on having a mindset to continue to do hard things.
Where to Find Ben:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/bencanning87
· Podcast: https://wehack.health/
Where to Find Shomik:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
· Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com
· Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(01:42) – Where Should People Start On Their Health Journey
(03:10) – Habit Formation
(04:20) – Making Time for Health
(06:05) – Your Future Self
(09:23) - Identifying Your Drive to Make Change
(15:40) - Defining Daily Non-Negotiables
(17:10) - Managing Health as a Parent
(20:38) - Mindset
(26:58) - Sleep & Supplementation 101
(35:09) - Exercise 101
(44:45) - Nutrition 101
(54:13) - Go All-In to Achieve Results
(55:35) - Ben & Dave’s New Supplements Company - Zero Day!
Show Notes:
- Resources to Reach Ben and his Training
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
Given all that’s happened in the year since this first aired (March 2023), replaying this for everyone to understand what is happening within the Semiconductor space, the different players, why Nvidia is set up to dominate (Doug predicted this well before that 1st epic quarter), and much more. Since this episode aired, Nvidia is up 2.6x!
Doug O’Laughlin is the Founder of Fabricated Knowledge, one of the largest technology newsletters on Substack, covering the semiconductor industry. Many may know Doug from his anonymous Twitter. He joins us today to dive deep into the semiconductor industry. Doug takes an immensely complex industry in semis and distills everything down into digestible analogies regarding semiconductor manufacturing and the actual chips themselves. Doug specifically addresses how certain semi industry areas have significant moats, how the rise of LLMs is all linked to more chips being used, what public companies are well-positioned for the future of semis. Simply put, this is the best explainer I’ve ever heard or read about the semiconductor industry to understand what’s powering all the applications and devices we use daily under the hood.
Where to Find Doug:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougolaughlin/
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/_fabknowledge_
* Semiconductor Blog:
* Personal Blog:
Where to Find Shomik:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
* Software Snack Bites Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com
* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.
In this episode, we cover:
(01:05) - Doug’s Background
(03:08) - How to Build Sector Expertise from Scratch
(04:37) - Why Moore’s Law is Dead and It’s Effect on the Semi Industry
(08:03) - Heterogenous Compute is the Next Paradigm Shift No One Is Talking About
(09:34) - Why Chip Specialization is Increasing
(13:12) - Understanding the Whole Semiconductor Supply Chain with a Restaurant Analogy
(20:51) - Where are Company Moats in the Semi Supply Chain
(26:54) - What are the Different Types of Chips (ASICs, CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs) and Why Do They Exist
(32:08) - The “DevOpsification” of Chips (i.e. specialized micro services)
(36:09) - LLMs (AI) and Semis Role in Powering the Tech Forward
(40:49) - Potential Reasons (Bear Case) for why Chip Usage May Slow
(43:05) - Tying Specialized Software to Chips - Nvidia’s Vertical Strategy
(47:45) - Favorite Technology/App
(49:09) - Favorite Snack
Additional Show Notes:
* Heterogenous Compute: The Paradigm Shift No One is Talking About
* Tech Monopolies Go Vertical
* The Rising Tide of Semiconductor Cost
* Semiconductor Blog:
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
For those excited about Open Source, data, and understanding Facebook’s high performance culture, this is the episode for you!
Nick Schrock is the Founder of Dagster Labs and previously Co-Creator of GraphQL while at Facebook. In this episode, we discuss how Facebook maintained a culture of urgency and decentralization. Nick dives into the problem solved behind GraphQL’s creation and how the product rolled out within Facebook. We also cover the modern data stack and how Dagster Labs is moving beyond the orchestration layer to provide more value to data engineering workflows. Finally, we discuss Nick’s decision to transition from the CEO role and advice he has for other founders in the Open Source space.
Where to Find Nick:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/schrockn
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schrockn/
Where to Find Shomik:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
· Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com
· Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(00:56) – Joining Facebook During “Move Fast & Break Things” Era in 2009
(06:06) – Why Facebook Open Source Has Proliferated So Well
(09:04) – How Facebook Culture Changed to “Move Fast With Stable Infrastructure”
(10:56) – Making the Shift From Mobile to Desktop
(12:33) – Creating GraphQL
(16:50) – Finding Space to Work on GraphQL (Power of Decentralized Decision Making)
(18:34) – Rolling out GraphQL to All Facebook Developers
(21:14) – Why Not Start a GraphQL Focused Company
(23:12) – Starting Dagster
(27:35) – Learnings from GraphQL Translated to Dagster
(30:24) – Do Things That Don’t Scale Moment at Dagster
(32:50) – Evolving Dagster Labs to a Platform from Single Product
(35:15) – How the Practice of Data Engineering Differs from Data Engineers
(37:12) – Transitioning from CEO to CTO
(40:48) – How Did the Shift Immediately Feel Like After
(42:18) – Advice for Open Source Founders
(45:07) – What’s Coming Next for Dagster Labs
Show Notes:
- Nick’s Post on Learnings from CEO Transition
- Dagster Labs Platform Launch Week
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
For those interested in understanding how to drive high performance teams, create focus in an organization, and drive organizational excellence, this episode is jam-packed with tactics and anecdotes across software industries.
Zack Urlocker is an active Board Member and advisor to many different startups. His resume is too long to fully write out but he previously has served as CEO, COO, VP Marketing, VP Product, and VP Engineering across 7 different companies including Duo Security, MySQL, Zendesk, Gatsby, Netlify, Active Software, and Borland Software. Almost all of these he has joined at an early stage and he has numerous experiences scaling companies from $6-100M+ ARR with over 4 $1B+ outcomes. We discuss lessons learned from each company, complete with anecdotes and compounded knowledge that helped Zack improve along his career. He shares detailed advice on building customer obsession, aligning organizations around one focus area, and maintaining speed as a key advantage for startups as they scale. We also discuss how to build operational rigor at high scale in a constrained capital environment. There are too many learnings in this episode to fully write out.
Where to Find Zack:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZUrlocker
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zurlocker/
· Substack: https://buildtoscale.substack.com
Where to Find Shomik:
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
· Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com
· Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(01:17) – How Zack Has Successfully Scaled 4 Companies to $1B+ Exits
(02:30) – Finding Customer Patterns Early in a Company’s Journey
(04:04) – Roles Across Various Software Industries & Business Models
(06:02) – Borland Software Lessons (Developer Software) – Scaling During a Turbulent Time Pre Dot Com Bubble
(13:18) – Active Software Lessons (Integration Middleware) - Scaling from $6-100M+ ARR in the Dot Com era
(17:15) – MySQL Lessons (Database Software) - Fixing Engineering & Running Marketing While Scaling from $6-100M+ ARR
(28:26) – Utilizing Customer Patterns to Find Free Users Who Are Likely to Pay at MySQL
(34:02) – Tips for Building Effective Remote Teams
(38:16) – What Customer Orientation Really Looks Like
(40:44) – Zendesk Lessons (Customer Service Software) – Scaling from $6-100M+ ARR in SaaS rather than infra
(47:01) – SaaS Pricing Dynamics
(52:27) – Duo Security Lessons (Multi-Factor Auth) – Scaling from $6-100M+ ARR in Security (vs infra & SaaS)
(1:00:25) – Why Speed & Customer Empathy = Efficient Software Businesses
(1:03:25) – “Figure Out Most Important Initiative, Put Best People On It, Starve Other Initiatives”
(1:07:43) – You Can’t Hedge In Product Strategy, Make Core Bets & Commit
(1:13:50) – Gatsby (Fronted Tooling) – Stabilizing a Company for Enterprise with a Large OSS Userbase
(1:17:36) – How to Orient Around Meaningful Customer Use Cases & Build Product & Go-To-Market Around That
Show Notes:
* Build to Scale Substack
* Finding Customer Patterns
* Finding Product Market Fit
* Getting Product Positioning Right
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
This episode is a perfect fit for anyone who wants to learn how to apply AI into their product especially for high fidelity analytics use cases.
Utkarsh Ohm is Director of AI at Thoughtspot. He previously was a Co-Founder & eng leader at various startups. In this episode, we cover applying LLMs alongside other models to customer facing products. We discuss where LLMs in particular are helpful vs traditional ML models, why text to SQL use cases need to be supplemented by internal insights to improve accuracy, and how to approach data security for LLMs. We deep dive specifically into Sage, Thoughtspot’s LLM enabled product and the infrastructure that allows Sage to produce accurate insights for customers. Over the course of the episode, we discuss plenty of advice for teams building with LLMs to learn from and take into account.
Where to Find Utkarsh:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/utkarshohm
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/utkarshohm/
Where to Find Shomik:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
* Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com
* Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(01:35) - Utkarsh’s Journey to Becoming Director of AI at Thoughtspot
(03:14) - Learning AI/ML on the Job
(05:08) - Emergent Capabilities of LLMs Leading to Experimentation
(06:52) - AI Used in Thoughtspot Products in 2018
(10:30) - The ChatGPT Moment
(12:16) - How Sage (the LLM Powered Product) Works
(13:44) - 3 Key Capabilities of Building an Analytical Q&A System
(16:15) - Why Thoughtspot Doesn’t Use LLMs for Text to SQL
(20:35) - Why Models Currently Aren’t Good Enough for Analytical Understanding
(23:15) - The Infra Architecture Behind Sage
(29:55) - How to Approach Data Security for Applied AI Products
(33:15) - Customer Outcomes from Using Sage
(38:30) - Managing Hallucinations in the Hands of Customers
(42:40) - Advice for Teams Building LLM-enabled Products
Show Notes:
* Security and Risk Mitigation in an LLM World
* ThoughtSpot Sage Product
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
This episode is a perfect fit for anyone who wants to get tactical insights on how to automate aspects of the SDR role without sacrificing quality and first principles thinking on managing inbound leads.
Hank Taylor is a Fractional CMO & advisor to many different startups. He previously was VP Marketing & RevOps at Vercel and held leadership & IC roles at companies like Gitlab, Neo4j, and Tray.io. In this episode, we get tactical from the start. Hank walks through specific email collateral and messaging workflows to mature developer leads after initial auth in. He walks through how SDR automation works and how to structure SDR teams around this tooling to make them more effective. He also covers why Product Advocates (technical SDRs) can be more impactful for companies selling technical products vs traditional SDRs. He explains the concept of Product Advocates, how to hire and train for that role, how compensation should look like, and future career paths for this role. Finally, we cover some of his most common startup advice on the marketing and inbound side.
Where to Find Hank:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/theHankTaylor
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devmarketer/
* Website: https://www.growthsprint.dev/build-a-technical-sdr-team (discount code for workshops: “boldstart”)
Where to Find Shomik:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
* Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com
* Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(02:10) - How Hank Automates the SDR Function
(09:15) - Building the Automation Utilizing Eng Help & Low Code Tooling
(12:28) - Detailed Walk Through of Email Sequences, Content, & Thought Process Behind SDR Workflow Automation
(22:48) - Why Innovate on the SDR Function with Product Advocates
(29:48) - What Are Product Advocates / Technical SDRs
(32:57) - Where to Find & How to Train Product Advocates
(38:02) - How to Compensate Product Advocates
(39:26) - Goals for Product Advocates
(43:00) - Common Advice for Startups
(45:57) - How Founders Can Manage Building This Automation & Function
(48:59) - 80/20 Rule for Pipeline Generation
(50:52) - Learnings from Founders of Vercel, Gitlab, & Others
Show Notes:
* Hank’s Workshop on How to Hire Product Advocates for Pipeline Generation - Use Following Promo Code for Discount: “boldstart”
* Blog Post Walking Through the Technical SDR Concept
* The Only Two Rules for Writing Any Email
"How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com -
At Atlassian’s scale, it’s mind-boggling to consider how rapid innovation and product architecture changes are implemented on a daily basis. This episode covers the “how” spanning effective team collaboration to cloud transitions.
Swati Raju is Head of Engineering, Confluence Cloud at Atlassian. She previously was a CTO, eng manager and IC at various companies including Groupon, Yahoo, and Ticketmaster. In this episode, we cover how Swati builds effective remote engineering teams. We also cover how Atlassian was able to shift from server to cloud while mitigating the impact on customers during this huge architecture shift. Finally, we dive into where Confluence is leveraging AI to improve the user experience and help customers be able to better accomplish their work. There’s learnings in this episode from early stage to massive scale.
Where to Find Swati:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swati-raju-5557422/
Where to Find Shomik:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
* Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com
* Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
In this episode, we cover:
(01:25) - Building Effective Remote Eng Teams
(04:23) - Maintaining & Building Culture Remotely
(07:59) - Goal Setting to Enable Decentralized Decision Making
(10:28) - Balancing Resiliency & Innovation
(12:36) - Rituals & Anti-Patterns for Remote & Cross-Team Collaboration
(20:21) - Managing Transition from Server to Cloud
(25:23) - Building Enterprise Grade Products
(29:42) - Preparing for and Managing Downtime
(33:49) - AI’s Impact on Knowledge Workflows Across Atlassian Products
(37:04) - Starting with Thinner Slices of the Product to Iterate with AI
(40:41) - Main Challenges with AI Adoption Today
Show Notes:
* Confluence Whiteboards
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com - Se mer
