SaaStr 610: The Playbook to Achieving CEO/CRO Harmony with Algolia CEO Bernadette Nixon and CRO Michelle Adams
Keeping a Saas unicorn on the track of profitable, responsible growth requires clear alignment across the leadership team, and a purposeful approach to making decisions that drive the corporate mission. In this session, Algolia's Bernadette Nixon and Michelle Adams will discuss the dynamics of building a highly effective, open, direct and empathetic relationship between the critical CEO and CRO roles on the leadership team.
Full video: https://youtu.be/tJAPaW5GoxU
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SaaStr 494: Demystifying the Unicorn Buzz with the CEOs of Calendly, Algolia, and Contentful
Reaching unicorn status is goal #1 for many startups. In this podcast, Tope Awotona, CEO at Calendly, Bernadette Nixon, CEO at Algolia, Steve Sloan, CEO at Contentful and by Casey Renner, Partner at OpenView discuss how high-growth companies can strive for profitability while growing responsibly to reach unicorn status.
Blog post and video: https://www.saastr.com/demystifying-the-unicorn-buzz-with-the-ceos-of-calendly-algolia-and-contentful/
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SaaStr 405: 6 Learnings on Scaling to $100M ARR with Bernadette Nixon, CEO @ Algolia and Jason Lemkin, CEO @ SaaStr
In today's SaaStr insider episode SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin catches up with Bernadette Nixon CEO at Algolia and together they share 6 learnings on scaling to $100M ARR and what it really takes selling to customers small, medium and large.
Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/6-learnings-from-algolia-on-the-way-to-100000000-arr/
SaaStr 362: The Future of the Customer with Bernadette Nixon, CEO @ Algolia, Jay Snyder, Chief Customer Officer @ New Relic, and Nick Mehta, CEO @ Gainsight
Customers' expectations are higher than ever with more access to information and options. This dynamic trio of SaaS experts share how to stay customer-centric and set yourself apart in today's rapidly changing environment.
This episode is an excerpt from a session at SaaStr Summit: Enterprise.
Full video: https://youtu.be/DNMId8gYj80
Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcasts-for-the-week-with-bernadette-nixon-jay-snyder-nick-mehta-loren-padelford-and-jason-lemkin/
SaaStr 300: Algolia CTO Julien Lemoine on a Founder's Guide to Scaling Applications: When to Build, When to Buy and What Breaks
When it comes to seamlessly scaling your applications, a top-notch engineering team will be your foundation. Next comes the decisions to build or buy your infrastructure, DNS, monitoring, and analytics tools. Julian Lemoine, Co-Founder, and CTO of Algolia will share his lessons learned on how to stay focused and innovative as you scale while also avoiding the innovation for innovation's sake pitfalls.
Find the video and full transcript on our blog.
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20VC: Is Series B Really The Hardest To Raise? Should The Only Limiting Factor Post Series B Be Cash & When Is The Right Time To Move To The US with Nicolas Dessaigne, Founder & CEO @ Algolia
Nicolas Dessaigne is the Founder & CEO @ Algolia, the most reliable platform for building search into your business. Just last week they raised $53m in funding led by Accel with participation from Jason Lemkin @ SaaStr, Point Nine Capital, AppDynamic's Jyoti Bansal, Intercom's Des Traynor and InVision's Clark Valberg and more incredible investors.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Nicolas made his way from Paris to YC to founding one of the hottest SaaS startups of the day in Algolia?
2.) Tom Tunguz has said before that the Series B is the hardest to raise, having just raised his, does Nicolas agree with this? How did this round differ from others? How can founders know what is the right amount to raise? Is 18 months still the desired runway?
3.) Does Nicolas think he made the move to the US at the right time? Too early or too late? What advice would Nicolas give to founders making or thinking about making this move? What areas are Europe and vice versa the US better at hiring for?
4.) Which functional areas do both Europe and the US lead in their respective fields? Why does Nicolas think that it is harder to hire well in the US? Does Europe still have a fundamental lack of experienced sales and marketing professionals?
5.) How did Jason Lemkin train Nicolas to approach the fundraising process? What other than funds can founders gain from the process? How can these conversations be initiated?
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Nicolas on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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SaaStr 128: Algolia's Nicolas Dessaigne on The Journey To $10m in ARR, Why You Must Separate The Work You Do From The Culture You Build & How To Successfully Create A Developer Community
Nicolas Dessaigne is the Founder & CEO @ Algolia, the most reliable platform for building search into your business. Just last week they raised $53m in funding led by Accel with participation from Jason Lemkin @ SaaStr, Point Nine Capital, AppDynamic's Jyoti Bansal, Intercom's Des Traynor and InVision's Clark Valberg and more incredible investors.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
How Nicolas made his way to YC and came to found Algolia?
What are the key things that change when you cross the 10m in ARR milestone? What have been the fundamental learnings in the march to $10m in ARR?
Jason Lemkin has said before that 'the first 10 unaffiliated customers you get is the first sign of pre-success'. Does Nicolas agree with him here? When are the first signs of pre-success for Nicolas?
Does Nicolas agree with Jason that $1m-$2m in ARR is always the hardest for a scaling SaaS startup? Which element did Nicolas find most challenging? How has Nicolas seen himself change and develop as a leader with these inflection points?
What are the fundamental to building a successful developer community? What have Algolia done to do this so successfully? What mistakes do other startups normally make in their pursuit of this?
60 Second SaaStr
What hires does Nicolas wish he had made earlier?
What does success look like for Nicolas with Algolia?
What does Nicolas know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning?
If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:
Jason Lemkin
Harry Stebbings
SaaStr
Nicolas Dessaigne
Saastr 015: Nicolas Dessaigne @ Algolia on Prioritising Company Culture and Empowering Your Team To Be Owners
Welcome to Episode 15 of The Official Saastr Podcast. Joining me today, I am delighted to welcome, Nicolas Dessaigne. Nicolas is the CEO and Co-Founder of Algolia, Algolia are a brilliant case study for the successful pivot, having started off life as an offline search engine for mobiles but really took off by helping companies deliver an intuitive search-as-you-type experience on their websites and mobile apps. They participated in Y Combinator's Winter 2014 batch and raised $18.3M in May 2015 from the likes of Accel Partners, Point Nine Capital, Storm Ventures and many more incredible investors. and in today's show with Nicolas we discuss:
Why is company culture so important and was it fundamental for Nicolas and Julien to have this outlined from the beginning?
How did Nicolas implement the vision for the company future when founding the Algolia?
How does Nicolas look to balance the scaling of the business with maintenance of company culture?
What were Nicolas' biggest takeaways from his time at YC?
How can SaaS startups optimise the fundraising process to also be a source of business development?
In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear:
Hiring Your First VP of Sales: When and What Questions To Ask?
Nicolas' favourite SaaS resource?
What would Nicolas do differently if he were to start the journey again?
If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented you can follow us on Twitter here:
Jason Lemkin
Harry Stebbings
Saastr
Nicolas Dessaigne
20VC: Fundraising Is Also Business Development with Nicolas Dessaigne, Co-Founder & CEO @ Algolia
Nicolas Dessaigne is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Algolia. Algolia are a brilliant case study for the successful pivot, having started off life as an offline search engine for mobiles but really took off by helping companies deliver an intuitive search-as-you-type experience on their websites and mobile apps. They participated in Y Combinator's Winter 2014 batch and raised $18.3M in May 2015 from the likes of Accel Partners, Point Nine Capital, Storm Ventures and many more incredible investors. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Jonathan make his way into tech and come to found the likes of Friendster and Nuzzel? What were his biggest lessons from working at Netscape?
2.) How did Algolia go about crafting their company culture and how have they approached maintaining it as they have gone into hyper growth mode?
3.) What des Nicolas think are the most common challenges with regards to the building and maintenance of a company culture? What pitfalls and advice would Nicolas give to an early stage founder looking to build that culture from the offset? How can investors determine the strength and sustainability of the company culture when viewing startups?
4.) How was the fundraising process for Nicolas? How did the rounds differ from round to round? What elements surprised or challenged him? For Algolia, an incredibly hot startup, how did Nicolas go about about selecting which investors to have?
5.) Talking of the highly competitive round and the very excitable startup community, how do you respond to all of this insane hype and positivity. How do you ensure that you do not fall into the trap of drinking your own cool aid and remain grounded and humble?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode:
Nicolas' Fave Blog: SaaStr
Nicolas’ Fave Book: Creativity Inc
As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Nicolas on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here! The Twenty Minute VC is brought to you by Leesa, the Warby Parker or TOMS shoes of the mattress industry. Lees have done away with the terrible mattress showroom buying experience by creating a luxury premium foam mattress that is order completely online and ships for free to your doorstep. The 10 inch mattress comes in all sizes and is engineered with 3 unique foam layers for a universal, adaptive feel, including 2 inches of memory foam and 2 inches of a really cool latex foam called Avena, design to keep you cool. All Leesa mattresses are 100% US or UK made and for every 10 mattresses they sell, they donate one to a shelter. Go to Leesa.com/VC and enter the promo code VC75 to get $75 off!
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