(BNS) Datadog Founder Olivier Pomel
Today I’m joined by Olivier Pomel, cofounder/CEO of Datadog. We trace his path from French open-source tinkerer to NYC founder, the dev-vs-ops friction that sparked Datadog, finding product-market fit through integrations, and the choice to stay independent en route to a 2019 IPO and S&P 500. Olivier shares scaling war stories, culture and GTM lessons, and what observability means in an AI era. If you build software—or companies—this one’s packed with playbooks, from hiring to pricing to platform bets that work.
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EP 108: Olivier Pomel (CEO, Datadog) Shares Every Lesson From Scaling to $40B
Olivier Pomel built Datadog into a $40B company while burning only $25M in capital. In our conversation, he shares the fundraising lessons, operating principles, and core insights that made this possible. He also discusses the pros and cons of building a tech company in NYC, how early-career professionals should approach learning AI tools, how Datadog is building a trusted relationship with their users around AI features, and much more
(00:00) Intro
(01:30) Datadog's Early Challenges and Lessons
(04:32) The Core Insight Behind Datadog
(05:20) Building the Right Product
(07:46) Transitioning to Open Beta
(09:38) Expanding Datadog's Product Line
(11:26) Platform Vision and Modular Products
(18:12) Empowering Product Teams
(22:14) Acquisitions and Integration Strategy
(33:18) Customer-Centric Approach
(36:39) Bottom-Up Sales Strategy
(46:04) Navigating Founder Challenges
(46:37) Building a Collaborative Management Team
(48:32) Staying Close to Customers
(51:36) Maintaining a Culture of Discipline and Efficiency
(56:26) Pricing Strategy and Market Positioning
(01:01:24) Fostering a Low-Ego, High-Performance Culture
(01:06:32) Hiring and Promoting for Long-Term Success
(01:12:21) Fundraising and Investor Relations
(01:16:03) Deciding Whether to Sell or Scale
(01:18:26) The Impact of AI on Software Development
(01:23:24) Choosing New York Over Silicon Valley
(01:28:04) Final Thoughts and Reflections
Executive Producer: Rashad Assir
Producer: Leah Clapper
Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky
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About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member.
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What happens to Observability If Code is AI-Generated? The Potential for AI in DevOps, with Datadog Co-founder/CEO Olivier Pomel
Olivier Pomel, co-founder and CEO of Datadog, the leading observability company, discusses the company’s founding story, early product sequencing, platform strategy, and acquisitions. Olivier also shares his thoughts on their more recent expansion into security, and why he’s bullish on the potential for AI in DevOps.
** No Priors is taking a summer break! The podcast will be back with new episodes in three weeks. Join us on July 20th for a conversation with Devi Parikh, Research Director in Generative AI at Meta. **
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Show Links:
Nov 22, 2022: Product-led Growth: Founder 1-on-1 with Datadog and Aiven - Olivier Pomel & Oskari Saarenmaa
May 25, 2022: Datadog, Inc. (DDOG) CEO Olivier Pomel Presents at J.P. Morgan's 50th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference
Jan 6, 2021: Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel on the cloud computing outlook
Datadog’s Official Website
Olivier Pomel LinkedIn
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Show Notes:
[00:10] - DevOps and AI Potential
[06:54] - Datadog and Generative AI
[20:40] - Datadog's Acquisition and Expansion Strategy
[31:46] - LLMs in Automation and Precision
[42:35] - Datadog's Customer Value and Growth
20VC: Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel on The Scaling Journey to a $26Bn Market Cap, The Challenges in Moving From Single To Multi-Product Company & How To Scale Efficiently into $M+ Enterprise Deals
Olivier Pomel is the Founder & CEO @ Datadog, the company building the next generation of tools for DevOps teams. Prior to their incredibly successful IPO in 2019, Olivier raised over $147M for the company from Index, ICONIQ, Meritech, IA Ventures, Amplify and OpenView, to name a few. Prior to founding Datadog and changing the world of devops, Olivier was a VP with Wireless Generation for 8 years leading an engineering team of close to 100 of the best developers in NYC.
In Today's Episode with Olivier Pomel You Will Learn:
1.) How Olivier made his way into the world of startups and what was the a-ha founding moment for his creating of Datadog, changing the world of devops?
2.) Why does Olivier believe that "short term failure is a source of long term success?" Why did both seed and Series A investors not get Datadog? What would Olivier have done differently if fundraising again? What do investors misunderstand today when investing in big markets looking for the "entry wedge"?
3.) What has been Olivier's biggest learnings on how to run Datadog during a pandemic? What attributes does Olivier look for when hiring senior leaders? Why does Olivier believe the CEO has to be the "equaliser in chief"? What does that mean in practice? How can leaders creat eenvironments of safety where their team can approach them with anything?
4.) What have been the biggest challenges in moving from a single product to a multi-product company? How does one know when is the right time to add additional products? What is Olivier's decision-making process to determine which products to build next?
5.) How does Olivier assess his relationship to money today? How has it changed over time? In what ways has becoming a father impacted Olivier's operating mindset? What 3 traits would Olivier most like his children to adopt?
Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode with Olivier Pomel
Olivier's Favourite Book: Kurt Vonnegut
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