Peter Reinhardt

In the 48th episode, CEO of Charm and Ex-CEO at Segment, Peter Reinhardt sits down to talk about his path, dropping out of school to attend Y Combinator, selling to Twilio, and turning his focus to a new idea – Charm Industrial. (0:00) Introducing the Logan Bartlett Show  (6:35) Welcome Peter Reinhardt  (12:23) Getting to Y Combinator  (19:27) Pivoting to the next idea  (25:04) Posting on Hacker News  (30:36) Pricing your product  (39:32) Twilio Acquisition  (45:58) Starting Charm Industrial  (52:16) Figuring out the carbon offset problem  (1:02:46) Where are we compared to where we need to be  (1:14:49) Running Segment vs Charm Industrial    Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky  Produced: Andrew Nadeau and Rashad Assir  Executive Producer: Josh Machiz  Music: Griff Lawson    🎙 Listen to the show  Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/three-cartoon-avatars/id1606770839  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1  Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg    🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1    Follow on Socials  📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow  🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow    About the Show  A Saturday morning podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett (Partner and Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures) covering the tech news with his friends and other people with industry expertise. Executive Producer: Rashad Assir Producer: Leah Clapper Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1 Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow 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. Tap follow and enable notifications to stay ahead of the game.

Peter Reinhardt

CEO

Charm IndustrialSegment

In this episode, we tackle three carbon removal projects of varying scale, business models, and technical challenges. Biomass pyrolysis via Charm Industrial An electrochemical process via Travertine Mineralization via 44.01 We cover these companies through the lens of their founders – Peter Reinhardt (CEO of Charm Industrial), Laura Lammers (CEO of Travertine), and Karan Khimji (COO of 44.01) – who share the fascinating stories of how they stumbled into this industry, how their processes work, whether they can economically scale, and ultimately why each of them is dedicating their time and energy to this field. This episode also closes out our carbon removal mini series, where we’ve seen a unique convergence of attention, capital, policy, and creativity being applied. With that combination, it's rare that humans don't surprise one another in progress.   Resources:  Charm Industrial: Charm Industrial’s website: https://charmindustrial.com/ Charm Industrial on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CharmIndustrial Peter on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/reinpk Travertine: Travertine’s website: https://www.travertinetech.com/ Laura on Twitter: https://twitter.com/limestonedr 44.01: 44.01’s website: https://4401.earth/ 44.01 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/4401earth Karan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kdkhimji   Stay Updated:  Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/ Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.   Stay Updated: Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube Find a16z on X Find a16z on LinkedIn Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Peter Reinhardt

CEO

Charm IndustrialSegment

Laura Lammers

CEO

Travertine

Karan Khimji

COO

44.01

Before Peter Reinhardt started his current company, Charm Industrial, he was the CEO and co-founder of the customer data platform Segment, which almost died in its first year. Why? He was afraid to ask customers to pay more than $10 per month for it. A savvy sales advisor pressured him to raise the price by 1000x, which worked wonders. By early 2022, Segment — now owned by Twilio — was commanding seven-figure contracts. In this episode, Peter and Joubin discuss the hierarchy of majors at MIT, building telescope arrays, the disastrous first demo of Segment, why founders sometimes forget to eat, the problem with the straight-A student mentality, playing ping-pong with the security guard, evaluating a potential acquisition partner, shedding anti-sales bias, the shortcomings of nature-based carbon offsets, and starting a “reverse oil company.” In this episode, we cover: The thing that makes Peter happiest: Solving all kinds of problems, from accounting to noise to carbon dioxide (08:50) How leading a startup has narrowed his emotional band (13:58) “Freewheeling curiosity” and the breakthrough idea that led to Charm Industrial’s existence (15:47) Segment’s origins as a classroom lecture tool and an analytics tool (19:18) The disagreement that almost broke up Segment’s founding team, and unlocked the company’s potential (26:36) “You have to raise your price by a factor of a thousand” (31:31) The packaging issue that nearly derailed Segment’s growth, and Peter’s initial problematic mindset (35:15) Why Peter sold Segment to Twilio: “All that matters is what the customers are telling you” (43:32) Why great sales looks like great problem solving (47:41) Being vulnerable and honest about hard things (53:19) The power of Charm Industrial’s mission & finding a better carbon capture solution (57:15) The “massive profit engine” that needs to turn over to avert climate disaster (01:03:35) Links: Connect with PeterTwitter LinkedIn Connect with JoubinTwitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Peter Reinhardt

CEO

Charm IndustrialSegment

We have a great interview with a serial-founder today! But first, Molly and Jason cover one of the craziest stories of the year. A couple has been charged with conspiring to launder ~$3.6B worth of crypto from the 2016 Bitfinex hack. Ilya is a former YC founder and Heather part-time rapper. Today’s Guest is Peter Reinhardt, the co-founder of Segment, a customer data platform that sold to Twillio for $3.2B. Peter discusses his new company, Charm Industrial, which is focused on carbon capture and removal. You will learn: 1. How they turn agricultural waste and biomass into a high-carbon fuel 2. The carbon-removal benefits of injecting the bio-fuel into old oil wells 3. Why carbon capture is an important piece of getting to Net Zero 4. The potential impact of Charm Industrial if it succeeds (total CO2 tonnage) 5. Why this process differs from more passive ways of carbon offsets 6. How he landed customers like Shopify & Stripe (and why he thinks companies will continue to do this, even without government regulation) 0:00 Jason and Molly tee up today’s topics: a MAJOR crypto scandal and an amazing interview! 2:14 Breaking down the $3.6B Bitcoin seizure federal investigators 13:39 Eight Sleep - Go to https://eightsleep.com/twist to check out the Pod Pro Cover and get $150 off at checkout! 14:56 Explaining how the laundering happened mechanically 18:21 Jason’s prior emails re: the YC founders’ company, jumping to BAYC “doxxing” story 24:25 Vanta - Get get $1,000 off automating your SOC 2 at https://vanta.com/twist 25:44 The most amazing part of this story: Razzlekhan the rapper, and Ilya the s***poster; plus Jason and Molly cast the docu-series for this disaster 33:12 Fiverr - Sign up for https://Fiverr.com/Business free for the first year and save 10% on your purchase with promo code JASON 34:34 Crypto brigading, crypto’s impact on the environment 42:00 Charm Industrial’s Peter Reinhardt (formerly of Segment) speaks about Segment selling to Twilio for $3B+ 51:38 Charm Industrial’s origin story, understanding industrial de-carbonization and carbon removal 1:05:11 1 TAM for carbon removal companies, breaking down the 4 quadrants of fighting climate change Check out Charm Industrial: https://www.charmindustrial.com FOLLOW Peter: https://twitter.com/reinpk FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

Peter Reinhardt

CEO

Charm IndustrialSegment

My guest today is Peter Reinhardt, co-founder and CEO of Segment, the market-leading data customer data platform that was acquired by Twilio last year. In our conversation, we cover the fascinating journey of Segment from an education feedback tool to the business it is today, Peter’s sales philosophy on meeting the customer where they are and not where you think they should be, and why revenue operations, or RevOps, is underrated for any business. This was an incredibly honest conversation on company building that any builder can learn a lot from. Please enjoy my conversation with Peter Reinhardt.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:02:47] - [First question] - What Segment currently does for its customers [00:03:37] - How this industry looked before Segment came along [00:04:30] - Overview of a simple data flow and the utility of capturing user data [00:05:55] - Insights that lead to developing the structure for a central data pipeline [00:07:52] - Why other companies don’t just build their own data collection API [00:10:04] - Early days of building the company and finding success outside their initial idea [00:12:29] - Pivoting from classroom software to providing software the world needed [00:16:17] - What Technology Wants  [00:17:06] - Sign that validated becoming a B to B software company [00:19:49] - Challenging moments trying to scale Segment after bootstrapping the startup [00:24:58] - Getting customers to articulate your value proposition helps grow your sales [00:26:42] - Deciding what would be sold and what would remain open source [00:28:05] - Structuring and developing an enterprise sales team and sales model [00:30:23] - Overview of a 2 million dollar per sales person contract and how it’s allocated [00:31:38] - How it feels to be participant in the SaaS industry [00:34:02] - Lessons learned about revenue operations and how underappreciated it is [00:36:39] - Backwards efficiency and companies who use products to bootstrap scale economics [00:38:51] - Focusing on customer acquisition cost to maximize scale efficiency [00:40:52] - Potential disruptors to economies of scale [00:42:21] - Lessons learned from achieving massive scale and being acquired by Twilio [00:45:40] - Behind the curtain view of current data use trends [00:48:49] - His perspectives on the data privacy landscape and their implications writ large [00:51:48] - Legitimate businesses that will be hurt by changes in data privacy standards [00:53:11] - How data privacy standards may affect everyday merchants [00:54:03] - The worst advice he’s heard given to new entrepreneurs [00:56:20] - Impactful advice received along the way when growing Segment [00:56:47] - What has him most excited about the future [00:57:13] - Lessons learned about leadership from Jeff Lawson and his own experience [00:58:51] - The hardest changes he’s had to make as a leader [01:00:20] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Peter Reinhardt

CEO

Charm IndustrialSegment

Peter Reinhardt is the Founder and CEO @ Segment, the leading customer data platform with over 20,000 companies using Segment to collect, clean, and control their customer data. Prior to their $3.2BN acquisition by Twilio in 2020, Peter raised over $283M for Segment from Accel, Thrive, Meritech, GV, General Catalyst and Kleiner Perkins to name a few. Peter is also an active angel investor having made investments in the likes of Retool, Newfront, Pilot and more. In Today's Episode with Peter Reinhardt You Will Learn: 1.) How Peter made his way into the world of startups and how he came to found a company, Segment, by actively trying to prove to his co-founder that it would not work? Why does Peter believe the Airbnb story is the most destructive myth for founders to follow? 2.) Learning: How does Peter think about learning frameworks for new topics? How does he construct his? How does Peter use data within this learning process to increase his rate of learning? Where do the majority of people go wrong in constructing their framework for learning? 3.) Listening and Debate: What does Peter believe is required to be "a good listener"? What questions do the best listeners ask? What tone do they use to ask these questions? How does Peter create an environment of safety internally where people feel they can debate? How does one balance between debate and thinking vs putting those thoughts into action? 4.) Problem-solving: How does Peter breakdown problems into their component parts? Through what mechanism does he determine what to prioritise first? How would Peter describe his decision-making process? How does he determine between head vs heart in decisions? In what way does Peter use data to further inform the decisions he makes? 5.) How would Peter describe his management style today? Has it changed over time? In what way has working with a coach changed the way Peter thinks about leadership? What elements do they focus on? How often does he see his coach? What have been some of his biggest takeaways? Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode with Peter Reinhardt Peter's Favourite Book: The Chalice and the Blade, Crucial Conversations As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Peter Reinhardt

CEO

Charm IndustrialSegment

Why is it so difficult to recognize product-market fit before you find it? And how do you find it, anyway? Learn about the struggles the team behind Segment faced, and how everything changed after they built a product that people wanted.

Peter Reinhardt

CEO

Charm IndustrialSegment

Calvin French-Owen

Co-founder and CTO

Segment

Peter Reinhardt is the Founder and CEO @ Segment, the startup that allows you to collect all of your customer data and send it anywhere and they count some of the biggest and best companies in the world as customers including the likes of Reuters, HotelTonight, New Relic and Atlassian. They do not only have some of the world's leading customers but some of the world's best investors with the likes of Accel, Thrive and Kleiner Perkins participating in their latest $27m Series B. I would like to say a huge thanks to Grant Miller @ Replicated for the intro to Peter today. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: How did Peter make his way into the world of SaaS and come to found Segment? How does Peter define product market fit? Does he agree with Justin Kan in stating that it is when you get the first 10 customers that are unaffiliated? Why does Peter believe product market fit suffers when related to Job's idea of the reality distortion field? What is so damaging and what should founders look to avoid? How do technical and non-technical co-founders differ in their approach to product market fit? How do their expectations, desires and reactions alter to differing levels of uptake? How did Peter navigate the process of scaling prices with time? Was he nervous when doing so? What does Peter advise founders when attempting significant price increases? 60 Second SaaStr What were the biggest takeaways from YC? What does Peter know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? The biggest challenge in building out the team? Favourite SaaS resource or reading material? 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 Peter Reinhardt

Peter Reinhardt

CEO

Charm IndustrialSegment