Sanjit Biswas

Sanjit Biswas is one of the rare founders who has scaled AI in the physical world – first with Meraki, and now with Samsara, a $20B+ public company with sensors deployed across millions of vehicles and job sites. Capturing 90 billion miles of driving data each year, Samsara operates at a scale matched only by a small handful of companies. Sanjit discusses why physical AI is fundamentally different from cloud-based AI, from running inference on two- to ten-watt edge devices to managing the messy diversity of real-world data—weather, road conditions, and the long tail of human behavior. He also shares how advances in foundation models unlock new capabilities like video reasoning, why distributed compute at the edge still beats centralized data centers for many autonomy workloads, and how AI is beginning to coach frontline workers—not just detect risk, but recognize good driving and improve fuel efficiency. Sanjit also explains why connectivity, sensors, and compute were the original “why now” for Samsara, and how those compounding curves will reshape logistics, field service, construction, and every asset-heavy industry. Hosted by Sonya Huang and Pat Grady, Sequoia Capital

Sanjit Biswas

Founder & CEO

Samsara

Sanjit Biswas is the Co-founder and CEO of Samsara, the fleet management and safety platform. At the time of publication, Samsara is a public company worth over $26 billion, and we unpack how exactly they went from zero to run rating at over $1.5 billion in revenue in ten years. We get into using AI to impact the physical world, how Samsara uses AI internally, and how their products prevent over 200,000 deaths per year. Sanjit has built two unicorns, and he shares everything he’s learned along the way, including what most founders and investors get wrong about hardware, thinking customer-first instead of product-first, how to know when you have product market fit, mastering sales as a technical founder, and how to spend more time with your customers. We also talk about getting his high school online in the 90’s, and the research project that turned into Sanjit’s first company, Meraki, and its $1.2 billion dollar sale to Cisco in 2012. Thanks to Bolt for supporting this episode. Help them break a world record for the largest hackathon (up to $1m in prizes): https://bit.ly/ThePeelBoltHackathon Timestamps: (4:26) Samsara: Helping the world of physical operations (8:44) Preventing 200,000 deaths per year (11:19) AI opportunities in transportation (14:43) Samsara’s internal AI tools (16:58) What people get wrong when building hardware (19:04) Starting Samsara customer-first instead of product-first (22:23) Find adjacent products for your customers (26:28) How to know you have product market fit (34:52) How to spend more time with customers and build feedback loops (43:00) 70-20-10 framework for allocating capital (45:07) Importance of selling new products to existing customers (49:15) Revisiting the product roadmap based on new technology (50:38) Why Sanjit credits focus to hitting $1B revenue in nine years (53:41) Learning to love sales as a technical founder (57:06) Getting his high school online in the 90’s (1:01:46) The research project that turned into Sanjit’s first company, Meraki (1:04:01) Importance of asymmetric risk when starting a company (1:05:41) Early days of Meraki taking off (1:09:19) Surviving and doubling during the financial crisis (1:16:00) Cisco acquiring Meraki for $1.2B (1:18:15) Meraki’s post-acquisition integration (1:20:48) Differences between 1st and 2nd company (1:24:19) Almost starting an renewable energy company (1:25:52) The power of small teams (1:28:49) One-shotting Bill Gates’ biography at 10-years old Referenced Samsara: https://samsara.com/ Meraki: https://meraki.cisco.com/ Arduino: https://www.arduino.cc/ Raspberry Pi: https://www.raspberrypi.com/ Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire: https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Drive-Making-Microsoft-Empire/dp/0887306292 No Priors Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@NoPriorsPodcast Follow Sanjit LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjitbiswas/ Follow Turner Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/

Sanjit Biswas

Founder & CEO

Samsara

SaaStr 774: The Vertical SaaS Rocketship: Samsara's CEO and Co-Founder Sanjit Biswas and SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin on Samsara's Journey to $1.26 Billion in ARR! SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin has an exclusive conversation with Sanjit Biswas, founder and CEO of Samsara and a two-time entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience. Sanjit shares insights on the growth of Samsara, a leading vertical SaaS company that's disrupting the industry by growing 36% and reaching $1.26 billion in ARR. We dive into how Samsara is transforming operations across various fields including fleets, trucks, and more, by leveraging innovative AI technologies. Sanjit discusses the company's early days, the impact of their first startup, Meraki, and what led them to create Samsara. We also explore the importance of maintaining strong team dynamics, the role of customer feedback in product development, and how Samsara is enabling real-world AI applications. Tune in to learn about the fascinating journey and the future of Samsara directly from its visionary founder. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet. Hey everybody - thanks to the 10,000 of you who came out to SaaStr Annual. We had a blast and big news -- we'll be back in MAY of 2025. That's right, the SaaStr Annual will be a bit earlier next year, May 13-15 2025. We'll still be back in the same venue, in the SF bay area at the 40+ acre sprawling san mateo county events center. Grab your tickets at saastrannual.com with code NOVEMBER20 for an extra discount on our very best pricing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This episode is sponsored by: mmhmm.app Build client relationships faster with mmhmm, the app that helps you impress prospects in every meeting. Create and send recordings that help them get to know you. Try it free on Mac and Windows at mmhmm.app. That's M-M-H-M-M dot app --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sanjit Biswas

Founder & CEO

Samsara

In less than 8 years, Sanjit Biswas scaled Samsara from 0 to over $1B ARR. In our latest conversation, Sanjit shares all the lessons he’s learned about running a hyper-growth organization, including all the changes he’s made since growing and selling his first company Meraki to Cisco for $1.2B and going on to scale Samsara to $20B. A great episode for anyone who wants to continuously reinvent themselves within a rapidly changing workplace.   (00:00) Intro (01:28) Samsara's Journey: From Startup to Billion-Dollar Valuation (06:50) The Evolution of Samsara's Product Line: From Temperature Sensors to AI (12:48) The Impact of ELD Mandate on Samsara's Growth (14:16) Expanding Horizons: Samsara's Multi-Product Strategy (29:41) Leadership Lessons: Scaling a Company and Rehiring Yourself (38:07) Insights on Hiring: Finding the Right Fit for Growth (40:56) Maintaining High Hiring Standards in Rapid Growth (42:21) Innovative Hiring Practices: Talent Calibrators and Bar Raisers (43:12) Embracing a Flexible Workplace Post-Pandemic (43:20) Navigating the Shift to Remote Work and Its Impact on Talent Acquisition (45:06) Evaluating Employee Performance and the Keeper Test (46:42) Lessons from Legendary Venture Capitalists and Building Board Relationships (50:16) Samsara's Journey: Building a Billion-Dollar Business (50:34) From Academic Project to Commercial Success: The Meraki Story (54:35) The Power of Direct Sales and Learning from Customer Interactions (01:14:24) Reflecting on Growth, Culture, and the Future of Samsara (01:24:08) Closing Thoughts and Advice for Future Founders   Produced: Rashad Assir & Leah Clapper Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky Executive Producer: Josh Machiz   Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA   🎙 Listen to the show Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-logan-bartlett-show/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 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, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes. 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.

Sanjit Biswas

Founder & CEO

Samsara

Sanjit Biswas is the Founder and CEO @ Samsara, allowing businesses that depend on physical operations to harness Internet of Things (IoT) data. Over the last 8 years, Sanjit has scaled Samsara to $1BN in ARR and a public company with tens of thousands of customers. Before Samsara, Sanjit was the CEO and co-founder of Meraki, one of the most successful networking companies of the past decade. Sanjit grew Meraki from his Ph.D. research into a complete enterprise networking portfolio. Meraki's sales doubled every year from inception and in 2012, Cisco acquired Meraki for $1.2 billion. Huge thanks to Doug Leone for some fantastic question suggestions pre this episode. In Today's Episode With Sanjit Biswas We Discuss: 1. From Founding to $1BN in ARR in 8 Years: What was the founding a-ha moment for Sanjit with Samsara? Sanjit sold his prior company Meraki for $1.2BN, what worked with Meraki that Sanjit took with him to Samsara? What did not work that he left behind? What does Sanjit know now that he wishes he had known when he started Samsara? 2. The Man Who Found Product Market Fit Time and Time Again: What is the one single moment that Sanjit believes you know you have product market fit? What are the biggest mistakes founders make when chasing product market fit? How does being a bootstrapped company change how a company approaches chasing PMF? 3. Mastering a Multi-Product Company: How do you know when it is the right time to launch a second product? Does the second product have to make the first product better? What are the biggest mistakes companies make when going multi-product? 4. The Art of Great CEOship: Does Sanjit believe that the best CEOs are the best capital allocators? What has been the single best and single worst capital allocation decision in Samsara's journey? What are the biggest mistakes Sanjit has made in leadership? How did he learn and grow from them?

Sanjit Biswas

Founder & CEO

Samsara