15:00 we’re all winging it 27:15 Mailchimp hired famous hacker Kevin Mitnick to white hat them 28:00 Robb sold Drip with 10 people, a few million in revenue
Ben journey with MailChimp is a masterclass in bootstrapping and scaling wisely! His experience underscores the importance of evolving with customer needs and market demands, proving that sometimes the best path is carved by walking it. 🚀
"The people at the top - they're winging it too" If you have a farm that produces crops, you can hedge the pricing for when the harvest arrives later. Tech is not like that. Tech is like milk or cheese left outside in 80 degree sunny weather. You have to move *_FAST_* and planning is quite difficult. We're in the middle of an AI 'boom' and people still have very little clue where things are going. Farms, you can plan ahead. Tech, no freaking way. Move now or lose the chance. Over a long career, we've all seen Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems, Global Village, many others, pop above the surface then disappear. Borland, WordPerfect, Lotus123, Wordstar. Even Apple Computer nearly went out of business (Steve Jobs turned it around). Microsoft, Oracle, Intel are remaining tech giants who were around in the mid-late 1970s. .
I love your content. It’s made me jump into saas businesses. Now, I’m working on my first saas idea and would love help with my pitch deck. Can you guys help me with this?
The thumbnail I clicked on said “I’d tell my younger self this…” with a picture of the founder of MailChimp. Spoiler Alert: He has no idea what he’d tell himself 🤣
He did not give his employees ESOPs. So what? There's a lot of companies that don't offer ESOPs. On the other hand, there's a plenty that offer them. What stopped these employees from moving?
Equity isn't candy. You never hand it out without a very special reason. Usually it's given for 2 special reasons. 1 -- the founder needs key managers to help grow the business and is unable to provide a fair compensation, so they hope to attract a manager who is fine with a long-term comp if the business is successful many years later. 2--the business needs to attract top tier talent who are paid an above market compensation already and are very limited, a business will offer stock options as a way to increase their offer. FAANG does this. Outside of these 2, giving stock to non-founders and investors is a poor business practice and foolish.
The man, the legend, thank you for making it happen Rob!
man.. gold.
Thanks.
Ben is a pleasure to listen to! Down to earth and humble. Would love to learn more from him haha.
Lol this dude is hilarious. This was the best kinda interview where you can learn something and be entertained at the same time 😄
15:00 we’re all winging it
27:15 Mailchimp hired famous hacker Kevin Mitnick to white hat them
28:00 Robb sold Drip with 10 people, a few million in revenue
Ben journey with MailChimp is a masterclass in bootstrapping and scaling wisely! His experience underscores the importance of evolving with customer needs and market demands, proving that sometimes the best path is carved by walking it. 🚀
This is so cool, pleasure to listen!
28:36 That was my question 😀 amazing experience hearing straight from Ben
Great to meet you in Atlanta Tobe!
Legend. Keeping it real.
This is excellent
Ben is awesome!
this is jason cohen tier
We agree!
"The people at the top - they're winging it too"
If you have a farm that produces crops, you can hedge the pricing for when the harvest arrives later.
Tech is not like that. Tech is like milk or cheese left outside in 80 degree sunny weather. You have to move *_FAST_* and planning is quite difficult.
We're in the middle of an AI 'boom' and people still have very little clue where things are going.
Farms, you can plan ahead. Tech, no freaking way. Move now or lose the chance.
Over a long career, we've all seen Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems, Global Village, many others, pop above the surface then disappear.
Borland, WordPerfect, Lotus123, Wordstar. Even Apple Computer nearly went out of business (Steve Jobs turned it around).
Microsoft, Oracle, Intel are remaining tech giants who were around in the mid-late 1970s.
.
Nvidia & Microsoft will survive in another 25-50 years since the Azure cloud and investments in OpenAI, Not sure about other companies
I love your content. It’s made me jump into saas businesses. Now, I’m working on my first saas idea and would love help with my pitch deck. Can you guys help me with this?
Hey, I know slidebean guys help with pitch decks for startups.
You don't need a pitch deck. Start validating by talking to potential customers and learning. Read "Start Small, Stay Small," and "The Mom Test"
Sounds like the “internal tool” idea that grew from there
Mailchimp story is wild. Great ep.
The thumbnail I clicked on said “I’d tell my younger self this…” with a picture of the founder of MailChimp. Spoiler Alert: He has no idea what he’d tell himself 🤣
Actually not bad and honest “advice” wtf do any of us know what we are doing?
How a billion dollar exit works, I think exit will be difficult once you cross $100M ARR
"You should consider freemium"
He and the founders got all the equity, the employees got “Ganked”, that’s all I need to know. Bye!
The employees may get a better salary than the rest of the companies
@@BondJFKTrue, a good salary is great equity creates wealth.
He forgot to add the part where you promise you'll never sell your company as an excuse to give your employees 0% equity.
He did not give his employees ESOPs. So what? There's a lot of companies that don't offer ESOPs. On the other hand, there's a plenty that offer them. What stopped these employees from moving?
He could’ve changed his mind. Employees got compensated fairly or else they would’ve found employment elsewhere.
Equity isn't candy. You never hand it out without a very special reason. Usually it's given for 2 special reasons. 1 -- the founder needs key managers to help grow the business and is unable to provide a fair compensation, so they hope to attract a manager who is fine with a long-term comp if the business is successful many years later. 2--the business needs to attract top tier talent who are paid an above market compensation already and are very limited, a business will offer stock options as a way to increase their offer. FAANG does this. Outside of these 2, giving stock to non-founders and investors is a poor business practice and foolish.
@@El_Diablo_12I know someone who worked there, their comp was massive.
I read their 401K plan for employees was very generous in addition to high salaries