Shifting cost optimisation left: Spotify Backstage Cost Insights
Spotify is very much an engineering led company. It is also a product led company. Therefore when it decided it needed to get a better handle on its cloud spend, it decided to build an internal product designed to be used by its engineers. The result is Cost Insights, a plugin for Spotify’s Backstage developer […]
From Engineering To Sales
A few weeks ago I woke up to see a mail that said I was given a “Thought leader” badge by IBM – which is our highest level of competence in consulting . We have switched a few different HR frameworks in my time here and this badge was a retrospective of the level I […]
Emotions at Work
Very interesting question early in the morning today from a younger colleague – “How do you keep away emotions from work ?” . I thought it is worth expanding on the point of view I explained to her on the phone. Photo by Burst on Pexels.com I have often been told that we should not […]
On the Perils of Taking Advice from Successful Business People
One of the hardest things about running startups is you’re never sure who to listen to. Your board members own big stakes in the company, but that doesn’t automatically align them with you. Your late-stage investors want low multiples on big numbers. Your early-stage investors want big multiples on small numbers. And they have their […]
Fly Less, Write More: the future of Developer Relations, and maybe, well, everything else
I have been self isolating since early March. For the first week and a half the kids were still at school, which was actually more stressful than having them at home. But we’ve all been doing the Stay at Home thing for a few weeks now. What a great time for my eldest to prove […]
Should we be more targeted and holistic in tackling the Corona virus pandemic ?
I have been staying at home for the past week or so since I returned from India . All my global team is working from home too and we are all getting used to the idea of 100% work from home as the new normal . Earlier today, I heard from my mom about the […]
Kellblog Ten Predictions for 2015
As we move into the fourth week of January, I figured it was “now or never” in terms of getting a set of predictions out for 2015. Before jumping into that, let’s take a quick review of how I did with my 2014 predictions and do some self-grading. 2014 to be a good year in Silicon […]
The Second-Timers: Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight – “Never Stop Hiring Reps”
One of the most popular posts we did on SaaStr in the past 12 months was “What The Second Time SaaS CEOs Are All Doing.” What folks who are on their second successful SaaS company are doing better this time. It is a fascinating topic. Because while product-market fit isn’t any easier the second, third, […]
Part 4 of “Predictable Revenue Guide to Tripling Your Sales” with Aaron Ross+SaaStr is Out Today
It’s getting there. The fourth and final part of the 1.0 version of the “Predictable Revenue Guide to Tripling Your Sales”, the SaaStr + Aaron Ross + SaaStr sequel to the original Predictable Revenue, is out today. You can download it
Make a Plan That You Can Beat
Seven words that changed the world: “make a plan that you can beat.” This pithy piece of wisdom was first passed onto me by the sage of Sequoia Capital, Mike Moritz, on the first day of my six-year journey at MarkLogic, during which time we grew the company from effectively zero to an $80M run-rate. Thanks […]
