Launching Operators Only
Launching Operators Only
experimenting with a new podcast where I talk to startup operators from iconic and up-and-coming companies
Hi Friends. I’m experimenting with a new podcast called Operators Only.
The concept is to have deep conversations about company building with startup operators who were:
Early employees at iconic companies — e.g. Ramp, Instacart, Salesforce, Hubspot, etc. Companies that have already made it.
and / or
Are currently building at breakout startups — e.g. Beehiiv, Fermat, Gamma, etc. Companies that are on the up, but haven’t quite fully made it yet (at least in the sense of being iconic).
We’ve already recorded several episodes with folks from Ramp, Instacart, Beehiiv, Clay, Fermat, and more. Recording others as we speak. Feel free to suggest guests.
Episode 1 — We dropped the first episode with Preeya Goenka, employee #7 and now COO at Beehiiv last week.
Episode 2 — Is dropping later this morning with Varun Anand, the co-founder and Head of Ops at Clay. (update — the episode is now live, see below).
A few notes on why we’re experimenting with this
I've long felt that startup operators are some of the most unsung heroes in tech. Specifically, the early-hires and non-CEO co-founders that helped take companies from 0-1, 1-10, etc.
We constantly hear the same stories from the same founders (especially CEOs) and VCs involved in successful companies. 80%+ of the tech podcast circuit are these folks over-and-over again. For example, I deeply admire Parker Conrad and Rippling, but there’s a different level of depth and nuance you get from talking to one of his early employees or co-founders about the early days of Zenefits or Rippling.
A few folks have pushed into new territory like Lenny with product folks and what Delian used to do with his podcast. But this is just scratching the surface.
The other thing that I believe is missing is depth. Many podcasts tend to ask the same questions over-and-over again. Often, the questions being asked are just not things I’m curious about.
There’s a level of depth and passion for the craft of building companies that I’d like to see more of.
Transparently, I don’t think we’ve created the perfect representation of what I’d like to see exist yet. This pod is very much a WIP. Creating great audio / video content is a different beast.
But we’re going to take in feedback, learn, iterate, and see what happens.
Feedback — Please send us feedback on what you like, what you hate, and any thoughts/ideas on how we can improve the format, guest selection, editing, questions, etc.
Special thanks and shoutout to my friend Rameel, another startup operator and founder at The Bottleneck, for recording several of the first few episodes with me. Have learned a lot from working with you on this. And thank you for the many, many people that have already shared feedback.
Happy Sunday and thanks for reading / listening.