Tristan Handy is the Founder and CEO @ dbt, a data transformation tool that enables data analysts and engineers to transform, test and document data in the cloud data warehouse. To date, Tristan has raised over $400M from the likes of Sequoia, Altimeter, Coatue, ICONIQ and GV with the latest funding round valuing the company at $4.2BN. Prior to founding dbt, Tristan was the VP Marketing @ RJ Metrics and got his break in the world of startups through former 20VC guest, Anthony Casalena with a Director of Operations role at Squarespace.
In Today's Episode with Tristan Handy:
1.) Entry into Startups:
- How did Tristan make his way into the world of startups with his first role at Squarespace?
- How did Tristan's time with Squarespace impact how he builds dbt today?
- What does Tristan know now that he wishes he had known when he founded dbt?
2.) Our Jobs Are Not That Hard:
- Why does Tristan believe that our jobs are not that hard?
- If going down this line, how does Tristan hire? What does he look for? How does he test for it?
- When does experience matter? When does it not matter?
3.) dbt: The Company
- Why does Tristan believe that remote work does not work?
- What financial packages have dbt put in place to allow their employees this physical interaction?
- What does Tristan believe is the hardest element of building a hybrid company? When does everything start to break?
- What are the biggest lessons Tristan and dbt have taken from Gitlab?
4.) Tristan: The Leader
- How does Tristan conduct and execute on the best performance reviews?
- How does Tristan create an environment of safety where people feel they can be honest and transparent?
- What are the elements that you cannot be transparent on? Where does transparency break down?
5.) Trading Freedom for Scale:
- dbt could have been a small and super profitable company, why did Tristan decide to trade off the freedom and raise big from VCs?
- How did Tristan raise over $414M without ever talking about an efficiency metric?
- Is Tristan concerned about living into the $4.2BN valuation in what is a very different time?
- With the benefit of hindsight, is Tristan pleased he went big and raised venture?