Guest: David Cancel, founder and former CEO of Drift; founder of Rey
After HubSpot acquired his company Performable in 2011, David Cancel became his acquirer’s Chief Product Officer — and didn’t give any thought to how long he’d be in that role. When he started eyeing the exit a few years later, he was told that wasn’t an option: HubSpot had already filed to go public, and an officer of the company leaving in the first 18 months would raise major red flags. “Maybe this is what’s led me to be an entrepreneur,” David recalls. “I can never feel trapped … Someone telling me, ‘you can’t leave,’ I was like, boom. Switch went off in my head … and I was like, ‘I’m out.’” The filing was ultimately delayed and David was able to quit just before the IPO; one day later, he started his next company, Drift.
In this episode, David and Joubin discuss the accountability of doing something, creating constraints, the Whitney Museum, imposter syndrome, Tony Hawk, John Romero, wandering without a map, conservative spending, Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, Phil Jackson, the voices in your head, Shlomo Kramer, righteous independence, cancel culture and diversity, gut vs. data, and killing ideas with discipline.
In this episode, we cover:
Links:
#112 Former President at Tesla / CEO of DVx Ventures, Jon McNeill: First-Principles
#111 Founder and CEO Whoop, Will Ahmed: Unlocking Optimal Human Performance
#110 Former CRO / Advisor at Notion, Olivia Nottebohm: Grow Fast or Die Slow
#109 Co-founder and CEO, Databricks Ali Ghodsi: The Difference Between Truth and Data
#108 COO Zscaler, Dali Rajic: If You’re Not Always Learning, You’ll Get Wiped Out
#107 Founding CRO at Flexport, Ben Braverman: The Power of Genuine Curiosity
#106 Co-founder & CEO Sweetgreen, Jonathan Neman: The Restaurant Company of the Future
#105 AOL Founder & CEO Revolution, Steve Case: The Rise of the Rest
#104 Co-founder of Intuit, Scott Cook: The Power of Paradigms
#103 Founder & CEO Productboard, Hubert Palan w/ Ilya Fushman: Chasing Perfection
#102 CEO Qualcomm, Cristiano Amon: We’re In a Hurry to Get to the Future
#101 CEO Google Cloud, Thomas Kurian: Competitor-Aware and Customer-Obsessed
#100 Chairman of Kleiner Perkins, John Doerr: Getting Into Trouble with Disruptors
CEO Touch the Top, Erik Weihenmayer: Climbing Everest Blind
Co-founder and CEO G2, Godard Abel: Finding Opportunity in Challenging Times
Founding CRO @HubSpot / Prof @HBS / CoFounder @Stage 2 Capital Mark Roberge: The Science and Psychology of Scaling
CMO Canva, Zach Kitschke: From Employee Number 5 To $40 Billion Valuation
Founder & CEO Freshworks, Girish Mathrubootham: Success Is In the Big Things, Happiness Is In the Small Things
CMO Riot Games, Jason Bunge: Change Is Inevitable, Get Used To It
Co-Founder & CEO Charm Industrial, Peter Reinhardt: “All That Matters Is What the Customers Are Telling You”
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Commercial Edge: Unleash the Power of People
The emPOWERed Half Hour
Reaching your Goals
Insights@work
Chief Change Officer
The Ken Coleman Show
The Cardone Zone