Cofounder of honeycomb.io, coauthor of Database Reliability Engineering. Operations engineer, DBA, systems engineer, SRE, devops, etc. On call since I was 17.
The only good diff is a red diff.
oh jesus. much like observability, being ceo is all about the unknown-unknowns. I always feel like I'm failing, because I'm only ever working on whatever is broken in the org ... as soon as it works, it's someone else's job.
But the biggest unknown-unknown was having to be CEO at all. I distinctly did not plan on and did not want the job. I wanted to be CTO. It's always been my intention to have a primarily technical role for the rest of my career. And I knew CEO was a shit job and that I did not want it. But shit happens.
I read your interview with Business Insider where you mentioned how smooth the fundraising process went for honeycomb. What's your advice for folks that aren't quite as connected but are trying to raise?
Cofounder of honeycomb.io, coauthor of Database Reliability Engineering. Operations engineer, DBA, systems engineer, SRE, devops, etc. On call since I was 17.
The only good diff is a red diff.
I believe in what we're building, like a lot. That makes it worth it to me. There is very little about the job that I find rewarding or interesting on a day-by-day basis, and I'm still petrified about being relegated to PM roles after this -- what if nobody will ever hire me as an engineer again??? My 3 am self is in agony over this.
It was smooth this time because I have a COO who has been a VC and done startups before. It was not that smooth when I was trying to do this on my own. Moral of the story: admire business people and don't talk down to them, so the good ones flock to you. I think that's the moral of the story anyway.
My advice to anyone with fundraising questions is always, "talk to Ginsu". 😵 Dear god what a lifesaver good business people are.
Beyond that ... think big, pitch big, tell a story. I have to try very hard not to use my normal sardonic self-deprecating sense of humor around investors. Things that I think are fucking hilarious and realistic, they read as lack of ambition. Sigh.
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oh jesus. much like observability, being ceo is all about the unknown-unknowns. I always feel like I'm failing, because I'm only ever working on whatever is broken in the org ... as soon as it works, it's someone else's job.
But the biggest unknown-unknown was having to be CEO at all. I distinctly did not plan on and did not want the job. I wanted to be CTO. It's always been my intention to have a primarily technical role for the rest of my career. And I knew CEO was a shit job and that I did not want it. But shit happens.
Ha! Is there anything you like about being CEO?
I read your interview with Business Insider where you mentioned how smooth the fundraising process went for honeycomb. What's your advice for folks that aren't quite as connected but are trying to raise?
I believe in what we're building, like a lot. That makes it worth it to me. There is very little about the job that I find rewarding or interesting on a day-by-day basis, and I'm still petrified about being relegated to PM roles after this -- what if nobody will ever hire me as an engineer again??? My 3 am self is in agony over this.
It was smooth this time because I have a COO who has been a VC and done startups before. It was not that smooth when I was trying to do this on my own. Moral of the story: admire business people and don't talk down to them, so the good ones flock to you. I think that's the moral of the story anyway.
My advice to anyone with fundraising questions is always, "talk to Ginsu". 😵 Dear god what a lifesaver good business people are.
Beyond that ... think big, pitch big, tell a story. I have to try very hard not to use my normal sardonic self-deprecating sense of humor around investors. Things that I think are fucking hilarious and realistic, they read as lack of ambition. Sigh.