Thread by @MohapatraHemant

Hosting @dheeraj, among the most well-respected CEOs in the enterprise world at #EE2019 was nothing short of a fanboy moment for me. Replicating the magic & inspiration from last yr, he left founders with a lot to mull over in their journeys of building outsized companies (1/n):

@dheeraj In the early days of @nutanix, conventional wisdom didn’t favor full-stack hardware + SaaS businesses. But customer centricity meant embracing the mundane and doing whatever it takes to reduce friction for customers. "We wanted to provide what customers want, not what we want."

@dheeraj @nutanix Your customers are "investing" in you. “Our only framework was to never leave them high and dry.” Focusing a LOT on customer delight, ease of use, reliability and end-to-end ownership of issues is what drove trust, willingness to pay and repeat business.

@dheeraj @nutanix It's important to acknowledge that customers won’t bring your product to life. Build v0.8 based on what you think, then iterate with customer to get v1.0, v1.1 and so on. Big part of this will be reading between the lines. “One is anomaly, two is coincidence, three is a pattern.”

@dheeraj @nutanix @dheeraj claimed that mid-market is often the crucible of innovation in enterprise. They are the early adopters of innovation. There’s less bureaucracy and more willingness to make decisions fast. However, don't treat them like your lab rats. Do what you said, say what you'll do.

@dheeraj @nutanix Being the “dream merchant” and getting early customers requires you to identify underlying motivations that influence the decision to try. Where have they taken risk in the past? Can you make them look good in front of their bosses? Are you selling agility? autonomy? mastery?

@dheeraj @nutanix On embracing risk @dheeraj said founders aren’t entirely irrational. For him, fall-back was going to work at some cool bay area startup - not too bad, right? “If the worst is not bad enough, why wouldn’t you roll the dice?”. He started up again to satisfy the fire in his belly.

@dheeraj @nutanix To zero-in on what you need to work on, think about 3 interfaces ((wo)man-machine, machine-machine, and man-man) and where does friction need to be reduced the most for your organization to get to the next level. e.g. developer conflict may often be org design related, not tech!

@dheeraj @nutanix The core of building efficient orgs & culture is your own authenticity as a founder. Authenticity = Honesty (-) self-righteousness (+) vulnerability. Pick simple yet powerful words that are easily understood & transcend boundaries – turn them into values that are non-negotiable.

@dheeraj @nutanix Finally, Dheeraj explained how he’s come to appreciate the concept of anti-fragility. To ride the highs & lows of entrepreneurship & build lasting companies, being resilient is not enough. With each shock, the system needs to get better; every crack needs to bring sunlight in. 🙏