20VC: From Construction Worker to Billionaire CEO; The 21-Year Epic Journey of Procore to an $8.6BN Company, Advice from Tobi at Shopify on Being a Great CEO & Why The Idea of "Becoming an Entrepreneur" is BS with Tooey Courtemanche
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2023
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tooey Courtemanche, Jr. is the Founder, CEO, President, and Chairman of the Board of Procore. He founded Procore in 2002 with a mission to connect everyone in construction on a global platform. After 13 years of business, the company had just $9.6M in revenue, 8 years after that they have over $890M in revenue. Under his leadership, Procore has grown to become a leading global provider of construction management software, connecting over 2 million users across 150+ countries. Today Procore trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker PCOR. Huge thanks to Brian @ Bessemer and Will @ Iconiq for some amazing question suggestions today.
In Today's Episode with Tooey Courtemanche:
1. The Founding of a $8.5BN Company:
- How did Tooey's wife, Hilary and their house-building lead to the idea for Procore?
- What does Tooey know now that he wishes he had known when he started?
- Did Tooey always know he would be a success? What was the moment of most doubt?
2. The 13-Year Journey to $9.6M in Revenue:
- Why did it take so long to hit the $10M revenue mark? What changed in 2015?
- What is Tooey's biggest advice to founders and investors who face market timing risk?
- Why was Tooey laughed out of VC offices in 2008? What are his biggest pieces of advice to founders raising from VCs today?
- How does Tooey advise founders on the balance between vision and sticking to a mission vs realising when it is not working and giving up?
3. The Art of Great CEOship:
- What advice did Tobi @ Shopify give Tooey on being a great CEO? How did it impact his approach?
- What are the biggest differences between the reality of being a CEO and the Instagram version?
- What have been Tooey's biggest lessons on hiring? Why does hiring smart, ambitious but not humble people never work?
- Why does Tooey believe the idea of "becoming an entrepreneur" to be BS?
4. Parenting, Money and Marriage:
- Why does Tooey believe great parenting is like great CEOship?
- How does one bring up children to be ambitious and humble in a very privileged upbringing?
- What are the secrets to being there as a husband while also being a rockstar CEO?
- How does Tooey reflect on his own relationship to money and wealth today?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I was miserable for probably two years and I'm like, look, I don't know who I am and who I'm supposed to be. I even went out and bought the Patagonia vest and, you know, my wife said to me one day, you're miserable. She goes, you know exactly who you are and you know exactly who you should be. Stop trying to be somebody else. We had to go without a paycheck. We had sold everything that we had acquired in life. Like I had two mortgages on the house, I'd sold a car, I'd sold to make payroll, I did nothing left to sell. |
| 0:24.6 | Between 2002 and 2015, we'd grown revenue from $0 to $9.6 million. |
| 0:30.6 | This is 20 VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and today we feature an epic tale of entrepreneurialism. |
| 0:35.6 | We often hear of growth rates that companies |
| 0:38.1 | need to hit and everything being up and to the right. Well, the company featured today took |
| 0:42.5 | 13 years to reach $9.6 million in revenue, so not rocket ship growth. Eight years after that, |
| 0:49.9 | they are now at over $890 million in revenue and a public company. |
| 0:54.9 | And so with that, I'm thrilled to welcome Tui Kortemanshe, founder and CEO at ProCore. |
| 0:59.4 | Under his leadership, ProCore has grown to become a leading global provider of construction management software, |
| 1:05.2 | connecting over 2 million users across 150 countries. |
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... |
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