20VC: Sequoia Partner, Carl Eschenbach on Building and Scaling High Performace Teams and The Common Mistakes In Scaling A Go-To-Market Strategy

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The Twenty Minute VC

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4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2017

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Carl Eschenbach is a Partner @ Sequoia Capital, one of the world's leading funds with investments in the likes of Google, Apple, Whatsapp, Paypal and Stripe just to name a few. As for Carl, prior to Sequoia, Carl was President and CEO @ VMWare where he grew the team from 200 to 20,000 people. If that was not enough Carl has also stepped in as CFO at a $5Bn company and transitioned 3 CEOs.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Carl made the move from President and CEO @ 20,000 person company, VMWare to Partner @ Sequoia?

2.) Question from Alfred Lin, Partner @ Sequoia: How did Carl look to build a culture of performance at VMWare?

3.) Question from Pat Grady, Partner @ Sequoia: What were Carl's biggest learnings with regards to high performance teams? What are the common mistakes in scaling a go to market strategy?

4.) How does Carl view the internal workings at Sequoia to the external perception? Was the move to Sequoia everything he expected? What was different or challenging?

5.) What does Carl believe are the core components that make a great board member? How has Carl's time in operations affected his view of boards and their working?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Carl’s Fave Book: Half Time

Carl’s Most Recent Investment: Zoom

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Carl on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the 20 minute VC with your host Harry Stebbings and you can find me on Snapchat
0:03.6	at H Stebbings with 2Bs and writing frequently these days on MahitoVC.com. I'd love to hear your
0:09.0	thoughts and feedback on that. However, to the show today and we're rejoining one of the world's
0:12.9	greatest funds in the form of Sequoia Capital for this part two. If you miss part one with Pat on
0:17.6	Monday, then that really is a must. However, to part two today, and I'm so thrilled
0:21.4	to welcome Carl Eschenbach. Now, Carl is a partner at Sequoia Capital, one of the world's leading
0:25.6	funds with investments in the likes of Google, WhatsApp, PayPal, and Stripe, just to name a few
0:30.3	incredible companies. As for Carl, prior to Sequoia, Carl was president and CEO at VMware, where he grew the team from 200 to 20,000 people. If that was
0:38.6	enough, Carl's also stepped in as CFO at a $5 billion company and transitioned three CEOs.
0:43.9	I do also have to give a big hand to Carl's partner, Pat Grady, for the intro today, without
0:47.7	which this show would not have been possible. But before we dive into the show today, there are
0:51.2	some products that you simply cannot remember what life was like before them. For me, that's X.ai. They bring you Amy and Andrew, their AI-powered personal
0:59.2	assistance for scheduling meetings. And the beauty of Amy or Andrew is you interact with them like
1:03.9	you would any other person. And it allows you to avoid the tedious hours of email ping pong in
1:08.6	order to schedule one meeting. Even better, though, there's
1:11.0	no sign in, no password, no download, all you do is CCAmy at X.A.I. Absolutely fantastic. And you can
1:17.9	check it out now at X.coma.I. It really is a must. And on the topic of streamlining, traditionally
1:22.6	long and cumbersome workflows, you must check out Workable, the all-in-one recruiting software
1:27.2	for ambitious companies. From posting a job to tracking you must check out Workable, the all-in-one recruiting software for ambitious companies.
1:28.5	From posting a job to tracking and managing candidates, Workable provides everything you need to hire
1:33.3	better. Transparent communication, organized candidate profiles, structured interviews and a full
1:38.3	reporting suite, gives hiring teams the information they need to make the best choice. Workable's
	...

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