In the next show, Kat Hufrom our group of Chiefs of Staff and me, Jonathan SiddharthTuring CEO and Founder, discusses key takeaways from our most recent TDLS episode with David Zhang, Partner at TCV.
You might enjoy watching this After-Show episode here.
As always, the full text of the discussion is below.
Kat Hu
Welcome to our podcast on remote first world unicorn scaling. We will reflect on today’s conversation with David Zhang. from TCV. What do you think about how that call went? What knowledge have you learned?
Jonathan Siddharth
Yes, it was a fun conversation. I’m glad we’re doing this aftermarket on what’s interesting from that conversation. I think for our first question, I found David’s answers very interesting about what companies are doing differently, given the changing macroeconomic environment. What stuck me was his three main remarks.
First, this is the time to “be mentally prepared and fit” for most companies.
The second thing is to focus on the quality of evolution. Interestingly for TCV, the quality of growth is not a temporary phenomenon that you just start thinking about in 2022. It seems to have been part of their investment ethos for a while now. .
Third, just be thoughtful about scenario planning. It’s interesting that David calls it different shades of red for what can happen and makes sure your team is the right size in different areas. So that stuck with me. How about you?
Kat Hu
Along those lines, I see a lot of similarities between what he says and what we see in Turing — in terms of what we’re focusing on, how we’re navigating, the macro changes and focus on quality. He talks about things like develop the team and build a world-class team, I know that’s what you’re focused on and we’re proud to have that at Turing today.
And another thing that I find interesting is similar to the discussion with Sandesh. The most important thing for CEOs who are scaling, he says, is to strike a balance between doing what you’re doing well and looking to the horizon for the next S-curves and frontiers.
Jonathan Siddharth
Yes it is. But, again, I am reminded of our focus on teams. Sandesh has a similar comment where you have to be good at what you’ve always been good at. And you have to keep doing that while looking for the next wave.
It is also useful advice to ensure that even during the post-market fit scaling phase when you are very close to product innovation, ensuring high product speed and customer access is essential.
Kat Hu
Yeah sure. I think there’s that cycle and that feedback is what we hear over and over again. It’s important and hearing about how you do it with your email is great tactical advice.
Jonathan Siddharth
Yes, and it would also be interesting to hear his thoughts during board meetings on how you would run board meetings. What are some ways to make them more effective?
Kat Hu
Yes, it’s interesting that other companies are thinking of similar topics at board meetings. David mentioned that it’s of paramount importance for everyone to plan the scenario, monitor the quality of the growth, and make sure we’re doing the right thing with regards to the team. It was encouraging that what he said about building the right team for a company was similar to what we were doing in Turing. The fact that many other companies are thinking about the same thing during this time has been corroborated.
One thing about scenario planning that I find interesting is that he not only mentions different shades of red, but also highlights two frameworks. One. How do you survive? Two. How do you develop? It makes you think of all the past category heads who, in similar times of red. Now it’s more important than ever to ask how they did it and consider incorporating that into our strategy.
Jonathan Siddharth
YES. And it’s not just about surviving, it’s also about having a strategy for you to thrive in during a storm.
He mentioned strategy formulation first, then execution, holding board meetings to monitor how the implementation goes towards the closely agreed strategy and ensure that companies have an intellectually sound approach to measuring success. And asked how we are on track against the success metrics we set for ourselves, in some cases, if we need more data, how can we gather gather more data to see if we can validate our hypothesis? But it’s too early to tell. We’ll probably figure it out later.
Kat Hu
Well, and again coming back to scenario planning, which he said which I think is quite wise is when you plan these scenarios. Then, amidst all these external stressors, you can just focus on performing and focus on continuing your path because you have mapped out these different situations.
Jonathan Siddharth
That’s right. And interestingly David also shared about the Sequoia deck. In Silicon Valley, there’s usually a group where everyone’s looking for a simple recipe, something to tell them what to do, like a silver bullet. But, unfortunately, there is no silver bullet, and there is no one size fits all.
Ashu from Foundation would say the same thing, this too often, there are these prescriptive tips just getting around and people sometimes tend to apply them without thinking. That may be appropriate advice for a particular type of company at a particular stage, but some advice is not universally applicable.
Kat Hu
Well, during your conversation, I noticed you nodded several times. The two of you seem to be compatible on many points. Another item I’m thinking about is the inflection points for Turing and companies on a large scale during this time period in the macro environment.
It is interesting to hear the various examples of these companies that have pivoted or changed in dramatic ways that are sometimes not seen by everyone but have turned a significant profit. Have you thought much about some company or Turing?
Jonathan Siddharth
Well, I mean, one way I think about it is that maybe there are big inflection points happening in the macro environment that could be opportunities to do something new, so let’s call them triggers. outside. However, there may also be internal triggers that you have identified and some new disruptive things that you can do and pursue.
For me, in the external bin, I saw Netflix switch from DVD to streaming. The world is moving to streaming, Internet videos are getting better and better, and browsers are getting better and better at streaming content.
For us at Turing, having these external shifts is like a pandemic, which is a big inflection point for remote work. And that has fueled the world’s transition to remote work for at least five years. So I think it’s some external agents and you can’t control them. And when they do, you want to realize that there’s an opportunity for you and understand if you’re properly positioned relative to that change.
Then there are the internal impulses that you feel like there is something disturbing, some new area of business that you can bring to market. And here, I remember Amazon launching AWS, a big business as a guideline for them.
Turing’s focus on teams is just that, and possibly more. For these inflection points, I sometimes try to answer the question why now? Has something happened now that makes this the right time to do something like this? Why hasn’t it been done before, and I separate that into internal and external and try to think of what next internal that we can do that could lead to the direction of the business? Reflection takes time, and this is why our precise off pages are so helpful when you have some time to breathe, pause, and reflect. It’s hard to do this in our exact weekly syncs or monthly business reviews.
Kat Hu
Yes, completely. I think it’s a good call. There can be time for quarterly reflections, and off-site is a good vehicle for that.
Jonathan Siddharth
Yeah, did you take anything away for your future company after Turing went public?
Kat Hu
I like his recommendations. I searched Pedro Franceschi and got this article about “what I learned about people of that size”, I was happy to read more about his Medium post. It helps if you have frameworks to be more efficient, productive, or successful in specific ways.
Jonathan Siddharth
Yes it is. It’s a good result, and for that, I think we can close the show after our show. This was a fun chat and thanks to everyone who joined us!
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