Olivier Pomel built Datadog into a $40B company while burning only $25M in capital. In our conversation, he shares the fundraising lessons, operating principles, and core insights that made this possible. He also discusses the pros and cons of building a tech company in NYC, how early-career professionals should approach learning AI tools, how Datadog is building a trusted relationship with their users around AI features, and much more

(00:00 ) Intro

(01:30 ) Datadog's Early Challenges and Lessons

(04:32 ) The Core Insight Behind Datadog

(05:20 ) Building the Right Product

(07:46 ) Transitioning to Open Beta

(09:38 ) Expanding Datadog's Product Line

(11:26 ) Platform Vision and Modular Products

(18:12 ) Empowering Product Teams

(22:14 ) Acquisitions and Integration Strategy

(33:18 ) Customer-Centric Approach

(36:39 ) Bottom-Up Sales Strategy

(46:04 ) Navigating Founder Challenges

(46:37 ) Building a Collaborative Management Team

(48:32 ) Staying Close to Customers

(51:36 ) Maintaining a Culture of Discipline and Efficiency

(56:26 ) Pricing Strategy and Market Positioning

(01:01:24 ) Fostering a Low-Ego, High-Performance Culture

(01:06:32 ) Hiring and Promoting for Long-Term Success

(01:12:21 ) Fundraising and Investor Relations

(01:16:03 ) Deciding Whether to Sell or Scale

(01:18:26 ) The Impact of AI on Software Development

(01:23:24 ) Choosing New York Over Silicon Valley

(01:28:04 ) Final Thoughts and Reflections

Executive Producer: Rashad Assir

Producer: Leah Clapper

Mixing and editing: Sam Dewees and JR Bohannon

Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA

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About the Show

Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.