How to plan for success, when you are starting a company.

Key takeaways from an interview with Mohit Aron ( Founder and CEO of Cohesity, previously co-founder and CTO of Nutanix )

Interview by B2B a CEO ( with Ashu Garg)

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Before you start a company

Have a blue print on what and how you are going to execute.

Various phases of growth

Entry point

• At least a TAM of 5B
• Well defined entry point
• Addressing the immediate pain point of customers, solutions that reduce their current cost, manageability, etc
• Product market fit
• Have a larger vision
• Address short term pains
• Get to ~100M in 5–7 years

Pivot point

• Explore additional entry points
• Have multiple plans for growth

Inflection point

• Is it additional headache to manage your product for your customer ?
• How your product fits well within customer’s current ecosystem

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Types of customers

Early customers ( At least 10–15% of initial customers )

• Friends of VCs
• Friends of founder/founders

Early majority

• Customers who only buy polished products from branded companies
• They highlight many gaps in your products
• Easy to onboard more companies after initial pain

Late majority

• Always only buy from very specific branded companies
• You have to be a branded company to get their business

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Hiring

Pre-interview checklist for filtering

• Worked for relevant companies
• Made good impact
• Good pedigree

During-interview checklist

• Chemistry
• Red flags
• Know what they are talking

Post-interview checklist

• Interviewee’s references
• References from peers and…