This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with
more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get
90% off your plan for your first 6 months at
xero.com/highflyers.
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David Schneider is a General Partner at Coatue, where he co-leads
the firm’s Growth Fund. Previously, he was President at
ServiceNow, helping scale the company from roughly $100M to $5B
in revenue, after helping take another software company in Data
Domain from zero customers to more than $1B in revenue. David is
widely regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s most successful
go-to-market, sales, revenue and business building executives of
all time.
In this rare public conversation, David joins Vidit to unpack a
career spent building some of enterprise software’s defining
companies. He shares how he was initially rejected by Data Domain
for not being “aggressive enough”, only to join when it had zero
customers and around 18 employees and help scale it beyond $1
billion in revenue — revealing the intensity, hiring philosophy
and relentless focus on execution that shaped him as a leader.
They also explore David’s decade at ServiceNow, where he helped
scale the business from roughly $100 million to $5 billion, what
he learned working alongside legendary CEO Frank Slootman, and
the painful customer failure that fundamentally changed how he
thought about leadership. David then opens up about leaving
operating at the height of his career to become a General Partner
at Coatue, where he now co-leads its Growth Fund, and the
surprisingly difficult transition from being the person making
decisions to the investor sitting beside the founder. Along the
way, he reflects on building exceptional sales teams, spotting
future leaders, the future of enterprise go-to-market, flying
250,000–350,000 miles a year, the impact that ambition had on his
family, and why curiosity has remained a constant throughout his
life.
Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.
_______
Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com
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Agarwal directly here
Contact us via our website
This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with
more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get
90% off your plan for your first 6 months at
xero.com/highflyers.
________
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – Left Field Questions
01:24 – The founder David is betting on
04:01 – Growing up in Silicon Valley before the boom
08:25 – How David became obsessed with winning
24:45 – Rejected by Data Domain for not being “aggressive
enough”
28:40 – From zero customers to a billion-dollar business
40:00 – What David learned working with Frank Slootman
50:23 – The customer failure David never forgot
52:25 – How David helped scale ServiceNow from $100M to $5B
59:04 – Why he walked away from operating
01:00:29 – From operator to investor at Coatue
01:08:00 – What David looks for in breakout companies today
01:11:00 – 350,000-mile years
01:13:30 – Left-field questions: grit, pet peeves and what
matters now
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The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the
world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance,
government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the
global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27
countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in
Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.
Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of
Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures),
Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci
(CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David
Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder,
Eventbrite), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon),
Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable),
David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of
Travel), Paul Grosmann (CEO, RM Williams), Rob Giglio (CCO,
Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie
Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari
(Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock
(CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki
Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis),
Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square
Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese
(Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam
Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle
(CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev
Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High
Commissioner to India).
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