Welcome to In Depth, a podcast from The First Round Review that’s dedicated to surfacing the tactical advice founders and startup leaders need to grow their teams, their companies and themselves. Hosted by Brett Berson, a partner at First Round, In Depth will cover a lot of ground and a wide range of topics, from hiring executives and becoming a better manager, to the importance of storytelling inside of your organization. But every interview will hit the level of tactical depth where the very best advice is found. We hope you’ll join us. Subscribe to “In Depth” now and learn more at firstround.com
AI assistants are rapidly transitioning from niche applications to foundational work interfaces that prioritize proactive task management and team collaboration. Jean-Denis Greze, CEO of Town, emphasizes that focusing on professional environments offers greater elasticity and willingness to pay than personal use cases....
Leading a company through periods of intense volatility requires a relentless focus on long-term value creation for customers and the ecosystem, rather than fixating on singular milestones like acquisitions or funding rounds. Success hinges on building a resilient culture that prioritizes customer needs and empowers te...
Figma CFO Praveer Melwani details his professional evolution from an individual contributor to a public company executive, emphasizing the necessity of first-principles thinking and deep operational involvement. Success in the finance function requires moving beyond mere compliance to act as a strategic partner who und...
The role of an excellent Chief Product Officer centers on setting strategic vision, understanding customers deeply, and managing resource allocation rather than overseeing every feature. Success requires adapting to the specific dynamics of the CEO—whether a visionary founder or an operational executive—and maintaining...
Operating "atoms-oriented" businesses, such as DoorDash, requires a rigorous focus on unit economics and operational details that differ significantly from "bits-oriented" software companies. Executives must maintain the ability to dive into granular data—like investigating delivery failures at the store level—to ident...
Chief People Officer Katie Burke details the strategic evolution of the people function, emphasizing that internal communications and culture must ladder up to business objectives rather than serving as a "nanny state." Effective people leadership requires building a high-performance environment where managers act as c...
The discussion centers on the role of a Chief Product Officer (CPO) in a scale-up startup, drawing on Jeremy Epling's experiences at Microsoft, GitHub, and Vanta. Epling emphasizes the need for CPOs to be deeply involved in product details, advocating for a "founder mode" approach. He highlights the importance of maint...
The discussion centers on defining the role and success metrics of a design function within a software company. Ryan Lucas, design leader at Rippling, argues that design, like engineering, is fundamentally about problem-solving, drawing from humanities, social sciences, and arts. He emphasizes that design's job is to c...
The discussion centers on the qualities that distinguish exceptional executives in scaling startups, featuring Jeanne DeWitt Grosser, COO of Vercel. A key attribute is the ability to operate effectively at both a strategic (30,000 feet) and operational level, simultaneously developing long-term visions and addressing i...
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