There are a million different ways things can go wrong when running a startup. Most founders learn the hard way. Frederic Kerrest’s experience was no different. The early days of Okta, which he co-founded with Todd McKinnon in 2009, were rife with challenges. From flawed go-to-market strategies and missed sales targets to struggles with hiring, Kerrest and McKinnon dealt with it all. On top of it all, it was in the midst of the Great Recession. That experience is why Kerrest wrote Zero to IPO, a collection of some of the best actionable advice from some of the world’s most influential entrepreneurs. The book, which was published earlier this year, details his early days at Okta as well as those of other iconic entrepreneurs. As part of our Iconversations speaker series, Kerrest joined Greylock board partner Sarah Guo to discuss the key themes of the book and share detailed examples of how they played out at Okta.
You can watch a video of this interview on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/reEECmJ4uxU
You can read a transcript of this interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/instructive-experiences/