Neha Narkhede is a co-founder at Confluent, a data streaming software that raised at a $9.1b valuation in 2021. Neha later co-founded Oscilar, a no-code platform that helps companies detect and manage fraud. Before building these two companies, Neha was a Principal Software Engineer at LinkedIn where she co-created Apache Kafka. Neha is ranked #50 on Forbes’ list of “America’s Richest Self-Made Women 2023” with an estimated net worth of $520m.
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In today’s episode we discuss:

The origins of Confluent, Kafka, and Oscilar

How to become a successful second-time founder

Advice for monetizing open source product

Neha’s unique GTM strategies

How Confluent ran two businesses within one company

Neha’s path to founder market fit

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Referenced:

Apache Kafka: https://kafka.apache.org/


Confluent: https://www.confluent.io/


Confluent Cloud: https://www.confluent.io/confluent-cloud/


Jay Kreps, co-founder at Confluent: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaykreps/


Jun Rao, co-founder at Confluent: https://www.linkedin.com/in/junrao/


MongoDB: https://www.mongodb.com/


Oscilar: https://oscilar.com/


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Where to find Neha:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nehanarkhede/


Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/nehanarkhede


Website: https://www.nehanarkhede.com/


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Where to find Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/


Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson


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Where to find First Round Capital:

Website: https://firstround.com/


First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/


Twitter: https://twitter.com/firstround


Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital


This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast


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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:14)The origin story of Kafka
(05:24) Co-creating Kafka at LinkedIn
(07:31) Why open sourcing Kafka was a masterstroke
(11:04) The unique nature of Confluent's Zero to One phase
(16:35) Building for a specific customer early on
(18:42) Inside Confluent’s successful launch
(20:12) Establishing Confluent as an enterprise company
(22:00) The role of developer evangelism in Confluent’s success
(23:49) Using developer evangelism in category creation
(26:41) Navigating early co-founder dynamics
(30:06) Leveraging complementary founder skills
(31:56) Advice for future founders
(32:45) Building Confluent with monetization in mind
(34:38) Monetizing open source products
(36:05) GTM for subscription Saas versus consumption SaaS
(39:48) The importance of founder-led GTM sales
(40:58) Neha’s order of operations for GTM sales
(42:33) When to build out outbound sales
(44:34) Adding SaaS to a software business
(48:54) Choosing what to license and what to open source
(52:38) How Confluent’s co-founders decided on SaaS offering
(56:04) Neha’s journey as a second-time founder
(58:54) Building Oscilar differently to Confluent
(63:21) Going from speculation to product realization
(69:06) Solving problems people are willing to pay for
(71:13) Neha’s “proactive research sprint” tactic
(72:54) How Neha has applied this tactic