00:28:48 · Siddhartha Ahluwalia, Varun Badhwar
[00:28:48] S1: Yeah, because uh Sam and Dario both have the fear of getting disrupted by Chinese open source, right? [00:28:56] S0: So everybody has the fear of I am not in full control. Uh, but you know, as a as a founder, multi-time founder, the last two times I built companies, I felt I have full control of this car. And then there are things outside I don't control. Now it's like I don't control the outside. Also, who knows what shifts, right? Um it's exhilarating, it's uh scary at the same time. And so you just have to have a very balanced view of what are the things I control. I usually chuckle when people ask me what's the two to three year roadmap of Endor. I'm like, if I could tell you with high degree of confidence what six months holds, it would be a win. Uh because I have now learned to live with situations where we literally last quarter, two of the products we shipped last quarter, if at the beginning of quarter you had asked me if we would be building those things, I would say no way. So that's the pace of change that we're living in, and that's the pace of change I'm trying to help my employees understand is the new reality, is living in controlled chaos or organized chaos, as I call it. [00:30:01] S1: And how big is the team today at Endor? [00:30:03] S0: Endor is closing in to about 200 people. Uh Bangalore has about 55, 60 people now, and then uh 140, most of whom are in the US. [00:30:17] S1: And in US, everybody's here in the Bay Area?
00:30:17 · Siddhartha Ahluwalia, Varun Badhwar
[00:30:17] S1: And in US, everybody's here in the Bay Area? [00:30:20] S0: So Bay Area is a high degree of concentration. This is a headquarters where you're at today. Um, but you know, our go-to-market team is fairly spread out because we have more geographic focus. We also have an office in Europe, uh, in the Netherlands. Uh, it's a kind of a lot of our deep researchers and engineering talent is built there. Uh, and we're continuing to hire. So if anybody's listening here and interested in working at the intersection of uh the biggest change of our time, which is agentix software development and how to secure it, then you know, we're looking for people around the world. [00:30:50] S1: Why is there a Darth Vader in your office?
00:30:50 · Siddhartha Ahluwalia, Varun Badhwar
[00:30:50] S1: Why is there a Darth Vader in your office? [00:30:54] S0: So um, if you haven't guessed it with Endoor Labs, the name Endor comes from um kind of inspiration from Star Wars. The the quick story on that is you know, 2021, when I was starting the company, LLMs didn't exist, so I couldn't go to an agent and say, help me find a domain name and a uh, you know, uh company name that can align. Two hours into this process of trying to find a domain name. I was just tired. We're watching Star Wars in the back. And I needed this done that day because I had a term sheet, and literally the VC needed a name to put on the term sheet. So uh my brother-in-law were and I were just joking around and he said, Well, let's try some Star Wars stuff. And so I have to give him credit. You know, Endor was the name that came from him, which is a forest moon. It actually plays very nicely with the David and Goliath kind of storyline at Endor, you know, where the underdogs in security helping secure the world. And we play a lot of Endor and Star Wars themes around here, and like the team really wanted Darth Vader around here. And we also have Ewoks and little Ewok squishies around, and we call our employees Ewoks. [00:32:00] S1: So you mentioned that today, for any founder, the market is obviously not in control. Their product roadmap is also not in control. So, what are the things that are really in control?
00:32:11 · Varun Badhwar
[00:32:11] S0: Um, I think the number one thing that is in control is the quality of talent you bring into the company, right? So that is non-negotiable because you may think you're building A, you might end up building B. Uh, you need the people that are first principles, system thinkers that will basically out-hustle the market. So that's one. The second thing you control is the culture you define in the company and some of the core things, like for us, customer obsession is critical. In times of uncertainty, how do I decide if I do A versus B versus C? We believe in our customers, we believe in understanding deeply their businesses, their pains, and understanding how to help them navigate it. Because if we can help them navigate their challenges, we will win because then by nature we'll build a good product. Uh, and the third thing I think fundamentally is I think entrepreneurship is not just always about solving the hardest unsolved problem. It's about solving a large problem in the most practical way with the best distribution and reach you can create. So oftentimes I talk to founders that I, you know, will come to me for advice saying, look, I've solved such a hard problem, but I can't get people's attention. I'm like, maybe you solved a really, really hard problem, but did you connect it to what the customers' needs are? The example I gave is if you're here in mainland USA and you're trying to build this amazing resort in a dream vacation place on an island, and you forget the transport problem, how are you gonna get people to come here to finally see your vision and realize your vision? Then you miss the mark. And so I always say you got to find a problem that is near-sighted for now, but there's a long path to build, and the arc is pretty uh significant. And then work with your customers to get them there to the dreamland. But don't be sitting there waiting for your customers, waiting where they are, because maybe you've missed the mark because you were just too far ahead.
00:34:09 · Siddhartha Ahluwalia
[00:34:09] S1: And and how are you thinking about distribution this time? And what have been some of the wins in distribution and GTM channels that you are built?
00:34:18 · Varun Badhwar, Siddhartha Ahluwalia
[00:34:18] S0: Look, this is this is always an interesting one, and I wouldn't say that I have solved it end-to end. I think we are continuing to iterate on it. Um I think to me, tactics have shifted. For example, so we first and foremost, we are an enterprise-led, sales-focused company. We're not product-led, we're not open source. But even in enterprise, right? 10 years ago, we would have big booths, large conferences, we would collect leads, we would follow up in leads, and we would close business. I think today that doesn't work. I think events are great to meet people you're already talking to, but not like the big funnel of people that you get leads for. I think a lot of how people want to buy today and be sold to is independent research. Like they, you have to be in the community, you have to have thoughtful content. Um, you have to be in the places where they're doing their research about the space, about your competitors, about you. Um, and you have to win them over without them having ever talked to you. Because I feel like 80% of the buyer's decision about who they're gonna go with for enterprise technology is made before they have the first sales call with you. So I look at that as a core part of opportunity or challenge and say, how do you build go-to-market messaging, brand, thoughtfulness, um, social proofs to make sure that people before they ever talk to you have already been won over by you, uh, even though you're not a PLG company. [00:35:49] S1: Can you give some examples like where customers found of you from which reports?