The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal
00:47:34 · Grace Brown, Vidit Agarwal
[00:47:34] S1: Let's start with the CEO growth. What are your questions there? [00:47:38] S0: Okay. Well, that is such a... There's so much we could cover and I feel like that could be an interview in itself. But maybe a broader question is how do you reflect on scaling the company because your company is not a traditional company in that you can sit behind a laptop and vibe code and ship all around the world, right? You've got hardware, as we just talked about. You've also moved from Australia to San Francisco. Maybe that maybe that can be... Because I feel that's an inflection point for you. Curious if you agree. Like, how do you think the... What did you have to unlearn when you left Australia and moved to San Francisco as co founder and CEO of your company?
00:48:18 · Grace Brown
[00:48:18] S1: Well, some of the comparisons... Like, if you're comparing Australia and The US, while we're both English speaking countries, our views on work is very different, drastically different. And so, yeah, I guess there's a completely different way of working here and a way of operating here that attracts some of the top, I think, founders and talent in Australia because you feel a lot less... There's not that negative connotation, but less so on the comparisons between Australia and The US. I think when it comes to, like, my... When it came to my journey... And this is true for any founder. I think the CEO and founder of a pre seed company is a dramatically different founder and CEO of a series b company, or at least you'd hope so because the company is so different. The company that you're running, what you do is so dramatically different. And I recognize this really early on that since I started the company, I knew I had to grow faster than the company. To make sure that I could step into the shoes of being the CEO for this company in this next chapter. And you're constantly thinking about what is it between where you are today and where you wanna get to for that next inflection point, and what's the delta, and how do you cover it. And I think part of the reason Andromeda has gone so fast and gotten to where it is today is because I... My mind inherently, its double edged sword, thinks in deficits. I'm constantly looking at myself of, like, where do I wanna grow? Where do I wanna improve? What am I missing? What am I missing in my life? What do I wanna have that I don't have? Not in a shallow sense, but just in a, you know, what... I think particularly since coming to San Francisco, it's actually gone a lot more philosophical, and I've gone much deeper on reading various sorts of philosophies and just really trying to answer the question, what does it mean to live life really, like, really well? But, anyways, I'm digressing a little bit. But going back to, I guess, the CEO of each... Oh, sorry.
00:50:05 · Vidit Agarwal
[00:50:05] S0: Well, maybe to be more specific, like, I think one thing that everyone I spoke to in the research said that you've reflected a lot on is the people side, right? Like I think we talked earlier, like your strengths have been the technical side and the product and I've seen this in my own company. People is the hardest thing, right? That is not a rinse and repeat motion and there isn't a formula to that. You can't learn that. You can read all the books, you can speak to all the other CEOs, but in my view, you go through it, you just don't know and we as humans are emotional creatures. Brings complexity. How and you're still on this and I think you'll always be on this but no one ever like quite makes it. I actually think that's a red flag if someone says I have made it as a people manager and I'm perfect. Like I don't know if you have the self awareness if you think you've made it. But tell me, how have you... Even in the last, say, twelve months or six months, if you wanna go more specific, how have you grown as a people leader, not just a company builder?
00:51:04 · Grace Brown
[00:51:04] S1: I think... Exactly to your point, that's definitely the hardest part of the whole journey. I think in the early days, if I'm thinking just for myself and putting myself first, I would say I overextended myself emotionally, perhaps, for the people in this journey with me. I wanted to make sure that whoever was on this journey, employees, investors, customers, I wanted to always make sure that they had the best experience. And, you know, that's almost like not a great place to be making all your decisions from because sometimes that's indirect... Actually, very often, that's in direct contradiction to what's best for the company and best for where you need to go. And so I think I've been trying to... Definitely learning and trying to find the right balance of... You know, inherently, I think in that... When I was much younger, definitely had a lot of people pleasing tendencies. Still do and still trying to outgrow that. But... But I think when it comes to managing people... I guess, sorry, I didn't quite really answer your question. But...
00:52:06 · Vidit Agarwal
[00:52:06] S0: Is it also interesting where I assume a lot of the people you're hiring are older than you. Right? They're reporting to you as a CEO. I've heard this with a lot of other folks, and a lot of successful companies, quote unquote, let's say they've IPO ed or worth a big valuation or their product is really loved, even Mark Zuckerberg, he's in his in his 30s, think, at some point in his 30s. But he has earned that respect where people much older than him report to him and like he is revered. I've never met the guy, but that's what people say. I'm sure that'll probably happen with you too. How has that journey been? Because I know that can be tricky, right? Because that just creates biases that people have around, oh, why is my CEO a certain stage in their life versus I'm in a different stage?
00:52:55 · Grace Brown
[00:52:55] S1: Yeah. I think the... When I look at... At least where I am today and when I look at the people who report directly to me, I know everyone says they've hired the best team, but I really do think I've hired some really great people underneath me, particularly my executive team. They all have, relatively speaking, like, very low... Little to no ego, like, very low ego at least, and they're and they're just really great people. And everyone in the company, not just my direct reports, have this unusually high attraction to the mission. Like, we are a very mission oriented team, and I think I communicated that message quite clearly to to really the world. But... And I think the people who report directly to me, they... I don't think age has really ever even come up. I do feel like a peer with all of my execs even though most of them are twenty years older than me. So it's not really come up as a point too often. I would say the one part... And this is... I I never put this more on an age thing, but I would say because they've had such... They've had more lived experience than I've had, and they've had different experiences and different lives and different workplaces, one of the many reasons I hire them is to bring that experience into Andromeda. But I have heard from many people, I've been around the block. I see how it goes. This is how it's done. And it's like, we're going through a different block that doesn't have to go that way. And I've asked many people who report to me directly as to not let the cynicism of experience flow through them. I think everyone knows this. Like, one of the greatest advantages of being, quote, inexperienced is, yeah, you don't have... You don't know too much for your own good. And I I definitely observed that. There are some things where I'm like, we're gonna go after this and, you know, the doubt that comes from. It doesn't even show up for me. And so so, yeah, I think that's been... That's probably been a theme that's occurred amongst the people who work underneath me. But I think one thing I do in my interviews for people who work underneath me is there are people who I've interviewed who do talk about coming in and... I guess it it changes based on their language, but coming in, they're like, I'm gonna show you how to do it. And not in the sense of their role, but I I can tell that they almost feel this...