Anu Hariharan: You Can't Build With Managers - Outside Insights

Permanent Podcast: Real Talk About Private Equity and Buying, Selling, and Operating Small Businesses

Companies don’t stay small on purpose. So how can you scale faster? Anu Hariharan (Gusto, Instacart) discusses the growing pains of going from start-up to success, how to grow as a builder and a manager, the importance of ruthless prioritization, and shares new technologies to help SMBs unlock their operations, and customer support.

LINKS & MENTIONS FROM THIS EPISODE

Tech to help SMBs:

Brex https://www.brex.com

Stripe Atlas https://stripe.com/atlas

Gusto https://gusto.com/product

Amplitude https://amplitude.com

Mix Panel https://mixpanel.com

Live Flow https://www.liveflow.io

Keeper https://www.keeper.app

Plan Grid https://construction.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-plangrid-build/

Mutiny https://www.mutinyhq.com

Canva https://www.canva.com/

Other Mentions by Anu:

DoorDash https://www.doordash.com

Faire https://www.faire.com

NVIDIA https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/

Boom https://boomsupersonic.com

Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System by Satoshi Nakamoto https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

CONNECT

Learn more about Anu’s role as Managing Director of YC Continuity Fund https://www.ycombinator.com/continuity

Anu on twitter https://twitter.com/anuhariharan

Anu on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anuhariharan/

Brent on twitter https:/https://twitter.com/BrentBeshore

Brent on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentbeshore

David on twitter https://twitter.com/DavidACover

David on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-cover-318752230/

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Who Is Anu?

5:00 This One Time at Capital Camp

6:19 Characteristics of a Successful Founder

11:01 The Two Stages of Scaling

13:02 Biggest Mistakes Founders Make

17:12 Hiring From the Outside vs Internal Development

20:37 Learning How to Deal with People

20:04 Builders vs Managers

27:16 How to Hire a Builder

30:39 Why Do Companies Fail?

32:35 What Silicon Valley Has Lost

34:51 Dealing With Stress

37:22 What it Takes to Succeed

40:47 Helpful Tech for SMB

46:54 Emerging Technology

48:33 Lightning Round Hariharan Hot Takes

60:43 How to Win in 2023 and Beyond

64:24 What Drives You

66:36 Where We're Going

68:01 Legal Disclaimer

EPISODE CREDITS

Produced by David Cover

Intro music by David Cover, Andy Freeman, Rhett Johnson, & Andrew Luley

Outro music by Jees Guy

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

This podcast is made available solely for educational purposes, and the information presented here does not constitute investment, legal, tax or other professional advice, and should not be construed as an offering of advisory services, or as a solicitation to buy, an offer to sell, or a recommendation of any securities or other financial instruments. The thoughts and opinions expressed by or through this podcast are those of the individual guests and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Permanent Equity. The discussion on this podcast of any entity, product or service does not imply an endorsement thereof, and the guests may have a financial interest, whether through investment or otherwise, in one or more of any such entities, products or services. This podcast is presented by Permanent Equity and may not be copied, reproduced, republished or posted, in any form, without its express written consent.