#103 Founder & CEO Productboard, Hubert Palan w/ Ilya Fushman: Chasing Perfection

Productboard founder and CEO Hubert Palan has made a point of studying the communication style of other leaders, from Martin Luther King Jr. to Elon Musk. But as the boss of a hot and growing tech startup, he’s realizing just how exceptional those people are. “You’re interviewing some of the top execs from companies are the Silicon Valley darling brands,” he says. “You leave the interview like, ‘This person has no idea what they’re doing. They just happen to be in the right spot at the right time.’” But that’s the necessary price, he explains, of doing something innovative instead of iterating on old ideas.

In this episode, Hubert and Joubin are joined by Kleiner Perkins partner and Productboard investor Ilya Fushman to discuss Christmas carp, entrepreneurial soft skills, extreme frugality, VCs-as-bosses, the unique reason Hubert went vegetarian, studying famous speeches, being self-critical, the truth about “killing it” in tech, mis-hiring, selling outside your target customer segment, and why Hubert schedules everything.

In this episode, we cover:

• How Hubert and Ilya conducted due diligence on each other (08:49)
• How Productboard drives revenue generation for modern companies (14:12)
• The wild fluctuations of the “founder mood meter” (20:00)
• The value of knowing how hard being a founder will be (28:25)
• Tough quarters and being transparent with your board (34:35)
• Holding oneself accountable vs. “showing what’s possible” (38:30)
• The risk of losing the mission as companies scale (43:15)
• Going upmarket is like running a new business (51:08)
• Hubert’s economic survey of Productboard’s board (57:39)
• Making time for your personal life (59:29)

Links:

• Connect with Hubert
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
• Connect with Ilya
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
• Connect with Joubin
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
• Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
• This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm