{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Grit","title":"#171 Founder & Former CEO Drift, David Cancel: Never Trapped","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":4388,"description":"Guest: David Cancel, founder and former CEO of Drift; founder of Rey\nAfter HubSpot acquired his company Performable in 2011, David Cancel became his acquirer’s Chief Product Officer — and didn’t give any thought to how long he’d be in that role. When he started eyeing the exit a few years later, he was told that wasn’t an option: HubSpot had already filed to go public, and an officer of the company leaving in the first 18 months would raise major red flags. “Maybe this is what’s led me to be an entrepreneur,” David recalls. “I can never feel trapped … Someone telling me, ‘you can’t leave,’ I was like, boom. Switch went off in my head … and I was like, ‘I’m out.’” The filing was ultimately delayed and David was able to quit just before the IPO; one day later, he started his next company, Drift.\nIn this episode, David and Joubin discuss the accountability of doing something, creating constraints, the Whitney Museum, imposter syndrome, Tony Hawk, John Romero, wandering without a map, conservative spending, Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, Phil Jackson, the voices in your head, Shlomo Kramer, righteous independence, cancel culture and diversity, gut vs. data, and killing ideas with discipline.\nIn this episode, we cover:\nAction and distractions (00:50)\nObserver and outsider (05:36)\nAdvising entrepreneurs (11:18)\n“It has to be bigger” (13:23)\nDavid’s new company, Rey (16:38)\nRemote vs. in-person work (21:24)\nWho David will hire first (25:39)\nFundraising and bootstrapping (27:39)\nThe timeline for Rey (31:48)\nRebuilding Hubspot’s code base (33:36)\nLeaving HubSpot at the IPO (42:54)\n“You’re not done” (48:19)\nHubSpot’s infamous exec meetings (54:44)\nDavid’s hardest year and selling Drift (59:26)\nThe upmarket mistake (01:03:13)\nSaying no to good ideas (01:08:12)\nWhat “grit” means to David (01:11:52)\n\nLinks:\nConnect with DavidTwitter\nLinkedIn\nConnect with JoubinTwitter\nLinkedIn\nEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com \nLearn more about Kleiner Perkins\nThis episode was edited by Eric...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/jCea5f44KBONhOsyLyht9nXUrj2YBNfA6fc-kgyfWTM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/Lzk3NzAvMTY2Nzg2/MjQyOC1hcnR3b3Jr/LmpwZw.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}