EP 108: Olivier Pomel (CEO, Datadog) Shares Every Lesson From Scaling to $40B

Olivier Pomel built Datadog into a $40B company while burning only $25M in capital. In our conversation, he shares the fundraising lessons, operating principles, and core insights that made this possible. He also discusses the pros and cons of building a tech company in NYC, how early-career professionals should approach learning AI tools, how Datadog is building a trusted relationship with their users around AI features, and much more (00:00) Intro (01:30) Datadog's Early Challenges and Lessons (04:32) The Core Insight Behind Datadog (05:20) Building the Right Product (07:46) Transitioning to Open Beta (09:38) Expanding Datadog's Product Line (11:26) Platform Vision and Modular Products (18:12) Empowering Product Teams (22:14) Acquisitions and Integration Strategy (33:18) Customer-Centric Approach (36:39) Bottom-Up Sales Strategy (46:04) Navigating Founder Challenges (46:37) Building a Collaborative Management Team (48:32) Staying Close to Customers (51:36) Maintaining a Culture of Discipline and Efficiency (56:26) Pricing Strategy and Market Positioning (01:01:24) Fostering a Low-Ego, High-Performance Culture (01:06:32) Hiring and Promoting for Long-Term Success (01:12:21) Fundraising and Investor Relations (01:16:03) Deciding Whether to Sell or Scale (01:18:26) The Impact of AI on Software Development (01:23:24) Choosing New York Over Silicon Valley (01:28:04) Final Thoughts and Reflections Executive Producer: Rashad Assir Producer: Leah Clapper Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky   Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA   🎙 Listen to the show   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-logan-bartlett-show/id1606770839 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1 Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg   🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1   Follow on Socials   📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow   About the Show   Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.