How Statsig Founder Vijaye Raji Built a $1.1B Product Development Platform | CEO & Co-Founder of Statsig | Startup Project #102

13 Jun 2025 • 51 min • EN
51 min
00:00
51:34
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Join Nataraj as he sits down with Vijaye Raji, founder and CEO of Statsig, a platform revolutionizing product development with data-driven decision-making. Formerly a VP at Facebook and head of Facebook Seattle, Vijaye shares his journey from big tech to startup founder. About the Episode: This conversation explores Vijaye's transition from leading entertainment at Facebook to building Statsig, a developer platform empowering data-driven decisions.  He dives into his experience at Microsoft and Facebook, highlighting the challenges and motivations that led him to entrepreneurship. Vijaye discusses Statsig's value proposition, differentiating it from existing point solutions by consolidating feature flagging, analytics, and experimentation into one platform.  The discussion extends to the future of experimentation in an AI-first world.  He emphasizes the importance of product intuition alongside experimentation and shares Statsig's approach to culture, talent acquisition, and growth. About the Guest and Host: Vijaye Raji: Founder and CEO of Statsig, former VP at Facebook, and head of Facebook Seattle. Connect with Vijay: → LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/vijaye/ → Website: https://www.statsig.com/ Nataraj: Host of the Startup Project podcast, Senior PM at Azure & Investor. → LinkedIn:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam → Twitter: https://x.com/natarajsindam → Email updates: ⁠https://startupproject.substack.com/⁠ → Website: ⁠⁠⁠https://thestartupproject.io⁠⁠⁠ Timestamps: 00:01 - Introduction and Guest Introduction 00:48 - Vijay's Background and Transition from Big Tech 01:11 - Leaving Facebook and the Motivation for Startups 02:05 - Early Career at Microsoft and Facebook's Startup Phase 04:21 - Diverse Roles and Experiences at Facebook 05:38 - Problems and Scale as Head of Entertainment at Facebook 07:41 - Business Side of Entertainment: Licensing and Content Acquisition 08:30 - From Facebook to Statsig: Idea Evaluation 10:27 - Getting the First Customers: Avoiding Common Mistakes 13:19 - Blind Spots in Transitioning from Big Tech to Startups 14:38 - Go-to-Market Intuition and Building Conviction 17:03 - Statsig's Value Proposition and Differentiation 19:28 - Explanation of Feature Flagging 20:47 - Trends in Experimentation and Product Validation 23:00 - Ideal Customer Profile for Statsig 24:38 - Experimentation vs. Gut Feeling: Balancing Data and Intuition 28:20 - Statsig's Growth: Customers, Users, and Scale 29:44 - Positioning Statsig: Developer Tool vs. Product Development Platform 31:08 - Marketing Efforts and ROI 32:24 - Culture: In-Person Work Environment 34:41 - Attracting Talent: Statsig's Approach 40:04 - Fundraising: Strategy and Benefits 41:35 - AI: Integration with LLMs and Product Extensions 44:26 - ML vs. LLMs: Democratization of Access 46:44 - Favorite Failure and Learning from Mistakes 49:31 - Current Consumption (Books, Podcasts, etc.) 50:11 - Lessons Learned as a Founder 51:16 - Big Company Perks Missed and Not Missed Subscribe to Startup Project for more engaging conversations with leading entrepreneurs! → Email updates: ⁠https://startupproject.substack.com/⁠ #StartupProject #Statsig #ProductDevelopment #Experimentation #FeatureFlagging #ProductAnalytics #DataDriven #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #SaaS #Entrepreneurship #Podcast #YouTube #Tech #Innovation

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