Zach Perret is the CEO and Co-Founder of Plaid, a technology platform reshaping financial services. To date, Zach has raised over $734M for Plaid from the likes of NEA, Spark, GV, Coatue and a16z, to name a few. Today, thousands of companies including the largest fintechs, several of the Fortune 500, and many of the largest banks use Plaid. In addition, Zach is also a Co-Founder of Mischief, an early-stage venture fund in San Francisco.
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(00:52) What Triggered Plaid’s Recent Growth
(05:53) Are Great CEOs Defined by Resource Allocation?
(09:03) What Is a Grinder Problem?
(10:37) Is There Defensibility on Day One?
(14:17) Biggest Lessons on How To Do Outreach
(17:57) Hiring Mistakes
(18:32) Founder Mode
(21:05) Popular Silicon Valley Beliefs That Zach Disagrees With
(23:17) Is Speed the Key to Going from 0 to 1?
(25:02) How Zach Balances Big Rounds with Dilution & Valuation?
(28:12) Making Money or Taking Secondaries Changed the Mindset?
(30:52) On Raising $13.4BN Valuation
(32:51) Is M&A Completely Shut Down? What Could Lead to Its Revival?
(33:49) IPO Markets Today
(36:41) The Biggest Flaw as a CEO
(40:42) How Fatherhood Impacted Zach
(42:47) Is Investing While Running Plaid a Distraction?
(46:41) How Has VC Funding Moved the Needle for Plaid?
(47:39) Quick-Fire Round
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In Today’s Episode with Zach Perret We Discuss:
1. Founder Mode:
Why “Founder Mode” will be the most dangerous blog post written in the last decade for founders? What is most misleading about it?
What are “grinder problems”? Why does Zach believe that grinder problems are the best problems for startups to try and solve?
Why does Zach believe that OKRs are BS and should be removed? What should be used instead?
2. Lessons from Raising $734M for Plaid:
Why does Zach believe the VC model is on it’s last legs? What needs to change?
What is the worst advice that VCs give that most founders take?
Why does Zach believe that angel investing is more distracting than helpful for founders to do? What are the pros of investing alongside running a company?
Why does Zach encourage founders to raise money as infrequently as possible? What does this mean for the size and price of rounds Zach thinks we should see occur?
3. The $5BN Exit and the $13.4BN Round:
Why did Zach turn down the $5BN exit to Visa? Was it the right choice?
Does Zach regret raising at such a high price of $13.4BN when the exit did not happen?
Would Zach sell the company today for $13.4BN if offered it?
What did Zach not do that he wish he had done? What did he do that he wishes he had not done?
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