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Conversation
Highlights
Welcome to another episode of Unicorn Builders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Ariel Katz, CEO of Sisense, an embedded analytics platform that’s raised over $275 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
- Microsoft Journey: Ariel spent 21 years at Microsoft, witnessing its growth from a small R&D center in Israel to a global giant, and shared insightful experiences working with Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates.
- Cultural Evolution: Highlighted the cultural shift at Microsoft under Satya Nadella, emphasizing empowerment, collaboration, and a growth mindset that revitalized the company’s innovation.
- Sisense Vision: Ariel joined Sisense in 2022, recognizing the opportunity to transform traditional BI into a developer-first embedded analytics platform, aiming to redefine the category.
- Market Evangelism: Discussed the challenges and strategies in evangelizing a new category, emphasizing the importance of customer and analyst education and consistent messaging.
- Customer-Centric Approach: Ariel stressed the importance of understanding customer problems over solutions, focusing on how embedded analytics can seamlessly integrate into users’ workflows.
- Operational Excellence: Shared insights on achieving operational excellence through rigorous processes, automation, and detailed execution to scale the company beyond $100 million in revenue.
Actionable
Takeaways
Break Silos for Innovation:
Foster cross-departmental collaboration to unlock new value and drive innovative solutions, as seen in Ariel's experience with Dynamics 365 at Microsoft.
Listen to Customer Problems:
Focus on deeply understanding customer pain points rather than jumping to solutions, ensuring your product genuinely addresses their needs.
Evangelize Relentlessly:
Consistently communicate your vision across all channels, including social media, analyst briefings, and customer interactions, to build a new category.
Operationalize Excellence:
Implement rigorous processes, automation, and detailed playbooks to drive efficiency and scalability, ensuring every aspect of the business is optimized.
Adapt and Evolve:
Stay adaptable to market shifts and be willing to pivot strategies based on customer feedback and emerging trends to stay ahead of the competition.
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