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🚨 NEW EPISODE 🚨 of Long Strange Trip with the CEO of Clay, Kareem Amin Clay is one of those companies where IYKYK. The Go-To-Market Platform for the AI Era that went from $1M ➡️$100M ARR in two years. But it wasn't always that way... Everyone I spoke to about Kareem, from employees to investors, to former colleagues and even competitors describe him as more of a philosopher who happens to be scaling a 🚀 than a typical CEO. They aren't wrong. Kareem is different. A few things we get into → Why "9-9-6" is performance art and sometimes a sign you just don't have a moat → How they run the company with “just-in-time” decision making, not exact team meetings (love this) → How they named a category instead of trying to invent one, and turned the Go To Market Engineer into a movement → Being a momentum detective and where a CEO should actually spend their time → Why he answered a pricing backlash by publishing his exact internal reasoning → Building from wholeness, and not the overplayed chip on the shoulder → The silent-retreat and realization that changed how he thinks about building → The Hegelian Product Flip strategy → Why future thinking is detrimental Introduction Competitive Fire and Drive Building From Wholeness Living in the Present Contrarian Founder Style Five Years in the Desert Naming GTM Engineering Winning Content Battles Naming the Category Building the Agency Channel Pricing Backlash Playbook Momentum Detective CEO Trust and Tough Calls Calling Out Elephants 👇 Full episode in the comments cc: @sequoia @DavidCahn6 @jamesfly @davidtisch @nchirls @etdurbin @edsim @scottbelsky @maggie_hott @KillCreek @firstround @ElenaVerna @seedtosunflower @liujiang @phineasb
"A lot of people think you should build from a place of lack, or have a chip on your shoulder. I've decided to create from a place of wholeness. I'm not trying to prove anything. Otherwise you're in this nightmare scenario in your head." Kareem is an original. Thanks for a great conversation.
@bhalligan I learned many things in this, but most importantly is to be on Kareem's team in padel and not Varun's.
Kareem is a very thoughtful CEO and it's been a pleasure to work with him, Varun, and the Clay team. Great thoughts in here on his role as a "momentum detective" hopping into areas where energy is waning, Clay's just-in-time decision-making and preference for open communication, and their commitment to radical transparency with both their employees and customers.
NEW EPISODE of Long Strange Trip with the CEO of Clay, Kareem Amin Clay is one of those companies where iykyk. The Go-To-Market Platform for the AI Era that went from $1M ➡️$100M ARR in two years. But it wasn't always that way. Everyone I spoke to about Kareem, from employees to investors, to former colleagues and even competitors describe him as more of a philosopher who happens to be scaling a 🚀 than a typical CEO. They aren't wrong. Kareem is different. A few things we get into → Why "9-9-6" is performance art and sometimes a sign you just don't have a moat → How they run the company with “just-in-time” decision making, not exact team meetings (love this) → How they named a category instead of trying to invent one, and turned the Go To Market Engineer into a movement → Being a momentum detective & where a CEO should actually spend their time → Why he answered a pricing backlash by publishing his exact internal reasoning → Building from wholeness, and not the overplayed chip on the shoulder → The silent-retreat realization that changed how he thinks about building → The Hegelian Product Flip strategy → Why future thinking can be detrimental 00:00 Introduction 01:35 Competitive Fire and Drive 03:06 Building From Wholeness 06:42 Living in the Present 09:31 Contrarian Founder Style 14:40 Five Years in the Desert 27:35 Naming GTM Engineering 35:49 Winning Content Battles 36:10 Naming the Category 37:27 Building the Agency Channel 40:19 Pricing Backlash Playbook 43:15 Momentum Detective CEO 52:32 Trust and Tough Calls 01:03:49 Calling Out Elephants 01:06:41 Closing 👇Full episode in the comments
A Clay teammate told a stuck customer "I'm coming to your house" – and meant it. Kareem Amin on why genuine intent built the community, not a playbook.
NEW EPISODE of Long Strange Trip with the CEO of Clay, Kareem Amin Clay is one of those companies where iykyk. The Go-To-Market Platform for the AI Era that went from $1M ➡️$100M ARR in two years. But it wasn't always that way. Everyone I spoke to about Kareem, from employees to investors, to former colleagues and even competitors describe him as more of a philosopher who happens to be scaling a 🚀 than a typical CEO. They aren't wrong. Kareem is different. A few things we get into → Why "9-9-6" is performance art and sometimes a sign you just don't have a moat → How they run the company with “just-in-time” decision making, not exact team meetings (love this) → How they named a category instead of trying to invent one, and turned the Go To Market Engineer into a movement → Being a momentum detective & where a CEO should actually spend their time → Why he answered a pricing backlash by publishing his exact internal reasoning → Building from wholeness, and not the overplayed chip on the shoulder → The silent-retreat realization that changed how he thinks about building → The Hegelian Product Flip strategy → Why future thinking can be detrimental 00:00 Introduction 01:35 Competitive Fire and Drive 03:06 Building From Wholeness 06:42 Living in the Present 09:31 Contrarian Founder Style 14:40 Five Years in the Desert 27:35 Naming GTM Engineering 35:49 Winning Content Battles 36:10 Naming the Category 37:27 Building the Agency Channel 40:19 Pricing Backlash Playbook 43:15 Momentum Detective CEO 52:32 Trust and Tough Calls 01:03:49 Calling Out Elephants 01:06:41 Closing 👇Full episode in the comments
So how does a company build and experiment for 5 years and then realize explosive growth from $0-100M ARR in the next two? Must watch - great interview on @bhalligan pod with Kareem Amin of Clay
NEW EPISODE of Long Strange Trip with the CEO of Clay, Kareem Amin Clay is one of those companies where iykyk. The Go-To-Market Platform for the AI Era that went from $1M ➡️$100M ARR in two years. But it wasn't always that way. Everyone I spoke to about Kareem, from employees to investors, to former colleagues and even competitors describe him as more of a philosopher who happens to be scaling a 🚀 than a typical CEO. They aren't wrong. Kareem is different. A few things we get into → Why "9-9-6" is performance art and sometimes a sign you just don't have a moat → How they run the company with “just-in-time” decision making, not exact team meetings (love this) → How they named a category instead of trying to invent one, and turned the Go To Market Engineer into a movement → Being a momentum detective & where a CEO should actually spend their time → Why he answered a pricing backlash by publishing his exact internal reasoning → Building from wholeness, and not the overplayed chip on the shoulder → The silent-retreat realization that changed how he thinks about building → The Hegelian Product Flip strategy → Why future thinking can be detrimental 00:00 Introduction 01:35 Competitive Fire and Drive 03:06 Building From Wholeness 06:42 Living in the Present 09:31 Contrarian Founder Style 14:40 Five Years in the Desert 27:35 Naming GTM Engineering 35:49 Winning Content Battles 36:10 Naming the Category 37:27 Building the Agency Channel 40:19 Pricing Backlash Playbook 43:15 Momentum Detective CEO 52:32 Trust and Tough Calls 01:03:49 Calling Out Elephants 01:06:41 Closing 👇Full episode in the comments