All high-growth startups reach a point in scaling their business when their processes and operations start to inhibit their growth. From SendGrid to DigitalOcean, Yancey Spruill is the person these startups brought in when they were ready to graduate to the big leagues. In his presentation, Yancey will discuss the most common mistakes startup founders make and how to overcome hurdles at different stages of growth.

1. Double-corns, Lessons Learned and
Unlearned from SendGrid to DigitalOcean
Yancey Spruill
CEO
DigitalOcean
@yanceyspruill

3. LESSONS LEARNED

4. 1. Process is a friend not a
foe in order to scale

5. As companies grow, evolving processes has to keep
pace with growth and change

6. Migrating from the hyper-growth and chaos of the
early days seeking product-market fit is critical…..
CUSTOMERS
CUSTOMERS
CUSTOMERS
CUSTOMERS
CUSTOMERS

7. ….to managing growth in customers, employees,
products, geographies….
CUSTOMERS

8. Burn rate increases when process doesn’t keep pace
with change

9. 2. With scale comes
complexity, leaders must
provide clarity

10. Focus on fewer and most impactful things

11. The moment growth accelerates, ask yourself why
and be thoughtful

12. 3. Capital = Long Term

13. Don’t wait too long to
get efficient

14. Most early stage companies raise too much capital
because they wait too long to get efficient

15. Early VC investors get paid on a shorter timeframe
than the long-term horizon for the business opportunity

16. Fix this by putting operators on your boards, not just
your early VCs who fund you

17. 4. Know when to diversify
leadership

18. When an organizational scales, it becomes about the
broader organization and less about any individual

19. Founder’s identity = their company

20. Know when to bring in help to diversify skill sets and
experience

21. To Summarize
Process…. Good!
Increasing complexity mandates increasing clarity
Focus on long term to be capital efficient
Know when to diversify leadership

22. THANK YOU