Snowflake

B players, not C players, kill organizations

Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman's view that B players are the silent threat to companies: there are many of them, they're generally tolerated, and they coast as 'passengers' rather than getting addressed like obvious C players.

“Organizations are not getting killed by C players. Everyone knows who they are, and the performance is eventually addressed. The people who kill organizations are your B players. It's a scourge of the enterprise because there are many and they are generally accepted. Often they are seen not as bad enough to fire, but not good enough to keep. They are the ultimate passengers.”

Steal thisAudit your team for tolerated B players and shed the dead weight, not just the obvious bottom performers.

Snowflake: $50B+, 8 years old, $10M revenue in year one

Sam recounts Snowflake's IPO: a company only 8 years old worth roughly $50 billion, founded by ex-Oracle engineers who hit $10M in revenue in their first year of sales.

“this company, it was— it's only 8 years old. Yes. And it's worth $50 billion, right? As of now, or 60 or some crazy stupid number.”

Sutter Hill incubated Snowflake and may clear a $10-20B return

Shaan explains Snowflake wasn't just VC-funded: the VC firm Sutter Hill incubated the idea internally with the four founders and supplied the first CEO, giving it co-founder-level ownership and an enormous return on the $50B IPO.

“this VC firm, Sutter Hill or whatever it's called, Sutter Hill has this like insane return on this because they were literally the co-founder of the, of the company. And so now it's, you know, $50 billion IPO. Crazy. That's going to be like— and then what, $10 to $20 billion return or something insane.”