CEO Loom, Joe Thomas: Communication, the Mother of All Skills

Guest: Joe Thomas, CEO of Loom In this episode, we cover: Joe’s grandfather Wally — a proud business owner, a “man of the people,” and his personal hero (03:17); How Snap, the first company to validate Silicon Beach as a real hub for tech innovation, pushed the boundaries of design and subconsciously influenced Loom (05:29); The consumerization of enterprise and why Loom has experienced such rapid growth (13:30); Why starting a company is just like having a kid: “You’re never really ready for either” (18:45); The stock market downturn, managing risk, and the most important thing founders can do in the face of uncertainty (25:57); The first indications that Loom was going to be huge, and its humble origins as a Google Chrome extension (32:45); Why the time AFTER Loom’s Series A fundraise was the “hardest window” of Joe’s CEO career, and a discussion about the people who helped him survive it (39:43); How to recruit people to do jobs you can’t do yourself, and the core characteristics that make for good startup employees (48:10); Why working remotely won’t kill company culture (53:00); Paid user acquisition and how Joe thinks about go to market strategy (01:03:43); How Loom uses its own product internally as a creative resource for recruitment (01:07:34); The other CEOs Joe admires most, what Grit means to him, and the key roles he’s hiring for right now (01:10:32)