E164: How I Built a Billion Dollar Company by Failing Fast w/Howard Lerman
Manage episode 487547569 series 3670460
Highlights:
- Why being a "cockroach" founder is a superpower in company survival
- How Roam is using AI agents to automate workflows and enable 24/7 productivity
- The "Office of the Future" and why presence matters—even virtually
- How to spot S-tier talent (and why they might be a pain to manage)
- Why product-market fit should be the last thing a founder gives up
- Howard’s nightly “founder mode” ritual and obsession with speed
- The evolution of memes and how they shape product adoption
- The dirty secret about obsession: it’s more about the people than the mission
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Guest Bio: Howard Lerman is a serial entrepreneur and currently the Founder and CEO of Roam, a startup building the "Office of the Future" by integrating AI deeply into the work experience. Previously, he was the Founder and CEO of Yext (NYSE: YEXT), which he led from startup to IPO. He is known for his strong views on founder-led companies, speed as strategy, and hiring only the best—what he calls "S-tier" talent. Howard is also an early adopter and evangelist of AI agents in the workplace.
Our Podcast now receives more than 300,000 downloads a month. Are you interested in sponsoring an episode? Please email David Weisburd at [email protected].
We’d like to thank @JuniperSquare for sponsoring this episode!
#VentureCapital #VC #Startups #OpenLP #assetmanagement
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Sponsor: Juniper Square is dedicated to transforming the private markets investing experience. The company provides a full range of modern, connected fund technologies and services for over 2,100 private markets GPs across fundraising, reporting, fund administration, treasury, compliance, and business intelligence. Today, over $1 trillion of assets and 600,000+ LP accounts are managed through Juniper Square software and fund administration services. Learn more at www.junipersquare.com/vc.
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Stay Connected: X / Twitter: David Weisburd: @dweisburd Howard Lerman: @howard
LinkedIn: David Weisburd: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dweisburd/ Howard Lermar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardlerman/
Links: Roam: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roam-hq-inc/
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Questions or topics you want us to discuss on How I Invest? Email us at [email protected].
(0:00) Episode preview (1:55) Applying cockroach principles and pivoting at Yext (3:38) Company structures, founder authority, and employee empowerment (6:16) Instilling speed and operating at warp speed in a company (10:01) Delegating and recruiting top talent (17:10) Building urgency and an obsession for success in teams (21:11) Howard Lerman's formative experiences and co-founder relationships (24:12) The role of memetics and memes in business (28:31) Closing remarks172 episodes