EP 98: Sanjit Biswas (CEO, Samsara) on Building to $20B: The CEO Behind One of The Fastest Growing Startups Ever

The Logan Bartlett Show

In less than 8 years, Sanjit Biswas scaled Samsara from 0 to over $1B ARR. In our latest conversation, Sanjit shares all the lessons he’s learned about running a hyper-growth organization, including all the changes he’s made since growing and selling his first company Meraki to Cisco for $1.2B and going on to scale Samsara to $20B. A great episode for anyone who wants to continuously reinvent themselves within a rapidly changing workplace.

(00:00) Intro

(01:28) Samsara's Journey: From Startup to Billion-Dollar Valuation

(06:50) The Evolution of Samsara's Product Line: From Temperature Sensors to AI

(12:48) The Impact of ELD Mandate on Samsara's Growth

(14:16) Expanding Horizons: Samsara's Multi-Product Strategy

(29:41) Leadership Lessons: Scaling a Company and Rehiring Yourself

(38:07) Insights on Hiring: Finding the Right Fit for Growth

(40:56) Maintaining High Hiring Standards in Rapid Growth

(42:21) Innovative Hiring Practices: Talent Calibrators and Bar Raisers

(43:12) Embracing a Flexible Workplace Post-Pandemic

(43:20) Navigating the Shift to Remote Work and Its Impact on Talent Acquisition

(45:06) Evaluating Employee Performance and the Keeper Test

(46:42) Lessons from Legendary Venture Capitalists and Building Board Relationships

(50:16) Samsara's Journey: Building a Billion-Dollar Business

(50:34) From Academic Project to Commercial Success: The Meraki Story

(54:35) The Power of Direct Sales and Learning from Customer Interactions

(01:14:24) Reflecting on Growth, Culture, and the Future of Samsara

(01:24:08) Closing Thoughts and Advice for Future Founders

Produced: Rashad Assir & Leah Clapper

Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky

Executive Producer: Josh Machiz

Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA

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About the Show

Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.

Executive Producer: Rashad Assir

Producer: Leah Clapper

Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky

Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA

🎙 Listen to the show

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-logan-bartlett-show/id1606770839

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1

Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg

🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1

Follow on Socials

📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow

🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow

🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow

About the Show

Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.