Ep127 – Lachlan Donald (Co-founder & CEO – Buildkite) on equity over ego

The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Ep127 – Lachlan Donald (Co-founder & CEO – Buildkite) on equity over ego September 3, 2020 rohitbhargava Podcast My guest for Episode 127 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder & CEO of Buildkite, Lachlan Donald. Lachlan has been a technologist for over 20 years. In addition to building companies, he is drawn to building products that change how people think and work. Before Buildkite, he was the founding CTO of 99designs, the world’s largest online graphic design marketplace. 99Designs connects businesses looking for design work with more than 220,000 graphic designers from 192 countries around the world. Lachlan is now the Co-founder and CEO of Buildkite, the fastest way to reliably test and build software at any scale. Buildkite is one of Australia’s best keep secrets. They raised AUD$200,000 in seed funding when the company was first founded in 2013 and over the last 7 years have turned away investor interest to focus on profitability of the business. However, Buildkite recently announced an AUD$28M Series A funding round led by Openview, providing a 42x return to it’s early investors. In this interview we discussed: Being intentional with focusThe craftsmanship behind enduring productsBuildkite’s unique approach to sharing CEO roles between the foundersThe importance of equity over egoBuildkite’s fundraising process for it’s $28M Series A funding round after 7 years of bootstrapping& much more! Full interview below! Show notes: Buildkite99DesignsTim Lucas (Co-founder at Buildkite)Keith Pitt (Co-founder at Buildkite)Patrick Llewellyn (Startup Playbook Podcast – Ep085) Paul Annesley (99Designs)Mark Harbottle (Co-founder of Sitepoint, 99Designs and Flippa)Matt Mickiewicz (Co-founder of 99Designs and Hired)SitepointAccelJohn Barton (CTO of Amber Electric)GitHubHerokuREAEnvatoMYOBDHH (Founder & CTO of Basecamp and HEY)BasecampDHH (Startup Playbook Podcast – Ep119)Doug English (Co-founder & CTO of Culture Amp)Culture AmpDidier Elzinga (Co-founder & CEO of Culture Amp)Didier Elzinga (Startup Playbook Podcast – Ep101)Matt Allen (Co-founder & GP of Pick and Shovel)Matt Allen (Startup Playbook Podcast – Ep028)Openview PartnersGeneral CatalystESOPsThe deal Jeff Bezos got on Basecamp (blog)Ashley Smith (Openview)Trevor Oelschig (General Catalyst)Foreign Investment Review Board Special Thanks: Special thanks to John Barton, Doug English and Matt Allen who helped with research for this interview. Next interview: Join our next live podcast interview with Holly Cardew, the Founder of Pixc and Co-founder of Vop.Date: 8th September 2020Time: 8-9am (AEDT)Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/Ep128Holly Feedback/connect/say hello: [email protected]@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels: Don’t have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep127_-_Lachlan_Donald_Co-founder__CEO_-_Buildkite_on_equity_over_ego.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSS admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. .dslc-tp-comment-form input[type=text]::-moz-placeholder, .dslc-tp-comment-form input[type=url]::-moz-placeholder, .dslc-tp-comment-form input[type=email]::-moz-placeholder, .dslc-tp-comment-form textarea::-moz-placeholder { color: #4d4d4d; } .dslc-tp-comment-form input[type=text]::-webkit-input-placeholder, .dslc-tp-comment-form input[type=url]::-webkit-input-placeholder, .dslc-tp-comment-form input[type=email]::-webkit-input-placeholder, .dslc-tp-comment-form textarea::-webkit-input-placeholder { color: #4d4d4d; } .dslc-tp-comment-form input[type=text]:-ms-input-placeholder, .dslc-tp-comment-form input[type=url]:-ms-input-placeholder, .dslc-tp-comment-form input[type=email]:-ms-input-placeholder, .dslc-tp-comment-form textarea:-ms-input-placeholder { color: #4d4d4d; } Copyright © 2015 - Live Composer The post Ep127 – Lachlan Donald (Co-founder & CEO – Buildkite) on equity over ego appeared first on Startup Playbook.