He quit Google, launched Rubrik—then grew to $1B ARR & a $16B market cap. | Soham Mazumdar, Co-Founder Rubrik & Wisdom AI

Soham co-founded Rubrik by taking what he learned from building Google's data center tech to enterprises desperate for cloud migration. Two quarters later, he hit $1M ARR. And a few years later, a $16B IPO. Soham breaks down why paid pilots beat free trials, how to sell enterprise hardware before it works, and why early customers become your biggest champions when you solve real pain. Now building WisdomAI after watching the ChatGPT moment unfold, he shares what's different about competing in AI's gold rush versus owning an ignored category.Why You Should Listen:Why early customers  endure broken productsHow he hit $1M ARR in 2 quarters selling enterprise hardwareWhy you should always charge for pilotsCustomer feedback is the only PMF signal that mattersKeywords:Rubrik, Soham Mazumdar, enterprise sales, data backup, IPO, product market fit, B2B SaaS, cloud migration, WisdomAI, data centers00:00:00 Intro00:04:26 Leaving Google to start a company00:11:00 Building the founding team00:14:27 Landing the first customer in Australia00:22:30 Hitting $1M ARR in two quarters00:25:42 Go-to-market strategy and the DeLorean stunt00:30:30 When Arvind left to start Glean00:34:10 Starting WisdomAI after the ChatGPT moment00:51:22 Advice for early stage foundersRetryClaude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.Send me a message to let me know what you think!