SaaStr 128: Algolia's Nicolas Dessaigne on The Journey To $10m in ARR, Why You Must Separate The Work You Do From The Culture You Build & How To Successfully Create A Developer Community

Nicolas Dessaigne is the Founder & CEO @ Algolia, the most reliable platform for building search into your business. Just last week they raised $53m in funding led by Accel with participation from Jason Lemkin @ SaaStr, Point Nine Capital, AppDynamic’s Jyoti Bansal, Intercom’s Des Traynor and InVision’s Clark Valberg and more incredible investors.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How Nicolas made his way to YC and came to found Algolia?
• What are the key things that change when you cross the 10m in ARR milestone? What have been the fundamental learnings in the march to $10m in ARR?
• Jason Lemkin has said before that ‘the first 10 unaffiliated customers you get is the first sign of pre-success’. Does Nicolas agree with him here? When are the first signs of pre-success for Nicolas?
• Does Nicolas agree with Jason that $1m-$2m in ARR is always the hardest for a scaling SaaS startup? Which element did Nicolas find most challenging? How has Nicolas seen himself change and develop as a leader with these inflection points?
• What are the fundamental to building a successful developer community? What have Algolia done to do this so successfully? What mistakes do other startups normally make in their pursuit of this? 

60 Second SaaStr

1. What hires does Nicolas wish he had made earlier?
2. What does success look like for Nicolas with Algolia?
3. What does Nicolas know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning?

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Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Nicolas Dessaigne