In Episode #538, I interview James and Larry of Nexd.io. James is the founder and the Chief Stratgey Officer of Next.io and has previously worked with IBM, Socialware, SailPoint Technologies. He has studied at Berkeley and now builds softwares that help people everyday. Larry is the President and CEO of Nexd and is highly experienced in leadership and operations. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Peopleware (James) What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Miller (Larry) Favorite online tool? — Clearbit (James) Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes (Larry) If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – James wished he built a network. Larry would tell himself that the most important thing is execution. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:42 – I introduce James and Larry to the show 02:10 – Larry just joined Nexd and he’s the new CEO 02:26 – Larry helps James build a business around the idea 02:34 – Larry’s background is multiple CEO 03:35 – James shares why he brought Larry in 03:59 – Nexd was founded 14 months ago 05:23 – Nexd’s space is analytics 05:45 – Nexd analyzes which emails are effective 05:55 – Nexd is currently on pre-revenue 06:00 – Nexd raised a million dollars on a seed round 06:10 – It is a convertible note 06:12 – Nexd did 2 convertible notes 07:10 – Larry discusses what he thinks about CEOs and founders not being on good terms in a company 07:20 – Larry has been an advisor to VCs 07:30 – Larry shares his advice to entrepreneurs 07:56 – Founders and CEOs should agree on who is going to drive the steering wheel 08:43 – Larry shares how he and James would represent the company in a sample article with TechCrunch 09:15 – Larry shares how they would resolve a possible disagreement in a seed round 10:17 – It was James’ own decision to get a CEO 10:48 – On the technical side, there is another co-founder 11:10 – “What Nexd is doing is going to be a game changer” 11:32 – Nexd targets sales manager and sales reps 12:58 – James and his co founder’s background is enterprise integration problems 13:20 – “We’re trying to be a system of engagement for multiples systems of work” 13:43 – Target for Series A is $6-7M 14:08 – A minimal viable product is needed to step forward—a pilot that has been tested 15:50 – Nexd is not interested on a quick exit and they are going to be the next great company 17:50 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Choose someone who can do something you’re not good at and who you respect. Founders and CEOs should agree on who’s going to drive the steering wheel – if issues come up, own your mistakes and deal with it. You need a minimal viable product with validation from potential customers to move forward with your business.