Video conversation (Jason M. Lemkin interviewing Greenhouse's CEO) about strategic benefits of a diverse customer base. Argues intentionally pursuing a multi-segment customer strategy (SMB and enterprise) creates a portfolio effect that smooths performance across economic cycles—when SMBs slow, enterprise can perform strongly, and vice versa. Also highlights value of having thousands of startups using the product as a testing lab and growth source.
Chapters
We're doing it knowingly, but we always thought, number one, you get a great portfolio effect. I mean, I think we've always tried to be really intentional in our, in our strategy and in this way in particular, we've always thought of it as we want to be multi segment. So in a year like this, the SMB is just doing worse. But the enterprise segment that we have, which by the way is bigger now than our SMB segment is doing great. And so the net retention characteristics and the long term nature of it like is really nice. At the same time there's other years where you know, SMBs are just, you know, jumping in the boat and it's all you can do to take the orders as fast as possible and so you get this amazing growth. So like the portfolio effect of that at our scale is really helpful because you're going to have a bunch of different years with a bunch of different things happening. Secondly is I do think there's something really neat about having a couple thousand startups using your product every day. Like if they're the lab that the start, the tech companies are the lab, the startups are the lab, right?
