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Ryan Smith

17 statements across 4 episodes · 7 bullish · 2 bearish · 3 people on the record · first statement Dec 16, 2016 by Ryan Smith · said 34 times in 14 episodes since 2016 · across every show →

On the record as a speaker too: Ryan Smith's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.

Mentions by year

brought up most by Frank Quattrone (10), Harry Stebbings (8), Jason Lemkin (4), Stewart Butterfield (3), Pat Grady (2), Sameer Gandhi (1), Rich Wong (1), Clay Wilkes (1)

tap a year for its mentions
008215320162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions
02320162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodes it came up in
0031.56320162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 8 mentions in 3 episodes 3 per episode
2024 11 mentions in 2 episodes 6 per episode
2022 1 mention in 1 episode
2021 4 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
2020 6 mentions in 3 episodes 2 per episode
2019 2 mentions in 1 episode
2017 1 mention in 1 episode
2016 1 mention in 1 episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about Ryan Smith, oldest first

Dec 16, 2016 positive
Insight
Smith: Workplace conflicts must be discussed with all parties in the room
“One of the things that I believe in is, is, is complete escalation where if someone's talking to me about someone else, we're doing it in the room together.”
Ryan Smith Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 22:28 20VC: Qualtrics' Ryan Smith on Building A $Bn Company & Raising The Largest Series A Since 2008 From Sequoia & Accel
Dec 16, 2016
Assertion Partly supported
Qualtrics scaled from 600 to 1,200 employees in one year
“The idea of transparency is that everyone's basically an insider and we've gone from 600 employees to 1200 employees in one year. We've gone from one office to eight offices”
Ryan Smith Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 16:10 20VC: Qualtrics' Ryan Smith on Building A $Bn Company & Raising The Largest Series A Since 2008 From Sequoia & Accel
Dec 16, 2016 bullish
Prediction Open · timeframe Dec 2056
Smith: Qualtrics is being built to last 40 to 50 years
“We're trying to build something that's going to be around for the next 40 years, 50 years, and if you're building that way, it's actually a totally different playbook than if you're building something that it's got to work for you.”
Ryan Smith Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 7:13 20VC: Qualtrics' Ryan Smith on Building A $Bn Company & Raising The Largest Series A Since 2008 From Sequoia & Accel
Dec 16, 2016
Insight
Smith: A startup CEO's job changes every three months
“My job as CEO changes every three months. And so does the way I go about the job. What used to work for me two or three years ago does not work for me now.”
Ryan Smith Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 20:03 20VC: Qualtrics' Ryan Smith on Building A $Bn Company & Raising The Largest Series A Since 2008 From Sequoia & Accel
Dec 16, 2016
Insight
Smith: Companies fail from internal politics or scattered external focus
“Companies fail for two reasons. They either get internally focused on each other, Or they get externally focused in a million different directions and can't execute.”
Ryan Smith Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 16:50 20VC: Qualtrics' Ryan Smith on Building A $Bn Company & Raising The Largest Series A Since 2008 From Sequoia & Accel
Dec 16, 2016 bullish
Assertion Partly supported
Qualtrics reached nearly $50M revenue with 50% profit margins while bootstrapped
“We were close to coming up on fifty million dollars in, in sales and, you know, 50% profit margins, a hundred percent bootstrap.”
Ryan Smith Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 12:40 20VC: Qualtrics' Ryan Smith on Building A $Bn Company & Raising The Largest Series A Since 2008 From Sequoia & Accel
Dec 16, 2016
Insight
Ryan Smith: Most people have only three or four productive hours daily
“Most people only have three or four productive hours in the day where they're actually getting stuff done.”
Ryan Smith Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 26:05 20VC: Qualtrics' Ryan Smith on Building A $Bn Company & Raising The Largest Series A Since 2008 From Sequoia & Accel
Dec 4, 2017 positive
Disclosure
Accel sourced Qualtrics early by building relationships in Salt Lake City
“Qualtrics, is a good example of that. Hiding in Salt Lake, you didn't think that there was going to be a multi-billion dollar company in the area of market research surveys, but we were lucky enough to find that company relatively early on and spend the time b…”
Rich Wong Dec 4, 2017 ▶ 6:40 20VC: Accel GP, Rich Wong on When Is The Right Time To Scale A Startup, Optimising Initial vs Follow-On Investment Decision-Making & The Globalisation of VC In Recent Years
May 11, 2021 bullish
Prediction Open · timeframe May 2056
Ryan Smith commits to running the Utah Jazz for 35 years
“I'm doing this for 35 years. The last person who ran the team had it for 35 years. I'm doing this for 35 years, and really, that's my thought. Like, we're doing it for that long.”
Ryan Smith May 11, 2021 ▶ 10:28 20VC: Qualtrics Founder, Ryan Smith on The 2 Hour Decision Whether To Sell Qualtrics for $8Bn in Cash, Why Tying Your Identity To Your Company Will Never Make You Happy and His Relationship To Risk, Wealth and Responsibility as a Result
May 11, 2021
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ryan Smith had two hours to decide on SAP's $8B offer
“I had two hours to decide whether we're selling to SAP for eight billion dollars cash.”
Ryan Smith May 11, 2021 ▶ 17:56 20VC: Qualtrics Founder, Ryan Smith on The 2 Hour Decision Whether To Sell Qualtrics for $8Bn in Cash, Why Tying Your Identity To Your Company Will Never Make You Happy and His Relationship To Risk, Wealth and Responsibility as a Result
May 11, 2021 positive
Insight
Ryan Smith: Stack family and work commitments into single time blocks
“You'll always see me doubling up everything I do. Like, if I have a meeting that I need to go do, I'll just bring them with me to the next meeting. If I've got to go to a game, I've always got people with me that I was supposed to meet with, and we just do it …”
Ryan Smith May 11, 2021 ▶ 33:20 20VC: Qualtrics Founder, Ryan Smith on The 2 Hour Decision Whether To Sell Qualtrics for $8Bn in Cash, Why Tying Your Identity To Your Company Will Never Make You Happy and His Relationship To Risk, Wealth and Responsibility as a Result
May 11, 2021 negative
Opinion
Ryan Smith: Receiving SAP's $8B cash payout was underwhelming
“The day that the wires hit, I remember sitting, we were at a president's club, so we were at a sales retreat with all of our people, and you could kind of look around, and you could see everyone's phones, right? Like, people were, like, with their spouses, lik…”
Ryan Smith May 11, 2021 ▶ 21:07 20VC: Qualtrics Founder, Ryan Smith on The 2 Hour Decision Whether To Sell Qualtrics for $8Bn in Cash, Why Tying Your Identity To Your Company Will Never Make You Happy and His Relationship To Risk, Wealth and Responsibility as a Result
May 11, 2021 negative
Disclosure
Smith: Early basement days of Qualtrics were his worst business experience
“Because the basement sucked. It was like the worst time I've ever had, like, running a business”
Ryan Smith May 11, 2021 ▶ 5:07 20VC: Qualtrics Founder, Ryan Smith on The 2 Hour Decision Whether To Sell Qualtrics for $8Bn in Cash, Why Tying Your Identity To Your Company Will Never Make You Happy and His Relationship To Risk, Wealth and Responsibility as a Result
May 11, 2021 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Smith: Qualtrics never had a singular 'aha moment' or tipping point
“With Qualtrics, I don't think there's ever really been an aha moment. There hasn't been this tipping point where it like all worked. It's been what I would call probably more push than pull the whole way.”
Ryan Smith May 11, 2021 ▶ 3:37 20VC: Qualtrics Founder, Ryan Smith on The 2 Hour Decision Whether To Sell Qualtrics for $8Bn in Cash, Why Tying Your Identity To Your Company Will Never Make You Happy and His Relationship To Risk, Wealth and Responsibility as a Result
May 11, 2021
Disclosure
Qualtrics turned down a $500M cash acquisition offer in 2011
“In 2011, someone offered us five hundred million dollars cash to sell our business. And we were at this point where we turned it down.”
Ryan Smith May 11, 2021 ▶ 19:12 20VC: Qualtrics Founder, Ryan Smith on The 2 Hour Decision Whether To Sell Qualtrics for $8Bn in Cash, Why Tying Your Identity To Your Company Will Never Make You Happy and His Relationship To Risk, Wealth and Responsibility as a Result
May 11, 2021
Insight
Qualtrics raised venture capital to de-risk after rejecting a buyout
“We actually raised venture capital because we turned down an offer, and we wanted to be able to live with ourselves.”
Ryan Smith May 11, 2021 ▶ 20:34 20VC: Qualtrics Founder, Ryan Smith on The 2 Hour Decision Whether To Sell Qualtrics for $8Bn in Cash, Why Tying Your Identity To Your Company Will Never Make You Happy and His Relationship To Risk, Wealth and Responsibility as a Result
Apr 30, 2026 positive
Assertion Partly supported
Lemkin: Ryan Smith's Utah Jazz investment quadrupled, outpacing software returns
“When Ryan Smith sold Qualtrics, I think he made about a billion dollars. After 20 years or so and I believe that billion, most of it went back into the jazz, and it has quadrupled... He's up three billion on the jazz or something like that versus the 20 years …”
Jason Lemkin Apr 30, 2026 ▶ 1:15:38 Anthropic Raises $45B but Falls Short on Compute & Thoma Bravo Hand Back Medallia Keys to Creditors · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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