The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 14 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
McKinnon: Okta's biggest early mistake was relying on contingency recruiters
“One of the, I think, the mistakes we made early in Okta is we didn't hire recruiters, full-time recruiters that worked for the company. This is obviously very early, but we waited too long to hire full-time recruiters. We tried to use contingency recruiting fi…”
McKinnon: Leadership vulnerability becomes unproductive past the point of building trust
“I definitely think you can be vulnerable to a point where it's almost, you're a downer, you know. I have this problem, and I have this angst, and I'm, I have this hang-up, and this is messed up, and you come across as a complainer, or as a, or it's just not pr…”
Todd McKinnon: Platform shifts offer the best opportunities to build new companies
“And whenever there's a platform shift in terms of how applications are built and how services are delivered, whether it's PCs or mobile or in this case, the cloud, there's a big opportunity to build new companies, or at least you have the best opportunity to b…”
McKinnon: Very few business decisions are truly irreversible
“I think there are very few irreversible decisions. I think if you think about really irreversible decisions, you could get into paralysis.”
McKinnon: Effective leadership decisions require arguing with yourself
“To make effect good decisions, you have to be able to argue with yourself. You have to be able to, in your head, hold opposing viewpoints.”
McKinnon: Radical transparency in recruiting self-selects better long-term talent
“You should go the other way than your instinct. You should be super transparent about that and embrace what you are. Like, don't try to be the coolest thing on the block. Embrace what you're doing. It's more effective because it's just, it comes off as more ge…”
McKinnon: Startup CEOs should present clear board recommendations, not ask what to do
“The right way to do it is come in there strong and be, you know, open to input, of course, and be transparent and share information, but end it with a very strong statement about this is what we should do.”
McKinnon: Establish quarterly predictability before pitching long-term vision
“Once you set that foundation and you kind of can set the, you can, here's the expectations. There's predictability. Yes, we might, there might be a little bit of variance from it, but it's not going to be dramatic. Then you've earned the right to kind of tell …”
McKinnon: Okta was Andreessen Horowitz's first VC fund investment
“Like we were their first investment actually as a fund.”
Todd McKinnon: The 'CEO filter' impedes effective executive decision-making
“It's the CEO filter, I call it. Everyone that talks to you is putting on their CEO filter, like, what does the CEO want to hear? What does he not want to hear? What kind of mood is he in? It's natural, right? Anytime you talk to someone that has a prominent po…”
Todd McKinnon names Ben Horowitz as his top board member
“Yeah, it's a lot of good ones, but I think Ben Horowitz is the first. He's been there from the very early days, so we have a special, special connection, and also, he's also, we're compatible, like, in the way we think about things. Pretty logical thinkers. Ou…”
McKinnon: PeopleSoft was the biggest influence on Okta's culture
“It's probably the biggest influence on what we've tried to do at Okta in terms of the culture.”
McKinnon: Providing rich context maximizes board member advice quality
“You're going to get better input from the board, the more you equip them and arm them with context. If you don't share much context, and you kind of leave them guessing or speculating about the context of what's going on in the business and the industry, the q…”