Veeva CEO Peter Gassner explains how landing Pfizer provided non-dilutive capital to fund product development.
Insight
Gassner: Outlier success requires pursuing ideas most people expect to fail
“You have to pick something that most people think is going to fail to be an outlier. Otherwise, by definition, you're picking something that most people think is going to work, and therefore a lot of people are picking it, therefore you're not an outlier.”
Insight
Gassner: Multi-year lock-in discounts shrink SaaS market size and breed complacency
“Cause I was always optimizing for the longterm value, which is the annual value per customer. So if I had to give the customer terms that would lock them in, I thought that's actually shrinking my market. Cause they'll pay less if they're locked in. That's one…”
Insight
Gassner: A company's second product should be radically distinct, not an add-on
“Your new product, if you have a chance, it should be way out here, and maybe have the potential to be bigger.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gassner: Veeva's initial prospective customers rejected the idea but later all bought
“I talked to three or four potential customers for our first product, and they all said, we don't need that. You know, that's not interesting. It's not a good thing to do, but I wasn't listening for that. I was listening. Are they emotionally attached to where …”
Insight
Gassner: High market share companies must expand to avoid disruptive over-engineering
“If you get a high market share in an area, and you don't expand to another area, what will happen? Just because the nature of your company and the creative people, You'll do more stuff in your established area than you should, right? And that creates its own s…”
Disclosure
Gassner: Veeva audits executive team for integrity and energy
“We audit for integrity of the leadership team, because when you're quite well established, that can throw you off. Integrity, integrity issues in the leadership team, so we audit myself and others, and also energy in the leadership team. Because these are thin…”