#159 CEO 1Password, Jeff Shiner: Chief Eliminator of Obstacles

Guest: Jeff Shiner, CEO of 1Password

Far from the Silicon Valley bubble, in Waterloo, Ontario, they try to do things a bit differently, says 1Password CEO Jeff Shiner. “Our mantra has been, build a good product, support the heck out of your customers,” he says. Some businesses and VCs in the Valley, he argues, don’t draw enough of a distinction between customers and users, spending all their time chasing the latter. For many years, the whole team at 1Password — including the co-founders — would try to empty out the customer support queue every day. If the company hadn’t waited 14 years to raise outside funding, Jeff says, it would have been a lot harder to listen to them and build the best product.

In this episode, Jeff and Joubin discuss PowerPoint slides, LEGO sorting, early computers, artificial general intelligence, e-commerce, users vs. customers, loss of control, outsourcing, managers and team leads, OKRs, password schemes, Polish food, Ryan Reynolds, and live TV hits.

In this episode, we cover:

• Abnormal sleeping patterns (02:39) 
• “Playing farmer” (05:00)
• Running and competition (07:05)
• Fear of failure & the speed of technology (10:14)
• Jeff’s pre-1Password jobs (14:46)
• The Silicon Valley bubble (17:05)
• Raising $920 million (19:47)
• Hiring after the signals (23:44)
• Chief Eliminator of Obstacles (30:52)
• “We need to do less” (33:32)
• Could 1Password have grown differently? (38:22)
• 1Password vs. the competition (41:43)
• Customer Support Monday (43:57)
• Hiring by doubling (46:23)
• Thinking about exits (49:16)
• Imposter syndrome (54:29)
• “Do I have any real skills left?” (57:04)
• Speed and confidence (59:26)
• Who 1Password is hiring and what “grit” means to Jeff (01:03:02)

Links:

• Connect with Jeff
  • LinkedIn
• Connect with Joubin
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com 
• Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
• This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm