Knuckle Up with Nakul $50M ARR With 3 sales reps, no CRO, and one PM | Michael Grinich (CEO, WorkOS)
May 7, 2026
Michael Grinich, CEO and co-founder of WorkOS, scaled the company to $50M ARR while running an engineering-first org. He discusses why standout ideas may look bad, the “minimum awesome product” approach, running a flat team with senior ICs instead of executives, making teams AI-native, and a fast weekly operating cadence that prioritizes speed and ownership.
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Email Product Failure Sparked WorkOS
- Michael Grinich built a design-first email product and lost commercial traction when procurement and IT rejected it.
- That failure led him to study enterprise needs and ultimately found WorkOS to provide the missing enterprise-ready plumbing.
Good Ideas Often Need To Look Bad
- Great startup ideas often look bad to others because that discourages competitors and preserves focus.
- Michael uses personal insight (his enterprise experience) plus large TAM and contrarian appearance as his idea filters.
Build A Minimum Awesome Product Not A Bare MVP
- Ship a Minimum Awesome Product rather than a bare MVP so developers get a remarkable first impression.
- Make one aspect notably impressive and differentiated even if the rest isn't feature-complete.
