#283 David Schneider: Co-Leading Coatue’s Growth Fund, Scaling ServiceNow from $100M to $5B, Why Frank Slootman changed his life

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David Schneider is a General Partner at Coatue, where he co-leads the firm’s Growth Fund. Previously, he was President at ServiceNow, helping scale the company from roughly $100M to $5B in revenue, after helping take another software company in Data Domain from zero customers to more than $1B in revenue. David is widely regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s most successful go-to-market, sales, revenue and business building executives of all time.

In this rare public conversation, David joins Vidit to unpack a career spent building some of enterprise software’s defining companies. He shares how he was initially rejected by Data Domain for not being “aggressive enough”, only to join when it had zero customers and around 18 employees and help scale it beyond $1 billion in revenue — revealing the intensity, hiring philosophy and relentless focus on execution that shaped him as a leader.

They also explore David’s decade at ServiceNow, where he helped scale the business from roughly $100 million to $5 billion, what he learned working alongside legendary CEO Frank Slootman, and the painful customer failure that fundamentally changed how he thought about leadership. David then opens up about leaving operating at the height of his career to become a General Partner at Coatue, where he now co-leads its Growth Fund, and the surprisingly difficult transition from being the person making decisions to the investor sitting beside the founder. Along the way, he reflects on building exceptional sales teams, spotting future leaders, the future of enterprise go-to-market, flying 250,000–350,000 miles a year, the impact that ambition had on his family, and why curiosity has remained a constant throughout his life.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.