Evan Goldberg of NetSuite: 3 decades and 2 platform shifts
Orbit - An Hg software leadership podcastShow Notes
Evan Goldberg co-founded NetSuite in 1998 with a five-minute phone call to Larry Ellison when his "graphics stuff" wasn't going great. He pioneered cloud computing before SaaS existed, sold to Oracle for $9 billion, and stayed at the helm for a decade more. Now at 40,000 organisations and $4 billion ARR, Evan has presided over two tectonic platform shifts and says AI dwarfs both.
Recorded at Hg's 'Office of the CFO' dinner in New York back in February, Goldberg explains why autonomous close agents that find exceptions while you sleep are "never going back" territory, his perfect metaphor for why AI still needs integrated data ("cell phones don't help you speak French"), and why customers "have no interest in becoming ERP hobbyists." He reveals he quit Oracle for MIT's AI lab 30 years too early, why mixing deterministic systems with probabilistic AI is the answer, and his tactical advice for founders: step back from strong growth numbers to spot destructive trends, then make painful changes even if they crater quarterly results. From a coffee-stained computer to global success, this is founder wisdom about building companies that last through multiple technology revolutions.
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