PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada on the Importance of Diverse Work Experience | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

Jennifer Tejada, CEO of PagerDuty, shares her career path, the potential of PagerDuty, and the importance of trust and transparency in leadership.

Key Insights

• 😒 PagerDuty's potential extends beyond its initial developer use case, with applications in IT operations, security response, customer service, and more.
• 🤗 Building trust and maintaining open communication are fundamental to effective leadership.
• 🏂 Independent board members bring valuable perspectives and pattern recognition, contributing to the success of the company.
• ⚖️ Leadership style must evolve as the company scales, with a focus on balancing experience with innovation and building a robust and trusting team.
• 👻 Trust and transparency are crucial in the relationship between a CEO and the board, allowing for constructive discussions and shared decision-making.
• 🏂 Jennifer encourages early adoption of independent board members and emphasizes the need for regular communication and alignment with board expectations.

Transcript

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Questions & Answers

Q: How did Jennifer transition from a career in business management to the tech industry?

Jennifer initially planned to work in business or healthcare management but took a job at Procter & Gamble, where she gained valuable leadership and management experience. She later transitioned to tech, leveraging her marketing expertise and building a foundation for her career in the industry.

Q: What are the key challenges Jennifer faces as CEO of PagerDuty?

Jennifer mentions that one of the challenges is building awareness and preference for the company, making PagerDuty's value proposition compelling for both developers and C-suite executives. Additionally, she emphasizes the importance of maintaining an intuitive and easy-to-use platform while continuing to invest in machine learning and intelligent routing capabilities.

Q: How has Jennifer's leadership style evolved as PagerDuty has scaled?

Jennifer emphasizes the importance of building trust and maintaining open lines of communication with employees, board members, and other stakeholders. She also notes the need for a balance between experienced leaders and up-and-coming talent to drive innovation and growth.

Q: How does Jennifer approach relationship management with different constituencies within the organization, such as co-founders, executives, and employees?

Jennifer acknowledges the contributions and achievements of co-founders and encourages a collaborative approach where everyone feels like they have a stake in the company's success. She also emphasizes the importance of building trust and fostering strong relationships with employees and board members through transparency and effective communication.

Summary

This video features a conversation between Greylock general partner Sara Guo and Jennifer Tejada, the CEO of PagerDuty. Jennifer discusses her career path, the growth of PagerDuty, and the impact of the pandemic on the company. She also talks about the importance of empathy and connection in leadership, the challenges PagerDuty faces, and the future ambitions of the company.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did Jennifer end up in the tech industry?

Jennifer started her career with a liberal arts degree and initially planned to work in business or healthcare management. However, she took a job at Procter & Gamble and fell in love with the company's emphasis on talent development and leadership. From there, she transitioned to the tech industry, working for a supply chain automation company and then joining the high-growth software company i2. Her diverse experience and strong foundation in leadership and management have prepared her for her current role as CEO of Pager Duty.

Q: How did Jennifer make decisions about her career path?

Jennifer believes that specialization can limit career growth and leadership potential. She emphasizes the importance of building a broad skill set and gaining experience in different roles and functions within a business. Rather than sticking to one sector or stage of company, Jennifer sought out new challenges and opportunities that would help her develop her leadership toolkit. With each career move, she looked for roles that allowed her to leverage her existing expertise while acquiring new skills and knowledge.

Q: How does Jennifer's experience in previous economic cycles affect her leadership today?

Jennifer believes that her past experience in economic downturns has made her better prepared to navigate crises. She recognizes that crises have a beginning and an end, and this knowledge allows her to approach challenging situations with confidence and resilience. Having survived previous recessions and downturns, Jennifer is better equipped to weather the storms and lead her company through uncertain times. She acknowledges the value of experience and urges leaders to embrace the learning and growth opportunities that come with facing and overcoming challenges.

Q: How does Jennifer prioritize building relationships and connecting with people?

Jennifer attributes her ability to connect with others to her intellectual curiosity and genuine interest in people's stories. She learned the importance of building relationships from her father, who was a hospital administrator. He had a unique ability to connect with individuals at all levels of the organization and made everyone feel valued and heard. Jennifer believes that everyone has something valuable to contribute, and she seeks to understand and appreciate each person's perspective. She emphasizes the significance of long-term relationships and the value of networking and building connections that can pay off unexpectedly in the future.

Q: What are the key takeaways from customers over the past year and a half?

Through conversations with customers, Jennifer has learned that the relationship with strategic vendor partners has become more important and collaborative. The pandemic has led to a shift in mindset, with a focus on well-being check-ins and open conversations about challenges. Many companies are still in the early stages of digital transformation and are investing in modernizing their technology stack. Security, data management, and the ability to respond to unplanned issues are also top priorities for customers. Additionally, there is a growing recognition of the importance of addressing social justice issues and leaving a positive impact on the community.

Q: What do most people not understand about PagerDuty and its potential?

Many people still associate PagerDuty with its initial use case in developer on-call management. However, the platform has evolved into a real-time workflow platform with infinite use cases. It offers a more autonomous and flexible approach to workflow management, addressing challenges that are unpredictable, business-critical, and time-sensitive. PagerDuty is being used across various industries beyond technology, including healthcare, nonprofit organizations, and even organ transplant management. The company's goal is to become the operations cloud for the modern enterprise by continuing to build features and functionality while ensuring the app remains intuitive and easy to use.

Q: What are the biggest challenges PagerDuty faces?

One of the key challenges for PagerDuty is increasing awareness and preference among potential customers. While the company has strong brand recognition in developer communities, it needs to establish clear value propositions for CEOs, CIOs, and CFOs. Balancing relationships within different user communities is crucial. Additionally, PagerDuty focuses on continuous improvement of user experience and intuitive design to ensure the app remains effective and competitive.

Q: What are PagerDuty's future ambitions?

PagerDuty aims to become the operations cloud for the modern enterprise. The company wants to expand its capabilities, be more flexible in serving different types of users, and leverage machine learning to automate more aspects of incident response and workflow management. PagerDuty is constantly looking for new use cases and opportunities to deliver value to customers. Jennifer sees a promising future for the company as it continues to grow and evolve in the digital transformation and remote work era.

Takeaways

Jennifer Tejada's career path demonstrates that there are opportunities in the tech industry for all kinds of people, regardless of their educational background. She emphasizes the importance of building a broad range of skills and gaining experience across different functions to become an effective leader. Jennifer believes that experience and a willingness to learn from challenges are essential for leadership success. She values empathy and connection with others and strives to create a positive and inclusive work environment. PagerDuty's potential goes beyond the initial developer on-call use case, as the platform can be applied to various industries and functions. The company's future ambitions include increasing awareness, improving user experience, and expanding capabilities to become the leading operations cloud for the modern enterprise.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Jennifer Tejada started her career in business management but found her passion in the tech industry, working in various roles in software companies and leveraging her leadership and marketing expertise.

• PagerDuty, an operations management company, has grown significantly under Jennifer's leadership, expanding its customer base and use cases beyond the development community to include IT operations, security response, customer service, and more.

• Jennifer highlights the importance of trust in leadership, building strong relationships with employees, and the need for empathy and flexibility in a rapidly changing business environment.