In an enlightening conversation with Harry Stebbings on "20 VC," Tui Cortimosh, founder and CEO of Procore, shares his journey from a struggling entrepreneur to leading a public company with a revenue of over $890 million. He reflects on the tough early years, including selling personal assets and going without paychecks to keep the company afloat, and the pivotal moment when his wife Hillary inspired the creation of Procore. Tui emphasizes the importance of being authentic, the role of luck and persistence in success, and the value of direct, honest feedback. Despite the challenges, he underscores the significance of following one's passion, being patient in building a brand globally, and the critical nature of capital allocation for a CEO. Tui also touches on the personal aspects of work-life balance, maintaining a grounded relationship with his wife, and instilling values in his son amidst success.
"I was miserable for probably two years. And I'm like, look, I don't know who I am and who I'm supposed to be."
This quote reflects Tui's period of personal struggle and identity crisis as he tried to figure out his place in the world and align it with his entrepreneurial journey.
"We had to go without a paycheck. We had sold everything that we had acquired in life."
Tui's sacrifices for his company's survival are highlighted, showing the extent of his commitment to his vision.
"The company featured today took 13 years to reach $9.6 million in revenue. So not rocket ship growth."
Harry Stebbings points out the slow initial growth of Procore, contrasting it with the rapid growth it experienced later.
"Under his leadership, Procore has grown to become a leading global provider of construction management software, connecting over 2 million users across 150 countries."
Harry introduces Tui and Procore's significant achievements in the construction software industry.
"And that was the origin story of Procore, so it's all her idea."
Tui credits his wife with the foundational idea that led to the creation of Procore.
"Yeah, myself and Steve Zahn, my co-founder, we had to go without a paycheck."
Tui discusses the sacrifices made by the founders during the GFC to ensure Procore's survival.
"I knew it was a foregone conclusion that somehow this industry, this construction industry was going to get digitized."
Tui's conviction in his mission and industry trends underpinned his perseverance through challenging periods.
"I also believe that founders are usually cut from a different cloth, which is, I always say, like, I'm a dog on the bone."
Tui describes the tenacity and unique qualities of founders that contribute to their determination to succeed.
"I was a horrible student in school. I was flunking out of school left, right and center."
Tui shares his struggles with education and how it influenced his drive to succeed beyond expectations.
"For me, I wouldn't have made it if I didn't love what we did, because we just had so many years of just strife and turmoil."
Tui emphasizes the importance of passion in sustaining an entrepreneur through challenging periods.
"So rewind time to 2002. If you walked onto any construction site in the world, there was no Internet at the job site yet."
Tui explains how the lack of internet access at construction sites was a barrier to Procore's early growth.
"The more things that have to happen in order for a company to be successful, the higher the risk ratio is."
Tui discusses the relationship between the number of market conditions that need to change and the risk level for investors.
"We realized at that point we had turned some sort of a corner and that it was time to step on the accelerator."
Tui describes the moment Procore realized it was time to scale up the business and seek additional funding.
"And literally the guy said to me, he goes, look, this is really an interesting idea, and there's probably some opportunity here, but if you did it more like Facebook, we would be interested in investing."
This quote illustrates the early skepticism and misunderstanding investors had about Procore's business model, suggesting a more popular approach like Facebook's would be more investable.
"But the good news was we learned it's almost less about the brand of the venture firm and it's more about the partner."
This quote underscores the realization that individual relationships with venture partners are more critical than the prestige of the venture firm itself.
"Bessemer had an investment thesis on Procore that they, of course, they don't tell the company about. The best outside scenario they could come up with was that Procore was going to be worth $300 million in the future."
This quote reveals the conservative expectations investors initially had about Procore's potential valuation.
"I literally would get in calls from institutional investors saying, know you're taking food out of my kids' mouths because you're not giving me access to this deal and stuff."
The quote illustrates the emotional manipulation tactics used by some investors during the fundraising process.
"Those years were us running as fast as we possibly could, trying not to crash."
This metaphor captures the intense and rapid growth period Procore experienced, emphasizing the need to keep pace with the company's expansion.
"I actually do believe ignorance sometimes is bliss."
This quote suggests that not overthinking and maintaining focus on core goals can be an advantage in business.
"So we had actually had to stop developing that product at a certain point and go back and rearchitect it."
This highlights the challenge and necessity of ensuring products meet enterprise standards before scaling them.
"You have to build a brand and you have to build loyal customers and referenceable customers in those markets before you really can expect any sort of scale and growth in those markets."
This quote emphasizes the strategic approach required for successful international expansion, focusing on brand and customer relationships before scaling.
"Our mission is to connect everyone in construction on a global platform."
This quote explains the rationale behind Procore's unconventional pricing model, which aimed to facilitate industry-wide collaboration.
"I think there's nothing more important that a CEO can do than to talk to a customer."
This quote underscores the critical role of customer engagement at the executive level for understanding and serving customer needs.
"You have to learn how to stop doing and start leading."
This quote captures the challenging but necessary transition leaders must make from individual contributors to strategic leaders.
"Know your strengths and know your weaknesses and hire to your weaknesses."
This quote encapsulates Tui's philosophy of building a strong team by hiring individuals who can fill the gaps in a leader's skillset.
"I can't be a mediocre finance guy and I can't be a mediocre HR guy and I can't be a mediocre salesperson because that's not going to help the business. Right? So I know where my strengths are and I know my strengths are I set the vision for the company. We help build the annual plan. I provide resources to our teams. I spend all this time with our customers, knowing what their needs are."
Tui Courtemanche discusses the importance of understanding and playing to one's strengths for the benefit of the company. He recognizes that being mediocre in key operational roles will not aid the business, hence he delegates those responsibilities to others who excel in those areas.
"The job, it's a 24 hours day job. I've been doing it. I'm like an 8900 days of procore, right. Never having a day or a moment off. And it's a hard job."
Tui Courtemanche emphasizes that being a CEO is a demanding and continuous role, dispelling the myth that it's an easy job once a company becomes successful.
"We hire to our values. So if you go through the interview process at Procore, you may think you're being interviewed for your skill set, but to get into the interview process, you've already had to demonstrate that you have the skill set to do the job. The real hurdle to get over is, do you live our values and do you value our values?"
Tui Courtemanche explains that while technical skills are a prerequisite, the primary focus of Procore's hiring process is whether candidates embody the company's core values.
"Chewy, what's important about leadership is if your business is scaling at 100% a year, that means you and your team needs to be scaling their skill set at greater than 100% a year."
Tui Courtemanche relays advice from a mentor, Toby Lutkey, on the necessity for a leader and their team to develop skills at a pace that matches or surpasses the rate of business growth.
"I was miserable for probably two years. I tried. I even went out and bought the Patagonia vest and whatever. I desperately want to figure this out. My wife said to me one day, she know, on a personal basis, you're miserable. And I'm like, look, I don't know who I am and who I'm supposed to be. And she's like, that's not true. She goes, you know exactly who you are, and you know exactly who you should be. Stop trying to be somebody else."
Tui Courtemanche describes his struggle with fitting into the stereotypical CEO image and how advice from his wife helped him to embrace his authentic self, which ultimately led to greater personal satisfaction and positive reception from others.
"I am a huge believer. I don't know if you've read the book the outsiders, but to me, that was an absolutely cathartic experience for me to actually understand that that is truly what, one of the top four things a CEO has to do is be an efficient capital allocator."
Tui Courtemanche expresses his strong belief in the CEO's role as a capital allocator, influenced by the book "The Outsiders," which helped him understand the critical nature of this responsibility.
"I don't really think about it that much, frankly. There's a lot of young people will come to me and say, I want to be an entrepreneur. And I'm like, that's not a thing. You don't become an entrepreneur. You follow a passion and you deliver, you build a business and you whatever."
Tui Courtemanche advises against pursuing entrepreneurship as a means to an end, stating that true entrepreneurship stems from following a passion and building something meaningful, not from a desire to gain wealth or status.
So Hillary said to him, like, look, either you stop acting like your friend and you become Henry, or you can leave my house.
This quote shows Hillary's firm approach to parenting, emphasizing the importance of setting clear boundaries and consequences for actions.
I would say my biggest regret, Harry, in life, is that I didn't do more. I wasn't there more.
Tui expresses regret over not spending enough time with his son, showing the difficulty of balancing a high-level career with family life.
I think there's not enough time in the day to be able to do both amazingly well.
Tui suggests that time constraints make it challenging to excel both as a CEO and as a parent, highlighting the sacrifices required for success.
If I'm really overwhelmed, fortunately for me, Hillary understands I'm an introvert.
Tui explains how his wife supports him by respecting his need for alone time, which is crucial for his stress management.
Hillary and I have been together. We dated before we got married, obviously, but we've been together for like, 35, 36 years, something like that.
This quote indicates the long-term nature of Tui's marriage and the mutual understanding that has contributed to its success.
The thing that people get wrong about marriage is they conflate marriage and happiness.
The quote suggests that marriage should not be solely equated with happiness, as it involves ongoing effort and the handling of difficulties.
First and foremost, that if you do what you believe in and you're lucky, you can be successful.
Tui emphasizes the combination of passion and luck in achieving success, challenging the notion that skill alone determines success.
I think about moments in my life that had to have happened, literally, like, single moments in my life that had to have happened that got me to where we are today.
This quote highlights the significance of specific moments in Tui's life that were crucial to his career trajectory and the role of luck in those events.
Generally, it was resource allocation, and he was right and I was wrong.
The quote reveals the internal conflicts within Procore regarding the balance between spending on product development and maintaining financial health.
I would think it would be Microsoft because I had the fortunate privilege of having Satya be a mentor of mine.
Tui's admiration for Satya Nadella and the complexity of Microsoft reflects his interest in understanding and managing large-scale operations.
Keep it into a healthy perspective. I definitely think about our competition, but not very often.
This quote indicates Tui's philosophy of not fixating on competitors but rather concentrating on delivering value to customers.
He always carried himself with such dignity and poise, but also authenticity.
Tui's respect for his grandfather's character and leadership style reveals the impact of role models on personal and professional development.
When you have five minutes, like you do right now, do a five minute job, tackle something.
This advice suggests the importance of constant productivity and making the most of every opportunity to progress.
I never in my wildest dreams believed that I would be where I am today.
Tui's quote reflects his humble self-perception and the unexpected nature of his success relative to his family's expectations.