The motivation behind this show, Founder Stories, is to get inside the head of a founder to see what makes them tick, to unearth the wisdom they’ve collected through the trials of building something from scratch. My most recent guest, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Ping Identity, Andre Durand, is a serial entrepreneur who has the ability to step back from the day-to-day grind and reflect on what he learns about business and himself.
As someone who is — at times — impatient (that’s me), this conversation with Durand impressed upon me in powerful ways. For instance, he discusses how he viewed time as a founder at age 35, recalling the feeling of constantly being in a rush; yet 10 years later, now, he strives for patience in business. Surely, the success of Ping has afforded him this luxury, but there are lessons for young- and first-time entrepreneurs here, as well.
Durand is a repeat founder and possesses a great amount of wisdom that could help out first-time founders. He doesn’t blog or tweet much, or seek out too much attention, but his patience in building a company over 12 years provides a different kind of story for all of us to reflect on.
Editor’s Note: Michael Abbott is a general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, previously Twitter’s VP of Engineering, and a founder himself. Mike also writes a blog called uncapitalized. You can follow him on Twitter @mabb0tt.