Last week I said goodbye to Segment after a decade of building Segment wasn't running a "traditional" interview process back in 2014. I took my first call with Ilya Volodarsky from a church parking lot. Peter Reinhardt had to call me back because the conference room didn't have a ceiling and Raphael Parker was shouting too loud. The "final round" was Ghirardelli milkshakes with Diana Smith and Laylee Asgari. I moved across the country with only the slightest idea of what I was getting myself into. But the little team on Minna street was from another dimension. I'd walk home from work with Chris Sperandio and he could talk about the history of martech for hours. Alex Millet Mountain Goat would return from 100 mile expeditions only to ship an ExactTarget integration. A sales team that was 100% ex-lawyers with Julian Dunn Raphael Parker. Becky and Will slinging 200 line "CSM" SQL queries We all grew. The vibes bounced between "def not gonna work" to "biggest deal/ship of in history!!" Calvin French-Owen set the pace in his Friday Shirt and team lifts. Tido Carriero joined and taught us how to sprint - you did not want a :sprint-red: from him. Vince Prignano built sources in a few weeks in the Bunker subsisting on only pizza & clams. There's a moment that stands out among the many great memories. It was the night of our first Segment customer conference called Synapse, where we going to launch a new product called Personas. At the afterparty, after a long day of launches & conference talks and the many nightshifts leading up to the event - the room was filled with customers that were *genuinely rooting for us to win*. No one was going home. They loved the product, they loved the team behind it, and their enthusiasm and support is what made the whole thing go. I have met with many customers since, and I can tell you that is as true today as it was back then. And it's what has made this journey so special. There are too many friends to thank, people that have taught me so much Lauren Reeder Lina Ochman Andrius Vaskys JJ N. Albert Strasheim Jodi Alperstein Christopher Child Venice P. Stephanie Evans Jaimal Soni Ben Galbraith Kalyan Nistala Vas Natarajan Hanhan Wang Thomas Wyatt Kathryn Murphy Miles Grimshaw VADIM Robin Grochol Chris Surdi Ricky Doar Hareem Mannan Chris Lyon osama khan Leah Bross Fouad Matin Guillaume "𝑮" Cabane Nate Niparko Alexia Niparko and so many more I look back at this last decade building Segment & Twilio with such an amazing team and am filled with gratitude. It's rare in life to be able to work on ambitious projects with ambitious people, and I consider myself profoundly lucky to have been a part of this journey
Tim Koeth
1w
Kevin - it’s not easy summing up a decade of watching you grow at Segment - but it’s fair to say that it has been quite the ride. I’m incredibly lucky to have had the chance to know Segment in two different contexts through you - first in crashing in-office trivia, wine trips, and oyster adventures in Point Reyes with folks like Calvin, Ilya, Sperandio, and Diana whenever I came out to visit - and more recently learning from you at Segment these past three years. Thanks, truly, for that. Congrats on the accomplishment and thank you for showing all of us what’s possible when you decide to work on hard problems with interested people who bring curiosity, the right questions, and a good attitude to their life and work (something I’ll know you’ll be doing a lot more of in the years ahead).
i am the luckiest human that my first real team at segment got to be with you, alex, tejas, vadim, josh. such a legendary run for a legendary leader <3
You changed my life and hundreds more. I will forever (humbly and woefully) benchmark my contributions- in spirit, energy, encouragement, credit-giving, leadership, shipping cadence, and belief / investment in people- to yours. I might know my history, but you're the type that writes it. Congratulations on the next step; keep setting the pace!
Alex Millet
1w
hard to put 10 years of gratitude into a LinkedIn comment- but WHAT A LEGEND. Thank you for always bringing your infectious positive spirit & yolo shipping energy to every challenge big and small. I've learnt a ton working with you, it's truly been an honor. Godspeed my friend <3
The design team will be making a plaque dedicated to you in the form of a permanent watermark on every segment page in honor of your epic impact and mark you’ve left on us. Excited to watch you thrive in your next chapter!!
Ricky Doar
1w
A true legend! What an amazing run. You shipped so many transformational products over your Segment career! Was a pleasure watching you work. Ill never forget whiteboarding for 8 hours straight in Cincinnati to close our biggest deal yet. You’re the 🐐
Lina Ochman
1w
One of the highlights of my career was getting to learn from and to build with you!!! From adding me to a random meeting that started it all, to your infectious energy, to the yolo spirit, to the extreme ownership, to the experimentation mindset, to the no deal / ARR left behind attitude, to proving all of the bears wrong, to teaching me you can have fun and make great friends at work, and to everything in between... Thank you thank you thank you!!
Tina Stewart
5d
Can't wait for what's next Kevin!! I remember meeting you and Niels Tindbæk for the first time at a coffee shop in the east bay and thinking how warm you two were to go out of your way to befriend the OPs person 😂 learned so much from your leadership style and it's evident what an impact you had on everyone you worked with. Onwards!!
VP of Product, Twilio Segment
1wlinkedin told me I was thanking too many legends but gotta keep it going Kelton Lynn Sudhee Chilappagari Niels Tindbæk Doug Roberge Steve Davito Andy O'Dower Jeff Lawson Han Kim Kwasi Twum-Acheampong Vanessa Whatley Hannah Hudson Tejas Manohar Sahil Patel Mark Kahn Marcus E. Khozema Shipchandler Anthony Brough Anthony Short Tim Koeth Dave Newman Netto Farah Matthew Shwery Garrett Johnson Andy Yeo