Episode 146: Building Your Next B2B SaaS Unicorn with Mikita Mikado, Co-Founder and CEO of PandaDoc

In this episode of Product Thinking, Mikita Mikado, Co-Founder and CEO of PandaDoc, joins Melissa Perri to share his entrepreneurial journey and the challenges he faced in building PandaDoc. Mikita also highlights the importance of working with talented people in the B2B SaaS world, embracing a growth mindset, and creating a strong organizational culture.

Mikita is an entrepreneur and executive with roots in engineering. His company, PandaDoc, offers a complete document automation platform revolutionizing the traditional approaches to business documentation, including contracts and proposals. Under Mikita's leadership, PandaDoc constantly earns high praise from customers and maintains top ratings on platforms such as G2, Gartner, TrustRadius, and Capterra. In addition to PandaDoc, Mikita offers his expertise as an Adviser and Angel Investor to Lokalise.

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You’ll hear them talk about:

[09:57] - As a first-time CEO, Mikita admits that, as the company evolves, the skills required to manage its rapid growth and changing environment demand constant upskilling, especially in finding talent and building teams. Regardless of your company or experience, always surround yourself with experienced and highly competent people, leverage community wisdom, and use resources like podcasts and blogs to navigate the complexities of your role.
[19:32] - Mikita's initial perception of building a successful company centered on the product-market fit evolved significantly over time. While also important, the key to long-term success lies in nurturing a collaborative team and mastering the skill to work with people. Just as Mikita did at PandaDoc, it's essential to establish a cultural code for your company, which involves setting clear behavioral aspirations and holding each other accountable.
[28:53] - The significant growth of PandaDoc goes down to developing an intuitive and simple-to-use product in a typically complex market. This strategic simplicity enables the company to leverage product-driven growth and inbound marketing to reach a wider audience effectively. Moreover, despite exploring different directions and facing multiple failures, PandaDoc remained true to its core vision, allowing for consistent progress without losing sight of its foundational goals.
[37:40] - Every tech business must put down its culture code, where it will illustrate its core values and integrate them into the company's daily operations. If you're looking for inspiration, here are PandaDoc's four core values: continuous learning and teaching, making a positive impact, having fun, and fostering empathy. Not only will a culture code align the team, providing a North Star to follow, but it will also nurture a strong, value-driven organization.

Episode Resources:

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Previous guests include:

Tanya Johnson Chief Product Officer at Auror, Tom Eisenmann, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, Stephanie Leue, Chief Product Officer at Doodle, Jason Fried, Co-founder and CEO of 37signals, Hubert Palan, Founder and CEO of Productboard, Blake Samic, Former Global Head of Product Operations at Stripe and Uber, Colin Anawaty, Chief Product Officer of First Dollar, Quincy Hunte, Global Transformation Product Leader at Amazon Web Services, Ellen Chisa, Partner at boldstart ventures, and Leon Barnard, Education Team Lead at Balsamiq

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