Make It Snow: From Zero to Billions

13Build for a Billion

“Frank was right. I had to reorganize the sales so we could go to the next phase of growth.”

—Chris Degnan

BOB MUGLIA COINED the phrase “build for a billion” at Snowflake. It would become our annual gross revenue target for the fiscal year 2021, and a goal that would set us in motion to attain that number and beyond. Bob once said that to take a company from $100 million to $1 billion, you have to hire salespeople and engineers like crazy. He also said the hardest part of growing a company that fast is managing the surge in new employees and keeping everyone aligned. The requirements of leadership continue to change as you grow. Eventually, as a CEO, you are managing leaders who are experts in their areas. They have control over their part of the business. So, your job is really just to help them work together effectively, and make sure the right things are happening. Leadership is really about three things: strategy, structure, and people.

Yet, Bob wouldn’t be CEO when Snowflake reached a billion dollars. In April 2019, the Snowflake board announced that Frank Slootman would replace him. Bob was a product guy and an amazing leader. He has tons of executive credibility and can easily engage a customer’s chief technology officer (CTO) to help close a deal. He spent five years at Snowflake getting us in front of technical leaders during the sales process, among other things. He was well known and the reason we were able to close a number of large deals ...