Zero to IPO: Over $1 Trillion of Actionable Advice from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs

INTRODUCTION

It was July 2011 when I realized I had failed.

I was driving my ailing, 17-year-old Honda Accord down Harrison Street in San Francisco, and the heavy, gray blanket of summer fog seemed to press down on the city, and on me particularly. I considered just heading back to my apartment and not showing up for the meeting. After all, what was there to say? Our business was doomed.

I had started Okta with my friend Todd McKinnon in 2009. It was a pretty simple idea. We both believed business software was going to move online. The days of getting CD-ROM install discs would end soon. Eventually, somebody had to make sure that we could all sign in to software as it moved online. That had to be useful, right?

Todd and I walked into the ...