Tom Petit - Didero
A Sequoia backed founder searches for his next opportunity
After taking a bit of a break this summer, I’m excited to share my next interview with Tom Petit. Tom is a second time founder currently working on Didero, a company utilizing AI to supercharge procurement teams. He previously co-founded the Sequoia backed real-estate tech company Landis and also had operating stints in data science at Hello Fresh and AirBnB.
This was a very fun conversation because Tom is right in the thick of it in terms of finding early PMF for his new company. This is a founder that is currently traversing the idea maze, and while he’s not quite yet at the center, he feels like they are very much on the right track.
There were some really cool themes from our conversation.
First, Tom mentioned several moments in his life that really expanded his imagination. He talked about growing up in Belgium and the impact on his psyche from moving to Texas, where everything was bigger, more ambitious, and more bold. Later, he talks about his initial impression that those who found companies successfully “must be like gods” with 1000x the domain knowledge and business building know-how. But later, he realized that most companies aren’t really rocket science, and that founders are talented, but not a completely different class of person. This resonated with me as well. I remember starting my career in venture and thinking that Midas List VC’s must have superhuman brains and insanely deep knowledge. But in reality, they are not all that different and it’s not like they are oozing profound wisdom with each conversation. Often, what separates the great from the good comes down to work ethic, judgement, luck, and having courage in certain convictions.
We also talk about rediscovering one’s identity after moving on from a prior business. This is a very consistent theme in the show and has come up in probably a third of my interviews or more. Founders have to grapple with the fact that one’s first business is so intertwined with who they are, than moving on can leave a huge void that must be grappled with. This is often the source of a trap that leads to mistakes with one’s second company. I like how Tom talks about using his time between businesses to rediscover what got him excited about building companies in the first place, and really giving himself the space for his curiosity to flourish.
We also touch on a lot of great practical advice around team building, co-founder evaluation, customer development, and more. This is a super-rich conversation, so I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for checking it out!