In Depth

In this latest episode of Executive Function, Brett sits down with Praveer Melwani, CFO at Figma. Praveer joined Figma in 2017 as the company's first business operations and finance hire—when the team was around 30 people and not yet charging for the product—and stepped into the CFO seat in 2022, helping to lead the company’s IPO in 2025. In today’s conversation, Praveer breaks down the step functions that took him from IC to CFO, why Figma started acting like a public company three years before IPO, and how AI is rewriting capital allocation and the CFO job itself.

In today's episode, we discuss:

What separates a world-class finance leader from a traffic-cop CFO

How Praveer went from Figma's first biz ops hire to CFO of a public company in nine years

Why Figma started acting like a public company three years before its IPO

What Praveer has learned working alongside Dylan Field for nine years

Why Figma intentionally cut its 90% gross margin to invest in AI

References:

Adobe: https://www.adobe.com

Brendan Mulligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanmulligan

Cloudflare: https://www.cloudflare.com

Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com

Dylan Field: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanfield/

Fidelity: https://www.fidelity.com

Figma: https://www.figma.com

GIC: https://www.gic.com.sg

NerdWallet: https://www.nerdwallet.com

Shaunt Voskanian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shauntvoskanian/

Where to find Praveer:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/praveer-melwani

Where to find Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson

Where to find First Round Capital:

Website: https://firstround.com/

First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital

This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

02:13 From banking to Dropbox to Figma

04:14 The phase shift when Figma's COO left

05:36 Hiring leaders in functions you don't understand

07:18 Selling the exec team on AI consumption pricing

09:48 Using Claude Code to learn new things as CFO

11:36 Building an internal board of peer CFOs

13:52 Inside Figma's CFO job description

16:38 What separates good CFOs from world-class CFOs

18:42 Capital allocation and risk in a post-ChatGPT world

21:45 Why Praveer wants to take more bets

24:32 How AI is materially changing the CFO role

25:36 The nine-year working relationship with Dylan Field

29:12 How deeply in the details should a CFO be?

31:47 What Dropbox taught Praveer about building strong teams

33:24 Praveer’s first-principles test for hiring VPs

38:47 Why Figma acted like a public company in 2022

In the latest episode of Executive Function, Brett is joined by Diya Jolly, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Xero. Before Xero, Diya was CPT at Okta and led YouTube's advertising monetization products at Google. In this conversation, she unpacks her three-bucket framework for delegating decisions, why the most important part of a CPO’s role is to drive team-wide ambition, and why the best executives need to spend half their time thinking, not doing.

In today's episode, we discuss:

Why a CPO's number one job is raising their team’s ambition, not shipping features

How to demand the best from your team without creating a fear-based culture

Why organizational politics is actually an incentives problem

How Diya is “militant” with her calendar to carve out dedicated thinking time

Why you should avoid chasing titles in your career - and what to chase instead

References:

Google: https://www.google.com

Melio: https://meliopayments.com

Okta: https://www.okta.com

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sukhinders/

Xero: https://www.xero.com

Where to find Diya:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diyajolly

Where to find Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson

Where to find First Round Capital:

Website: https://firstround.com/

First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital

This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

Timestamps:

00:12 How an excellent CPO makes an impact on the business

02:01 How the CPO role shifts under founders vs hired CEOs

03:38 Influencing a founder without going deferential

07:37 How adding value to customers is always a net positive

08:45 Why roadmaps need more risk in the AI era

12:30 How to shelter innovation teams from the existing system

15:12 What's different about being a great CPO in 2026

17:34 How AI has changed the concept of an app

18:28 It’s essential for CPOs to fly at a low altitude

20:34 How misaligned incentives cause organizational politics

25:13 Being demanding without creating a fear-based culture

28:10 Why raising ambition is a CPO's number one job

31:39 The boss who taught Diya to keep raising the bar

32:43 The hardest part of being a CPO

35:28 The three buckets Diya uses to delegate

36:30 How Diya protects deep-work time on her calendar

42:45 Xero’s game-changing early bet on AI insights

44:58 How far into the future should CPOs plan for?

47:14 What it takes to be an excellent C-suite member

48:53 Why ambitious PMs should chase impact, not titles

50:28 The four bottlenecks that stall career growth

In this episode of In Depth, First Round Partner Josh Kopelman sits down with Shachar Hirshberg and Dan Shiebler, co-founders of Artemis, the AI-native security platform that just emerged from stealth with $70M in combined seed and Series A funding. Shachar and Dan unpack how they built a 30-person team in seven months, why AI-native companies are outperforming their AI-enabled counterparts, and why they plan to stay on a texting basis with every customer, even at scale.

In today's episode, we discuss:

How to interview for AI fluency when building an AI-native startup

Why founder-market fit is a critical early signal for startup success

The surprising lesson Dan learned from founder-led sales

How Dan and Shachar are instilling customer-obsession into Artemis’ culture

How the two co-founders approach conflict and decision-making

References:

Abnormal: https://abnormal.ai

Amazon Web Services (AWS): https://aws.amazon.com

Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com

Artemis: https://artemissecurity.com

CrowdStrike: https://www.crowdstrike.com

Demisto (now Cortex XSOAR): https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/cortex-xsoar

OpenAI: https://openai.com

Palo Alto Networks: https://www.paloaltonetworks.com

Todd Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddj0/

Where to find Shachar Hirshberg:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shachar-hirshberg/

Where to find Dan Shiebler:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-shiebler-10219b42/

Where to find Josh:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkopelman/

Twitter/X: https://x.com/joshk

Where to find First Round Capital:

Website: https://firstround.com/

First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital

This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:06 What Artemis does and why now

02:51 Shachar’s AWS and Palo Alto playbook

05:15 Dan’s founder journey: From Twitter to Abnormal

08:51 Why founder-market fit is critical for startups

11:38 Finding the right moment to take the leap and build

13:52 The hiring process that powers a startup in stealth

16:58 Building a team centered on AI capabilities

21:48 How AI implementation changes dashboard metrics

23:22 The ICP they chased and the one they ignored

26:44 The magic of closing the first customers

27:49 The surprising signals of early product-market fit

32:06 Critical lessons from founder-led sales

33:51 Why the first product should make founders uncomfortable

36:03 Hiring 30 people while still in stealth

42:08 “Should we be arguing more?”

43:37 How the AI security market is evolving

49:03 Why AI-native beats AI-enabled company structure

51:09 The most surprising moments as a first-time founder

In this latest episode of Executive Function, Brett sits down with Christopher Payne, who spent a decade as President and COO at DoorDash, helping scale the company from roughly 70 employees to the dominant food delivery platform in the US. Before DoorDash, Christopher held senior operating roles at Amazon and eBay, where he led a sweeping overhaul of marketplace search. In this conversation, he unpacks what it actually takes to run an atoms-based business versus a software company, shares his "plate spinning" framework for allocating executive attention across a complex org, and makes the case for top-down goal setting over the bottom-up alternative.

In today's episode, we discuss:

How prior industry experience can be a liability when you're trying to reinvent the market

How executives can practically focus their attention to stay close to product details

What charisma actually looks like in executives—and why it's a staple trait to have

The business case for setting ambitious goals top-down, not bottom-up

References:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/

Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/

Cheesecake Factory: https://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/

Cursor: https://cursor.com/

Dartmouth College: https://home.dartmouth.edu/

David Risher: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdavidrisher

DoorDash: https://www.doordash.com/

eBay: https://www.ebay.com/

Granola: https://www.granola.ai/

Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/

Jason Kilar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonkilar

Jeff Bezos: https://x.com/JeffBezos

Lyft: https://www.lyft.com/

Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/

Tinder: https://tinder.com/

Tony Xu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xutony

Travis Kalanick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/traviskalanick

Uber: https://www.uber.com/

University of Oregon: https://www.uoregon.edu/

Wharton School: https://www.wharton.upenn.edu/

Where to find Christopher Payne:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherpayne

Twitter/X: https://x.com/chrispa

Where to find Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson

Where to find First Round Capital:

Website: https://firstround.com/

First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital

This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:14 Why atoms businesses challenge bits executives

02:35 Hiring executives with a builder mentality

06:52 Great executives never outgrow the details

08:05 How ciabatta bread revealed a core DoorDash issue

10:48 How executives can scale their own impact

14:22 One-size-fits-all management is a myth

19:01 Enduring business lessons from Jeff Bezos

20:56 “I was fired from Tinder after six months”

25:38 Why specializing too early is a leadership trap

27:41 Are competitive cultures essential for success?

31:00 Lessons from Amazon’s hypergrowth

35:20 Why having industry experience can be a liability

38:46 Companies spend too much time on job interviews

40:19 The skills executives need for hypergrowth

43:34 Why AI will likely flatten organizations

45:20 Teaching COO 101: What it takes to be world-class

50:55 Why bottom-up goal setting kills ambition

55:29 How charismatic leaders help teams in tough times

58:23 The number-one sign of high-functioning executive teams

1:02:02 How first-time COOs can increase their chance of success

In the latest episode of Executive Function, Brett sits down with Katie Burke, who recently became COO of Harvey after joining as Chief People Officer. Before Harvey, Katie spent 11 years in HR leadership at HubSpot, where she built one of tech's most distinctive cultures. In this conversation, she unpacks her marketing-minded approach to HR, why she hired deliberately from hospitality rather than corporate backgrounds, and why developing culture should be a strategic priority for any organization.

In today's episode, we discuss:

Why HR leaders should think like marketers

The 2.5-year cultural hangover after a layoff

The protein vs. sugar rule for employee feedback

What it means to be the executive team’s own HR business partner

What the Chief People Officer owes the board and what they don't

References:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com

Anique Drumright: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anique-drumright-53978a1a/

Brian Halligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianhalligan/

Carmel Galvin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmelgalvin/

eBay: https://www.ebay.com

Gabe Pereyra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabepereyra

Harvey: https://www.harvey.ai

HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com

Jacqui Canney: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquicanney

Klaviyo: https://www.klaviyo.com

Lorrie Norrington: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorrienorrington/

Maggie Landers: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggiecohenlanders/

Rippling: https://www.rippling.com

ServiceNow: https://www.servicenow.com

Winston Weinberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winston-weinberg/

Where to find Katie:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-burke-965767a/

Twitter/X: https://x.com/katieburkie

Where to find Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson

Where to find First Round Capital:

Website: https://firstround.com/

First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital

This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:23 Why HR begins with thinking like a marketer

01:58   “Don't ask for a seat at the table. Build the table.”

02:29 Radical transparency after Hubspot’s IPO

05:14 How HubSpot’s people function drove strategy

07:01 The trickiest part of the Chief People Officer role

10:00 Be the Michael Jordan of your exec team

12:14 Why people leaders need to create “graceful exits”

16:49 The inevitable two-year layoff hangover

23:31 The workplace shouldn’t be Disneyland

26:05 “Our job is not to make you happy every day”

34:28 Being a Chief People Officer isn’t for the faint of heart

35:04 How “Berry-Gate” taught HubSpot to manage feedback

40:51 Chief People Officers should be demanding, by design

42:01 Why “frequent flyers” are a new-hire red flag

44:54 Unpacking the role of the VP of People

49:94 Which company decisions fall to the Chief People Officer?

49:11 The most common challenges of scaling a company

51:39 The differences between HubSpot and Harvey

53:17 How AI is changing the people function

1:04:28 Why Katie shares her own performance reviews

1:06:22 How to manage a disagreement with the CEO