From zero to $380M in 2 years | How Nikita Shamgunov built Neon

Nikita Shamgunov is a serial entrepreneur who’s shaped the world of databases for the last decade. His recent company, Neon, has reached a $380M valuation in only two years offering a fully-managed database service for the #1 open-source database, Postgres. His story is inspiring and pragmatic for builders. In this episode, we discuss: -Neon’s path to success -How to succeed as an engineer-turned-CEO -Using an “idea maze” to identify business opportunities -How Neon got their first 1000 customers -Staying in the AI learning curve You can find Nikita on: -Twitter/X: @nikitabase -LinkedIn: -Find more about Neon at Mentions: -YC Stanford Lecture 14: How to Operate (Keith Rabois) -Marc Andreessen: Future of the Internet, Technology, and AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #386 In this episode, we cover: (00:13) Nikita’s background (founding Neon, SingleStore) (01:24) Importance of the “nerd mindset” (03:03) Feedback loops in software development vs. real world (05:42) How to transition from engineer to CEO (09:29) The “everything is important” mentality (09:55) Where to focus your time as CEO (10:52) Neon’s founding story (12:39) Identifying the market opportunity for Neon (15:52) De-risking business ideas with an “idea maze” (19:54) How MongoDB found traction as a database product (22:24) Finding Neon’s first customers (25:42) The 2 big sins in the world of databases (27:05) The strategy behind Neon’s free tier (28:25) Identifying Neon’s opportunities in AI (29:41) Why you can’t ignore the AI paradigm shift (36:53) Why you should never have more than 2 priorities (37:42) Growing people vs. buying expertise (40:05) How to cold email your future mentor