In partnership with
Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,
Today’s guest is Olivier Gaudin, Co-Founder and former CEO of SonarSource, a company he bootstrapped from a small room in Geneva into a $4bn+ global powerhouse used by 70% of the Fortune 100. Olivier ran the company for 15 years, scaled it to 800 employees, and famously did it without managers until they hit 200 people.
🎧 Tune in now on Spotify, Apple, YouTube and share your thoughts! In the meantime: Follow the Gradient and stay tuned!
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Why you should listen
You should listen to this if you want to know what strong customer focus looks like first-hand, and and why “structured chaos” can beat process any day in the early stage.
The longer we listened to Olivier’s story, the more it became clear: there is a difference between being chaotic and operating in structured chaos.
What we talk about
01:50 - How SonarSource got started
08:05 - When to hire, when not to hire, and why staying profitable shaped every decision
10:23 - Why they stayed maniacally close to users
11:46 - How to maintain organizational structure after scaling
24:08 - Building a cohesive team across locations
29:33 - Balancing customer growth and product development
37:13 - The do’s and don’ts of management, from someone who avoided it for as long as possible
Our main take away’s
Start with your own pain, not market trends: Olivier and his co-founders didn’t chase market gaps, they solved their own development frustrations. This authenticity created a product that resonated with other developers instantly, without needing a sales pitch.
You don’t need funding to scale if you build something people actually use: SonarSource grew profitably from day one, only raising money years later to support U.S. expansion. The focus wasn’t on valuation, but adoption and usage - measured by downloads, forum conversations, and genuine traction.
