Exit Interview with Geeta Schmidt co-founder of Humio

Geeta Schmidt, co-founder and CEO of Humio, discusses the founding of the company and its evolution into a cybersecurity focus. She shares the importance of customer validation and the pride, as a Nordic-based startup, in acquiring Bloomberg as one of the company’s first major customers. Geeta also talks about how the leadership team evaluated the opportunity to be acquired by CrowdStrike and the post-acquisition integration experience. She highlights the learnings from CrowdStrike and talks about her current role of advising and investing in early-stage startups.

Takeaways

• Customer validation early on is crucial for the success of a startup, so paying attention to how what you’re building is being used in the wild is key.
• Choosing the right acquirer involves considering factors such as company cultures, alignment of product portfolios, and the ability to execute and scale.
• The importance of having diverse skill sets in a founding team cannot be underplayed.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

01:35 Founding of Humio and World Domination Plan

08:29 Importance of Customer Validation

10:22 Proud Moment with Bloomberg as a Customer

11:49 Transition to a Cybersecurity Company

15:04 Acquisition by CrowdStrike

20:10 Announcing the Acquisition

21:47 Post-Acquisition Experience

23:23 Learning from CrowdStrike

25:19 Next Steps for Geeta

26:45 Investing in Early Stage Startups

27:13 Key Qualities in Founding Teams