Scaling to $150M ARR and Beyond with Grafana Labs's CEO Raj Dutt and Lightspeed's Alex Kayyal

In this interview, Alex Kayyal from Lightspeed interviews Raj Dutt, the co-founder and CEO of Grafana Labs, about the company's origin, its remote-first culture, and its approach to monetization as an open-source company. Dutt discusses Grafana's early days, the decision to be a fully remote company, the challenges and advantages of that decision, and how they foster company culture despite the lack of a physical office. He also delves into the complexities of balancing open-source values with commercial goals, the evolution of Grafana's product strategy, and the importance of customer feedback in shaping their offerings. Dutt shares insights on leadership, hiring, and the lessons he learned from his previous startup, emphasizing the need to prioritize go-to-market strategies and maintain a customer-focused approach across all teams.