Shishir Mehrotra

Co-founder & CEO at Coda

Shishir Mehrotra is co-founder and CEO of Coda, former leader of YouTube product, engineering, and design at Google (6+ years), former Microsoft (6 years), and board member at Spotify. Known as an incredibly deep first-principles thinker.

The Visionary The Operator

Dimension Profile

Strategic Vision 90%

Execution & Craft 75%

Data & Experimentation 60%

Growth & Distribution 70%

Team & Leadership 80%

User Empathy & Research 55%

Key Themes

Blue Loops and Black Loops rituals of great teams Eigenquestions framework reference checks over interviews first principles growth strategy evaluating product talent

Episode Summary

Shishir Mehrotra shares three powerful frameworks: Blue Loops vs Black Loops for growth strategy, Eigenquestions for finding the one question that determines all others, and Rituals of Great Teams as the secret behind high-performing organizations. He makes the case that reference checks are far more valuable than interviews, drawing on experience leading YouTube at Google and building Coda.

Leadership Principles

→ Reference checks are the best signal in hiring — years of working together beats 30 minutes of artificial scenarios
→ Great teams are defined by their rituals, not just their strategies
→ Eigenquestions help you find the one question whose answer determines all other answers

Notable Quotes

"I generally value the reference check over interview signals. Those people worked with this person sometimes for years — what you get out of 30 minutes of artificial scenarios is never going to compare."
— On why reference checks are the most important hiring signal

"Great teams are defined by their rituals, not just their strategies."
— On his ongoing collection of rituals from the best leaders in tech

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