Todd McKinnon, CEO and co-founder of Okta

<p>Todd McKinnon is the CEO and co-founder of Okta, the trusted platform to secure every identity in an organization, including your workforce and customers. If you happen to work for or patron one of Okta’s thousands of customers, including T Mobile, Major League Baseball, Albertsons, then you’ve definitely come across Okta since they power the single sign on solution and much more. In this episode, Byron gets into the nitty gritty of Okta’s journey and Todd’s role in bringing this company to its staggering heights. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Please rate and review Cloud Giants wherever you are listening so we can spread the word about the show and more entrepreneurs can hear these stories from top founders and CEOs. <a href="//www.bvp.com/cloudgiants">www.bvp.com/cloudgiants</a></p> <h2>Key takeaways from this episode include:</h2> <ul> <li><strong>Important lessons for investors on providing feedback to entrepreneurs:</strong> “When investors talk to entrepreneurs remember that the conversations are very, very vivid for the entrepreneur. It’s usually a big part of their future, it’s something they’ve worked hard on and so they’re going to remember it forever,” said Todd. “So make sure that you take that opportunity to spread some goodwill for yourself in those conversations. Oftentimes with other investors, I’d been through so many frustrating conversations when I felt like I was just getting the runaround and I wasn’t hearing the real story. However, I distinctly remember the conversation [Byron and I] had where you were so straightforward and honest with me, and I really appreciated that.”</li> <li><strong>The inherent benefits and struggles of creating a category:</strong> “When your company is inventing something new and defining a category, or seeing a new way to go to market, it’s going to be a little bit lonely. But the advantages of it—whether that’s if you invest enough money, if you innovate in other ways and persevere and grind through it— all of the sudden flips and you go from being a struggling catego