Operator’s Playbook: Episode 1 - Patrick McKenzie on software as leverage

“What will we be doing if not understanding how the world works?”

Join us for our inaugural edition of the new Operator’s Playbook, a now-and-again conversation series hosted by Retool where exceptional builders, technologists, and software leaders share stories and learnings from their journeys—and explore the most interesting operational insights they’ve gathered along the way.

This episode features Patrick McKenzie (patio11), hosted by Jamie Cuffe (head of New Products and Self Serve at Retool.) Listen in as the pair discuss the tangible impact of software, the value of ops, and the future of programming.

Patrick is a writer, consultant, engineer, and marketer known for his prolific applications of systems thinking to business. He’s taught ESL, run a succession of small software companies, advised startups, and he writes the popular weekly newsletter, Bits About Money, about the modern financial infrastructure that the world sits atop of.

About the episode's host , Jamie Cuffe
Jamie Cuffe was co-founder of Cheer, an ETL company that was acquired by Retool. He’s also former
data scientist at Sequoia. Jamie is a pro at building functions from 0-1, and currently is Head of New Products and Self Serve here at Retool.

Credits:
(Scrappy) production: Sid Orlando
Visuals: JD Reeves
Moral support: Kevin Garcia
Music: King Pong’s “Throwback”
Bonus thanks to Cristina Lee and Kim Fellman

[VincentFulco]

Patrick is the GOAT, try to catch everything he discusses.

[DodaGarcia]

This is crazy! I was just looking for Patrick's legendary posts, which I read again from time to time, and then found this chat that was just posted. Thanks for this!