A Journey to Finding the Perfect CTO at MadKudu

In 2023, as the market shifted and AI began transforming the salestech landscape, we recognized a pivotal moment to reinvent the CRM space to be AI-native. To accelerate MadKudu’s lead in AI-native signal-based selling, Sam Levan and I are thrilled to announce Maxime “MadMax” Gaudin as our new CTO.

MadMax, a “Romantic Pirate”

Jason Lemkin often talks about "Pirates and Romantics"—people who either break barriers to win or those deeply passionate about a problem space. MadMax is the perfect blend of both, combining relentless drive for impact with a love for sales intelligence.

Lyon, the city of two leaders

It all started last summer with our recruiter, Ruben, reaching out to MadMax. I didn’t realize how pivotal that conversation would be for MadKudu. As a quick side note, I had previously worked with his former co-founder, Johan Aradan , who had coached our PMs, so I knew Max was part of a stellar team. When I found out MadMax was Johan’s co-founder, it only reinforced my excitement about bringing him on board.

Shortly after we started talking, I ran into Benjamin at SaaStock. He told me, “You’re talking to Maxime Gaudin ? I couldn’t recommend him enough. If you have the chance to bring him on board, do it!” That only solidified my enthusiasm.

From our very first interview, I could tell there was something special about him. He had an incredible mix of deep technical expertise, strategic thinking, and humanity that’s so rare to find in a technical leader. He had already built a product in our space that was far ahead of its time at Matcha, and he had led engineering teams through the complexities of scaling at Malt. What has stood out to me most in working together, though, has been his ability to push back when necessary and challenge our approach—something I value immensely in a leader.

“It’s all about impact!”

One of my favorite moments was during our retreat in Miami. With just a few hours during a hackathon, Max shipped an incredible feature to build and visualize org charts at scale to help our GTM team multithread. The entire team left feeling motivated and driven, which is the kind of influence Max has wherever he goes. He showed us where the bar should be in terms of velocity and more importantly impact.

Fast forward to now, and Max has transformed our engineering org. He’s implemented better processes and tools, increasing the team’s velocity and efficiency. His constant focus on customer impact has produced clear results. At our last town hall, Charles Hawkins , our Head of CS, said, “The velocity we’ve seen in the past few months has been nothing short of impressive.” Both our external and internal customers feel the impact of Max’s leadership.

To grow you must stretch!

For anyone considering joining MadKudu, Max is the kind of leader who will challenge you and help you grow. High-potential engineers who join us will thrive under his guidance. His vision is to foster excellence in every aspect of Engineering: impact, velocity, quality, and humanity combined with a deeply customer-centric culture.

Personally, working with Max has been one of the highlights of my time here. He challenges me and drives me to be a better CPO, not to mention that we share a connection to Lyon (the best city in France) and a sense of humor that makes overcoming any hurdle easier.

I’m thrilled to announce his promotion to CTO. Please join me in congratulating Max on this well-deserved achievement. If you’re an engineer looking to grow, now is the perfect time to join MadKudu!