Leadership Edge with Matt Garratt, former Managing Partner of Salesforce Ventures

I’ve had the pleasure of attending Collision From Home, a top technology conference, and sitting down with Matt Garratt currently serves as the Managing Partner of Salesforce Ventures , the global strategic venture arm for Salesforce with over 260 active portfolio companies and over 100 exits. While at Salesforce, Matt has completed over 100 Investments in leading enterprise SaaS companies including companies such as Automation Anywhere, Snowflake, Zoom, Mulesoft, and Twilio.

What is Collision From Home?

Times may be uncertain, but one thing remains true. There’s a simple power in people coming together.

Following in the spirit of Collision, Collision from Home attendees will participate from wherever they are in the world, live streaming talks from tech CEOs, international policymakers, and global cultural figures. They’ll chat and connect through the bespoke Collision from Home app and they’ll engage with some of the world’s most influential companies and fastest-growing startups.

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Career

Thank you for joining us! Can you tell us about what brought you to your career path?

I’ve always liked math and science. As a kid, I would read Popular Science, and I was always curious about what the next new great technology was. That curiosity and love of science led me to work in engineering in a lab conducting fundamental research and development and launching new products.

From there, I went to business school and learned about finance and entrepreneurship. During my time at business school, I had the opportunity to do a lot of really interesting things outside of class. I invested in energy solutions in Africa, worked with the United Nations, and started at a small venture capital firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

I was introduced to the partner at the venture capital firm and ended up talking my way into a role there. I still remember one of my first days at the firm. The partner had a magazine with 10 local technology companies. He said, “Pick the one that is most interesting.” I pointed at one, and he said “That’s right. That’s the one that would make the best investment.”

Experiences like that shaped my career path. That’s where I first got the itch for venture investing. I was fortunate enough to get a VC role at a SI Valley firm after business school. And now, I’m here.

Looking back, what are the catalysts or inflection points in your career?

One inflection point was when I went to the University of Michigan. That was a time when I was really able to explore my interests and passions. I was able to learn about sustainability and cleantech and had the opportunity to work with a group of like-minded friends and mentors.

I believe that just being with that cohort of people who were also just intensely curious and trying to figure things out is what lit that spark for me. We explored what we were interested in, we asked questions, and we learned.

Another inflection point is joining Salesforce. When I first joined, I wanted to dive deeper into enterprise software, and about a year and a half in, I had worked on a mix of mergers and acquisitions, and investments. There was a point where I was deciding between staying at Salesforce, or potentially taking a COO type of role and becoming more of an operator. During this time, we decided to formalize a brand around our investment strategy at Salesforce, which is what Salesforce Ventures is today.

This was a huge catalyst. I was employee #1 at Salesforce Ventures. We hired a whole team–that is now about 25 people globally. We have employees from London to Japan. It’s been incredibly successful and rewarding. Look for those opportunities where you see an opening to build something new, or opportunities to mentor under industry luminaries.

How has COVID shaped Salesforce Ventures now or in the future?

We’ve stayed consistent with our strategy. Q1 of this year was our most active quarter, and Q2 has been very robust. We are seeing an acceleration of digital transformation, particularly in enterprise technologies. For example, we invested in Zoom and see a strong need for collaboration, and the need for an online platform for social activities, which has really taken off during COVID-19.

We’ve been very encouraged by how our portfolio companies have responded during this time. It’s been an incredible and inspiring experience to work with the entrepreneurs and help them as they navigate this tricky time, and to witness how the entrepreneurs go above and beyond to give back. For example, Rachel Carlson, CEO of Guild Education, started an initiative called Stop The Spread Coalition . One of our system integration partners has helped consult and provide solutions in Canada for the local hospitals and medical facilities to track patients and inventories.

We’ve just been amazed at the response from our portfolio.

What has it been like for entrepreneurs to raise funding during a pandemic?

It’s been very interesting and the world of venture capital has gone through phases. In the March and April timeframe, there was a bit of shock and trying to reassess what was going on, and we saw a number of companies doing several follow-up rounds. But there is still a lot of activity happening right now in venture capital. It’s busier than ever.

It’s very exciting to see how deals are getting done primarily through social platforms, digital technology, and social mediums. We are adjusting to remote investing, learning how to conduct deals with people you haven’t met before, and how to meet people without the typical networking conferences, events, and dinners. Investors and entrepreneurs are shifting even more to creating content and focusing on marketing and brand awareness.

What types of technology do you see evolving or thriving during this time?

We are so excited about all the innovations globally, and while this has been happening for a long time, COVID-19 has really accelerated the process of digital transformation. For example, healthcare is evolving rapidly to become more digital, and focusing on remote health. Companies are trying to figure out how to pivot to remote work, and how to set up at-home call centers and support offices. There are a lot more security risks. How do you secure your devices? How do you manage them? There is room for so much innovation in the cloud right now.

Corporations are shifting to learn how to sell and market in a digital environment. Previously, many firms were focused on in-person sales meetings. Now, companies have to figure out and change the go-to-market strategy.

So, we are seeing a large acceleration in digital transformation occur in just a few short months, creating opportunities, new behaviors, and new technologies.

Personal

What are your “4 Things I Wish I Knew”? Can you share a story?

1. Success is a function of pursuing things you are interested in, doggedly, over a long period. It requires some talent, but it isn’t always the most talented or the smartest people who are the most successful. It is always the people who continue to work at something for a long period of time deliberately to get better.
2. The mind is malleable. I stole this from Naval Ravikant. You can shape how you perceive the world and respond to situations. However, it is just like building muscles or living a healthy lifestyle. It requires daily exercise and multiple types of activities to develop. Just as you have to eat well and exercise to build up good health, you will need to apply different techniques such as meditation, walking, mindfulness, and journaling to develop and maintain mental conditioning.
3. You have a limited reserve of willpower and making decisions deplete that reserve. Put systems in place to limit the decisions you have to make and play to your strengths. For example, I lost weight once I learned to intermittent fast. The rules were set, and that worked for me. Mornings are easier, and I was able to accomplish my goal. No thinking or decisions. It’s also easy for me to control breakfast and lunch. Dinners, when we did social dinners, were much harder. And I’m tired by then and have less willpower.
4. People are very complicated. Try to see them for their better angels. People are wise in one area but deficient in another. Learn to separate the two. Forgive other's imperfections and learn to accept and look for the good. Conversely, don’t be jealous of one portion of someone’s life. You have to take the whole person.

What is the blueprint for success?

As you get older, the blueprint for success is a combination of persistence, following your curiosity, and just getting into the flow to the point where you just want to do it. You want to learn more, you want to combine continuous questioning with hard work. And that combination is what builds success. If you continue to go down that path, success will come.