Eric Sager joined @Plaid almost 8 years ago as COO. In that time, he helped the company manage through the pandemic, the Visa M&A that didn't happen, and now AI, amongst so much more.
We spent our time talking about the role of a COO and what excellence looks like. He shared a lot of tactics, but my favorite part was the tension he described in his own pursuit of excellence, a phrase he picked up from @gokulr at Square: "perpetual dissatisfaction."
"If you had told me when I was 15, 16, growing up in Germany, that my life would turn out this way, I'd be like, it's amazing. It's just a fantastic outcome. But at the same time, every single day, I'm like, "Oh, I could just be a little bit better, or Plaid could be better." And it's trying to balance those two things. That's the challenge.
I think for most people out there that have been really successful, that have helped build these kinds of businesses, realistically for the vast majority of them, it's like, "Look, this has gone way better than you ever had any reason to believe it would go or should go." But the best ones still have that fire to keep going.
And in a weird way, I was talking to somebody about this the other day, and I said, I don't know whether I would wish that on my kids. In a way, you want your kids to just be like, look, I achieved this thing and I'm now super happy. And I don't know that I will ever feel that. I don't think there's ever going to be a day where I'm like, "Hey, mission accomplished." Because there's always something we could do — in the context of Plaid, but in the context of any role I would take on — that's better for the customers, better for the company, better for the people that put their trust in me to join my team. Better, better, better, better, better.
On the one hand, I love that. I wouldn't trade it for the world. But on the other, you have to be a bit crazy to be that relentless about it no matter what."
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