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We Had to Reimagine Nextdoor | CEO & Co-Founder Nirav Tolia
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Why I Returned As CEO After 5 Years Away
Nirav Tolia, Co-Founder & CEO at Nextdoor, joins NEW ECONOMIES on the company's founding story, why Nirav came back as CEO and the impact of community in the midst of AI.
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Download the full transcript:
Nirav Tolia is the co-founder and CEO at Nextdoor, the neighborhood network connecting over 110 million people across communities worldwide. Having built and sold Shopping.com to eBay, returned to lead Nextdoor through a major transformation, and served as a guest shark on Shark Tank, Nirav is one of Silicon Valley’s most seasoned operators. In this episode, we explore what it takes to rebuild a company from the inside — and why the hardest thing in tech isn’t starting, it’s coming back.
We discuss Nextdoor’s origin story, born from the ashes of a failed startup called Fanbase, and the crucible moment that gave Nirav the courage to keep going. We dig into what it really feels like to return as founder-CEO after five and a half years away, why incumbency is often the straightest path to irrelevance, and how Nextdoor is repositioning itself for what Nirav calls the age of human connection — where AI reduces friction but real neighbors remain irreplaceable. We also explore the future of local community, the untapped potential of 110 million sign-ups, and the lessons Nirav has taken from working alongside legendary investor and mentor Bill Gurley for over two decades.
Timestamps
(0:00) Nirav Tolia, Co-Founder & CEO at Nextdoor(2:05) A Multi-year Turnaround (4:20) Crucible Moments That Led to 20+ Million Weekly Active Users (9:25) How to Fight Through Difficult Days (13:20) A Blossoming Co-founding Relationship (17:37) Stepping Away, Then Coming Back as CEO (24:40) The Third Act: An AI-Enabled Version (29:50) The Age of Human Connection (36:30) Building to Stay Relevant (44:30) Will Nextdoor Win In This Market? (52:15) Rapid Fire Round
Our notes from this conversation
1. The Crucible Moment Is About Daily Survival, Not Long-Term Vision
The romanticized version of founding a company — the carefully considered spreadsheet, the bold strategic plan — is a myth constructed in retrospect. In the moment, i