Episode Details

This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

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Dylan Babbs is the Co-Founder and CTO of Profound, one of AI’s fastest-growing marketing companies, which reached a $1B valuation within 18 months and has raised $155M+ from Lightspeed, Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures and others. Previously a design engineer at Uber, Dylan is a licensed private pilot and maps obsessive with a distinctive approach to engineering, product and design.

In this conversation with Vidit, Dylan shares how an obsession with maps shaped his approach to product and design, why years of side projects eventually led him to leave his dream job at Uber, and how meeting James Cadwallader at South Park Commons led to Profound. He unpacks the three things every successful startup needs, why founders should stop “swimming upstream”, and how Profound grew far beyond even the founders’ expectations.

They also explore Profound’s bigger bet on how AI is reshaping marketing, what Fortune 500 CMOs are asking today, the rise of the “marketing engineer”, product taste and speed, and why learning to fly taught Dylan to “run towards the anxiety.”

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

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This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. 

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Meet Dylan Babbs
02:25 Xero
03:25 Growing up in Silicon Valley
04:35 Why maps are fascinating
19:35 Berlin + starting a business
26:35 Puerto Rico + learning to fly
30:35 “Run towards the anxiety”
38:35 Uber + walking away
42:35 Meeting his co-founder
49:05 3 things every startup needs
53:35 Product taste + speed
56:35 Building Profound
59:35 Fast tracked revenue growth
1:03:35 What Fortune 500 CMOs want
1:07:35 The rise of the “marketing engineer”
1:10:35 Can the giants copy Profound?
1:13:35 Profound’s data moat
1:16:35 Flying, surfing + rapid fire

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The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most i