Russ Heddleston

2x founder, generally enthusiastic about software

Co-founder, CEO

Investor & Advisor

Advisor, DocSend & Dropbox

Senior Director, DocSend

Co-founder, CEO (acquired by Dropbox 2021)

Mentor

Activities and societies: 2006 Mayfield Fellow

Working with Tim Su on a new company. If there was an infomercial for it, it would start off something like: "Are YOU tired of all the AI hype where fancy new LLM products over-promise and under-deliver? Is ChatGPT still the only new AI product you've used that's done something actually useful for you? Well we have a new product for you..."

Angel investor, Fund LP & CEO advisor.
Angel investing typically focuses on B2B SaaS, especially with product lead components. Funds invested in target seed and early stage. Advising work with CEO usually focuses on product development, team structure, fundraising, finding message market fit and early go to market tactics.

Dropbox acquired DocSend in 2021 for $165m (11x ARR). We were profitable at the time, growing quickly and had raised less than $15m in venture capital. This was a strategic acquisition for Dropbox as part of becoming a multi-product platform. All team members were included in the transaction. https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/09/dropbox-to-acquire-secure-document-sharing-startup-docsend-for-165m/.
I managed the integration process, helped drive Dropbox's multi-product strategy and oversaw DocSend through 2.5x revenue growth.

DocSend is a secure document sharing platform used to share sensitive materials with external business partners while getting real-time, actionable feedback on engagement. More than 40,000 companies around the world use DocSend to control their business outcomes.
Investors include DCM, August Capital, Uncork Capital, Cowboy Ventures and Lerer Hippeau Ventures.

Lead mentor for startups going through Stanford's StartX accelerator program. Companies mentored include Nutrivise (acquired by Jawbone), Eventava, Chobolabs, Frankly, and Polarr.

I'm looking forward to this and sharing some of the learnings about getting self-serve and inbound working for DocSend!

Russ Heddleston reposted this • 2w

A useful report for anyone negotiating sales contracts on what's "market" for these. They have over 1,000 data points. I've always found it frustrating when lawyers battle it out over legal terms in a SaaS contract which adds time and cost to both sides. Better to just agree on something reasonable and move forward faster!

Russ Heddleston reposted this • 2mo

Aneto and the team at Chatdesk are fantastic if you know anyone looking for a head of sales or head of finance role!
Head of Sales

Russ Heddleston reposted this • 4mo

Russ Heddleston is a 2x founder and experienced professional in the software industry. With a background in product management and a track record of successful acquisitions, Russ brings a wealth of expertise to the table. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a master's in Computer Science from Stanford University, reflecting his strong educational foundation.