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Home > The NFX Podcast > How Tracy Young Sold PlanGrid for $875M and Navigated Tragedy
Podcast: The NFX Podcast
Episode:

How Tracy Young Sold PlanGrid for $875M and Navigated Tragedy
Category: Technology
Duration: 00:55:30
Publish Date: 2026-01-21 23:12:48
Description:

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(0:00) Introduction to Tracy Young

(0:04) Tracy Young's background and early career

(2:39) Lessons learned from construction industry

(5:33) Founding of PlanGrid

(8:03) Experience with Y Combinator and early product market fit

(13:18) Sales strategies and early adoption

(18:23) Fundraising advice and managing executive leadership

(22:42) Focus areas and executive relationship red flags as PlanGrid scaled

(25:11) Importance of firing quickly and Tracy stepping down

(26:46) M&A with Autodesk and growth challenges

(31:00) Board's perspective on acquisition and independence

(35:20) Leadership changes and maximizing M&A options

(41:40) Post-acquisition experience and transition to coaching

(44:12) Founding Tiger Eye and establishing core values

(47:36) Balancing work and family with wholeheartedness

(49:01) Adhering to core values during financial stress

(51:10) Future of TigerEye and AI's impact

(52:44) Reflections on leadership growth and redefining success

(55:13) Closing remarks
 

Key Points:
- Seeing the hard work and perseverance of her immigrant parents inspired Tracy Young to build a career and ultimately co-found successful startups like PlanGrid and TigerEye.

- Tracy Young emphasizes the importance of hiring the right people and maintaining strong core values, including the need for honesty and a no-jerks policy, to create a productive and positive work environment.

- The decision to sell PlanGrid to Autodesk was driven by a combination of financial prudence, market dynamics, and the realization that scaling further might require a different leadership approach.
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