During any major strategic shift, employee buy-in will predictably split: 25% will be champions, 50% will be cautious observers, and 25% will actively resist. Leaders should focus on empowering the believers to build momentum rather than trying to achieve 100% consensus from the start.
To avoid complacency, Miro's CEO asks himself daily, "If I started this company today, what would the product and strategy look like?" The answer to this question determines whether the company needs a small evolution or a complete strategic rebuild to stay relevant in the market.
In an age where AI can quickly commoditize features, traditional moats like data are weakening. Miro's CEO argues the only sustainable competitive advantage is an organization's speed of learning—its ability to rapidly identify market signals, separate them from noise, and act decisively.
Instead of a traditional executive search, Miro took an unconventional route to fill its C-suite: it acquired competitor InVision and appointed its CEO, Jeff Chow, as Miro's Chief Product and Technology Officer. This move secured proven leadership and an experienced team in a single strategic transaction.
Beyond mission, Miro's CEO assesses "energy alignment" with potential acquisition founders. He asks a simple question: "If we message each other on a weekend, does it feel like a tax or an energy-builder?" This heuristic quickly reveals the personal chemistry and shared passion necessary for a successful long-term partnership.
Miro's CEO highlights a market paradox: CIOs are aggressively consolidating their software stack to save costs, yet simultaneously, they are allocating significant budget for AI experiments that promise major business impact. This creates a dual-track market where both platform consolidation and niche AI tool adoption are happening at once.