This is the story of Lattice, an HR software company. Founder Jack Altman and investor Miles Grimshaw explain how it grew from 2015 to serving 5,000+ companies. Their key insight: Lattice succeeded by targeting mid-sized firms (50-2,000 employees) instead of competing with Workday for big enterprises. A critical early bet was putting 5 of only 7 engineers on a second product (employee engagement surveys) when revenue was just $3 million. They built a community (like a Slack group) for HR pros instead of buying ads. Key companies: Lattice (their own, now valued in billions), Workday (enterprise HR software, used as comparison), CultureAmp (employee surveys, once much bigger than Lattice).
At a Glance This episode of Invest Like the Best features Lattice co-founder Jack Altman and Benchmark partner Miles Grimshaw, who explore the building and scaling of HR software platform Lattice from both operator and investor perspectives. Key takeaways: Founded in 2015, Lattice now serves over 5,
Jack Altman (Co-founder & CEO of Lattice) and Miles Grimshaw (Partner at Benchmark, early Lattice investor and board member) review Lattice's journey from its founding in 2015 to serving over 5,000 companies with a multi-billion-dollar valuation, from both operator and investor perspectives. Core thesis: In 2018, when Lattice had only ~$3 million in ARR and 7 engineers, it allocated 5 of them to develop a second product (employee engagement surveys)—this counterintuitive "multi-product suite" strategy, rather than moving upmarket to enterprise clients, ultimately became its structural advantage.
Jack Altman argues that the market is the overwhelming variable determining a company's success or failure, and Lattice's success began with identifying a "zero-dollar market."
Jack Altman and Miles Grimshaw agree that when Lattice had only about $3 million in ARR and 7 engineers, deciding to allocate 5 of them to a second product (employee engagement surveys) was the company's most critical early decision.
Jack Altman argues that early Lattice allocated 90% of its marketing budget to brand and community, rather than performance ads or sales leads, because "nobody knew what Lattice was; asking for a demo directly was unrealistic."
Miles Grimshaw proposes that he prefers to "respect founders" rather than "be friendly to founders" — the former implies a responsibility to challenge, propose alternatives, and make implicit trade-offs explicit.
Jack Altman and Miles Grimshaw discuss that for Lattice to go from its current scale (multi-billion dollar valuation) to becoming a truly large public company, it needs to set its "genes" in advance.
| Position | Guest Sentiment | Key Data |
|---|---|---|
| Lattice | Bullish (core discussion) | Founded in 2015, serving over 5,000 companies, valued at billions of dollars; ~$3M ARR and 7 engineers in 2018; now ~600 employees |
| Workday | Neutral (as a comparison reference) | Founded in 2004, HR software for large enterprises |
| CultureAmp | Neutral (as a comparison reference) | Focused on employee engagement surveys, once much larger than Lattice |
| Reflektive | Neutral (as a comparison reference) | Once raised $100M, eventually sold for ~$7-10M |
| Teespring | Neutral (Jack's former employer) | E-commerce company Jack joined in 2013 |
| HubSpot | Neutral (as a multi-product case) | Started building a sales product when ARR was $50-70M |
| Adobe | Neutral (as a multi-product case) | Launched Illustrator, Photoshop, and other products within the first 5 years |
| Square | Neutral (as a multi-product case) | Began developing a consumer wallet app within 2 years of launching Square |
1. Jack Altman: “The market is the overwhelming variable.” — Lattice’s success began with identifying a “zero-billion-dollar market” (HR professionals craving a new performance management model), rather than technological or product innovation. Market growth can mask many mistakes, while a wrong market choice can kill every effort.
2. Miles Grimshaw: “If you want your company to truly matter, you ultimately need to reach $100M ARR with 50% growth.” — This goal seemed absurd when ARR was only $2M, but it forced the team to think: either sell a single product to all companies (moving upmarket into the enterprise) or build more products for the same customer base. Lattice chose the latter.
3. Jack Altman: “Go-to-market is how you discover product-market fit.” — Lattice initially developed OKR software that no one paid for, but through customer interactions, it uncovered the real demand for performance management tools. Do not build in isolation and then search for a market; instead, discover the market through the act of selling itself.
4. Miles Grimshaw: “I prefer ‘respect the founder’ over ‘be founder-friendly.’” — Respect means having the responsibility to challenge, propose alternatives, and make implicit trade-offs explicit. Being friendly may mean avoiding disagreements, while respect demands honest confrontation with difficult issues.
5. Jack Altman: “Until you have a Term Sheet, everything is a ‘no.’” — The failed Series B fundraising in 2018 taught him that investor enthusiasm does not equal commitment. Founders should not over-interpret early positive signals and must remain clear-headed.
6. Jack Altman: “Hold the umbrella, but don’t take the microphone.” — Lattice’s community strategy was not to position itself as a thought leader, but to amplify the voices of HR professionals already advocating new ideas. This built trust and lowered customer acquisition costs.
7. Miles Grimshaw: “The interaction between investors and founders should feel like planning an adventure, not getting a colonoscopy.” — Even if an investment is not made, the founder should walk away with clearer thinking. Good investors help founders examine risks and resources, rather than subjecting them to a painful review.
8. Jack Altman: “The core advantage of a multi-product suite strategy is lowering customer acquisition costs.” — Selling new products to existing customers costs far less than acquiring new ones. In an era where software construction costs are falling but acquisition costs are rising, this structural advantage is critical.