#118 Ryan Petersen: How Flexport is Transforming Shipping to Create a Better World
Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast
Release Date: 11/19/2019
140 Brad Feld: Thoughts on Startup Communities in a Post-COVID-19 World
Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast
What makes communities of startups thrive, and how have they been impacted by the recession, COVID-19, and the remote work trend? Brad Feld addresses these questions in this episode and in his new book “THE STARTUP COMMUNITY WAY: Evolving an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem” and the second edition of his book “STARTUP COMMUNITIES: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City.” You may know Brad as the legendary investor who co-founded the Foundry Group, and who has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Brad previously co-founded Techstars, and was an early investor...
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139 Parker Conrad: Rippling's CEO on His Entrepreneurial Journey
Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast
Parker Conrad lists himself as “customer support” at Rippling, but he is its co-founder and CEO. He previously founded Zenefits. In this episode he traces his journey from a journalist at Harvard, to founder and CEO of a company that has raised over $50 million. Episode Highlights: The specific thing he likes about sales “I really liked sales. I enjoyed it. But I liked it in a very specific way: I enjoyed selling something that I had built. I didn't want anyone else explaining why it was great or what was so awesome about it, because they were going to...
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138 Scott Simpson: From Amazon to Apple to Comedy -- A Comedian’s Take on the Future of Comedy
Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast
Scott Simpson worked on digital books at Amazon, then podcasting at Apple. Thus, a key guy on two technologies that revolutionized the “long tail” of content. And then…he left to start a standup comedy show. “Cheaper Than Therapy”, housed in San Francisco’s Shelton Theater, presents about 6 standup comedy shows a week, almost always sold out. Then Covid hit Cheaper Than Therapy and standup comedy everywhere. In this episode we discuss Scott’s path from tech to comedy, and the affects of Covid on the future of comedy. We discuss how well...
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137 Promise Phelon: A Growth Warrior’s Trajectory from BEA to CEO to Venture Capitalist
Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast
“As an entrepreneur, tech CEO and venture capitalist who is also a woman of color, I am well aware of the challenges most entrepreneurs face when it comes to raising capital.” So Promise Phelon summarizes with typical grace what she has learned in an amazing career. Her book, “The Way of the Growth Warrior” – well you can’t get it yet. You can pre-order it in the link below. In the meantime, you can hear her story in this episode. Promise Phelon started that career at BEA Systems, where she became Head of Product Marketing. While a Black woman running...
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136 Codepath’s Michael Ellison: How Black CS Students View Silicon Valley / The Daily Reality For a Black Man in San Francisco
Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast
“Most Black computer science students think Silicon Valley companies are racist.” If you didn’t know this already – you should really sit down and listen to this episode. No one educates more Black students in computer science than Codepath. Codepath is the non-profit co-founded by Michael Ellison to eliminate educational inequity in technical careers. Every year Codepath teaches hundreds of college students the skills they need to get jobs at companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon. In this episode, Michael shares his stark assessment of how Silicon Valley treats...
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135 VC Monique Woodard is NOT "Doing Fine"
Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast
Monique Woodard is a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. She is one of the very rare Black, female General partners in venture capital. Previously on Something Ventured we explored Monique’s unique path to becoming a venture capitalist, and what she invests in. As events drove the Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) movement to accelerate worldwide, Monique was gracious enough to come back and share her thoughts. She discusses what she believes is the state of the BLM movement in general, and Silicon Valley’s dismal record on supporting Black investors and entrepreneurs in...
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134 IVP’s Somesh Dash: In Divisive Times, Is Silicon Valley Doing Enough?
Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast
Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Not every podcast includes a Langston Hughes quote. Not every venture capitalist is Somesh Dash. Somesh is a partner at the venture capital firm IVP. IVP is one of the largest, most established venture firms in Silicon Valley. From his post there, Somesh has seen several cycles of Silicon Valley’s ups and downs. In this episode, we contemplate recent events: Racial issues converging with US 2020 presidential politics and a country on edge from Covid. Looking to the leadership...
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133 Eric Tarczynski of Contrary Capital: College – The Definitive Episode on Investing in Startup Founders in College
Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast
(Note: This episode was recorded before the Covid crisis. It includes a brief introduction with Eric Tarczynski to update the status of his fund and college investing, post Covid.) Eric Tarczynski is the founder of Contrary, a venture capital firm focused on investing in college students starting companies. In this episode, Eric discusses how he built a network of college entrepreneurs, and how he created a venture fund focused on investing in college students. We discuss the unique benefits and risks of investing in young founders, many with no work experience, as well as...
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132 Lyft's Raj Kapoor: World Without Covid
Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast
Raj Kapoor contracted Covid in mid-March. He and his family are recovered and well. But Raj is taking aim at shortening the path to a post-Covid world. He partnered with Clara Health to create . The site let’s people register to help researchers worldwide accelerate their race to find better testing, treatments, and vaccines. Raj has been a venture capitalist (Mayfield) and a entrepreneur (SnapFish). He is currently the Chief Strategy Officer at Lyft. In this episode we discuss Raj’s journey from contracting to recovering from Covid. We also discuss the...
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131 Covid-19, China and Silicon Valley with Kaiser Kuo
Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast
In the midst of the Covid crisis, how should Silicon Valley think about China? Kaiser Kuo is founder and host of the Sinica podcast, and has been a longtime journalist and tech executive in China. Few people know more about the intricacies of China’s politics and their interaction with technology companies. In this episode we discuss China’s responsibility for Covid, and compare its response times to those of the US. We discuss how the US should think about China going forward as a new world order emerges. Also, as this crisis passes what can we do to make sure it...
info_outlineRyan Petersen founded Flexport to make the world a more connected and better place. He wanted to “fix the user experience in global trade”. It’s been quite a success so far. To date – the company has raised $1.3 billion, and Paul Graham, the founder of Y Combinator, told Bloomberg News, "There will be more international trade because of Flexport and international trade is a very big thing for there to be more of".
Before starting Flexport, Ryan was co-founder and CEO of ImportGenius.com, a data-as-a-service business for global shipping. He holds a degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Columbia University.
In this wide-ranging discussion, we cover Ryan's path to becoming an entrepreneur and why he thought international trade needing shaking up. He talks about the early days of Flexport, building a strong excutive team to compliment his strenghts and how his role as a CEO and the company have scaled through each stage of growth. Also discussed are the current trade wars’ effect on shipping and businesses, as well as the unique perspective they have as the trusted shipper for thousands of companies.