Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast
Startup insider Kent Lindstrom explores the reality behind the Silicon Valley headlines as he sits down with the established veterans and up-and-comers who are shaping the way we view the world online and beyond. Topics include technology trends, startups, Silicon Valley politics, women in silicon valley and more. Learn the histories of each guest and be enlightened by their area of expertise. New episode released each Tuesday at Noon, Pacific Time.
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129 Mike Stutz: COVID Hits Hollywood
03/28/2020
129 Mike Stutz: COVID Hits Hollywood
Mike Stutz is a Hollywood producer, director and writer. He’s worked across genres, and recently has focused on reality TV (Animal Planet, Discovery Network, etc.) In this episode, Mike discusses the impact of COVID-19 on Hollywood: How it affects writers, producers and even standup comics. We also discuss: What happened when Mike decided to leave Los Angeles for Arkansas and political protest when you can’t gather. Finally – we end on a positive note (really!) about how to address depression and suicide when everyone is isolated. Mike on Twitter: @suicideblows Mike on Instagram: @resistanceclown Mike’s Fairytale video: Something Ventured website:
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128: Matt Hulett: Rosetta Stone’s President Connects the World Through Language Learning
03/24/2020
128: Matt Hulett: Rosetta Stone’s President Connects the World Through Language Learning
(Note this episode was recorded before the current Coronavirus crisis) Matt Hulett is President of Rosetta Stone – one of the largest language learning companies in the world. Long known for its striking yellow boxes of CDs (those CDs are now a thing of the past, BTW), Rosetta helps people learn almost any language from any mobile device or computer, at their own pace. Matt came to Rosetta Stone after stints at Expedia, Atom Entertainment and RealNetworks. Where he worked for famous internet execs like Rob Glaser and Barry Diller. In this episode we discuss Matt’s early interaction with computers (including his experiences with Telnet and Sun workstations!). We discuss his path to becoming a public company CEO, and the difference in running turnarounds, startups and big brands. We also discuss no less than the state of literary education in the US and how Lexia Learning helps kids learn to read. Matt shares a few of his leadership lessons, and discusses how he keeps Rosetta stone out of the tricky politics of language into which people try to pull him. www.rosettastone.com
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127 Paul-Henri Ferrand: Brex’s COO on Why Immigrants Build Great Companies and How Brex is Transforming Finance
03/09/2020
127 Paul-Henri Ferrand: Brex’s COO on Why Immigrants Build Great Companies and How Brex is Transforming Finance
Paul-Henri Ferrand is the Chief Operating Officer of Brex. Brex, the corporate card that accelerates entrepreneurs and scaling businesses, is founded by Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, two engineers who previously founded Pagar.me, a Brazil payment processing company. Brex has raised $315M in equity and $510M in debt, and is backed by the co-founders of PayPal (Max Levchin and Peter Thiel), Y Combinator, Ribbit Capital, Greenoaks Capital, DST Global, IVP, and Carl Pascarella (former CEO of Visa). Before becoming COO of Brex, Paul-Henri was President, Global Customer Operations for Google Cloud, and before that President of Dell US. In this episode, Paul-Henri discusses why he moved from leading an enormous public company, to helping execute at a startup. He contrasts the cultures of the various companies – Dell, Google and Brex, and discusses what it means to “consumerize finance”. We also discuss why immigrants (Paul-Henri is an immigrant to the US, as are with both founders of Brex) find the US so appealing, and appear to be behind some of the great Silicon Valley companies. Finally, we discuss the importance of culture and leadership lessons learned at Dell, Google and now Brex. Brex Something Ventured
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126 Brianne Kimmel: A Venture Capitalist Makes Work More Human
03/04/2020
126 Brianne Kimmel: A Venture Capitalist Makes Work More Human
Brianne Kimmel is a newly minted venture capitalist. She didn’t join a venture fund: She started her own. Her fund — Work Life Ventures — invests in new technologies and services for your work life. Work today has a whole new meaning: it's social w/ Slack, flexible w/ Zoom and approachable through low-code and no-code tools for anyone with an idea to build something. Brianne's recent investments range from enterprise software (i.e. developer productivity tools) to creator tools that help anyone launch their own course, jewelry line or creative business. Brianne has been an angel investor on evenings and weekends, had a YC company, and scaled Zendesk from a single product to multi-product platform. She started her career building influencer programs for Nikon, then scaled into Head of Social Media at Expedia — in Sydney, Hong Kong and Silicon Valley. But Brianne’s path to Silicon Valley wasn’t obvious. She started out in northeast Ohio, started attended Kent State while she was in high school and started her career in Australia. Not the typical path for a Silicon Valley Venture capitalist. Nevertheless…here she is. In this podcast we cover a range of topics and ideas. We discuss why she started her own firm, rather than joining an established VC. We have some fun with the emergence of ‘celebrity angels”, and take a more serious look at the future of distributed workforces. She also surprises me – as it always happens – with what it’s like to be a high profile woman in the tech industry. She honestly shares what it’s like to get unwanted attention at, for example, conferences where, sometimes, security is called. Please enjoy this episode with...Brianne Kimmel. Work Life Ventures Something Ventured Podcast
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125 Jeff Macpherson: Tiki Bar TV's Dr. Tiki Explains Why We Stream Video But Download Podcasts
02/24/2020
125 Jeff Macpherson: Tiki Bar TV's Dr. Tiki Explains Why We Stream Video But Download Podcasts
Do you know why we download podcasts, but stream video? This is the podcast that tells the story. Jeff Macpherson is founder of AR/VR training company . But before that – he created and acted in “Tiki Bar TV”. If you don’t know what that is, you can -- and should -- find it at . Tiki Bar TV was at the red-hot center of the early video wars – which were at one point a knife-fight between Apple and YouTube. “Tiki Bar TV” caught the eye of Steve Jobs, and ended up being featured in one of Jobs’ famous onstage product unveilings. In this episode we talk about the arc of video on the Internet, what it’s like getting the call that Steve Jobs wants to include you in his presentation, and what it’s like to collaborate with Tosca Musk, Lala and Johnny Johnny. We also discuss how web series have changed, and early BBS culture. on Twitter
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124 REPLAY Keller Fitzsimmons -- Startuplandia author on Mental Health in Silicon Valley
02/12/2020
124 REPLAY Keller Fitzsimmons -- Startuplandia author on Mental Health in Silicon Valley
In honor of Keller's recent warmly received recent talk at Jackson Square ventures -- here she is again! ----- Keller Fitzsimmons is the author of Lost in Startuplandia: Wayfinding for the Weary Entrepreneur. She gives lie to the idea that entrepreneurship is a thrilling, lucrative adventure. All is great, of course, until things go horribly wrong. “As crisis after crisis hits, even the most seasoned founder can get disoriented. Whether you're in the throes of business woes or just getting into the game, E. Keller Fitzsimmons has written a field guide outlining the terrain to help you avoid getting Lost in Startuplandia.” Keller is a serial tech entrepreneur, artist, and mother of two. She is the cofounder of Custom Reality Services, a virtual reality production company whose first two projects, Across the Line (2016) and Ashe '68 (2019), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Keller is the recipient of the Silvertip PwC Entrepreneurship Award and Speech Technology's Luminary Award. Her work has been published by Network Computing, InformationWeek, and Inc. An active angel investor, she serves on the technology committee for BELLE USA, a venture fund that invests in women-led startups. Originally trained as a classical archaeologist, Keller holds a master's degree from Harvard University. In this podcast Keller discusses a wide range of topics, including losing her ability to read (before becoming a best selling author). She discusses the surprising prevalance of anxiety, depression and suicide in Silicon Valley. Lost in Startuplandia https://www.lostinstartuplandia.com
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123 Marco Zappacosta: Thumbtack’s CEO on Building a Billion Dollar Company and Helping People “Get the Job Done”
02/05/2020
123 Marco Zappacosta: Thumbtack’s CEO on Building a Billion Dollar Company and Helping People “Get the Job Done”
Marco Zappacosta is a co-Founder & CEO of Thumbtack, a startup that lets people find local professionals for “pretty much anything”. Thumbtack has raised over $400 million and is valued at well over $1 billion. Investors include Sequoia Capital, Cyan Banister, Jason Calcanis and brothers Ali and Hadi Partovi. Marco has been recognized by Forbes as top “30 under 30” entrepreneur, and Thumbtack is recognized as one of Fortune's "Great Place to Work". In this episode, Marco discusses how he built Thumbtack, and what it’s like to transition from overseeing a small team, to hundreds of people. He talks about how Thumbtack is succeeding where others failed – getting liquidity in local services We also discuss how Thumbtack enables local ‘entrepreneurs’ to build their business on its platform, and find a market for their traditional or unique service. Finally we cover what structural changes are needed in the US economy to enable ‘gig’ workers, and why he’s been interested in the state of Social Security since college.
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122 Chris Douvos: Ahoy Capital’s Founder is One-of-a-Kind
12/19/2019
122 Chris Douvos: Ahoy Capital’s Founder is One-of-a-Kind
Chris Douvos has a rare job. There are very few venture capitalists in the world. There’s an even more scarce job, however: Several ‘fund-of-funds” exist that provide capital to venture capital firms, and a path into venture capital for large institutions that want to invest in Silicon Valley. Chris Douvos’ Ahoy Capital is one of those funds. In this wide-ranging discussion, Chris tells us how he made his way up and through a history major to his current profession. We talk about what Chris has seen from his unique perch in Silicon Valley: What has changed, what he sees in the future. Chris explains how he became an early investor in superstar venture firms like First Round and DCVC, and why he didn’t invest in the equally successful Baseline Ventures. Also quoted are Walt Whitman, and at least one Greek Philosopher If you don’t know Chris – meet him on this episode! Ahoy Capital Something Ventured
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121 Mike Maples:, Jr: A Master Seed Investor Shares his Wisdom
12/10/2019
121 Mike Maples:, Jr: A Master Seed Investor Shares his Wisdom
Mike Maples, Jr. is Founder and General Partner of Floodgate, a seed investing firm that has made early investments in companies like Twitter, Demandforce and Lyft. He was #12 on the 2018 “Midas List” of top venture capitalists. The seed investing trend he identified has become, literally, an entire category of investors. He is also the host of his own podcast – Starting Greatness. In this episode of Something Ventured we talk about Mike’s path to Silicon Valley, the investing opportunity he saw here, and how it has changed over time. He explains terms like ‘earned secret’ and “thunder lizard”, and the overarching importance of “why now”. If you’d like to get to know Mike Maples, Jr. – don’t miss this episode, and listen to his new podcast – Starting Greatness. Starting Greatness podcast Floodgate Something Ventured
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#120 David Hornik: "The Lobby" Creator and Ringmaster
12/03/2019
#120 David Hornik: "The Lobby" Creator and Ringmaster
David Hornik is a partner at August Capital. He is also the much-loved creator and executive producer of “The Lobby”. In preparing for this podcast, a number of people expressed sincere affection for David, The Lobby, and the relationships it has fostered. In this episode David explains what the Lobby is, and where the idea came from. In addition to The Lobby, David started (with his colleagues) the first venture capital blog, VentureBlog, and the first venture capital podcast, VentureCast. He has been honored by Forbes Magazine as a member of its Midas List of top Venture Capitalists. As a venture capitalist, David over the last 20 years has worked closely with technology companies to help them grow and prosper. David joined August Capital in 2000 to invest in a broad range of software companies. Since that time, he has invested in dozens of companies across the software spectrum, including a number of enterprise software and SaaS (e.g, Splunk, Fastly, GitLab), consumer services (e.g., Evite, Ebates, Drop), and financial technology companies (e.g., WePay, Bill.com, PayNearMe). In this podcast we discuss everything from his investments in Broadway musicals, to the state of venture capital, to the issues faced by the LGBTQ community in Silicon Valley. Warning – this podcast includes singing! August Capital The Lobby Something Ventured
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#119 Joe Garofoli: San Francisco Chronicle Senior Political Writer Takes Us Inside Politics
11/26/2019
#119 Joe Garofoli: San Francisco Chronicle Senior Political Writer Takes Us Inside Politics
Joe Garofoli is the Senior Political Writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. He is also host of the San Francisco Chronicle podcast “It’s All Political”. Guests on “It’s All Political” recently have included California Governor Gavin Newsom, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and a “Who’s Who” of Democratic presidential hopefuls. Very few people have Joe Garofoli’s unique perch – here in San Francisco in the heart of Silicon Valley – to view California and National politics through the lens of Silicon Valley. In this podcast he takes us “behind the scenes” of the current state of California and National US politics. We talk about everything from the recent wildfires in California, to the relationship between Governor Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump, to what issues you REALLY should be paying attention to in the upcoming California ballots. Joe Garofoli on Twitter: Kent Lindstrom on Twitter: Joe Garofoli at SFGate: Something Ventured:
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#118 Ryan Petersen: How Flexport is Transforming Shipping to Create a Better World
11/19/2019
#118 Ryan Petersen: How Flexport is Transforming Shipping to Create a Better World
Ryan 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 , 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.
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#117 Josh Felser: A Freestylin' Conversation with Josh
11/12/2019
#117 Josh Felser: A Freestylin' Conversation with Josh
Josh Felser co-founded and sold two companies -- Spinner and Grouper – for a combined value of nearly $400 million. Then, he and his partner, Dave Samuel, started one of Silicon Valley’s most successful seed venture funds – Freestyle. Freestyle has backed companies like Airtable, Intercom, BetterUp, Patreon and Wag. In this wide-ranging discussion, Josh talks about building Spinner and the nail-biting moment an acquirer asked him “what’s your number”. We also cover Josh’s rebuttal to Kent’s previous episode on Burning Man, and how Josh first met California’s governor, Gavin Newsom. Other topics include mental health in Silicon Valley, and how to support women and people of color in Silicon Valley. Also included is some music advice for podcaster Harry Stebbings. Freestyle Burning Man Rush
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#116 Dan Scheinman: Zoom’s First Investor on Finding Outliers, Ageism and More
11/05/2019
#116 Dan Scheinman: Zoom’s First Investor on Finding Outliers, Ageism and More
Dan Scheinman is one of the best investors – and nicest people – you may not have heard of…yet. But you should know him, because he has become a force in Silicon Valley. After running Corporate Development at Cisco, Dan became an investor. Investing his own capital, he has backed from the earliest stages firms like Zoom, Arista, SentinalOne and CyCognito. These companies are now collectively worth tens of billions of dollars. We briefly discuss the passing of Sequoia Capital Founder and Cisco Board Chairman Don Valentine and his legacy. We talk about the ups and downs at Cisco – which at various times has been the most valuable company in the world. Dan talks about how to find true outliers in tech companies, and what it means to be truly ‘contrarian’. We discuss ageism in Silicon Valley, and why investing in women, people of color and those over 35 is an investing advantage. Dan tells the story of how he became the first investor in video conferencing company Zoom – which is now valued at nearly $20 billion. Finally, we discuss what to do when enormous wealth finds you, and why venture capitalists think both math and their jobs are hard. Zoom: Dan can be found on Twitter at
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#115 Ba Minuzzi: First Latina to Starta a Silicon Valley Venture Fund
10/28/2019
#115 Ba Minuzzi: First Latina to Starta a Silicon Valley Venture Fund
You know her right? The woman who started two venture funds and a wealth management firm? You don’t? Meet Ba Minuzzi. Ba was born in Brazil, where she started a fashion business in her teens. That soon gave way to a real estate business, and then the venue changed to Miami. In Miami, she realized she wanted to start a venture fund – and that Silicon Valley was the place to do it. Today she is founder of Babel (an early stage healthtech venture fund), Ausum (a blockchain fund) and UMANA (a wealth management firm for tech self-mades, conscious celebrities and athletes). She is the first Latina to start a Silicon Valley venture fund. In this episode, we discuss her path to Silicon Valley, why she started not one, not two, but three funds. She also responds to recent episodes that poked a bit of fun at Burning Man. Babel Ventures https://www.babel.ventures Ausum Ventures https://www.ausum.vc UMANA https://www.umana.vc
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#114 Jerry Colonna: Break your Heart and Keep it Open
10/07/2019
#114 Jerry Colonna: Break your Heart and Keep it Open
Jerry Colonna is the author of Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up, and cofounder of Reboot – a coaching company, which he started along with Ali Schultz, Khalid Halim, and Dan Put. Before building a successful coaching firm – Jerry was a “Prince of New York” – he co-founded the VC firm Flatiron partners and then ran JP Morgan Partners’. But walked away from it all at the age of 38, wracked with depression. Today he’s a bestselling author, Buddhist, and a sought after coach for the most influential people in business and beyond. In this podcast we discuss some fascinating parts of Internet history that you may have forgotten – including the first internet newspaper. We speak about the legacy of “Coach” Bill Campbell and how Jerry found himself as a coach to some of the most powerful and famous executives in the world. We also track his harrowing path through depression and suicidal thoughts to a fulfilled life, in which he is transforming the lives of others. Reboot Something Ventured
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#113 Maha Ibrahim: Canaan Partner, The RealReal Investor, All Raise Member
09/24/2019
#113 Maha Ibrahim: Canaan Partner, The RealReal Investor, All Raise Member
Maha is a partner at Canaan Partners, one of Silicon Valley's largest and most successful venture firms. She spots technology trends early and partners closely with her companies to drive growth and exits. Maha focuses on e-commerce and enterprise / cloud, and was one of the first investors to recognize the potential of social gaming. She represented Canaan as the first institutional investor in The RealReal – which recently went public. Maha is a founding member of All Raise, an organization with the mission to “accelerate the success of female funders and founders”. She is also a trustee for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Before becoming a venture capitalist, Maha was an executive at Qwest Communications and studied Economics and Sociology at Stanford, and Economics at MIT. In this podcast Maha shares her journey to becoming a venture capitalist. She discusses the changes she’s seen in the venture industry and what does – and doesn’t – excite her today. We also talk about the evolving path for women in Silicon Valley, and what an ally of women can do to be helpful.
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#112 Esther Wojcicki: How to Raise Successful People
09/17/2019
#112 Esther Wojcicki: How to Raise Successful People
Esther Wojcicki is a journalist and educator. She founded and runs the Palo Alto High School Media Arts Center, which engages over 600 students directly in media such as magazines, newspapers, radio, television and photography. She wrote the book “How to Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results”. Her qualifications? Her three daughters, Susan, Anne and Janet are the CEO of Youtube, Founder and CEO of 23 and Me, and a professor of medicine at UCSF. In this podcast, we discuss her path through the male dominated world of journalism, to becoming a teacher and founding the Media Arts Center. She relates how she raised her children to be particularly independent, and discusses the rise of ‘helicopter parents’ -- parents who sometimes hover over their children even as they go to college. We also discuss the evolution and state of journalism from typeset newspapers, to the massive changes brought on by the Internet, Facebook, YouTube and Google. How to Raise Successful People Media Arts Center
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#111 REPLAY: Silicon Valley goes to Burning Man
09/05/2019
#111 REPLAY: Silicon Valley goes to Burning Man
It's the time of year when Silicon Valley decamps to a party in the desert known as Burning Man. Grown adults, with children and jobs spend multiple weeks preparing, burning, then decompressing. In this replay episode, we take a light-hearted look at Burning Man as seen from Silicon Valley. We review the history of the event, which began at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. We also cover a dark period in Burning Man's early history. Michael White is a recovering Silicon Valley attorney. I'm a venture capitalist. Neither of has been to Burning Man. Well, that's not going to stop us. We watched a movie about Burning Man! The movie we refer to in this episode is "Spark: A Burning Man Story" from 2013.
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#110 Alison McCauley: Falling down the Blockchain Rabbit Hole (and why you should too)
08/26/2019
#110 Alison McCauley: Falling down the Blockchain Rabbit Hole (and why you should too)
Alison McCauley is the Best Selling Author of Unblocked: How Blockchain will Change your Business and What to Do About It. Why does blockchain matter? Alison points out that disruption is no longer a moment in time. It's a continual state. How do you understand the new opportunity? Set priorities in a complex and ever-shifting landscape? Prepare for what’s ahead? Alison helps you navigate the human side of digital acceleration. In this episode we discuss the moment Alison came to be blown away by the potential of blockchain, how it’s like the early Internet…and the surprisingly large role of women in this industry. I also conduct a thorough podcast investigation of whether Alison is Satoshi Nakamoto. Don’t miss it! More about Alison McCauley: Alison is founder and CEO of Unblocked Future, a consultancy that helps executives drive adoption at the forefront of emerging tech. She helps companies communicate their vision, resonate with stakeholders, and activate communities for change. She is a keynote speaker who, in addition to spending time in the blockchain rabbit hole, helps teams to educate and drive adoption in their markets at the front edge of innovation in IoT, robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and other developing technologies.. A social scientist by training, she spent her career studying the intersection of human behavior and emerging technology, with 20 years of consulting to technology-first startups and Fortune-500 companies across industries including healthcare, education, telecommunications, energy, retail, finance, hospitality, and manufacturing @unblockedfuture
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#124 REPLAY E. Keller Fitzsimmons: The Darkness in Silicon Valley – Anxiety, Depression and Suicide in Startuplandia
08/20/2019
#124 REPLAY E. Keller Fitzsimmons: The Darkness in Silicon Valley – Anxiety, Depression and Suicide in Startuplandia
In honor of Kelly's recent, well-received talk at Jackson Square Ventures, and the ongoing interest in mental health issues in Silicon Valley -- here she is again! ------ Keller Fitzsimmons is the author of Lost in Startuplandia: Wayfinding for the Weary Entrepreneur. She gives lie to the idea that entrepreneurship is a thrilling, lucrative adventure. All is great, of course, until things go horribly wrong. “As crisis after crisis hits, even the most seasoned founder can get disoriented. Whether you're in the throes of business woes or just getting into the game, E. Keller Fitzsimmons has written a field guide outlining the terrain to help you avoid getting Lost in Startuplandia.” Keller is a serial tech entrepreneur, artist, and mother of two. She is the cofounder of Custom Reality Services, a virtual reality production company whose first two projects, Across the Line (2016) and Ashe '68 (2019), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Keller is the recipient of the Silvertip PwC Entrepreneurship Award and Speech Technology's Luminary Award. Her work has been published by Network Computing, InformationWeek, and Inc. An active angel investor, she serves on the technology committee for BELLE USA, a venture fund that invests in women-led startups. Originally trained as a classical archaeologist, Keller holds a master's degree from Harvard University. In this podcast Keller discusses a wide range of topics, including losing her ability to read (before becoming a best selling author). She discusses the surprising prevalance of anxiety, depression and suicide in Silicon Valley. Lost in Startuplandia Something Ventured
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#108: Adriana Gascoigne: Tech Lady Boss - How to Startup Disrupt and Thrive as a Female Founder
08/12/2019
#108: Adriana Gascoigne: Tech Lady Boss - How to Startup Disrupt and Thrive as a Female Founder
Adriana is the Founder and CEO of Girls in Tech, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization that empowers women in the tech industry across the globe. Before founding Girls in Tech, Adriana served in executive roles at Ogilvy & Mather, Interpublic Group of Companies, Social Gaming Network (SGN), and SecondMarket. She has been named one of the 20 most influential Latinos in Technology by CNET, among other awards. She is author of the book Tech Boss Lady: How to Startup, Disrupt and Thrive as a Female Founder. In this episode, Adriana charts the influence her immigrant grandparents, and entrepreneurial parents had on her. She shares her early experience with Silicon Valley’s unwelcoming male culture, and how she came to create the global enterprise that is Girls in Tech. She discusses how sexual harassment in Silicon Valley has – and hasn’t – changed. From roller skating to balling up stress like a travel t-shirt – this episode has a bit of everything. Girls in Tech Something Ventured:
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#107 Anne Dwane: From Startup to Public Company To VC -- Her Journey
07/31/2019
#107 Anne Dwane: From Startup to Public Company To VC -- Her Journey
Anne Dwane is co-founder and partner of Village Global, the venture firm backed by an impressive and diverse group of investors that includes: Jeff Bezos, Sara Blakely, Reid Hoffman, Magic Johnson, Anne Wojcicki, Mark Zuckerberg, Diane Green, Judy Estrin, and Ken Chennault. Before becoming a venture capitalist, Anne was a tech company co-founder, a private company CEO, and public company executive. She built Military.com with previous podcast guest Chris Michel, and was CEO of Zinch before it was acquired by Chegg. At Chegg she had P&L responsibility as the company became public, with a value over $1 billion. In this episode, Anne shares her journey from Harvard Business School, to Silicon Valley, and her path to becoming a public company executive to her latest role as a venture capitalist at Village Global. Village Global Chegg Something Ventured
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#106 Chris Michel’s Extraordinary Path and Wise Life Advice
07/22/2019
#106 Chris Michel’s Extraordinary Path and Wise Life Advice
After attending the University of Illinois, Chris Michel began his career as a Naval Flight Officer, flying aboard P-3 Orion “sub-hunters”. Today, he is a photographer, chronicling Silicon Valley and the World. His photography has taken him from the edge of space, to the North and South Poles and everything in between. Chris’s path from the Navy to photographer was not a straight line, and in this podcast you’ll hear his story. In this wide-ranging discussion we talk about how Chris made it from the Navy to Harvard business school, where he met his business partner (and future podcast guest) Anne Dwane. Also covered are his path to founding two Silicon Valley companies, and his struggle to guide them through difficult times. Finally, we discuss Chris’s advice on how to think about structuring a career and a life. In the Something Ventured podcast, Silicon Valley insider Kent Lindstrom explores the reality behind the headlines, as he sits down with the people who are shaping the way we view the world online...and beyond. https://somethingventured.us
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#105 Julian Guthrie: Taking on Silicon Valley’s Male Culture with Alpha Girls
07/15/2019
#105 Julian Guthrie: Taking on Silicon Valley’s Male Culture with Alpha Girls
Julian Guthrie is a journalist-turned-author, covering such topics as Larry Ellison’s quest for the America’s Cup, and the new age of private space exploration. She gravitates to tales of underdogs and innovation, and her latest book is no exception. “Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took on Silicon Valley's Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime” is the story of four women: Magdalena Yesil, Mary Jane Elmore, Theresia Gouw, and Sonja Hoel Perkins. Each of these rose – against the well-known odds of Silicon Valley – to the top of the game. Well before “me too” these four women juggled work and family, overcame unequal pay, and faced the sexist attitudes prevalent in male-dominated Silicon Valley. Nevertheless, they rose to rewrite the rules of an entire industry. Each story is amazing on its own. Magdalena Yesil, came from Turkey with $43 to her name, and would go on to help Marc Benioff build Salesforce. Mary Jane Elmore went from the cornfields of Indiana to Silicon Valley and landed at the storied venture capital firm IVP - where she was one of the first women in the U.S. to make partner at a venture firm. Theresia Gouw, Asian American from a working-class town, ultimately helped venture firm Accel Partners invest in firms like Google, Facebook, Imperva, Forescout, and Trulia. Sonja Hoel Perkins, a Southerner, became one of the first women investing partners at white-glove Menlo Ventures, and invested in McAfee, Hotmail, Acme Packet, and F5 Networks. In this wide ranging conversation, Julian shares her experience in writing this book, and previous books including “How to Make a Spaceship,” with a foreword by Richard Branson and an afterword by Stephen Hawking, and “The Billionaire and the Mechanic,” about Larry Ellison. We also discuss the current state of sexism in Silicon Valley, her predictions for the future, and the in-the-works adaptation of her book for television.
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#104 Charles Hudson – Charles Builds a Venture Fund
07/08/2019
#104 Charles Hudson – Charles Builds a Venture Fund
Charles is the founder and Managing Partner of Precursor Ventures, one of Silicon Valley’s hot seed stage venture firms. He was previously at Uncork, the storied seed venture firm founded by Jeff Clavier. Precursor is a classic seed stage venture firm investing in founders they believe in. Before becoming a venture capitalist, Charles cofounded Bionic Panda Games, and held senior business development roles at Serious Business and Gaia Interactive. Also – he went to Stanford. Twice. In this episode we discuss a range of issues including what it’s like to be a black VC in a mostly white industry, how he made his way to venture, what it’s like working at Q-Tel, and why he left a hugely successful VC to start his own.
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#103: Michael Tchong on 8 Ubertrends Crashing into our Future
06/18/2019
#103: Michael Tchong on 8 Ubertrends Crashing into our Future
Michael Tchong has been called "the most influential trend-spotter in America". He is a top-rated innovation speaker, adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco, trend forecaster and author of “Ubertrends — How Trends And Innovation Are Transforming Our Future.” He heads up incubator Ubercool Innovation and is the founder of four disruptive startups, including MacWEEK, Atelier Systems, CyberAtlas and ICONOCAST, all riding early market waves. In this podcast we discuss “Ubertrends” — his proprietary framework of massive waves that are reshaping global human behavior. In this podcast, Michael and Kent discuss the trends that are shaping the future -- from "time compression" to the to the 'rise of women' -- we cover them all. The full set of trends discussed includes: Digital Lifestyle -- Marriage of Man and Machine; Fountain of Youth -- Rejuvenating Body, Spirit and Environment; Generation X-tasy -- Been There, Done That; Time Compression -- The Acceleration of Life; Unwired -- Untethered and Unfettered; Casual Living -- The Evaporation of Decorum; Voyeurgasm -- I Like to Watch; WAF (Woman's Acceptance Factor) -- Ascent of Woman; Innovation -- Reinventing Business and Life More about the book: Ubertrends — How Trends And Innovation Are Transforming Our Future is a graphic and eye-opening exploration of nine disruptive forces that are shape-shifting society. As these massive waves crash into the future, they leave many subtrends in their wake while leading to many cultural value changes. Society’s permanently altered behavior provides ready context for how the future will evolve
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#102: Scott Kupor: Secrets of Sand Hill Road
06/04/2019
#102: Scott Kupor: Secrets of Sand Hill Road
Scott Kupor is the managing partner of famed venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm with more than $7 billion of assets under management that sits at the beating heart of Sand Hill Road. Sand Hill road is, of course, the physical center of the venture capital industry – the greatest wealth-generating machine in the world. So...Scott is at the center, of the center of the global venture capital industry. In his new book -- Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It -- Scott covers a range of topics critical to any founder: Why VCs invest in particular stages, the key skill for raising venture capital, and what happens when things don’t go so well. In the Something Ventured podcast, Silicon Valley insider Kent Lindstrom explores the reality behind the Silicon Valley headlines as he sits down with the people who are shaping the way we view the world online and beyond.
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#101 Ellen Pao: Ellen Changes the Game
05/28/2019
#101 Ellen Pao: Ellen Changes the Game
Ellen Pao is CEO of Project Include and author of the book Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change. Her book looks at power in the tech world – and why so few women and people of color hold it. She famously sued an elite venture capital firm for sexism, and in doing so set off a national conversation. As CEO of Reddit, she waged one of the first highly visible battles against Internet trolls – a topic which has since exploded as big tech companies come under heavier scrutiny. In this wide-ranging conversation, we cover a range of topics. From Ellen’s experience litigating against a powerful venture capital firm to the current state of diversity in Silicon Valley she tells her story.
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#100: Pete Alcorn -- Democratizing Publishing
05/20/2019
#100: Pete Alcorn -- Democratizing Publishing
Welcome to Episode 100! Yep, we’ve made it to 100. And for this one…Pete Alcorn stops by the podcast as he bucket-lists his way around the world. He has run, among other things – ebooks at Amazon (just before they cared about it) and podcasting at Apple. Also at Apple, he oversaw iBooks in Europe and education content discovery everywhere. Pete was also Kent’s first partner in the startup world, building a company (that still exists today) called “NetRead”. Oh, and we also went to high school together in La Jolla California. In this wide-ranging episode we cover: the future of edtech, the corporate path vs. the startup path, whether Pete agrees with Po Bronson, and the future of the planet. Thanks for making it to 100. Enjoy!
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