415: Axon CEO Rick Smith shares his entrepreneurship journey and details how Axon has pursued its mission to protect life without taking life. The company began by selling TASERS to consumers as a way to incapacitate a threat without hurting them. However, when that failed to gain traction, the company began selling the weapon to police officers, which was a huge success. Later, the company pivoted to selling body-worn cameras backed by the cloud as a way to protect police officers and increase transparency between law enforcement and the public. We also discuss the future of facial recognition and AI in law enforcement, the Policing Technology Ethics Board the company has developed, Rick’s new book The End of Killing: How Our Newest Technologies Can Solve Humanity’s Oldest Problem, among other topics.
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403: Sierra Ventures Managing Director Mark Fernandes discusses the five attributes he looks for in an entrepreneur. These five attributes include their ability to raise money beyond the early stages, their ability to attract talent, their ability to generate momentum, if they come prepared, and their ability to tell their story. In terms of what Mark looks for in a company, he cites that there needs to be a technology platform shift or a business model innovation that is applicable to something that they are doing. We also discuss Mark’s accidental path to the VC community, the CXO Advisory board Sierra has started, the importance of approaching investing from a bottoms-up and top-down approach, among other topics.
390: LinkedIn co-Founder Reid Hoffman argues that companies should value speed over efficiency. In the modern world of network effects, being the first to scale often provides significant first mover advantages in creating a transformative company. While second place can be a decent consolation prize, Reid believes that if you are third or worse, you failed. However, while speed is important, Reid warns against having a blind adhesion to size as companies also need to determine which components put them in the best possible position. We also discuss the lessons Reid took from SocialNet, a company he founded before LinkedIn, his experience as a founding board member at PayPal, how China is able to move at such an extraordinary pace, among other topics.
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381: Sequoia Partner Roelof Botha and Ethos Life co-founder and CEO Peter Colis dive into the major issues with life insurance and how Ethos Life can make a difference. A great life insurance company has not been built for 150 years, and while the existing players have massive amounts of capital, Ethos is relying on their speed of execution and digital advantage. We also discuss how Ethos is using behavioral science and product testing for ease of use, how Ethos is able to overcome the faster process, Roelof’s take on AI and voice technologies, why Roelof was determined to immigrate to the United States, among other topics.
372: Bain Capital Ventures Managing Director Matt Harris analyzes how the FinTech competitive landscape has dramatically shifted over his career, from the domination of large financial institutions, which grew ever larger through mergers and acquisitions to the emergence of startups. We also discuss Matt’s interest in real estate tech and InsurTech, his views on Bitcoin and blockchain, what he looks for when making investing decisions, among other topics.
Matt is a Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures, the VC division of Bain Capital with $60 billion of assets under management. For most of Matt’s career, he has been focused on financial technology, and he was most recently ranked number three among the FinTech Finance 40. At Bain Capital Ventures, Matt has invested in numerous FinTech companies, some of which he explores in the interview. Prior to joining BCV in 2012, Matt founded Village Ventures and spent 12 years leading the firm.
Honest Tea co-founder Seth Goldman discusses the origins and growth of Honest Tea, how they overcame the company’s 2003 bottling crisis, and the unique equity structure that put them in a position of strength when they sold to Coca Cola. We also discuss Seth’s board membership with Beyond Meat and Bethesda Green.
Seth is the co-founder, President, and CEO of Honest Tea, the nation’s top selling ready-to-drink organic bottled tea. As CEO. Seth is responsible for overseeing the company’s mission to be the first organic and Fair Trade brand in the world’s largest beverage distribution system. Seth has degrees from Harvard and Yale. He is Chairman of the Board at Beyond Meat, and a board member of Ripple Foods and Bethesda Green.
Kai-Fu is a prominent venture capitalist, technology executive, artificial intelligence expert, and author of the new book, “AI Superpowers. China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order.” Currently, Kai-Fu is the founding CEO of Sinovation Ventures, a Chinese venture capital firm with $2 billion under management, a third of which is in AI. He founded Sinovation Ventures after leading Google’s initial entry into China as the President of Google China. Prior to Google, he spent a number of years at Microsoft as a Corporate Vice President. While at Microsoft he established Microsoft Research Asia, which is widely considered one of the best computer science research labs in the world.
Kai-Fu began his career as an AI researcher, having obtained a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon.
In this interview, Kai-Fu discusses his new book, “AI Superpowers,” in which he highlights the stunning, government-supported progress China’s technology sector has made in recent years. He goes on to argue that China is well positioned to surpass the US in AI prowess, and the reasons for that country’s gains. We also discuss the risk of job displacement, why US companies struggle to break into the Chinese market, and why the reverse is also true, what Sinovation Ventures looks for when identifying new opportunities, and a variety of other topics.
Bill was the 41st Governor of Colorado, serving in that capacity from 2007 through 2011. Currently, Bill is an Energy Strategy Partner at Blackhorn Ventures where he focuses on the built environment, the energy sector, and the transportation sector. Bill is also the Founder of The Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University. In this role, Bill drives the organizations mission to work with state governments and the private sector to transform energy production across the country. As Governor, Bill oversaw Colorado’s renewable energy focused transition to create an environmentally friendly energy economy. Bill signed 57 bills into law as governor, including the thirty percent Renewable Portfolio Standard Act. Before becoming Governor, Bill served as Denver’s District Attorney. Bill received his Bachelor degree in political science from Colorado State University and his J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law.
Mike is a General Partner at Index Ventures, where he helped establish the firm’s San Francisco office. As a Partner, Mike is responsible for investing in early-stage companies, with a focus on open-source and SaaS companies.
Prior to Index Ventures, Mike was the Chief Executive Officer of Joost. Before Joost, Mike held multiple executive positions at Cisco Systems, most recently as Senior Vice President and GM of the Routing and Service Provider Group, and before that, as the company’s first Chief Strategy Officer. Prior to Cisco, Mike worked as a Product Development Engineer at Hewlett-Packard.
Mike received his Bachelor of Science in Medical Engineering, his Master of Science in Manufacturing Systems Engineering, and his MBA from Stanford University.
Mike currently serves on the board of 16 public and private companies, including Fiat Chrysler.
Gary is an Operating Partner and part of the Resources Group at General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm that has over $20 billion dollars in assets under management. As an operating partner, Gary is responsible for providing strategic support and advice to the firm’s investment teams and portfolio companies with a focus on strategy and technology.
Before joining General Atlantic, Gary was the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at General Electric, where he led the mergers & acquisitions, sourcing, IT, operations, and quality teams. Prior to joining General Electric, Gary was a partner at the Boston Consulting Group.
Gary received both his Bachelor of Arts in Economics, as well as his MBA from Harvard University.
Gary currently serves on the boards of Citigroup, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Box, Mu Sigma, and Turbonomic, among other companies.
