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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375: MIT’s Max Tegmark, author of “Life 3.0″ and co-founder of the Future of Life Institute, asserts that the most important conversation in the world is the one about humanity’s future with artificial intelligence. Technology is a neutral force, and it is our responsibility to manage it wisely and steer it towards a beneficial future. As our technology becomes more powerful, so too do the positive and negative consequences. Max notes that we need to decide what type of future we want to have with AI so that its impact on society is beneficial, rather than harmful. We also discuss how governments, academia, and companies can help create a better future with AI, the comparisons between prior science advancements and today’s intelligence advancements, how Max became interested in AI, 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.
370: John Chambers, the former CEO of Cisco, reflects on his 25 years at Cisco, from his greatest professional regret, to the key factors behind Cisco’s massively successful acquisition strategy, to the critical importance of culture. We also discussed his work with the leaders of France and India to digitize their countries, what he looks for when evaluating companies to invest in, insights from his new book, Connecting The Dots: Lessons For Leadership In A Startup World, among other topics.
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.
Among other topics, President Ilves discussed the following issues with Metis Strategy:
President Ilves was the fourth President of Estonia, serving two consecutive terms between 2006 and 2016. During his time in office, he ushered in a number of changes that have led many to refer to Estonia as the most digitally savvy country on earth. He successfully defended his country in a cyberwar with Russia, introduced e-voting, digital health records, and e-residency programs to name just a few. Since his term ended, President Ilves has focused on issues related to e-government and cybersecurity as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, as the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow at Stanford’s Freeman-Sprogli Institute for International Studies, and as the Co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Blockchain. Ilves also works with nations looking to emulate Estonia’s digital society as the CEO of Ilves Consulting Group.
While President of Estonia, Ilves was appointed to several high positions in the field of information and communications technology in the European Union, including serving as the Chairman of the EU Task Force on eHealth, Chairman of the European Cloud Partnership Steering Board, Co-chair of the advisory panel of the World Bank’s Digital Dividends report, and Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Cyber Security.
Prior to serving as President, President Ilves was a member of the European Parliament, where he was Vice President of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Prior to this, he serves as a member of the Estonian Parliament. Before being elected to Parliament, President Ilves was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, and briefly served as a Chairman of the North Atlantic Institute. Prior to being appointed Minister, Ilves served as the Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the United States of America and Canada. During this time, he initiated a program to computerize and connect all Estonian schools, the countries first digital initiative. Before serving in the Estonian Government, President Ilves worked at the office of Radio Free Europe in Germany, first as a research and foreign policy analysis, and later as the head of the Estonian Service.
President Ilves has written extensively on topics ranging from Estonian language to global foreign and security policy, and he has received numerous international awards and honorary degrees for his work.
President Ilves obtained a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from Columbia University, and a Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.
Among other topics, Vint discussed the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Vint is currently Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist, a flexible role that allows him to support the development and continued spread of the Internet, as well as the Chairman of the People-Centered Internet (PCI), an organization he co-founded to ensure that internet access brings measurable benefits to the world.
Vint has received numerous awards for his contributions to the Internet, including the US Presidential Medal of Freedom (awarded by President Clinton), US National Medal of Technology (awarded by President Bush), the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, the ACM Turing Award, the Prince of Asturias Award, the Charles Stark Draper award, Officer of the Legion d’Honneur, among many others. Vint has received honorary degrees from 29 academic institutions around the world.
Vint received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Stanford University, a Master of Science degree and Ph.D. Computer Science from UCLA.
Among other topics, Andrew discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Andrew W. Moore has served as the Dean of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science since 2014. He was a professor of computer science and robotics at CMU before taking a leave of absence, in 2006, to become founding director of Google’s Pittsburgh engineering office.
Andrew received an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Computer Science and a PhD in Computer Science from Cambridge University.
Andrew is a fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence.
Among other topics, Alan discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Alan is the founder and CEO of Pegasystems, a $750 million provider of strategic applications. Since founding the company in 1983, Alan has grown the organization to more than 4,000 employees, in 30 global offices.
Alan is also the author of “Build for Change, Revolutionizing Customer Engagement through Continuous Digital Innovation.” The book describes a new generation of customers that have the unprecedented power to make or break brands and discusses the changes businesses must embrace to succeed in today’s digital world.
Alan and his wife Pam established the Trefler Foundation, in 1996. The Foundation’s mission is to improve opportunities for young people from urban neighborhoods by helping them develop the skills, knowledge, and values they need to lead productive lives.
Alan holds a degree in Economics and Computer Science from Dartmouth College.
Among other topics, Ken discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Ken Xie is the Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer of Fortinet, a cyber security solutions firm. Ken founded Fortinet in 2000 with the goal of making an impactful change in the network security space. Ken has grown the company to nearly 5000 team members and $1.3 billion in revenue.
Ken started his first network security company, SIS, in 1993, while studying at Stanford University. In 1996, he founded NetScreen, which developed network security and access products for enterprises and carriers. NetScreen was acquired by Jupiter Networks for $4 billion, in 2004.
Ken earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in electronic engineering from Tsinghua University and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from Stanford University.
