Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman interviews Nike CEO John Donahoe as part of Greylock's Iconversations speaker series. In the interview, Donahoe discusses the iconic sports retailer's digital transformation in recent years; the lessons learned as a four-time CEO; and his “head coach” mentality to leadership. You can read a transcript of this interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/the-next-play/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 16, 2022•37 min
Known as the "AWS of Web3", Alchemy's platform powers most of the top web3 applications around the world. The idea came to founders Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau following their own frustration when building a crypto analytics tool. Seeing that developers around the world needed a toolkit to enable the next wave of innovation, they set out to build Alchemy. Launched in 2020, the company's platform quickly became an indispensable tool for developers creating projects with blockchain technology, i...
Aug 09, 2022•34 min
Greylock investor Maya Frai outlines her perspective on design-centered products, which she believes is the now overarching driver of innovation in several industries including commerce, social, saas, web3, and more. Based on her experience on product teams at Google, Facebook, and Rent the Runway, Maya believes technology that puts people at the center are often the most successful. You can read the essay that inspired this conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/the-design-first-app...
Aug 02, 2022•46 min
A re-broadcast of our episode focused on one of the most critical (yet often under-analyzed) aspects of entrepreneurship: decision-making. As Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman and his Blitzscaling co-author Chris Yeh discuss, there are actually many things entrepreneurs can do to improve their decision-making skills. The central skill is learning how to be quick and decisive, and to adjust your course to avoid the worst of the mines.You can read the essay based on this discussion here: https...
Jul 26, 2022•33 min
Solv CEO and co-founder Heather Fernandez talks with Greylock marketing partner Elisa Schreiber about a unique fundraising strategy Solv undertook to add more women investors to the company's cap table. In late 2021, Solv was wrapping up its Series C round when Fernandez was encouraged by longtime investor and friend Kara Norton (Upfront Ventures) to launch a special purpose vehicle (SPV) aimed solely at women investors. Within 10 days, the SPV raised $3.5M from 75 women investors, 60% of whom w...
Jul 19, 2022•29 min
A re-broadcast of our episode featuring Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky. Chesky joined Greylock partner Reid Hoffman on Greylock's Iconversations speaker series to talk about how he guided Airbnb from an 80% loss within the first two months of the pandemic to a record-breaking IPO by the end of 2020; why Silicon Valley needs to redefine how it measures growth; how Chesky’s design background informs Airbnb’s business strategy; and, ultimately, the importance of putting people first. You ca...
Jul 12, 2022•50 min
A re-broadcast of our episode with Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman and his Blitzscaling co-author Chris Yeh discussing when, how, and why CEOs should speak publicly about political or social topics. Once considered strictly off limits to business leaders, speaking out about politics and social issues has become much more common. In fact, it’s now often expected for a CEO to make a statement that communicates their company’s values and position even on the most highly-charged or controversi...
Jul 05, 2022•50 min
Audio version of essay written by Greylock general partner Asheem Chandna for Forbes: "Where Does AI Go Next?" Chandna and several AI experts weigh in on the potential value and risks as the technology expands. Essay read by Greylock head of editorial Heather Mack. You can read the essay on Forbes here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/asheemchandna/2022/05/31/where-does-ai-go-next/ You can also read the essay on the Greylock website here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/where-does-ai-go-next/ Learn...
Jun 28, 2022•11 min
Greylock general partner Mike Duboe speaks with Zhuoxun Yin (Zedd) and Jack Lu, two of the co-founders of NFT marketplace Magic Eden. The company, which just raised its Series B round, provides a platform for people to discover, collect, and trade NFTs on the Solana ecosystem. You can read a transcript of this episode here: https://greylock.com/portfolio-news/magic-eden/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 21, 2022•32 min
Greylock general partner Jerry Chen speaks with HashiCorp CEO David McJannet about the proliferation of cloud services that requires a multi-cloud approach. Founded in 2012, HashiCorp is an provider of products that are foundational to mission-critical cloud applications and infrastructure. As such, the company has become an essential partner to numerous organizations ranging from startups to the Big 3 cloud providers. It is both a competitor and a collaborator, and is perhaps the best represent...
Jun 14, 2022•45 min
Convoy CEO and co-founder Dan Lewis discusses the current shipping landscape and how his company is upgrading the long-antiquated trucking industry. Convoy, which has developed a platform that puts drivers, shipping companies, and freight brokers on the grid has allowed all parties to operate more efficiently, resulting in saved costs and time as well as reducing pollution. Founded in 2015, Convoy now works with about 80,000 registered trucking companies (which collectively have some 400,000 tru...
Jun 07, 2022•45 min
Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman and his Blitzscaling co-author Chris Yeh discuss the current crisis and its impact on startups. Entrepreneurship assumes an innate degree of optimism and perseverance. But even the most determined founders can feel subdued when faced with yet another crisis. That’s why adaptability is a startup’s strongest asset. As recent global events push us into a new era of market volatility and economic uncertainty, companies must be prepared to recalibrate their busin...
May 31, 2022•33 min
In his commencement speech to Vanderbilt University's graduating class of 2022, Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman discusses the impact and importance of friendship. "Not the Hallmark kind – not all sunshine and roses and bunny rabbits," says Hoffman. "I mean real, substantial friendship – that’s sometimes really hard – and that shapes and changes our lives." In this speech, Hoffman shares some of the key decisions and actions that friends helped him figure out to take, and which significantl...
May 29, 2022•18 min
Audio version of the latest essay by Greylock investors' Jerry Chen and Jason Risch. As part of our ongoing Castles in the Cloud project, we’ve compiled and analyzed VC funding data into cloud-focused startups in 2021 and Q1 2022. We are mapping the activity in the venture capital-funded startup ecosystem with that of the Big 3 Cloud providers: AWS, Azure, and GCP. You can read the essay here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/vc-funding-for-the-cloud/ You can find the entire Castles in the Cloud ...
May 25, 2022•21 min
Audio version of Greylock investor Jason Risch's article "The Next Cloud Data Platform." As part of Greylock's interactive data project Castles in the Cloud, we've analyzed new areas of opportunities for startups. Platforms within the modern data stack pose multiple points of entry for startups to innovate. VCs are already looking for “the next Snowflake” – companies that find success in the shadow of Big Cloud by reimagining the modern data stack. To solidify their staying power, the next chapt...
May 25, 2022•11 min
As the saying goes, "Never let a good crisis go to waste." While running a business during times of economic and/or societal crisis is difficult, these moments can also pose opportunities for many companies. David Wadhwani, who is the Chief Business Officer of Digital Media at Adobe and a venture partner at Greylock, outlines his top strategies for staying afloat during times of crises. This episode is an audio version of the essay David first published in April 2020, shortly after the Covid-19 ...
May 19, 2022•18 min
There are a million different ways things can go wrong when running a startup. Most founders learn the hard way. Frederic Kerrest’s experience was no different. The early days of Okta, which he co-founded with Todd McKinnon in 2009, were rife with challenges. From flawed go-to-market strategies and missed sales targets to struggles with hiring, Kerrest and McKinnon dealt with it all. On top of it all, it was in the midst of the Great Recession. That experience is why Kerrest wrote Zero to IPO, a...
May 17, 2022•56 min
How do you advance society as a whole while still making sound business decisions? Kenneth Chenault, the celebrated former chairman and CEO of American Express who is now an investor and board director, says, "If you really are thoughtful, you should be able to have a better economic model by doing good.” Chenault is also the co-founder of OneTen, a coalition of leading executives coming together to upskill, hire and advance one million Black Americans over the next 10 years. Kenneth joined Grey...
May 10, 2022•58 min
In today’s largely cloud-native world, having access to real world data is critical in order for organizations to derive meaning that drives innovation. Yet most organizations are still contending with inadequate tools that enable them to safely share, collaborate, and build with data. What’s more, many businesses lack the engineering resources to develop workarounds in the form of anonymized data sets or synthetic datasets that can be used to run powerful tests. Ali Golshan, the CEO and co-foun...
May 03, 2022•37 min
It remains very difficult to build end-to-end products that leverage machine learning for business impact. Baseten makes it fast, seamless, and serverless to build scalable, user-facing workflow integrated apps powered by AI. The company just launched with $20 million in seed and series A funding led by Greylock. Sarah Guo, a Greylock board partner and board member of Baseten, spoke with co-founder and CEO Tuhin Srivastava about the ways the company is helping businesses unlock the power and val...
Apr 26, 2022•28 min
This is an episode from Fungible Times, the Web3-focused podcast produced by Greylock crypto investors Christine Kim, and Mike Duboe, and Greylock board partner Sarah Guo. Sarah and Christine spoke with Chris Giancarlo, the former CFTC Chairman who is widely recognized as one of the most influential people in financial regulation. Giancarlo, who is known as "Cryoto Dad" for his father-like advocacy of cryptocurrency, was also a member of the US Financial Stability Oversight Committe as well as t...
Apr 25, 2022•49 min
The vastness of the internet, as an entity, can be difficult to put into perspective. Cloudflare, however, has a clear sense of its scope, as it handles roughly 20-percent of internet traffic. To frame it with another stat: More than 70 billion cyber attacks are stopped by Cloudflare each day. In this episode of Iconversations, Greylock’s Holly Rose Faith talks with Cloudflare Co-Founder, President, and COO Michelle Zatlyn about what it’s like to run a company that a massive constituent of users...
Apr 19, 2022•56 min
A re-broadcast of our episode featuring Obsidian Security CEO and co-founder Glenn Chisolm, whose company just raised $90 million in Series C funding. Chisolm spoke with Greylock general partner Sarah Guo and New York Times cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth in early 2021, shortly after the SolarWinds attack. In this conversation, they discuss the ever-evolving cybersecurity risk landscape and how businesses and governments can proactively protect their data. Learn more about your ad choices...
Apr 14, 2022•45 min
Google's first-ever SVP of Technology and Society James Manyika joins Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman for a discussion on the various ways technology impacts business, global economies, culture, and humankind. Manyika is a renowned expert in artificial intelligence, robotics, and globalization, and has been a highly-sought out advisor to many of the world's top tech companies. He spent nearly 30 years as an advisor at McKinsey Global and has held numerous board and consulting roles across ...
Apr 12, 2022•55 min
Greylock talent partner Holly Rose Faith, who works with startups to find, recruit, and place executive team members, outlines smart strategies to deploy when checking references. From having a plan of what you are looking to validate at the outset, to the specific questions depending on the role or stage of company, all hiring managers should go into referencing with a reliable, repeatable, formal system in place. This episode is part of Greylock's Brain Trust series. You can read a transcript ...
Apr 05, 2022•23 min
In recent years, there has been a seismic shift in the way software is built, distributed, and adopted. Rather than relying wholly on a traditional sales-led model, companies are empowering their communities of users, and as a result are among the fastest-growing organizations today. That’s why Common Room developed a platform to enable deeper engagement with those users. Launched last year, the company's tech is now available for anyone to try. Common Room CEO and co-founder Linda Lian discusse...
Mar 31, 2022•35 min
Greylock general partner Mike Duboe interviews Mike Smith, the co-founder of FootworkVC. Smith spent the past two decades developing and scaling consumer businesses. He was an early employee at Stitch Fix and helped grow the fledgling startup into a public company. Prior to Stitch Fix, Smith spent nine years at Walmart, where he managed the company's multichannel business and oversaw operations. He also serves on the boards of Ulta Beauty, Herman Miller, and Mayvenn among others. This interview ...
Mar 29, 2022•56 min
Keith Peiris and Henri Liriani join Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman to discuss the launch of Tome - a storytelling platform for work. Anything on the internet can be easily embedded in a Tome, including Figma prototypes, Airtable spreadsheets, YouTube videos, Tweets, and Gifs. Users can play with 3D models and interact with live data tables that update automatically. With dynamic pages and foolproof formatting, Tome adapts to what you want to say – not the other way around – allowing users...
Mar 23, 2022•28 min
Another special broadcast from the Fungible Times podcast, created and hosted by Greylock crypto investors Sarah Guo, Christine Kim, and Mike Duboe. On this episode, Magic Eden co-founders Jack and Zhuoxun talk about NFTs, gaming, mobile, and Solana. In less than 6 months, Magic Eden has risen to more than $1b USD in secondary trading volume and more than 95% share of the Solana ecosystem. Greylock is proud to be an investor in Magic Eden, which just raised $27M in Series A funding to accelerate...
Mar 16, 2022•38 min
More than half of the American workforce is paid hourly, and often work at jobs that must be performed in-person. Historically, however, this population has been left out of conversations about the future of work, and haven't benefitted from the significant technological improvements many other occupations have. Instawork is trying to change that. The flexible staffing platform connects businesses to local talent, and is generating some valuable data on the changing labor market in the meantime....
Mar 15, 2022•32 min
