From The Start

Today I'm joined by Robert Williams VP of software at Lab 126 of Amazon. Since he was a kid Rob has been fascinated by technology and taught himself to code. Before his current role at Amazon, he was CEO of Sidecar. Chief product officer at Keas Inc. Senior VP of music products at real networks, a father, avid skier and so much more.

Today I'm joined by Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, CMO at Mozilla. His impressive resume includes a B.A. in Psychology from Whittier College, before his time at Mozilla Jusha served as CMO for BitTorrent, CMO for Mindjet. He also serves as a board member At TEDx Marin, the board of Trustee for Whittier College and board of Trustee for The American Conservatory Theatre. He even co-hosts the podcast “This is your silicon valley life”! In addition to his busy schedule, Juscha makes time to volunteer and mentor with TheLastMile.org.

Blair Shane serves as Partner and Chief Marketing Officer at Sequoia Capital since September 2013. She has been an Associate Dean and Chief Marketing Officer at Stanford Graduate School of Business since January 2011. She was a Chief Marketing Officer at California Academy of Sciences, a Consultant at Kao and Co, Vice President, Marketing Planning and Integration and Chief of Staff to Chief Marketing Officer at Charles Schwab. She was a Marketing Director at Questium, Brand Manager at Time Dance, Assistant Marketing Manager at General Mills. She was a Management Trainee at The Franklin Templeton Group of Funds at July 1993 – August 1995. She was also a Founder and Development Chair at Hands on San Francisco. She holds a MBA in Marketing, Negotiation, Public Management from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in History from The Johns Hopkins University.

In this two-part launch series, we get a taste of what it takes to make it in silicon valley, from the start. Arde Farbod tells his life story and shares advice for lessons learned through his life. We hope you enjoy!