Valley Nordic

Send us a textThe episode is based on Chander's blogpost - https://cdoq.blogspot.com/2025/03/navigating-b2b-marketing.html

Send us a textThis episode is based on Chander's blogpost - Lessons for toddlers. 

Send us a textThis episode is based on Chander's blogpost - Art Extremes. It is shockingly good. Arne and I are not co-hosting this episode. 

Send us a textThe episode is generated from my blog post which has seven words :) Arne and I are not the cohosts for this episode. 

Send us a textThe episode is based on Chander's blogpost: https://cdoq.blogspot.com/2024/10/getting-ready-for-ipo.htmlArne and Chander are not the cohosts on this episode. 

Send us a textThis is episode is based on Chander's blogpost: https://cdoq.blogspot.com/2019/03/thoughts-from-thinking-weekend.htmlArne and Chander are not the cohosts for this episode. Enjoy! 

Send us a textThis is episode is based on Chander's blogpost: https://cdoq.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-rapid-evolution-of-robotics.htmlArne and I are not the cohosts for this episode. Enjoy! 

Send us a textNotebookLM created this episode based on Chander's blogpost titled - Wisdom from a new friend. 

Send us a textThis episode is NotebookLM interpretation of Chander's blogpost on building alignment: https://cdoq.blogspot.com/2024/05/building-alignment-as-executive.htmlArne and I are not the co-hosts on this episode:) 

We discuss: 1. State of the energy markets in Europe and why the prices are going up. 2. How does the electricity grid work?3. How does the energy pricing work in Europe (excluding gas/petrol)?4. Opportunity for startups in the energy markets. 

We are back after a long summer break. In this episode we get inside Arne's box of B2B SaaS and discuss CAC, LTV, Payback period, and other financial metrics. 

We reflect on the last 99 episodes by reviewing the podcast stats, guests who honored us,  and the 27 companies we analyzed in the last ~4 years. 

What is deglobalization? Why is it happening? What does it mean for startups? 

We segment the Metaverse into three categories: 1. Metaverse that requires new hardware to be worn by users (VR headsets, AR glasses, etc.) 2. Metaverse that does not require new hardware but requires crypto (NFTs, wallets, etc.)3. Metaverse that neither requires new hardware nor cryptoWe apply Rogers innovation adoption model to each of the segments to understand if they can have mass adoption. 

Elon Musk buying Twitter has been talk of the town in Silicon Valley for the last few days. Arne and I discuss what's happening and why. Chander's blogpost from 2009 on Twitter's potential. 

HP which makes PCs and printers acquires a company, Poly (Plantronics + Polycom), that makes headphones, conference room phones, and cameras. We wonder why. 

We discuss Chander's forbes article on management which offers a new framework for looking at management. The framework has four dimensions: 1. Domain Management 2. Organizational Management 3. Perception Management 4. Feelings Management 

We discuss top three sectors for new sovereign investments influenced by the current Russia Ukraine war: 1. Energy 2. Defence (Cyber, Weapons, Surveillance) 3.  Increased self-reliance (Money, Food) 

We discuss what is Web3 (and Web 3.0). How it came about? And, the debate associated with it. Links to the articles we referenced in the episode: 1. Semantic web 2. Moxie Marlinspike on Web33. David Rosenthal on Crypto 

We kickoff season 4 with a discussion on what's happening in the financial markets in 2022. 

We evaluate the trends we have been tracking since 2019. See the trends here. This is our final episode of 2021. We will be back on January 27th, 2022. 

We discuss Netflix's entry into games and pontificate on why they would do that. 

We discuss: 1. The traditional Venture Capital (VC) business model 2. Why the VC is changing and what changes Sequoia is making 3. Implications for entrepreneurs and for the business of managing money Useful links Sequoia announcement 

We discuss: 1. Amplitude's products and business (what does the company do?)2. Amplitude's history (started as Sonalight)3. Direct listing vs. traditional IPO (why Amplitude chose direct listing)4. Amplitude's valuation and future prospects Useful links 1. Amplitude S1 

We discuss the Ethereum blockchain and ETH, a cryptocurrency:Ethereum vs. Bitcoin Proof of work vs. proof of stake consensus mechanism on blockchainsEthereum plan to migrate to a proof of stake consensus mechanismEthereum's London update

We are excited to have Mike Polacek as a guest of honor on this episode. Mike is one of the few business leaders who has run large tech businesses and has been a professional investor in public companies. We dig deeper into the how building semiconductor business is different than building a SaaS business, complexity, Moore's law, and many other interesting subjects related to tech businesses. I enjoyed my conversation with Mike and hope that you will enjoy it as well. 

Quick Commerce and its history Venture Capital flowing to Quick Commerce in Europe How Quick Commerce might evolve 

We discuss the emergence of new companies like Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna which are popularizing the idea of Point of Sale financing i.e. when you are buying something you can choose to pay later. We tried to have structured conversation today:) What is BNPLHistory of BNPLWhy is it happening nowHow does it work Who are the players Future of BNPL 

We discuss the recent Chinese government investigations of Chinese tech companies like Alibaba, Didi, etc. Is it good governance and China is leading the world in regulating tech or is it a way to gain more control for the government?

Three unique things about Robinhood IPO, growth numbers,  and a discussion on its business and financials. Useful links: 1. Robinhood S12. Why Chander is not participating in the Robinhood IPO

We discuss:1. Space tech market and segments 2. Why some space tech market segments are not suitable for venture investments 3. What are the drivers of space tech

We discuss: 1. Why startups need boards2. How the role of the board changes as the company evolves 3. Types of board members 4. Common mistakes CEOs and board members make when they work together 

We discuss: 1. What are CBDCs? 2. State of CBDC in China3. Benefits of CBDC 

We discuss what is the current chip supply and demand situation, why it happened, and how the countries and companies are trying to solve the chip supply problem. 

We discuss: 1. What is Clubhouse?2. Why Clubhouse it getting popular now?3. Discussion on the future of Clubhouse. Let us know if you need an invite to join Clubhouse. 

1. What are NFTs?2. Why are they in the news? 3. What new opportunities become possible because of NFTs? You can buy the NFT for our blockchain episode (S1E3) here :)

We discuss Roblox's history, business, and its upcoming IPO. Useful links:Roblox S1

We discuss the latest phenomenon of retail investing that caused GameStop stock to go up more than 2,000% in a few weeks.

We discuss Tesla's origins (spoiler alert - Elon Musk is not the founder) and its evolution. We also debate its current valuation of ~$800B.

Happy New Year! We are back with our new biweekly and shorter episodes schedule. We start the year with reviewing the history of Virtual Reality (VR) and discussing its barriers to mass adoption.

In our season 2 finale, we review the 2020 trends we had identified in Season 1 finale. See the trends here. You can find the Morgan Stanley report on Private Equity here. We will be back on January 14th, 2021 on biweekly basis. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

We have a guest on the podcast this week, David Krieger, who is back with us after a year. David and I discuss fundamentals of embedded systems and his experience in designing them. Useful links: 1. David Krieger on LinkedIn 2. Embedded Systems

We discuss the recent S1 (a required document to be filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a private company to raise money in the public markets like NYSE or Nasdaq) filing by Airbnb to public in the US. Useful link:Airbnb S1S1 definition

This week, we are delighted to have a guest on the podcast, Joanna Jones, Founder & CEO of InterQ Research. Joanna and Chander discuss User Research and why the qualitative methods are necessary to complement quantitative methods. Useful links: 1. Joanna's LinkedIn profile 2. InterQ Research

We discuss how the US elections have caused the tech stocks to go up. We get deeper into California Prop 22 (a ballot measure by ridesharing and food delivery companies to change the law about classifying their drivers as employees and stopping them from forming a union). Useful links:1. Prop 22 2. Direct Democracy

We discuss the unique nature of Ant Group IPO which is going to be the world's largest IPO ever. Ant Group which has 700M+ users is raising >$34B in the IPO at a valuation of >$300B. Ant Group is a spinoff of Alibaba and has a special relationship with the Chinese government. Useful Links:1. Ant Group 2. Ant Group IPO filing documents

This week, Depart of Justice (DOJ) and 11 State Attorney Generals in the US filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google. We discuss the intricacies and history of these type of lawsuits. Useful Links: 1. DOJ Workshop at Stanford 2. DOJ Google Lawsuit press release

We discuss a new IPO market in Norway and other innovative IPO strategies. 2020 has turned out to be the most innovative year for finance.

We discuss Google's launch of new smartphones - Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5, new video streaming device - Chromecast, and new smart speaker - Nest Audio.

We experiment with a shorter episode ( < 30 minutes). Spotify co-founder, Daniel Ek, made an announcement last week that he will invest ~$1.2B in deep tech in Europe. This prompted us to discuss what deep tech investing is and how it is different between the US and Europe.Useful links: 1. Daniel Ek announcement at Slush

How we develop products continues to evolve as new technologies get commercialized. Products that work with Machine Learning (ML) models require a new way of thinking to launch and improve products. The agile/lean approach does not work with ML. We discuss how product managers will have to develop products differently with ML.