Podcast appearances and mentions of Ben Casnocha

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Ben Casnocha

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Best podcasts about Ben Casnocha

Latest podcast episodes about Ben Casnocha

Venture Stories
Abhay Parasnis on Creating Moats, AI Strategy, and Selling to Enterprise

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2025 47:45


Abhay Parasnis is founder and CEO of Typeface, is former CTO/CPO at Adobe, and sits on the board of Dropbox and Schneider Electric. He joined Ben Casnocha, co-founder and partner at Village Global, for a live masterclass for Village Global founders.Takeaways:If you can break into the top tier of the enterprise market, it's hard to dislodge you.Big platforms like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI are eager to prove their tech's power. If you position your startup as a prime showcase for their platform, you become a strategic asset.When selling to enterprise, understand the company's macro strategy in the market, but also know what the on-the-ground person needs to close deals.With the rise of agents and agentic automation, even the workflow layer isn't safe. As these systems gain richer context, they'll redefine automation in SaaS. Just like today's platform vs. app debate, tomorrow's battle will be legacy workflows vs. agents.Success in AI isn't just about top-tier products—it's about being a consultative partner to help them with change management.There's a common fear about embracing a custom data training strategy — it's expensive, complex, and feels like the domain of big players. But starting narrow and accumulating distinct data early is key. It drives real AI differentiation and builds critical internal muscle in engineering and product.Value-based pricing means customers are less price-sensitive because it ties directly to their top-line business, unlike commodity pricing, which faces constant cost pressure. Instead of charging per word, image, or seat—models that AI disrupts—pricing should align with outcomes, ensuring long-term sustainability.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

HBR On Strategy
Strategies for Managing Talent Amid Uncertainty and Competition

HBR On Strategy

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 8, 2025 21:20


In the last half century, relationships between employers and their employees have evolved away from being rooted in long-term loyalty to a new paradigm of short-term alliances driven by uncertainty and competition. Entrepreneurs and coauthors Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh argue that the new world of work isn't so different from the typical conditions that many entrepreneurs operate in. And if you're a manager, you may need a new strategy to hire and retain top talent. Casnocha and Yeh, coauthors of the book The Startup of You, explain why it's important for your organization to build internal and external employee networks—and how to get started if you don't already have those groups in place informally. Key episode topics include: strategy, entrepreneurship, talent management. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world's top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. · Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Talent Strategies for the Post-Loyalty World (2013)· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org]]>

Venture Stories
Eynat Guez of Papaya Global on Mastering Enterprise Sales and Building Long-Term Partnerships

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2024 55:36


Eynat Guez, founder and CEO of Papaya Global, was interviewed by Ben Casnocha, co-founder and partner at Village Global, during this masterclass for Village Global founders.Takeaways:Show up to key meetings as the founder or executive team — don't just send the sales team. It signals to the client that you're personally invested and committed to making the deal a success.Avoid being overly optimistic about where prospects stand. Serious signals include active texting, detailed questions about implementation, security questionnaires, and the involvement of additional stakeholders.Be strategic about progressing meetings: PowerPoint to articulate vision, Excel for financials, and Word for legal details.Build strong relationships with junior VCs as well as partners — they can provide introductions, market intelligence, and future opportunities as they advance in their careers.Building relationships with clients shouldn't stop after the deal closes. Ongoing check-ins help position your company as a long-term partner, not just a vendor.Leaders should periodically dive deep into 2-3 departments or processes each quarter to challenge assumptions and drive innovation.Engage with junior employees or frontline staff for fresh perspectives — their insights are often more candid than those of seasoned executives.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Venture Stories
Auren Hoffman and Ben Casnocha on Career Strategy, Undiscovered Talent, Networks, and more

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2024 58:01


Auren Hoffman, CEO of SafeGraph and GP of Flex Capital, interviewed Ben Casnocha, Village Global co-founder and partner, on Auren's World of DaaS podcast. They are longtime friends and had a wide-ranging discussion on career strategy, evaluating founders, serendipity, wealth, and much more. We've cross-posted that conversation here.Highlights:The relevance of what you know vs. who you know has been a debate in the career strategy space for decades. Ben believes that the “what you know” is often dependent on the “who you know” because with the advent of the internet, public information is accessible to all but the insights that live in the heads of the smartest people are not shared widely and require a personal relationship with someone to be able to access that information.Talent spotting is about finding value in the unexpected and recognizing the strengths in those who may not fit the typical mold. Sometimes people who have clear and obvious flaws in one area are overlooked by people who can't see the brilliance beyond that particular flaw.Certain seasons of life are good for maximizing for serendipity and taking random coffee meetings. The key is to know what season of life you are in and whether it's better in the long-term at that moment to be maximizing for serendipity or not. The pendulum will swing back around at some point.There's a certain level of wealth where your wealth actually starts to detract from your level of happiness. Sometimes people are better served by aiming for a lower level of wealth in order to maximize for happiness.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Venture Stories
Howie Liu on Airtable's Early Days, Scaling, and AI

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2024 61:18


Howie Liu, founder and CEO of Airtable, was interviewed by Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha live in downtown San Francisco in front of an audience of Village Global founders and friends of the firm.Highlights:- Embracing discomfort is part of the founder's journey. Learning to tolerate and even appreciate this discomfort is important. - Making decisions when you feel "almost ready" rather than waiting for perfect readiness is often necessary.- It's crucial to understand the underlying problems customers are trying to solve, not just their feature requests. Founders should resist the temptation to become "feature checklist machines" and instead focus on core problems.- There's growing fatigue around AI hype in enterprises. Successful AI implementation requires focusing on specific, valuable use cases rather than broad promises.- Airtable spent 2.5 years building their initial product, focusing on creating a platform rather than just a simple collaboration tool. They balanced building a horizontal platform with targeted use case marketing to appeal to different users.- It's crucial to understand the context and biases of advice-givers, no matter how successful they are. Having strong conviction in your vision, while being open to feedback, is essential for success.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

World of DaaS
Ben Casnocha - Flaws as Assets: Unconventional Talent Spotting

World of DaaS

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2024 57:25


Ben Casnocha is a cofounder and partner at Village Global, an early-stage venture capital firm backed by tech luminaries including Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg. He was also chief of staff to Reid Hoffman and co-authored two best selling books with him, “The Alliance” and “The Startup of You.” In this episode of World of DaaS, Ben and Auren discuss: Approaching your career as a startupEvaluating founder qualityWhether networking is overrated or underratedThe optimal level of wealth for happinessLooking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and follow us on X @worldofdaas.  You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Ben Casnocha on X at @bencasnocha.Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)

Venture Stories
Guillermo Rauch on AI, Scaling Vercel, and The Future of Web Apps

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 16, 2024 56:11


Guillermo Rauch is founder and CEO of Vercel, a company that provides the developer tools and cloud infrastructure to build, scale, and secure a faster, more personalized web. He was interviewed by Ben Casnocha, co-founder and general partner at Village Global, an early stage venture capital firm backed by some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs.Takeaways:- Any modern cloud-native app is a nexus of services that all work together to create a coherent interface for the user. For example, Auth0 handles login, Stripe handles billing, React is used for the interface, among many more services all working in concert. Vercel helps ensure that the user has an amazing experience no matter what services are all working together on the back end.- Guillermo tells the story of open source Unix winning out over proprietary versions of Linux, even though the proprietary versions had an early lead. He suggests that over the long term, open source will win, more often than not, and that the same story will likely play out when it comes to AI models, with open source models winning out in the end.- When it comes to investing, Guillermo loves to bet on someone who has been obsessed with a topic for years and years. He recounts the story of the Auth0 team who had written books and given talks and spent years of their lives just on logging in and logging out. He also says that he prefers a leadership team that lives and breathes a company's problem space. He says that he's allergic to the idea of a professional leadership team swooping in at a certain stage.- Rauch was born and raised in Argentina. He says that he has a sense of urgency and that tomorrow is not promised that stems from his childhood experience growing up in Argentina. He tells the story of Mark Zuckerberg keeping the Sun Microsystems logo on the back of the Facebook sign at their headquarters when they moved in to cultivate a sense that tomorrow is not promised to anyone.- Guillermo believes in giving his team leads radical ownership of their products. He provides the leads with frameworks that explain clear principles for how they build products at Vercel but beyond that he gives the leads a long leash and a sense of ownership over the product.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Venture Stories
Encore: Secrets of Public Speaking and Oral Communication from Renowned Speaking Coach

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 12, 2024 42:20


Michael Balaoing, founder of Candlelion, joins Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha on this episode to discuss:- The importance of the acronym WTF (what's the feeling?) when you're giving a presentation.- The four roles that you take on as a speaker: captain, pilot, guide, and game show host.- The five questions to ask when seeking feedback on a presentation.- How to keep the audience engaged throughout a talk, not just during the Q&A at the end.- How to bake stories into your presentations and remix your talks for different audiences.- The keys to virtual communication.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

10X Growth Strategies
E78 - The Startup of You (Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha) with Preetha Ram

10X Growth Strategies

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2024 28:40


In this episode, our host Preethy Padmanabhan had a candid and insightful discussion about the book “The Startup of You”, with Preetha Ram, Managing Partner at Pier70 Ventures. Check out the episode and gain valuable tips on how to 10X your career.  "The Startup of You" by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha is a guidebook for adapting the principles of entrepreneurship to personal career development. It emphasizes treating your career as a dynamic, ever-evolving startup. The authors advocate taking calculated risks, building valuable relationships, and continuously investing in your skills and adaptability. They stress the significance of embracing uncertainty and seizing opportunities for growth and innovation. Ultimately, the book encourages readers to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset to thrive in today's rapidly changing professional landscape.

Venture Stories
Encore: Brad Feld on What Nietzsche Can Teach Entrepreneurs

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2024 50:09


Brad Feld (@bfeld), VC at Foundry Group and co-author with Dave Jilk of The Entrepreneur's Weekly Nietzsche, joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha to discuss:- Common misconceptions about Nietzsche and why being misunderstood makes him an especially interesting philosopher. - What Nietzsche can teach entrepreneurs deciding whether to pivot or persevere. Brad says that founders should view their entrepreneurial journey not in terms of a single company, but as the next 30-50 years of their life.- Why Brad hates the term “passion” and says it's overused in entrepreneurial circles.- Why to focus more on whether someone's words and actions line up rather than the strength of their beliefs.- The lessons that Brad has for making decisions among groups today given Nietzsche's aphorism that “insanity in individuals is rare, but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule.”Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Venture Stories
How to Nail Product-Market Fit and Scale a B2B Company with Thejo Kote of Airbase

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2024 57:45


Thejo Kote (@thejo) talks to Village partner Ben Casnocha. Thejo is a two-time founder and CEO. His current company, Airbase, is a spend management platform serving companies with 100 and 5,000 employees like Coda, 15Five, Front, Marqueta, CaptivateIQ, Abnormal, and more. Airbase has raised over $200 million, has tens of millions in ARR, and is consistently ranked as a top spend management company by G2.Highlights:- Rather than jumping into building Airbase, he built high-fidelity mockups and went back to prospective customers and asked if they'd buy it to “pre-sell” it.- In B2B, build for a specific, recognizable buyer. You want to sell to a specific role within the org who will be your champion. Ideally this is someone who also has influence within the org.- Select the kinds of customers who aren't likely to switch in the early days. Team with early customers who actually want to be partners and are motivated by the relationship. Flatter them by asking: “are there any other innovative, forward-thinking leaders you know who I should also talk to?”- 6-8 months later after proving value and showing they could be a good partner, he said “hey, I want to get your feedback on our pricing model. Is this fair for the next set of customers?” 100% of the customers converted when he asked if they were willing to opt in to the pricing structure with a significant discount for their initial partnership.- When hiring salespeople, Thejo focuses more on personality traits rather than prior experience selling to the same segment. Also, if candidates are drawn to the liquid comp at a large, public company, they're likely going to have a hard time transitioning to a startup. Find people who have been comfortable taking risks.- Airbase is fully remote and Thejo doesn't think in terms of onshore vs. offshore within the company because that instantly creates a class system. Anyone anywhere in the world is part of their single, remote team, which has the internet as its headquarters. Each member of the team is “equitably inconvenienced” in his words.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Venture Stories
Encore: Cloudflare Co-Founder Michelle Zatlyn's Advice on Hiring, Fundraising, Scaling, and more

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2024 50:26


Michelle Zatlyn (@zatlyn), co-founder, president, and COO of Cloudflare, joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha for a masterclass with our founders in late 2020. They discussed: - The origin story of Cloudflare, including how the co-founders met, and how Michelle realized that she too could start a company. - Her advice on fundraising after raising more than $300M for Cloudflare, including why you should keep the rest of the VC partnership in mind, and how to show rather than tell in your pitch. - How they found the best talent, including why their blog brought them plenty of inbound interest, and why searching far and wide around the globe for engineers helped them build their team quickly. - Why they don't use recruiters at Cloudflare. - How to turn a weakness into a strength. - How to process feedback and when it makes sense to ignore it. - Stories of extreme frugality in the early days of the company, including building their own Ikea desks. - How an emotional response by customers helped them know they had product-market fit. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.  Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal. Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Venture Stories
Encore: Mark Pincus on Product Management, Raising Capital, and Building Zynga

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2024 70:17


This encore episode is a recording of a special event where Mark Pincus (@markpinc) was interviewed by Ben Casnocha in San Francisco in front of a live audience of portfolio founders, friends of the firm, and LPs.Mark is co-founder and Executive Chairman of Zynga, and is an angel investor in Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and other companies. He talked about about raising venture capital, his philosophy of product management, the early days at Zynga, and much more. He also took time at the event to meet with Village Global founders to give them his advice on growing their companies. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Venture Stories
Encore: Jerry Yang on Yahoo!, Early-Stage Investing, and China

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2024 56:18


Jerry originally joined us on the podcast in 2019. He is co-founder of Yahoo! and founding partner of AME Cloud Ventures. He was interviewed in front of a live audience in San Francisco by Village Global co-founder and partner, Ben Casnocha.Jerry told stories from the early days of Yahoo! and explained his lessons learned from the experience. He also talked about what American entrepreneurs can learn from China and his thoughts on early stage investing. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Venture Stories
Reference Checking and Personality Assessments with Investor Graham Duncan

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 22, 2023 51:26


Graham Duncan (@GrahamDuncanNYC) is a longtime investor and author of a legendary essay on reference checking: https://grahamduncan.blog/whats-going-on-here/ He was interviewed by Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha (@bencasnocha) during a special masterclass for Village Global founders and friends of the firm. Takeaways:- Be aware of how your own mindset and mood affects your analysis of a candidate as well as how it impacts how the candidate shows up in the interview. For example, you might be anxious and stressed yourself and that makes the candidate nervous — you may end up experiencing them as nervous, but in fact you are the one that has created that dynamic in the interview.- Ask the candidate: “If you were hiring someone to fill this role, what criteria would you use?” When someone is particularly good, they are skilled at capturing the essence of what makes someone good at it. This also lets you see how they respond without initial priming and framing.- The ideal reference check call should take longer than you might think (e.g. 45+ mins). You sometimes need to wear them down over a long period of time before they open up about their real concerns.- If you aren't aware of or can't imagine the downside of working with this person, you haven't done enough reference checking.- Ask: “How strong is your endorsement of Jane on a scale of 1-10? (If they answer 7, say actually sorry 7s are not allowed, 6 or 8? If the answer is an 8, ‘What is in that two points?')” - When someone comes from a prestigious company, we often fail to control for the weight that the reputation of the company carries when we form our impression of them.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Conversations with Tyler
Celebrating Marginal Revolution's 20th Anniversary

Conversations with Tyler

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2023 58:56


When Alex Tabarrok and Tyler Cowen launched Marginal Revolution in August of 2003, they saw attracting a few thousand academic-minded readers as a runaway success. To their astonishment, the blog soon eclipsed that goal, and within a decade had become one of the most widely read economics blogs in the world. Just as remarkably, the blog maintained its relevance in its second decade, bringing in a new generation of readers without a dip in the pace or quality of the posts. As Alex and Tyler jest, only the onset of senility could possibly rein them in. To mark MR's entrance into its third decade, long-time readers Ben Casnocha, Vitalik Buterin, and Jeff Holmes joined Alex and Tyler to talk about MR's legacy, including the golden age of blogging in the mid-2000s, the decline of independent blogs and the rise of social media, why Tyler usually has a post at 1 AM, the consistent design of the site, the peak of the blogosphere in the Great Recession, the robust community—and even marriage—forged through MR, the site's most underrated feature, Alex and Tyler's favorite commenters, how MR catalyzed separate real-world pandemic responses by each of them, the cessation of book clubs, Alex and Tyler's distinct writing style, iconic MR memes, what's happened to Tyrone, whether the site's popularity has tempted them into self-censoring, why it was Alex and Tyler who paired up amongst the other Mason econ bloggers, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.  Recorded August 5th, 2023. Other ways to connect Follow us on X and Instagram Follow Tyler on X Follow Alex on X Follow Ben on X Follow Vitalik on X Follow Jeff on X Join our Discord Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here. Photo credit: Lathan Goumas/Office of Communications and Marketing at GMU

Venture Stories
The Startup of You: Navigating Status Dynamics, Name Dropping, and Lessons on Hustle

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2023 22:28


Ben Casnocha (@bencasnocha) and Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman) are co-authors of The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career. In the book, they look at the best of Silicon Valley startups and derive entrepreneurial principles that can transform the career of any professional across all industries. They revised and updated the book for the new world of work in 2022 and released a podcast series about it which you can listen to at thestartupofyou.com.This episode of the Village Global podcast shares a few select segments from the Startup of You podcast relevant to founders, investors, and anyone working in tech.They discuss:- Hustle, and investor Chris Sacca's creative way of getting his foot in the door when he was first starting out in his career.- Name dropping. Your network is a key part of your career. If you have a powerful person in your network you might be eager to let others know that, but they talk about how to let others know about your network thoughtfully and with tact.- Navigating status. Like it or not, status matters. We talk about how status dynamics play out in the workplace and how you can skillfully navigate them.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Venture Stories
The Startup of You: How To Reference Check, Taking Smart Risks, and Lessons from Airbnb

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2023 26:26


Ben Casnocha (@bencasnocha) and Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman) are co-authors of The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career. In the book, they look at the best of Silicon Valley startups and derive entrepreneurial principles that can transform the career of any professional across all industries. They revised and updated the book for the new world of work in 2022 and released a podcast series about it which you can listen to at thestartupofyou.com. This episode of the Village Global podcast shares a few select segments from the Startup of You podcast relevant to founders, investors, and anyone working in tech. They discuss: - How the founders of Airbnb were relentlessly resourceful and hustled to overcome hundreds of rejections when they first conceived of the business that today is worth tens of billions of dollars. - Reference checking — why it's important and how to do it well. - Risk — why we're evolutionarily wired to overestimate the risks involved in a given decision, why it's important to take smart risks, and a few frameworks for thinking more rationally about them. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal. Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Thoughts in Between: exploring how technology collides with politics, culture and society

Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha are the co-authors of The Startup of You, which explores how to adapt, take risks, grow your network and transform your career. Reid was co-founder of LinkedIn and a partner at Greylock. He sits on the boards of a number of organisations including Microsoft, OpenAI and, of course, my company Entrepreneur First. Ben is an investor, entrepreneur and writer and is one of the founders of Village Global, a venture capital firm. As well as their book, which I recommend, they have an accompanying podcast, also called the Startup of You. In this conversation we discuss why careers are like startups, what you can give Bill Gates that he can't buy, how to do extremely effective referencing and much more.-----------------Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Outthinkers
#51—Ben Casnocha: Embracing Your Inner Entrepreneur

Outthinkers

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2022 20:56


Ben Casnocha is an entrepreneur and cofounder of Village Global, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has funded hundreds of startups and the co-author, with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, of The Start-Up of You: Adapt, Take Risks, Grow your Network, and Transform Your Career. He delivers keynote speeches on business and globalization and has appeared on CBS's The Early Show, CNN, and CNBC. He is the coauthor of the New York Times bestselling management book The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age (with LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman and entrepreneur Chris Yeh). He started and scaled several ventures, including an e-government software company (Comcate) that currently delivers hosted CRM solutions to hundreds of local governments in America, an online education business, and a top tier boutique management training business. In this podcast, he shares: His view on what the future of work will look like, and why embracing randomness and building your network will become ever more important Why we should stop thinking of employees as “family” or “free agents” but rather as allies on a “tour of duty” Whether we are experiencing today a true shift in the nature of the employer-employee contract, or whether the pendulum will swing back __________________________________________________________________________________________"One of the new terms is the concept of portfolio careers because we realized that in the last 10 years, there are so many people who don't just have one job. Their career is stitched together, different a lot of writers and speakers and consultants run this at the high end. And at the low end, it's gig workers and everywhere in between. And so people are stitching together kind of braiding the modern career together in a way that's very different than the 40-hour-a-week company man." -Ben Casnocha__________________________________________________________________________________________Episode Timeline:00:00—Introducing Ben + The topic of today's episode1:51—If you really know me you know that...2:13—What is your definition of strategy?2:54—Could you tell us about your book, The Startup of You?5:44—What do you think has changed in the job market that prompted you to change the title of your book from the first to the second edition?7:41—Can you tell us about how leadership has changed from authority to creating followership?9:24—What are the implications of your insights into how hiring consequently changes because of these insights?10:50—What are your thoughts of how the average tenure of CEOs has changed in the last 10 years to be much shorter?12:58—Do you believe that the shift of power from the employer to the employee is permanent or will swing back at some point?16:36—Could you talk to us about your idea of luck?18:38—What put you on the path of entrepreneurship that led you to Village Global, your venture capital firm?20:13—Where can people follow you and your work?__________________________________________________________________________________________Additional Resources: Personal Page: https://casnocha.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/bencasnochaBooks: https://casnocha.com/booksVillage Global Site: https://www.villageglobal.vc/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencasnocha

Outthinkers
#51—Ben Casnocha: Embracing Your Inner Entrepreneur

Outthinkers

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2022 20:56


Ben Casnocha is an entrepreneur and cofounder of Village Global, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has funded hundreds of startups and the co-author, with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, of The Start-Up of You: Adapt, Take Risks, Grow your Network, and Transform Your Career. He delivers keynote speeches on business and globalization and has appeared on CBS's The Early Show, CNN, and CNBC. He is the coauthor of the New York Times bestselling management book The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age (with LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman and entrepreneur Chris Yeh). He started and scaled several ventures, including an e-government software company (Comcate) that currently delivers hosted CRM solutions to hundreds of local governments in America, an online education business, and a top tier boutique management training business. In this podcast, he shares: His view on what the future of work will look like, and why embracing randomness and building your network will become ever more important Why we should stop thinking of employees as “family” or “free agents” but rather as allies on a “tour of duty” Whether we are experiencing today a true shift in the nature of the employer-employee contract, or whether the pendulum will swing back __________________________________________________________________________________________"One of the new terms is the concept of portfolio careers because we realized that in the last 10 years, there are so many people who don't just have one job. Their career is stitched together, different a lot of writers and speakers and consultants run this at the high end. And at the low end, it's gig workers and everywhere in between. And so people are stitching together kind of braiding the modern career together in a way that's very different than the 40-hour-a-week company man." -Ben Casnocha__________________________________________________________________________________________Episode Timeline:00:00—Introducing Ben + The topic of today's episode1:51—If you really know me you know that...2:13—What is your definition of strategy?2:54—Could you tell us about your book, The Startup of You?5:44—What do you think has changed in the job market that prompted you to change the title of your book from the first to the second edition?7:41—Can you tell us about how leadership has changed from authority to creating followership?9:24—What are the implications of your insights into how hiring consequently changes because of these insights?10:50—What are your thoughts of how the average tenure of CEOs has changed in the last 10 years to be much shorter?12:58—Do you believe that the shift of power from the employer to the employee is permanent or will swing back at some point?16:36—Could you talk to us about your idea of luck?18:38—What put you on the path of entrepreneurship that led you to Village Global, your venture capital firm?20:13—Where can people follow you and your work?__________________________________________________________________________________________Additional Resources: Personal Page: https://casnocha.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/bencasnochaBooks: https://casnocha.com/booksVillage Global Site: https://www.villageglobal.vc/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencasnocha

Portfolio Career Podcast
Book Review: The Startup of You v2

Portfolio Career Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2022 20:29


Do you want to think and act in your career like entrepreneurs do? Consider reading The Startup of You book. This episode is a summary of a 2022 updated version of this book written by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha. The latest version includes how having a Portfolio Career is viable these days, and how to think about it. In this episode, I share and discuss Portfolio Career insights and other top ideas from the book. Excited for you to build and grow your Portfolio Career!As always, this episode with notes is available on my website.Connect with David on Twitter!

Venture Stories
The PayPal Story: What can we learn from the journey of Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, Reid Hoffman, David Sacks, and others?

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2022 19:15


Jimmy Soni (@jimmyasoni), author of The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley, joins Ben Casnocha on this episode to discuss:- How diversity and variety of backgrounds and opinions helped PayPal become successful.- The fact that PayPal's leading product was not solving a problem that they had set out to solve, but rather a problem they discovered along the way.- The importance of sitting with your customers and really understanding their perspective and their problems.- What he learned about Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, and David Sacks.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel
Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha on The Startup of You

Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2022 30:01


Social media pioneer and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman joins Jessi alongside his co-author of The Startup of You, entrepreneur and investor Ben Casnocha, for a conversation about the future of work and the value of treating a career like a startup. This episode was recorded live at LinkedIn's New York City Studios on May 5, 2022. Follow host Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn Follow guests Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha on LinkedIn  Join the Hello Monday community: Subscribe to the Hello Monday newsletter, and join us on the LinkedIn News page each week for Hello Monday Office Hours, Wednesdays at 3p ET. 

Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar
Ep 36: Jeff Teper on the Post-Covid Workplace

Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2022 71:27


Big tech is in the spotlight these days, but Microsoft keeps a low profile. It has escaped the flak while shaping the post-Covid world. Company veteran Jeff Teper joins Vasant Dhar in episode 36 of Brave New World to explain their vision for the future, and to share his views on Web 3.0. And oh, by the way -- Teams is the nascent Metaverse. Useful resources: 1. Jeff Teper at Stern and Twitter. 2. Aswath Damodaran on Investing -- Episode 33 of Brave New World. 3. The Product Book -- Josh Anon with Carlos González de Villaumbrosia. 4. Jaime Teevan at Microsoft. 5. The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age -- Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh. 6. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success -- Carol S Dweck. 7. Accidental Empires -- Robert X Cringely.

Grateful Living
Chris Yeh, Investor and Co-Author of Blitzscaling, on his Personal and Professional Life Journey EP102

Grateful Living

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 28, 2022 103:08


Chris Yeh is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, investor, father, and author. As a venture capitalist, Chris is a partner at Blitzscaling Ventures, a fund directing investments to the fastest-growing startups. As an author, Chris is best known for The Alliance with co-authors Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha (this was a NY-Times best seller), and for Blitzscaling co-authored with Reid Hoffman (which was one of Amazon's top 20 business and leadership books of 2018). In this interview, we talk about: - Chris's early life - being a child prodigy and starting his Stanford undergrad education at 15 - Chris's early professional career working at D.E. Shaw and meeting his wife in Boston - Going to Harvard Business School for his MBA - Chris's business journey after his MBA - including starting his own venture TargetFirst and being the CEO of Ustream - Chris's writing and author journey and becoming a NYT Bestselling Author - Chris's venture capital journey including be a founding partner at Blitzscaling Ventures Chris's Socials: Website: https://chrisyeh.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisyeh?lang=en Grateful Living Info: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bo0LHtRJJNJBUYIceg27w Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hn4ttttmbWfVqAhWh4Jhi Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1503185956 My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aroy81547/?hl=en Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gratefulliving4 Medium: https://gratefulliving4.medium.com/ Time Stamps: 0:00 Intro 0:53 Chris's childhood background 3:05 You were a young child prodigy in terms of your intellectual ability, where do you think that came from? 9:55 Do you think you were able to emotionally develop despite starting at Stanford at 15? 13:40 Any advice on making the most of your college experience? 20:44 Any advice on choosing your first job out of college? 24:40 What made you go to Harvard Business School? 27:40 Were you intimidated by people at Stanford or HBS? 29:45 Any advice on making the most of the MBA experience? 31:30 Talk about your start-up Target First 34:23 Any advice on the fundraising process for an entrepreneur? 38:07 Thoughts on mental health for entrepreneurs 41:29 Can you talk about Porthos Consulting? 46:12 How did you manage your personal life despite being career driven? 50:05 How did fatherhood change you? 52:44 Did you lose professional drive after becoming a father? 1:00:43 What was AthenaWorks? 1:03:26 PB works 1:05:19 Experience at UStream 1:06:46 Writing the Book Alliance with Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha 1:08:36 Advice on job searches 1:10:30 Thoughts on Great Resignation 1:11:10 How did you guys think of co-writing? 1:15:20 How was the co-writing execution? 1:17:16 What does it mean to you to be a NYT bestselling author? 1:18:30 Takeaways from Blitzscaling book 1:20:21 Can you talk about the concept of growing into other markets? 1:21:54 How do you know the right metrics? 1:23:54 How do you maintain culture while growing fast? 1:25:43 Can you talk about Blitzscaling Ventures? 1:28:13 Advice to entrepreneurs on pitching investors? 1:30:28 What's motivating you? 1:33:30 Speaking career advice? 1:37:08 Anything else you want to leave on? 1:40:00 Any regrets?

The Start Up of You Podcast
Welcome to The Startup of You Podcast

The Start Up of You Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 22, 2022 2:38


The Startup of You career strategy podcast, co-hosted by LinkedIn's founder Reid Hoffman and author Ben Casnocha, isn't about cover letters or resumes. Instead, you will learn how to apply the best practices of Silicon Valley start-ups to your own life. Because whether you work for a giant multinational corporation, stitch together multiple gigs in a portfolio career, or are launching your own venture, you need to know how to: Adapt your career plans as pandemics rage and technologies upend industries. Develop a competitive advantage so that you stand out from others at work. Strengthen your professional network by building powerful alliances and maintaining a diverse mix of relationships. Engineer serendipity that produces life-changing career opportunities. Take proactive risks to become more resilient to industry tsunamis. Tap your network for information and intelligence that help you make smarter decisions. The Startup of You Podcast: Coming soon to the LinkedIn Podcast Network!

Venture Stories
Lessons From Stripe, Mixpanel, and First Round with Meka Asonye

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2021 45:33


Meka Asonye (@BigMekaStyle), partner at First Round Capital, joined Ben Casnocha at a Village Global event to discuss: - Meka's time with the Cleveland Indians and what it taught him about finding hidden talent.- Why customer obsession is so important to Meka when looking at a potential investment and concrete examples of what that looks like in practice.- Lessons on customer obsession from Stripe and Mixpanel. He says that the Collisons had lunch with users every Friday and evangelized “teaching with every touch,” meaning leaving every user with more knowledge about the product at every interaction.- How an early-stage startup can get in the door at a large organization. He says to make sure to target the right person at the organization and offer tidbits about how other organizations are looking at a problem.- Common mistakes that founders make when pitching investors, including why having all the answers can be a red flag, and how to nail the right balance of confidence and humility.- How much money to raise at the early stage, including why you shouldn't just raise as much money as you possibly can and instead should be most concerned with finding the right fit with the right firm.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Venture Stories
Accelerating the next wave of global founders: ODX in partnership with Village Global

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2021 23:58


Ben Casnocha (@bencasnocha), Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg), Anne Dwane (@adwane), partners at Village Global, and David Booth (@david__booth), co-CEO of On Deck, discuss:- ODX in partnership with Village Global, the $100M+ community-backed accelerator that plans to invest in 1000 companies over the next few years: https://beondeck.com/x- The key differentiators of ODX: a dedicated partner for each company, an all-access pass to the On Deck community, and the fact that the entire community has upside in the fund.- Examples of how founders have taken advantage of On Deck's unique structure, including some examples of their most successful companies to date.- Why Erik has been so inspired by “putting people in business.”- On Deck's belief that humanity primarily progresses through tech, that tech primarily comes from startups, and that there are not enough founders starting startups today.- How to get started with ODX.Read more about the announcement:https://medium.com/village-global/re-imagining-the-accelerator-in-partnership-with-on-deck-11871f129f7bhttps://beondeck.com/post/announcing-odxThanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Venture Stories
Greatest Hits: Reid Hoffman and Chamath Palihapitiya on Angel Investing and The Future of Venture

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2021 39:34


We're re-releasing some of the best episodes from the podcast this summer.Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath), CEO of Social Capital, and Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman), partner at Greylock, joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha at a special Village Global event. Angel Island brought together 100+ angel investors for talks from world-class investors, discussions, and opportunities to make new connections.In this session they discussed:- What is broken about venture and how to fix it.- Why Reid is backing new experiments in venture.- Their thoughts on the solo GP phenomenon.- How to think about risk when evaluating an investment.- Whether they're long or short Silicon Valley.- Why SPACs are here to stay.- How to think about diversification in an angel portfolio.- The state of pricing across different rounds.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Venture Stories
The Psychology of Personal Finance with Ramit Sethi

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2021 49:15


Ramit Sethi (@ramit), founder and CEO of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, joined Ben Casnocha to discuss:- Ramit's philosophy of personal finance. He says he focuses on $30,000 questions as opposed to $3 questions because there's no limit on how much you can earn, but there is a limit on how much you can save.- How “invisible scripts” rule how you think about money. Ramit talks about how to figure out and interrogate what those invisible scripts are so you can move past them.- How to figure out what your “rich life” looks like. He suggests writing down in great detail and texture exactly what you aspire to when it comes to your financial goals. For example, when you go on vacation, what kind of hotel are you staying in? Are you flying in business or economy class?- The fact that people often have a prime twenty years between ages 40 to 60 to spend their money and why you shouldn't defer your goals until late in life.- Why he decided to start a podcast about love and money and the challenges inherent in dealing with differing approaches to personal finance in relationships: https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/podcast/Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Compression Podcast
$61.4 Million

Compression Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 2, 2021 59:27


If I do not quit, I will not lose - that's our theme for the week! But of course, we've also hit $61.4 million in 7 months! Check out this week's episode to see what Logan and Jerome bring to the table. Hear this week's HUGE wins. From big strides on self-development, success in the business, to new team members! Learn key secrets to success with proven mental models, Logan and Jerome's focus funnel, setting out a vivid vision, and much more. You're missing out if you haven't kept up! Let's elevate, let's overcome, let's compress. Topics talked about in the episode: Intro (0:00) Podcast starts (1:05) “If I do not quit, I will not lose.” (1:06) We're at $61.4 Million! (2:59) Top 3 Goals for the week (4:37) “Trade expectations for appreciation.” (5:22) Setting priorities (10:05) This week's wins (11:33) New team members! (11:41) Weight loss update (16:38) Ezra (18:01) Taylor gets clarity (19:26) This week's losses (24:12) The new grind, the new normal: consistently working through deals (25:50) 145 million dollars worth of letters of intent (27:41) The significance equation (33:45) Eliminate, Automate, and Delegate (36:05) Rubber balls and glass balls (39:26) Vivid vision (43:42) Procrastinate on Purpose by Rory Vaden (45:56) Implementing the Focus Funnel (48:59) Conclusion (55:16) Outro (58:44) We are calling you to action! Share with a Friend Compression Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Compression-103252431648084/ Compression Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/compressionpodcast/ Compression YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdZZ8qoHxK7XEeO-rM8NtQ Compression LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/73890810/ Compression Website - https://www.compressionpodcast.com/ Compression Twitter - Coming Soon Podcast Platforms: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5ZDGMuvHrw1mSdlGu2YQ2F iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/compression-podcast/id1547029302 Quote - “If I do not quit, I will not lose.” – Logan Freeman Quote - “Creating the next level of results requires the next level of thinking.” – Rory Vaden Quote - “You have to give yourself the emotional permission to work on things today that will provide you more time tomorrow.” – Rory Vaden Quote - “80% done right by someone else is always better than 100% right, done by me. And leadership is not about getting things done right, it's about getting things done through other people.” – Rory Vaden Quote - “Every opportunity is attached to a person. Opportunities do not float like clouds in the sky. They're attached to people. If you're looking for an opportunity, including one that has a financial payoff, you're really looking for a person.” – Ben Casnocha

Latitud Podcast
Redefining venture capital: Ben Casnocha, Village Global

Latitud Podcast

Play Episode Play 29 sec Highlight Listen Later Jul 22, 2021 49:42


Ben Casnocha was practically born an entrepreneur. In his teenage years, he started and scaled a couple of companies, before becoming Chief of Staff at LinkedIn and Greylock, both founded by Reid Hoffman. From this partnership, two books were born, co-authored by Ben and Reid, including New York Times bestseller The Start-Up of You.Since 2017, Ben has been a co-founder and Partner at Village Global, an early stage venture capital firm that aims to work not simply as a traditional VC, but also as a network. With almost a quarter billion dollars under management, Village Global is backed by some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs.In this episode, Ben shares:Inspirational tips for your journey and career as an entrepreneurWhat sets Village Global apart from the rest of the VC worldHow to build a strong networkAnd how his interest in Buddhism is compatible (or not) with the entrepreneurial mindsetStarting something new?Visit apply.latitud.com to learn about the Latitud Fellowship program.

Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers.
Ben Casnocha on his learnings from working with Reid Hoffman, building network incentives, and the art of portfolio construction.

Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers.

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2021 49:38


We’re pleased to provide this week’s episode with Ben Casnocha, founding partner of Village Global.Prior to Village, Ben was an entrepreneur and also acted as Chief of Staff at LinkedIn and Greylock working directly with Reid Hoffman. Ben has also co-authored two New York Times bestselling management books, The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age (with LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman and entrepreneur Chris Yeh). and The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career (with Reid Hoffman). Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

OutsideVoices with Mark Bidwell
Chris Yeh: Blitzscaling and Lifelong Learning

OutsideVoices with Mark Bidwell

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 13, 2021 51:22


Chris Yeh is an entrepreneur, investor and author of several books, including two with the founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, the most recent of which is called "Blitzscaling." Today we cover the fascinating topic of blitzscaling - how to scale a business in record time, how to take advantage of significant market opportunities that are in front of you, how to focus on distribution, and leverage network effects. Whether you're a founder, a CEO, an investor in early stage companies, a developer, or leading a business unit or a function in a large organisation which might be at risk of going ex-growth, you'll learn valuable lessons from a lifelong learner such as Chris Yeh. What is Covered:  - The definition of blitzscaling: prioritising speed over efficiency in the environment of uncertainty - What kind of companies can blitzscale and in what kind of markets - Key growth factors and key growth limiters in blitzscaling - The counterintuitive rules of blitzscaling and what kind of CEO it requires - Examples of the companies which successfully blitzscaled  Key Learnings and Takeaways:  - A company would decide to blitzscale if it is facing a winner take most market that could be worth billions or trillions of dollars, and the company's objective should be to win that market. - In blitzscaling, product market fit is necessary but insufficient; necessary, because without product market fit, you can't have sustainable success, but insufficient, because other things like the winner take most market and the distribution are ultimately more important. - The reason to raise the money is not to spend it, but to give you that ability to adapt, and then ultimately to move faster when the time comes.  - The main danger for entrepreneurs is getting caught up in a local market that is not large enough to give them a stable position within the overall global economy. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:  - “Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies” by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh https://www.blitzscaling.com/  - “The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age” by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh https://www.amazon.com/Alliance-Managing-Talent-Networked-Age/dp/1625275773  - “The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses” by Eric Ries https://www.amazon.com/The-Lean-Startup-Eric-Ries-audiobook/dp/B005MM7HY8/  - Blitzscaling Ventures https://www.blitzscalingvc.com/  - Blitzscaling Academy https://www.blitzscalingacademy.com/  - Chris Yeh Podcast https://anchor.fm/chris-yeh-podcast  - Chris Yeh Website https://chrisyeh.com/  - Greylock Partners https://greylock.com/  - Greymatter Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/greymatter/id1089013200  - Sahar Hashemi OBE: Anyone Can Do It - Sahar's Remarkable Entrepreneurial Journey on OutsideVoices https://outsidelens.com/anyone-can-do-it-sahars-remarkable-entrepreneurial-journey/  - Safi Bachall: Loonshots - Innovation Through the Lens of a Physicist on OutsideVoices https://outsidelens.com/safi-bachall-loonshots-innovation-though-the-lens-of-a-physicist/  Connect with Mark Bidwell: - LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/markbidwell/  - Twitter https://twitter.com/markehb

Build Your Book
Choosing Yourself in the Legal Profession

Build Your Book

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2021 41:47


Traditional law firms want you to stay in your lane, do your work, bill hours, and go home. This is no longer the right recipe for success, fulfillment and happiness. It is also the riskiest thing you can do for your career. In this episode, we discuss the many different ways you must choose yourself. Whether you're a solo practitioner or a partner at a big law firm, choosing yourself, your passion, your interests, and even your own way (unselfishly!) of doing things is downright necessary. Reinvention, chasing your curiosity, embracing change, are all part of this new economy. But this doesn't have to be scary. It can be exhilarating. Refereces: The Startup of You by Reid Hoffman & Ben Casnocha. Help Us Out! Help us reach new listeners by leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts! It takes less than 30 seconds, and really helps our show grow, which allows us to bring on even better guests for you all! Thank you – we really appreciate it! Resources: Join the next cohort of our Build Your Book Academy. Get the LinkedIn for Lawyers Course. If you have any comments or would to join as a guest on our podcast, send us an email at podcast@buildyourbook.org. ----- Links to Listen to this Podcast: Anchor Spotify Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Amazon Music Pocket Cast Breaker

Venture Stories
Brad Feld on What Nietzsche Can Teach Entrepreneurs

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2021 50:26


Brad Feld (@bfeld), VC at Foundry Group and co-author of The Entrepreneur’s Weekly Nietzsche with Dave Jilk, joins Ben Casnocha to discuss:- Common misconceptions about Nietzsche and why being misunderstood makes him an especially interesting philosopher.- What Nietzsche can teach entrepreneurs deciding whether to pivot or persevere. Brad says that founders should view their entrepreneurial journey not in terms of a single company, but as the next 30-50 years of their life.- Why Brad hates the term “passion” and says it’s overused in entrepreneurial circles.- Why to focus more on whether someone’s words and actions line up rather than the strength of their beliefs.- The lessons that Brad has for making decisions among groups today given Nietzsche’s aphorism that “insanity in individuals is rare, but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule.”Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Firmað ritar
The Startup of You - Taktu stjórn á eigin starfsframa

Firmað ritar

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 30, 2021 71:28


The Start up of You kom út árið 2012. Höfundar eru Reed Hoffman, einn stofnenda Paypal og Linkedin og Ben Casnocha. Í bókinni er farið yfir hvernig við verðum að hugsa starfsferil okkar á annan hátt. Áður dugði að fá góða vinnu hjá stöndugu fyrirtæki og ef maður stóð sig vel þá óx maður og fékk framgang. Slík línuleg þróun á ekki við í dag og mæla höfundar með að við nálgumst starfsferill okkar eins og um væri að ræða rekstur á sprotafyrirtæki (Startup). Ferill okkar flestra sé sjaldnast línulegur heldur sé einkennist hann af því að fara upp og niður eftir tímakvarðanum.  Í bókinni er farið yfir og við ræðum í þessum þætti. Við verðum að skilgreina okkur - sérstöðu, gildismat og framboð og eftirspurn eftir færni og hæfileikum okkar. Við eigum að vera tilbúin að breyta um kúrs. Tengslanetið sé eitt það mikilvægasta sem við eigum. Farið er yfir hvernig maður byggir upp og viðheldur tengslaneti. Mikilvægi þess að við grípum stóru tækifærin þegar þau gefast.Áhættu hvernig mannkyn ofmetur áhættu og mikilvægi þess að við tökum áhættu á skipulagðan hátt.Bókina má nálgast á AmazonOg hún er aðgengileg á Audible    

Venture Stories
Secrets of Public Speaking and Oral Communication from Renowned Speaking Coach

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2021 42:38


Michael Balaoing, founder of Candlelion, joins Ben Casnocha on this episode to discuss:- The importance of the acronym WTF (what’s the feeling?) when you’re giving a presentation.- The four roles that you take on as a speaker: captain, pilot, guide, and game show host.- The five questions to ask when seeking feedback on a presentation.- How to keep the audience engaged throughout a talk, not just during the Q&A at the end.- How to bake stories into your presentations and remix your talks for different audiences.- The keys to virtual communication in the COVID era.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Venture Stories
Principles of Product Management and Growth Marketing from Legendary PM Who Helped Build LinkedIn, Wealthfront, and Instacart

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2021 47:40


Elliot Shmukler (@eshmu), of Anomalo, joins Ben Casnocha on the podcast to discuss:- How growth marketing has evolved over the last decade or so since he was an early pioneer of the field at LinkedIn in 2008.- What people misunderstand about A/B testing, and the right way to go about it.- Why he doesn’t like the term “growth hacking.”- Why people should both be more humble and more ambitious with their growth marketing program.- Lessons from his time at LinkedIn, eBay, Wealthfront, and Instacart.- Finding a co-founder before finding the idea that became Anomalo.- The perils of bad data and how Anomalo is helping to fix that problem.*The deadline to get your application in for the spring vintage of the Village Global Accelerator is March 1st! It’s a personalized and tight-knit program with an amazing network of peers, advisors, and experts. Companies that have been through the accelerator have raised from some of the top venture funds in the world, like a16z, First Round Capital, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, True Ventures, Felicis and more.Learn more and apply at www.villageglobal.vc/accelerator!Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Boundaryless Conversations Podcast
S2 Ep. 10 Rita McGrath – Control and Coherence in the New Strategy Playbook

Boundaryless Conversations Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2021 52:01


Today we’re joined by a true legend in the space of strategy, innovation and management: Rita Gunther McGrath. Rita is widely recognized as a premier expert on leading innovation and growth during times of uncertainty. She is a best-selling author, speaker, and a longtime professor at Columbia Business School. Rita has received the number one achievement award for strategy from the prestigious Thinkers50 and has been consistently named one of the world’s Top 10 management thinkers in its bi-annual ranking.  Join our conversation as we explore the positive and negative impacts of inflection points for organizations and markets. We uncover discovery-driven leadership, irreversible versus reversible decisions, responsibility towards local communities as a key principle for organizing value creation, and much more. This discussion testifies the true depth of the rabbit hole of the future of organizing! Remember that you can find the show notes and transcripts from all our episodes on our Medium publication: https://platformdesigntoolkit.com/Podcast-S2E10-RitaMcGrath To find out more about Rita’s work: > Website: https://www.ritamcgrath.com/> Twitter: https://twitter.com/rgmcgrath> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritamcgrath/> YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/rgmcgrath> Medium: https://rgmcgrath.medium.com/ Other references and mentions: > Boundaryless whitepaper (2020), New Foundations of Platform-Ecosystem Thinking — Designing Products and Organizations for a changing world, https://platformdesigntoolkit.com/DOWNLOAD-NF > Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, Chris Yeh, The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age, 2014: https://www.amazon.com/Alliance-Managing-Talent-Networked-Age/dp/1625275773 > Healthy San Francisco: https://healthysanfrancisco.org/ > Peter Turchin, “Intra-Elite Competition: A Key Concept for Understanding the Dynamics of Complex Societies”, 2016: http://peterturchin.com/cliodynamica/intra-elite-competition-a-key-concept-for-understanding-the-dynamics-of-complex-societies/  > Rita McGrath, Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen, 2019: https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Around-Corners-Inflection-Business/dp/0358022339/ Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at www.platformdesigntoolkit.com/podcast Thanks for the ad-hoc music to Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: www.platformdesigntoolkit.com/music Recorded on 12 January 2021.

Venture Stories
Cloudflare Co-Founder Michelle Zatlyn’s Advice on Hiring, Fundraising, Scaling, and more

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2021 50:34


Michelle Zatlyn (@zatlyn), co-founder, president, and COO of Cloudflare, joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha for a masterclass with our founders in late 2020.They discussed:- The origin story of Cloudflare, including how the co-founders met, and how Michelle realized that she too could start a company.- Her advice on fundraising after raising more than $300M for Cloudflare, including why you should keep the rest of the VC partnership in mind, and how to show rather than tell in your pitch.- How they found the best talent, including why their blog brought them plenty of inbound interest, and why searching far and wide around the globe for engineers helped them build their team quickly.- Why they don’t use recruiters at Cloudflare.- How to turn a weakness into a strength.- How to process feedback and when it makes sense to ignore it.- Stories of extreme frugality in the early days of the company, including building their own Ikea desks.- How an emotional response by customers helped them know they had product-market fit.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Venture Stories
Calm.com CEO on How He Built the World's #1 Meditation App

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 16, 2021 49:28


Michael Acton Smith, co-founder and co-CEO of Calm, joined Ben Casnocha, co-founder and partner of Village Global, at a special virtual masterclass for Village Global founders, Network Leaders, and friends of the firm. They discussed:- How Michael got into meditation, his personal practice, and meditating together as a company.- The story of the early days of Calm, including their fundraising journey and how they acquired their first users.- How to maintain confidence when everyone thinks what you’re doing is crazy, and how a great co-founder can help you.- Why business is like surfing and how to balance the tension of pursuing a huge market with remaining focused on a specific use case.- How to build a mentally healthy team.- What he would have done differently if he was doing everything over again.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

20 Minute Leaders
Ep232: Ben Casnocha | Co-Founder and Partner of Village Global

20 Minute Leaders

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2021 21:59


Ben is a Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur, author, executive, and investor. He is a co-founder and partner at Village Global (a $100M VC fund) and is the co-author of two New York Times bestselling books: The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age and The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career. Ben started and scaled several ventures, including an e-government software company, an online education business, and a management training business.

The Boxscore Geeks Show
This Bood's for You!

The Boxscore Geeks Show

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 22, 2020 106:10


The NBA season is upon us and we review the state of a small small portion of the NBA thanks to the great data from Hispanos NBA (https://en.hispanosnba.com/transactions) Thanks to co-host Chris Yeh for coming on to predict his Lakers would win the 1st seed out West again. Andres counters his Nuggets will win the #1 seed. Where Brian says the Warriors are a team that plays basketball. You can find Chris at chrisyeh.com, @chrisyeh on Twitter, and make sure to check out his two New York Times best sellers: Blitzscaling and the Alliance. Both co-written by Reid Hoffman (and Ben Casnocha for the Alliance). As we note on the show Chris and Reid are the Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman of the Business writing world!

Venture Stories
Creating a Life Improvement Platform with Brent Franson of Most Days

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2020 44:03


Brent Franson (@brentfranson), founder and CEO of Most Days (mostdays.com), joins Ben Casnocha on this episode to discuss:- How the company is creating a “Peloton for mental health.”- The most popular routines that people can cultivate using the app.- His history as an entrepreneur and lessons learned, including why “not all dollars are created equal.”- The life experience that informed the creation of Most Days.- The unique habits that he is cultivating himself with the help of the app.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Smart Business Revolution
Chris Yeh | Blitzscaling, Scaling in a Pandemic, and How to Friend a Billionaire

Smart Business Revolution

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2020 38:09


Chris Yeh is the Co-founder of the Global Scaling Academy which teaches individuals and organizations how to plan for and execute hyper growth in their business. He is also the co-founder of Blitzscaling Ventures which invests in the world's fastest growing startups. He has founded, advised, and invested in over 100 high tech startups since 1995, including nine-figure companies like Ustream and UserTesting. Chris also co-authored the books Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies which he wrote with Reid Hoffman, and the New York Bestseller, The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age which he wrote with Ben Casnocha and Reid Hoffman. He has degrees from Stanford University with distinction and an MBA from Harvard Business School. In this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, John Corcoran interviews Chris Yeh, the Co-founder of the Global Scaling Academy, about building key relationships and scaling a business during a pandemic. Chris also shares his experience studying at Stanford and the relationships he built there, how he met and got to co-author a book with Reid Hoffman, and what they do at Global Scaling Academy. The post Chris Yeh | Blitzscaling, Scaling in a Pandemic, and How to Friend a Billionaire appeared first on Smart Business Revolution.

Smart Business Revolution
Chris Yeh | Blitzscaling, Scaling in a Pandemic, and How to Friend a Billionaire

Smart Business Revolution

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2020


Chris Yeh is the Co-founder of the Global Scaling Academy which teaches individuals and organizations how to plan for and execute hyper growth in their business. He is also the co-founder of Blitzscaling Ventures which invests in the world's fastest growing startups. He has founded, advised, and invested in over 100 high tech startups since 1995, including nine-figure companies like Ustream and UserTesting. Chris also co-authored the books Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies which he wrote with Reid Hoffman, and the New York Bestseller, The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age which he wrote with Ben Casnocha and Reid Hoffman. He has degrees from Stanford University with distinction and an MBA from Harvard Business School. In this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, John Corcoran interviews Chris Yeh, the Co-founder of the Global Scaling Academy, about building key relationships and scaling a business during a pandemic. Chris also shares his experience studying at Stanford and the relationships he built there, how he met and got to co-author a book with Reid Hoffman, and what they do at Global Scaling Academy. The post Chris Yeh | Blitzscaling, Scaling in a Pandemic, and How to Friend a Billionaire appeared first on Smart Business Revolution.

Dailypod
Reid Hoffman and Chamath Palihapitiya on Angel Investing and The Future of Venture

Dailypod

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2020 39:33


Podcast: Podcast Notes Playlist: Latest Episodes (LS 42 · TOP 1.5% what is this?)Episode: Reid Hoffman and Chamath Palihapitiya on Angel Investing and The Future of VenturePub date: 2020-11-28Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath), CEO of Social Capital, and Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman), partner at Greylock, joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha at a special Village Global event. Angel Island brought together 100+ angel investors for talks from world-class investors, discussions, and opportunities to make new connections.In this session they discussed:- What is broken about venture and how to fix it.- Why Reid is backing new experiments in venture.- Their thoughts on the solo GP phenomenon.- How to think about risk when evaluating an investment.- Whether they're long or short Silicon Valley.- Why SPACs are here to stay.- How to think about diversification in an angel portfolio.- The state of pricing across different rounds.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signupThe podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Podcast Notes, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Podcast Notes Playlist: Latest Episodes
Reid Hoffman and Chamath Palihapitiya on Angel Investing and The Future of Venture

Podcast Notes Playlist: Latest Episodes

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2020 39:33


Venture Stories Podcast Notes Key Takeaways In its current form, venture capital is essentially signing  up for 13 years of illiquidity with terrible returnsAdditionally, risk-averse behavior makes for a narrow distribution of incomes and no alphaThink in continuums of risk. For small quanta of capital, constantly fire little investments and learn from mistakesFor bigger investments, create time to think before making decisions.Your challenge as an investor is to take a contrarian risk and end up correctAsk, “why would smart people not think this is a good deal, and what do I know that they don’t know?” – Reid HoffmanSilicon Valley will continue in strength despite COVID or political concernsThat said, remote work and meetings facilitate investing outside Silicon ValleySPACs provide fast time to market, exact price upfront, ability to raise the amount of money you want, and allow you to explain your vision for the futureMoreover, SPACs add VC capability because it gives founders a chance for a concentrated ownership position and helps grow their networkTechnology is inherently deflationary, we confuse this with stagnationChamath’s goal for the future is to invest in climate change solutions, specifically, carbon sequestrationRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgChamath Palihapitiya (@chamath), CEO of Social Capital, and Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman), partner at Greylock, joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha at a special Village Global event. Angel Island brought together 100+ angel investors for talks from world-class investors, discussions, and opportunities to make new connections.In this session they discussed:- What is broken about venture and how to fix it.- Why Reid is backing new experiments in venture.- Their thoughts on the solo GP phenomenon.- How to think about risk when evaluating an investment.- Whether they're long or short Silicon Valley.- Why SPACs are here to stay.- How to think about diversification in an angel portfolio.- The state of pricing across different rounds.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Venture Stories
Reid Hoffman and Chamath Palihapitiya on Angel Investing and The Future of Venture

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2020 39:33


Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath), CEO of Social Capital, and Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman), partner at Greylock, joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha at a special Village Global event. Angel Island brought together 100+ angel investors for talks from world-class investors, discussions, and opportunities to make new connections.In this session they discussed:- What is broken about venture and how to fix it.- Why Reid is backing new experiments in venture.- Their thoughts on the solo GP phenomenon.- How to think about risk when evaluating an investment.- Whether they're long or short Silicon Valley.- Why SPACs are here to stay.- How to think about diversification in an angel portfolio.- The state of pricing across different rounds.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Retailritesh Simplifying Retail
My learnings from the book" The Start-up of You" by author Reid Hoffman

Retailritesh Simplifying Retail

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2020 17:17


Book summary of “The startup of you” by author Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha. Book “The startup of YOU” is an eye-opener and provides wonderful actionable insights when it comes to Personal Branding. This is my first attempt to write a book summary for my readers. Below are some of my key learnings and actionable points that I want to share with my audience so that they benefit from the key actionable insights given by the author, Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linkedin. Keep following www.retailritesh.com for strategic insights from the world of Business & Retail.

The Full Ratchet: VC | Venture Capital | Angel Investors | Startup Investing | Fundraising | Crowdfunding | Pitch | Private E
252. Decentralization of VC, Why Your Fund Size is Your Strategy, and Why Startup Formation is the Most Important Contributor to Economic Growth (Erik Torenberg)

The Full Ratchet: VC | Venture Capital | Angel Investors | Startup Investing | Fundraising | Crowdfunding | Pitch | Private E

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 12, 2020 49:13


Erik Torenberg of Village Global joins Nick to discuss Decentralization of VC, Why Your Fund Size is Your Strategy, and Why Startup Formation is the Most Important Contributor to Economic Growth. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What were the biggest lessons learned from Product Hunt that you took to investing? Recently had Ben Casnocha on... anything specific you'd like to add about the thesis behind Village Global? How do you think about working with experienced vs non-experienced angels? How do you think about portfolio construction for VG? Fast forward... some angels have strong early signals of success, others don't -- do you cull the herd or amplify those that are good pickers? Considering this, why do you think so many VCs have concentrated portfolios? How do you think about follow on investing? What is the role of a pre-seed firm? If there's a weakness in the Village model... what is it? Part of your model is to increase the amount of founders and investors.  What do you say to those that argue there's too much capital already? What's does the future look like for Venture? What's your advice for people getting into venture? Three data points Let's say you're approached to invest in an early seed stage SaaS startup... The founder is a technical serial entrepreneur with two solid 8-figure exits.  And she has a credible co-founder that is more business/commercially focused; An MVP of the product has been launched and was the top product of the day on Product Hunt, when it launched; and The Product launched two months ago and currently has $5k of MRR. The catch is, you can only ask 3 questions for 3 specific data points, in order to make your decision.  What three questions do you ask?

The Full Ratchet: VC | Venture Capital | Angel Investors | Startup Investing | Fundraising | Crowdfunding | Pitch | Private E
245. Backing from Bezos, Zuckerberg, and Gates; Lessons from Reid Hoffman; and Building a Network-centric Venture Firm (Ben Casnocha)

The Full Ratchet: VC | Venture Capital | Angel Investors | Startup Investing | Fundraising | Crowdfunding | Pitch | Private E

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2020 44:47


Ben Casnocha of Village Global joins Nick to discuss Backing from Bezos, Zuckerberg, and Gates; Lessons from Reid Hoffman; and Building a Network-centric Venture Firm. In this episode, we cover: - How have things changed for the firm since the pandemic broke? - You've raised from some very big names in tech -- Zuckerberg, Hoffman, Gates, Bezos, Greene, Blakely and many more.  How exactly did the formation of Village and fundraise from these notable tech leaders come together? - Village has a unique approach to sourcing...  Tell us about the scout network? - Decision making process, architecture when doing deals at this pace and volume? - Many firms talk about their founder networks and Slack Groups.  But often if you ask founders, the density and connectivity of those networks are lacking.  What is it about your broad founder community that succeeds where others don't? - Worked with Reid Hoffman for two years... what were some of the key lessons from that experience w/ Reid? - YC is in full swing right now... many investors I've chatted with this week are a bit dizzy with the number of companies they're meeting with.  Do you invest in companies coming out of YC? - What do you think the future holds for accelerators like YC? - How do you determine when to make an exception on a deal?  We all have rules, check-size, valuation range, etc... how  do you know when to go off-thesis? - What are your thoughts on the future of Valley-based investing vs. investing outside the Valley? - Thoughts on all these large, multi-stage firms investing at seed and pre-seed? - Capital Supply and concentration is at new levels in the Bay Area... especially for seed investors.  While it's reasonable that more great companies will be built with the tools and opportunities available, this all won't end well.  I've seen pricing spike and aggressive tactics changing from investors to get access to deal.  What are you observing and how do you think it plays out?

Venture Stories
Mark Pincus on Product Management, Raising Capital, and Building Zynga

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 12, 2020 70:59


Mark Pincus (@markpinc) joined us last summer in San Francisco for a town hall with Ben Casnocha, co-founder and partner at Village Global.Mark is co-founder and Executive Chairman of Zynga, and is an angel investor in Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and other companies.He talked about about raising venture capital, his philosophy of product management, the early days at Zynga, and much more.He also took time at the event to meet with Village Global founders to give them his advice on growing their companies.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Venture Stories
Mark Pincus on Product Management, Raising Capital, and Building Zynga

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 12, 2020 70:59


Mark Pincus (@markpinc) joined us last summer in San Francisco for a town hall with Ben Casnocha, co-founder and partner at Village Global.Mark is co-founder and Executive Chairman of Zynga, and is an angel investor in Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and other companies.He talked about about raising venture capital, his philosophy of product management, the early days at Zynga, and much more.He also took time at the event to meet with Village Global founders to give them his advice on growing their companies.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Greymatter
Honoring the Alliance During Covid

Greymatter

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2020 38:53


In 2014, Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman co-authored The Alliance with Chris Yeh and Ben Casnocha. The book argued that in the modern economy, the key to a stronger, healthier, longer-lasting employee relationship was to be honest about the temporary nature of nearly every job. Much like negotiators of a treaty of alliance, employees can work with their managers and employers to steer their careers on a track that transforms both company and employee. In 2020, the world is suffering through the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic fallout, and those alliances are under more stress than ever before. In this Greymatter episode, Chris and Reid discuss how the current crisis also represents an opportunity to honor and strengthen those alliances, even in cases where employers are furloughing or laying off employees.

Market Today
39: The Start-up of You by Reid Hoffman

Market Today

Play Episode Listen Later May 18, 2020 25:57


LinkedIn cofounder and chairman Reid Hoffman and author Ben Casnocha show how to accelerate your career in today's competitive world. The key is to manage your career as if it were a start-up business: a living, breathing, growing start-up of you. Why? Start-ups—and the entrepreneurs who run them—are nimble. They invest in themselves. They build their professional networks. They take intelligent risks. They make uncertainty and volatility work to their advantage.

The Not Your Parents' Workplace Show with Nathan Tanner
#4: How to Develop a Career Competitive Advantage

The Not Your Parents' Workplace Show with Nathan Tanner

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2020 4:38


In 2012 I read a book that had a profound impact on me and shifted how I think about my career.   That book is The Start-Up of You by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha.   In my latest episode, I share the three critical questions you need to answer to build a competitive advantage and how answering these questions inspired me to make a career pivot.   5 years ago I published Not Your Parents' Workplace. In the book, I wrote about the challenges I faced in 2008 when I had a front-row seat to the largest bankruptcy in US history. Given today's economic environment and career challenges, I'm kicking off a podcast where I'll share lessons I wrote about in the book as well as lessons I've learned since.

CEO Podcasts: CEO Chat Podcast + I AM CEO Podcast Powered by Blue 16 Media & CBNation.co

Amelia Roberts is a digital native who officially became a practitioner of online marketing twelve years ago with a role as a virtual assistant. Student loans from nursing school inspired her to put her love of observing human nature, showing empathy and previous marketing experience to work in new ways and as a result, she was able to pay off her student loans in under 2 years.Now alongside other roles, you can find Amelia helping under-recognized professionals stand out and more "get first dates" in business so that they can become thought leaders in the healthcare industry and beyond. When she is not optimizing human potential Amelia enjoys planning real and imagined food tours. Quote:    "Opportunities do not float like clouds in the sky. They're attached to people. If you're looking for an opportunity -- including one that has a financial payoff--you're really looking for a person." - Ben Casnocha.   Website: https://www.solutionsbyamelia.com/ www.thebusinessofnursing.com A link to her freebie  http://bit.ly/getinfrontofanyone  You can find her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliaroberts/    

The Law School Toolbox Podcast: Tools for Law Students from 1L to the Bar Exam, and Beyond

Welcome back to the Law School Toolbox podcast! In today's episode, we are welcoming back ex-BigLaw recruiter Sadie Jones to discuss how much responsibility you should take for your future career -- starting as a law student -- and what resources are available to help. In this episode we discuss: Why you need to take ownership of your career goals as a law student Resources to help if you're not sure yet what you want Looking outside of the standard channels for work opportunities How does your mindset factor into your job search? The importance of asking for help rather than trying to do everything yourself Evaluating each job for clues about what job is right for you long term Why BigLaw didn't work for Alison's personality Resources: CareerDicta (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/careerdicta/) The Washington Post – Andrew Yang article (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/28/andrew-yang-was-groomed-high-paying-job-an-elite-law-firm-he-lasted-five-months/) The Muse – 21 Books That’ll Get You Ahead at Work, According to Top Career Coaches (https://www.themuse.com/advice/21-books-thatll-get-you-ahead-at-work-according-to-top-career-coaches) The Start-Up of You, by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha (https://www.thestartupofyou.com/) Brené Brown (https://brenebrown.com/) Seth Godin (https://www.sethgodin.com/) Without Fail podcast (https://gimletmedia.com/shows/without-fail) Podcast Episode 1: Mindset – The Key to Success in Law School? (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/podcast-episode-1-mindset-key-success-law-school/) Podcast Episode 114: Law School Networking 101 (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/podcast-episode-114-law-school-networking-101/) Podcast Episode 207: Navigating Networking Events as a Law Student (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/podcast-episode-207-navigating-networking-events-as-a-law-student/) Podcast Episode 214: Handling an Extensive Job Search Outside of OCI (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/podcast-episode-214-handling-an-extensive-job-search-outside-of-oci/) Podcast Episode 219: Mastering People Skills for Success as an Attorney (w/Stephanie Hanna) (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/podcast-episode-219-mastering-people-skills-for-success-as-an-attorney-w-stephanie-hanna/) Download the Transcript  (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/episode-224-taking-ownership-of-your-career-w-sadie-jones/) If you enjoy the podcast, we'd love a nice review and/or rating on Apple Podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/law-school-toolbox-podcast/id1027603976) or your favorite listening app. And feel free to reach out to us directly. You can always reach us via the contact form on the Law School Toolbox website (http://lawschooltoolbox.com/contact). If you're concerned about the bar exam, check out our sister site, the Bar Exam Toolbox (http://barexamtoolbox.com/). You can also sign up for our weekly podcast newsletter (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/get-law-school-podcast-updates/) to make sure you never miss an episode! Thanks for listening! Alison & Lee

The New Leader with Ian Daley
Intrapreneurship: The Power of Next Generation Leaders with Ken Tencer 028

The New Leader with Ian Daley

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2019 32:30


Listening and hearing and providing feedback is the most critical to building coalescence or agreement in a group. – Ken Tencer Welcome to show! Today we talk about Intrapreneurship – the power of next generation leaders with Ken Tencer, CEO of Spyder Works. Ken is a thought leader on entrepreneurship and innovation, and is currently the Intrapreneur in Residence for the Business Families Foundation. He is the co-author of two books on innovation, The 90% Rule and the bestseller Cause a Disturbance, both avidly read by business leaders in the U.S., Canada and Europe. He is currently working on his highly anticipated third book, Never be Satisfied, focused on leveraging intrapreneurship to drive growth. We also discuss: How to bring different people together, Embracing change to adapt to new environments, Real-time collaboration, Intrapreneurship, How companies benefit from intrapreneurship, The Intraprise™ Program, and more. Click that play button to listen! Don't forget to subscribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts! The Secret to Bringing Different People Together Prior to group meetings, I had quick chats with the individuals to understand what their motivations were, why they were thinking the way they were, what they thought possible outcomes could be, so that I had time to think about potential out comes and ways to lead or guide the group through meetings and the operationalization of our strategies.   Listening and hearing and providing feedback is the most critical to building coalescence or agreement in a group. I found that listening to people and saying, “Here's why we did A, B and C – I heard what you said, but here's what the group wanted and here's how we incorporated things.” We have a group on a board of 14 people, not everyone is going to agree with everything that you do and management won't always agree with the direction you're providing. The number one thing is for everyone to understand and communicate and talk about it, not just dictate. Just open your mouth, have a conversation, hear people out. That, to me, has always been the key. Ken's biggest challenge The biggest challenge has been myself. For me, entrepreneurs are what I call “Island Leaders”. We sit on our own little island, make our decisions and we don't often articulate why we make those decisions and sometimes we change our minds pretty quickly. My biggest learning was how do I get off the island, how do I get out of my shell, how do I learn to bring other people in, respect what they're saying and their abilities. It was really an eye-opener for me, that I had to learn and change and become a new person for the second half of my career. Intrapreneurship An intrapreneur is someone who works for an organization they do not own, but they are empowered to come up with ideas and commercialize them. The really cool thing about intrapreneurship is it's the most empathic part of the innovation toolkit. Intrapreneurship is about reaching into your greatest resource – the people working in your organization – and asking them if they have any ideas that they think can be brought to market to generate revenue, bring costs down, etc.     Links and Resources Connect with Ken: LinkedIn https://spyder.works/ info@spyder.works | T 877.281.7896 (Toronto)   The 90% Rule: What's Your Next Big Opportunity? by Ken Tencer and John Paulo Cardoso Cause a Disturbance: If You Can Slice a Melon or Make a Right-Hand Turn, You Can Be a Breakthrough Innovator by Ken Tencer and John Paulo Cardoso The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh Intraprise™ - A Spyder Works Program Whiteboards

Venture Stories
Jerry Yang on China, Yahoo!, and Early-Stage Investing

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2019 56:55


Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo! and founding partner of AME Cloud Ventures, joined us in downtown San Francisco to be interviewed by Village Global co-founder and partner, Ben Casnocha.They talked about stories from the early days of Yahoo! and lessons learned from the experience, what American entrepreneurs can learn from China, and his strategy for early-stage investing.Remember to apply for the winter vintage of our Network Catalyst accelerator! It is a personalized program that features masterclasses from some of the best in Silicon Valley and a dedicated network leader focused on making the introductions you need to turbocharge your company. You can participate in-person in San Francisco or virtually from anywhere around the world. Find out more and apply at villageglobal.vc/networkcatalyst.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Venture Stories
Jerry Yang on China, Yahoo!, and Early-Stage Investing

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2019 56:55


Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo! and founding partner of AME Cloud Ventures, joined us in downtown San Francisco to be interviewed by Village Global co-founder and partner, Ben Casnocha.They talked about stories from the early days of Yahoo! and lessons learned from the experience, what American entrepreneurs can learn from China, and his strategy for early-stage investing.Remember to apply for the winter vintage of our Network Catalyst accelerator! It is a personalized program that features masterclasses from some of the best in Silicon Valley and a dedicated network leader focused on making the introductions you need to turbocharge your company. You can participate in-person in San Francisco or virtually from anywhere around the world. Find out more and apply at villageglobal.vc/networkcatalyst.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Brand Builder
How Discomfort and Stress Create High Performance, with 15five CEO David Hassell

Brand Builder

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2019 52:07


If you're a business leader, employee happiness should never be your goal. Sound strange? That's according to today’s Brand Builder guest, David Hassell. David is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO and founder of 15five, software that makes continuous employee feedback simple, and helps drive high-performing cultures. We talked to David about a wide range of subjects, but what we found most interesting was his belief that the goal of his product is not to make employees happy, but to help them become their best selves, and ultimately to create an environment where they can perform at their highest level. 15five's product and philosophy has been a huge hit with enterprises of all sizes, and they recently closed a $30.7M series B round.  We think you'll find David's point of view highly valuable - especially since we know a lot of you are working with remote employees and need an efficient feedback loop, or just want to empower your team to direct their own personal and professional growth.  Takeaways David tells us how he discovered the concept of 15five, and why he decided to create a company around the practice. David stresses the importance of having a purpose in one’s work, and tells us why he struggled with starting the right company before landing on the idea for 15five. David explains why he thinks the term “Human Resources” should be phased out immediately. David breaks down the difference between eustress and distress, and explains why discomfort actually breeds innovation. David clarifies that the goal of your organization shouldn’t be happiness, but high performance, and explains why. David tells us the most important trait he looks for when interviewing potential employees, and gives us his strategies to help find people willing to experience personal breakthroughs. David explains why he thinks money is a threshold, and tells us what motivates people once that threshold is achieved. Links 15five.com @15five on Twitter @dhassell on Twitter David on LinkedIn David’s Best Self Podcast 15five's core values Zoom video conferencing. Recommended Reading Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey The Alliance by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh Mindset by Carol Dweck Start With Why by Simon Sinek  Simon Sinek’s TED Talk Unique Ability by Catherine Nomura  Drive by Daniel Pink Give and Take by Adam Grant  "The Person They'll Become" by Jason Fried Join our Exclusive Facebook Group! What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now! Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.

The Law School Toolbox Podcast: Tools for Law Students from 1L to the Bar Exam, and Beyond

Welcome back to the Law School Toolbox podcast! Today, we're talking about what to do if you're graduating (or have graduated) from law school, and you find yourself without a job, not wanting to practice law, and not sure how to figure out what to do next! In this episode we discuss: Why it's a good idea to sit for the bar, even if you're not sure you want to be a lawyer (and which exam to take) The advantages (besides just paying the bills) of working side jobs while you are figuring out what to do next The importance of meeting people through networking and conferences How going on a short retreat can help you clear your mind, refocus, and come up with new ideas Ways to hold yourself accountable and stay organized, so you can avoid procrastination The danger of some pitfalls you might fall into while thinking about what you want to be doing in the future Resources: The Start-up of You, by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha (http://www.thestartupofyou.com/) Calendly (https://calendly.com/) Trello (https://trello.com/en) Wisdom Conference (http://www.wisdom2summit.com/) Podcast Episode 177: Real Talk about Student Loan Debt (w/Financial Expert Travis Hornsby) (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/podcast-episode-177-real-talk-about-student-loan-debt-w-financial-expert-travis-hornsby/) Podcast Episode 184: Handling Law School Finances (w/Lyssa Thaden of Accessflex) (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/podcast-episode-184-handling-law-school-finances-w-lyssa-thaden-of-accesslex/) Podcast Episode 186: Book Club: Becoming, by Michelle Obama (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/podcast-episode-186-book-club-becoming-by-michelle-obama/) How to Conduct Great Informational Interviews (https://thegirlsguidetolawschool.com/how-to-conduct-great-informational-interviews/) Leaving Litigation (and Leaving BigLaw) (https://thegirlsguidetolawschool.com/leaving-litigation-and-leaving-biglaw/) CareerDicta.com (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/careerdicta/) Download the Transcript  (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/episode-194-you-dont-want-to-be-a-lawyer-what-now/) If you enjoy the podcast, we'd love a nice review and/or rating on Apple Podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/law-school-toolbox-podcast/id1027603976) or your favorite listening app. And feel free to reach out to us directly. You can always reach us via the contact form on the Law School Toolbox website (http://lawschooltoolbox.com/contact). If you're concerned about the bar exam, check out our sister site, the Bar Exam Toolbox (http://barexamtoolbox.com/). You can also sign up for our weekly podcast newsletter (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/get-law-school-podcast-updates/) to make sure you never miss an episode! Thanks for listening! Alison & Lee

Venture Stories
The Case For Digital Minimalism with Cal Newport

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2019 44:42


This episode features Ben Casnocha, Village Global co-founder and partner, in conversation with Cal Newport, author of Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World.Cal starts out by defining what digital minimalism is exactly. He talks about why he refrains from using social media and explains how the mechanics of social apps create something resembling an addiction. They discuss Henry David Thoreau’s philosophy of time management as explained in Walden, and why you should “think of your phone like the closet in the Marie Kondo show.” Cal explains why a 30-day reset is necessary and how exactly to use that time to find clarity around what is most valuable to you.Cal talks about the kinds of offline activities that new digital minimalists start to engage in, his unique definition of solitude, and why solitude is so important.They also give a sneak peek of Cal’s next book, on digital minimalism in the workplace.Quotes From This Episode“Minimalism says if you really want to maximize your quality of life, find the things that are really valuable, focus on those, and miss out on the things — not that are bad — but that are good but not that good.”“The cost of the clutter is going to overwhelm the benefits that each of these things causing the clutter actually creates.”“You can think about your phone like the closet in the Marie Kondo show.”“Never before in human history could we get rid of every single moment of solitude in the day.”“Clean out the proverbial closet and rebuild your digital life from scratch, but just do it much more intentionally.”Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global and is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg. Colin Campbell is our audio engineer and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Venture Stories
The Case For Digital Minimalism with Cal Newport

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2019 44:42


This episode features Ben Casnocha, Village Global co-founder and partner, in conversation with Cal Newport, author of Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World.Cal starts out by defining what digital minimalism is exactly. He talks about why he refrains from using social media and explains how the mechanics of social apps create something resembling an addiction. They discuss Henry David Thoreau’s philosophy of time management as explained in Walden, and why you should “think of your phone like the closet in the Marie Kondo show.” Cal explains why a 30-day reset is necessary and how exactly to use that time to find clarity around what is most valuable to you.Cal talks about the kinds of offline activities that new digital minimalists start to engage in, his unique definition of solitude, and why solitude is so important.They also give a sneak peek of Cal’s next book, on digital minimalism in the workplace.Quotes From This Episode“Minimalism says if you really want to maximize your quality of life, find the things that are really valuable, focus on those, and miss out on the things — not that are bad — but that are good but not that good.”“The cost of the clutter is going to overwhelm the benefits that each of these things causing the clutter actually creates.”“You can think about your phone like the closet in the Marie Kondo show.”“Never before in human history could we get rid of every single moment of solitude in the day.”“Clean out the proverbial closet and rebuild your digital life from scratch, but just do it much more intentionally.”Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global and is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg. Colin Campbell is our audio engineer and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Venture Stories
Live Episode: Lessons on Leadership and Being a Better CEO with John Donahoe and Ben Casnocha

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2019 54:37


We were thrilled to host a Masterclass roundtable session with our founders and John Donahoe (@Donahoe_John), CEO of ServiceNow. Prior to ServiceNow, John was CEO of eBay for more than seven years. He is known as one of the most inspirational leaders in Silicon Valley and is a highly sought-after mentor to CEOs including Brian Chesky at Airbnb, Drew Houston at Dropbox, and Ben Silbermann at Pinterest. We’re honored to have him among our small group of world-class executives and collaborators whose time and expertise help power our network of founders at Village Global.When we asked John to deliver a Masterclass to 12 diverse and determined founders in our portfolio, John gladly invited us all to the ServiceNow HQ where he riffed on topics of leadership, culture building, talent development, and how to grow as a CEO in the tech industry.He shared advice on when to hire ahead, invest in and train, or replace personnel on your team and gave insight into his most common piece of advice on professional growth when advising CEOs. John also did an in-depth demonstration of how to let someone go with dignity and grace.Quotes From This Episode"When you talk about priorities at an aspirational level, they overlap a lot. People start realizing we're more similar than we're dissimilar." — John"Adversity never feels fun. I don't seek adversity. But I'm no longer scared of adversity. When it emerges, instead of trying to run from it, I now accept that it is a reality and I say, 'well, at least I'm going to learn and grow.'" — John"My experience has been that around any issue that involves change, you have roughly 20-25% of people who want to be part of it, no matter what the topic is, you have 25-30% of people who want to fight it, and you have the 50% of people in the middle saying 'which side is going to win?'" — John"[When someone is let go] The fear is humiliation usually. That's almost a bigger fear than actually leaving the company." — John"We're never as good or as bad as labels make us out to be." — John"I would say in general, for every 10 hours of business development conversations, 8 of them are a waste." — John"I do gratitude practice driving into work every morning. It's proven in brain science that your brain becomes more negative over time. But it's also been proven in brain science that you can counteract that." — John"The older I get, the more I've made friends with uncertainty. I don't avoid uncertainty. Uncertainty is as present to me today as it was before but I'm a little more comfortable with it today." — JohnThanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global and is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg. Colin Campbell is our audio engineer and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Venture Stories
Live Episode: Lessons on Leadership and Being a Better CEO with John Donahoe and Ben Casnocha

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2019 54:37


We were thrilled to host a Masterclass roundtable session with our founders and John Donahoe (@Donahoe_John), CEO of ServiceNow. Prior to ServiceNow, John was CEO of eBay for more than seven years. He is known as one of the most inspirational leaders in Silicon Valley and is a highly sought-after mentor to CEOs including Brian Chesky at Airbnb, Drew Houston at Dropbox, and Ben Silbermann at Pinterest. We’re honored to have him among our small group of world-class executives and collaborators whose time and expertise help power our network of founders at Village Global.When we asked John to deliver a Masterclass to 12 diverse and determined founders in our portfolio, John gladly invited us all to the ServiceNow HQ where he riffed on topics of leadership, culture building, talent development, and how to grow as a CEO in the tech industry.He shared advice on when to hire ahead, invest in and train, or replace personnel on your team and gave insight into his most common piece of advice on professional growth when advising CEOs. John also did an in-depth demonstration of how to let someone go with dignity and grace.Quotes From This Episode"When you talk about priorities at an aspirational level, they overlap a lot. People start realizing we're more similar than we're dissimilar." — John"Adversity never feels fun. I don't seek adversity. But I'm no longer scared of adversity. When it emerges, instead of trying to run from it, I now accept that it is a reality and I say, 'well, at least I'm going to learn and grow.'" — John"My experience has been that around any issue that involves change, you have roughly 20-25% of people who want to be part of it, no matter what the topic is, you have 25-30% of people who want to fight it, and you have the 50% of people in the middle saying 'which side is going to win?'" — John"[When someone is let go] The fear is humiliation usually. That's almost a bigger fear than actually leaving the company." — John"We're never as good or as bad as labels make us out to be." — John"I would say in general, for every 10 hours of business development conversations, 8 of them are a waste." — John"I do gratitude practice driving into work every morning. It's proven in brain science that your brain becomes more negative over time. But it's also been proven in brain science that you can counteract that." — John"The older I get, the more I've made friends with uncertainty. I don't avoid uncertainty. Uncertainty is as present to me today as it was before but I'm a little more comfortable with it today." — JohnThanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global and is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg. Colin Campbell is our audio engineer and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Venture Stories
Live Episode: Lean Startup Lessons For Founders with Eric Ries and Ben Casnocha

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2019 73:34


Eric Ries (@ericries) recently joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha (@bencasnocha) in San Francisco to chat with some of the founders of our portfolio companies. Eric is a Village Global LP, friend of the firm, and author of The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses.Over the nearly 75-minute session, Eric gave a masterclass in Lean Startup techniques, addressed questions from founders on some of the finer details of the framework, and shared what he has learned from his entrepreneurial journey in the early 2000s as well as more recently as founder of the Long Term Stock Exchange.Eric and Ben start out by talking about uncertainty as the core of a startup and the stark contrast between planning in an early-stage company versus in a large enterprise. Eric points out that those in the startup world take for granted certain startup best practices that “would get you fired in any big company.” He talks about the need for structure around entrepreneurial exploration, including making one’s hypotheses explicit and rigorously testing them.Eric discusses the difference between customer discovery and customer validation. He tells the story of a founder who interviewed prospective customers and was told that the product was great and that they would use it, but that when he asked those same customers to put their name to a letter recommending their bosses purchase the product, not one would do so.“The ideas that sound big are usually not the things that end up big.”They move on to a discussion of pivots and why Eric says that in virtually all cases, after having pivoted, founders say they wish they had done so sooner. He explains why every six weeks is an ideal cadence for a “pivot or persevere” meeting.MVP (minimum viable product) has become household term that was popularized by Eric. He discusses how founders can get over their fear of shipping something they perceive as incomplete and why he says the ideal MVP has “way fewer features than you think it needs.” He fields questions from Village founders on MVPs and talks about how small companies should think about their MVP when targeting large companies as customers.“Engineers always think that more features will solve any problem.”Eric explains what he means when he says that “entrepreneurship is a process of self-discovery” and why managing yourself and your own emotions as a founder can be equally as important as managing those of your team. He also addresses some of the criticisms of the Lean Startup methodology and common misunderstandings of the framework.“I truly believe that entrepreneurship is a process of self-discovery. I think that two people working on the exact same company, encountering the exact same evidence, and deciding on a pivot, would probably choose two different pivots if they had different values. You discover something about what you really care about.”Along the way, they discuss some of the seminal works in entrepreneurship, like The Four Steps To The Epiphany by Steve Blank and Crossing The Chasm by Geoffrey Moore.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global and is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg. Colin Campbell is our audio engineer and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Venture Stories
Live Episode: Lean Startup Lessons For Founders with Eric Ries and Ben Casnocha

Venture Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2019 73:34


Eric Ries (@ericries) recently joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha (@bencasnocha) in San Francisco to chat with some of the founders of our portfolio companies. Eric is a Village Global LP, friend of the firm, and author of The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses.Over the nearly 75-minute session, Eric gave a masterclass in Lean Startup techniques, addressed questions from founders on some of the finer details of the framework, and shared what he has learned from his entrepreneurial journey in the early 2000s as well as more recently as founder of the Long Term Stock Exchange.Eric and Ben start out by talking about uncertainty as the core of a startup and the stark contrast between planning in an early-stage company versus in a large enterprise. Eric points out that those in the startup world take for granted certain startup best practices that “would get you fired in any big company.” He talks about the need for structure around entrepreneurial exploration, including making one’s hypotheses explicit and rigorously testing them.Eric discusses the difference between customer discovery and customer validation. He tells the story of a founder who interviewed prospective customers and was told that the product was great and that they would use it, but that when he asked those same customers to put their name to a letter recommending their bosses purchase the product, not one would do so.“The ideas that sound big are usually not the things that end up big.”They move on to a discussion of pivots and why Eric says that in virtually all cases, after having pivoted, founders say they wish they had done so sooner. He explains why every six weeks is an ideal cadence for a “pivot or persevere” meeting.MVP (minimum viable product) has become household term that was popularized by Eric. He discusses how founders can get over their fear of shipping something they perceive as incomplete and why he says the ideal MVP has “way fewer features than you think it needs.” He fields questions from Village founders on MVPs and talks about how small companies should think about their MVP when targeting large companies as customers.“Engineers always think that more features will solve any problem.”Eric explains what he means when he says that “entrepreneurship is a process of self-discovery” and why managing yourself and your own emotions as a founder can be equally as important as managing those of your team. He also addresses some of the criticisms of the Lean Startup methodology and common misunderstandings of the framework.“I truly believe that entrepreneurship is a process of self-discovery. I think that two people working on the exact same company, encountering the exact same evidence, and deciding on a pivot, would probably choose two different pivots if they had different values. You discover something about what you really care about.”Along the way, they discuss some of the seminal works in entrepreneurship, like The Four Steps To The Epiphany by Steve Blank and Crossing The Chasm by Geoffrey Moore.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global and is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg. Colin Campbell is our audio engineer and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Helping Sells Radio
093: Chris Yeh Blitzscaling Is About Going from Zero to One Billion

Helping Sells Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 9, 2018 47:49


Chris Yeh joined Helping Sells Radio to talk about his new book, Blitzscaling: The Lightening-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies, which he co-authored with Reid Hoffman. Blitzscaling is written for entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies to massive sizes and understand how to navigate the transitions from small company to medium company to large company. It's not all roses. As Chris explains, "You start off building a company and dream about a day when you've got it all figured out, and it's all going to be smooth from there. It turns out that time never arrives." What happens instead is that once you do have it figured out, you almost have to start again from scratch because your company is entering a new stage of its lifecycle and the new stage requires a new set of beliefs, operating principles, and processes, and sometimes even people.  Companies go through stages. At each stage the company is completely different. And the company should be treated differently. This means founders and executive teams and even employees, need to make certain transitions so that the company can continue to grow and succeed into the next stage.  Peter Thiel helped us go from Zero to One. Reid and Chris helps us go from Zero to One Billion.  Learn more about Chris: The book, Blitzscaling. Get it: https://www.amazon.com/Blitzscaling-Lightning-Fast-Building-Massively-Companies-ebook/dp/B0791239V7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539046843&sr=8-1&keywords=blitzscaling Chris's website: https://chrisyeh.com/ Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisyeh Chris on Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisyeh  The Masters of Scale podcast and Chris's cameo appearance: https://mastersofscale.com/#/arianna-huffington-what-great-founders-do-at-night Chris's other book with Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha. The Alliance: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JTJ84EW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Get on the email list at helpingsells.substack.com

STEM on FIRE
38: General Engineering, Art and Innovator at Ford – Victoria Schein

STEM on FIRE

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2018 23:01


Victoria Schein earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering from Smith College and is currently a Design engineer and innovator at Ford Motor Company and is also heavily involved with Girls Who Code. Victoria also has a strong background in Art and at Ford has 40+ patents. Her expertise is in innovation and really enjoyed the small class sizes at Smith College and appreciated the ability to focus her school projects into areas that interested her. Autonomous vehicles really has her fired up being on the forefront of designing the next generation vehicles. She mentions multiple times the importance of having a strong network along with mentors and her mom provided her the best advice “Do not settle for less and you only get what you settle for”. She attributes staying organized as a habit that contributes to her success. She really enjoys Ted Talks and the book she recommends is “The Start Up Of You” by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha. You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost. Free Audio Book from Audible.

Libros para Emprendedores
#061 - El Mejor Negocio Eres Tú

Libros para Emprendedores

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2017 57:06


  Instituto de Emprendedores patrocina este episodio:   ¿Cómo acelerar tu carrera en un mundo competitivo como el actual? La clave es gestionar tu carrera como si fuera un negocio. ¿Por qué? Porque las empresas, los negocios, las startups (y los emprendedores que las dirigen) son ágiles. Invierten en ellas mismas. Construyen redes profesionales. Toman decisiones que implican cierto riesgo y aceptan que la incertidumbre y la volatilidad pueden ser ventajas. Esos son, exactamente, las habilidades que necesitan los profesionales de hoy en día. En este episodio vamos a ver libro El Mejor Negocio Eres Tú (The Start-Up of You, 2012), libro del cofundador y CEO de LinkedIn Reid Hoffman y el emprendedor Ben Casnocha, que te descubre las estrategias que necesitas aplicar para sobrevivir en este fracturado mundo laboral en el que estamos inmersos, y convertirte en el CEO de tu propia carrera profesional.       ________ Episodio patrocinado por Instituto de Emprendedores: Conoce el Plan Midas, 5 fases y 10 pasos para pasar de no tener ni siquiera una idea de negocio a tener una empresa de éxito, funcionando, generando ingresos y calidad de vida para ti y los tuyos. Enfócate en conseguir tus metas con una empresa que te proporcione los mejores resultados. El Instituto de Emprendedores te da el plan de ruta para alcanzarlo. Contenidos, cursos y coaching grupal con Luis Ramos, de Libros para Emprendedores. Consigue tus metas, ¡AHORA!  ________   En esta página encuentras las notas del episodio de hoy:  http://librosparaemprendedores.net/061    Esta es nuestra página oficial de Facebook: http://librosparaemprendedores.net/facebook Nuestro grupo de Retos para emprendedores: http://librosparaemprendedores.net/retos   Además, recuerda que puedes suscribirte al podcast en: - Nuestra página: http://librosparaemprendedores.net/feed/podcast - iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/mx/podcast/libros-para-emprendedores/id1076142249?l=es - Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/LibrosparaemprendedoresNet - iVoox: http://www.ivoox.com/ajx-suscribirse_jh_266011_1.html - Spreaker: http://www.spreaker.com/user/8567017/episodes/feed - Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=81214   y seguirnos en Twitter ( https://twitter.com/EmprendeLibros ) y en Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/EmprendeLibros/ ).   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Libros para Emprendedores
#061 - El Mejor Negocio Eres Tú

Libros para Emprendedores

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2017 57:07


  Instituto de Emprendedores patrocina este episodio:   ¿Cómo acelerar tu carrera en un mundo competitivo como el actual? La clave es gestionar tu carrera como si fuera un negocio. ¿Por qué? Porque las empresas, los negocios, las startups (y los emprendedores que las dirigen) son ágiles. Invierten en ellas mismas. Construyen redes profesionales. Toman decisiones que implican cierto riesgo y aceptan que la incertidumbre y la volatilidad pueden ser ventajas. Esos son, exactamente, las habilidades que necesitan los profesionales de hoy en día. En este episodio vamos a ver libro El Mejor Negocio Eres Tú (The Start-Up of You, 2012), libro del cofundador y CEO de LinkedIn Reid Hoffman y el emprendedor Ben Casnocha, que te descubre las estrategias que necesitas aplicar para sobrevivir en este fracturado mundo laboral en el que estamos inmersos, y convertirte en el CEO de tu propia carrera profesional.       ________ Episodio patrocinado por Instituto de Emprendedores: Conoce el Plan Midas, 5 fases y 10 pasos para pasar de no tener ni siquiera una idea de negocio a tener una empresa de éxito, funcionando, generando ingresos y calidad de vida para ti y los tuyos. Enfócate en conseguir tus metas con una empresa que te proporcione los mejores resultados. El Instituto de Emprendedores te da el plan de ruta para alcanzarlo. Contenidos, cursos y coaching grupal con Luis Ramos, de Libros para Emprendedores. Consigue tus metas, ¡AHORA!  ________   En esta página encuentras las notas del episodio de hoy:  http://librosparaemprendedores.net/061    Esta es nuestra página oficial de Facebook: http://librosparaemprendedores.net/facebook Nuestro grupo de Retos para emprendedores: http://librosparaemprendedores.net/retos   Además, recuerda que puedes suscribirte al podcast en: - Nuestra página: http://librosparaemprendedores.net/feed/podcast - iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/mx/podcast/libros-para-emprendedores/id1076142249?l=es - Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/LibrosparaemprendedoresNet - iVoox: http://www.ivoox.com/ajx-suscribirse_jh_266011_1.html - Spreaker: http://www.spreaker.com/user/8567017/episodes/feed - Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=81214   y seguirnos en Twitter ( https://twitter.com/EmprendeLibros ) y en Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/EmprendeLibros/ ).  

Gist.fm: Audible meets podcasting
10,000 Hours With Reid Hoffman

Gist.fm: Audible meets podcasting

Play Episode Listen Later May 14, 2017 25:35


Ben Casnocha has spent over 4 years working closely with Reid Hoffman as his co-author and LinkedIn’s Chief of Staff. In this episode he shares 5 timeless lessons he learned from the King of Tech: 1. People are complicated and flawed. Root for their better angels. 2. The best way to get a busy person’s attention: Help them. 3. Keep it simple and move fast when conceiving strategies and making decisions. 4. Every weakness has a corresponding strength. 5. The values that actually shape a culture have both upside and downside.

TUB-Thump
How to Ask For Something When It’s Out of Your Control – TUB-Thump 035

TUB-Thump

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2017


  When a friend of a friend is the right person to speak with, what’s the best way to get an introduction to them? Ben Casnocha refers to a great way to ask for something, while putting no pressure on the person you’re asking. It’s a good technique. But not everyone will feel comfortable saying […]

CareerCast by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
How to Succeed as an MBA in Silicon Valley

CareerCast by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2016 30:24


What is it like to succeed as an MBA in Silicon Valley? Just ask Chris Yeh, co-author (along with LinkedIn co-founder, Reid Hoffman and entrepreneur, Ben Casnocha) of the New York Times bestseller, The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age. In this CareerCast, Chris shares his experience, insights and wisdom from founding, advising, or investing in over 100 high-tech startups.

Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong
Episode 132: The Alliance and Blitzscaling with Chris Yeh - Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong

Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2016 33:55


Chris Yeh from Wasabi Ventures joined us for a conversation on the future of employee & employer management and technology enabled blitzscaling. We discussed the book “The Alliance” which he co-authored with Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha and how the concepts are adapted to a new world where long term employment looked like a relic The post Episode 132: The Alliance and Blitzscaling with Chris Yeh appeared first on Analyse Asia.

alliance reid hoffman blitzscaling chris yeh ben casnocha analyse asia bernard leong wasabi ventures
Product Hunt Radio
Episode 27: Ben Casnocha

Product Hunt Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2015 52:53


Ben is the co-author of The Start-up of You and The Alliance with Reid Hoffman, served for two years as Reid's chief of staff at LinkedIn, and has founded many different companies in Silicon Valley. In this podcast we chat about career strategy, what it means to live in "permanent beta", loneliness in San Francisco, and much more. Ben's blog: http://casnocha.com/blog The Alliance: http://www.amazon.com/The-Alliance-Managing-Talent-Networked/dp/1625275773 Edited by Alex Kontis Any feedback please let me know at @eriktorenberg

Leadership Conversations
Episode 15: Ben Casnocha

Leadership Conversations

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2015 30:33


  A Leadership Conversation with Ben Casnocha, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and co-author of several books including The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age. During this 30 minute teleseminar, hear Ben discuss key principles presented in The Alliance, including how to recruit, manage, and retain the entrepreneurial employees needed to succeed in the networked age.

MoneyForLunch
Richard Laermer, Chris Yeh, Sarano Kelley on Money For Lunch

MoneyForLunch

Play Episode Listen Later May 8, 2015 55:00


Richard Laermer  Punk Marketing coauthor, frequently-quoted authority on media culture and hype, Richard Laermer is a PR knowitall, former journalist, and author of six books including 2011: Trendspotting, Punk Marketing, Native's Guide to New York, and Full Frontal PR. As a blogger he pens the infamous industry watchdog Bad Pitch Blog and does his best to combat insanity on Huffington Post. He founded his veteran tech public relations firm, RLM PR, in 1991 after a stint as PR Director at Columbia Business School; there he recognized companies' increasing need for effective media representation and saw clearly that publicists were not grasping the intricacies of their clients' businesses Sarano Kelley Wall Street veteran, top performance coach and number one rated Wall Street speaker is author of the book, “The Game: Win Your Life in 90 Days”.  He is also the creator of the nation's first Financial Services industry-wide international financial literacy campaign Chris Yeh  co-author, along with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and entrepreneur Ben Casnocha of the New York Times bestseller, “The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age.”  Chris is the co-founder of Allied Talent, the official provider of The Alliance Framework for helping organizations better recruit, engage, and retain entrepreneurial employees.  In addition, he has founded, advised, or invested in over 100 high-tech startups

MoneyForLunch
Richard Laermer, Roland Frasier, Chris Yeh, Sarano Kelley on Money For Lunch

MoneyForLunch

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2015 55:00


Richard Laermer  Punk Marketing coauthor, frequently-quoted authority on media culture and hype, Richard Laermer is a PR knowitall, former journalist, and author of six books including 2011: Trendspotting, Punk Marketing, Native's Guide to New York, and Full Frontal PR. As a blogger he pens the infamous industry watchdog Bad Pitch Blog and does his best to combat insanity on Huffington Post. He founded his veteran tech public relations firm, RLM PR, in 1991 after a stint as PR Director at Columbia Business School; there he recognized companies' increasing need for effective media representation and saw clearly that publicists were not grasping the intricacies of their clients' businesses Sarano Kelley Wall Street veteran, top performance coach and number one rated Wall Street speaker is author of the book, “The Game: Win Your Life in 90 Days”.  He is also the creator of the nation's first Financial Services industry-wide international financial literacy campaign Chris Yeh  co-author, along with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and entrepreneur Ben Casnocha of the New York Times bestseller, “The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age.”  Chris is the co-founder of Allied Talent, the official provider of The Alliance Framework for helping organizations better recruit, engage, and retain entrepreneurial employees.  In addition, he has founded, advised, or invested in over 100 high-tech startups  

People and Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast
PPP 121 | We're Not Family. But Free Agency Doesn't Work. How to Have Career Discussions with Your Team, with Ben Casnocha

People and Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2014 36:58


Total Duration 36:57 Download episode 121 We are Family? Most companies no longer feel like 'family'. But the 'free agent' approach has limitations as well. My guest today is Ben Casnocha. He is the co-author of a new book entitled The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age. Ben and his co-author Reid Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn) discuss a new model for managing talent in this new age. Learn more about Ben by checking out his blog at http://casnocha.com/blog. Helping Your Organization Deliver We help organizations around the world improve their ability to deliver projects and lead teams. Who in your organization is responsible for planning out next year's training? Have them contact me at andy [AT] i-leadonline [DOT] com. We have training classes designed for helping every role in your organization to get better at successfully delivering their work. I look forward to hearing from you! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! BLACK VORTEX by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 CAREFREE by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

EconTalk
Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha on LinkedIn and The Alliance

EconTalk

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2014 69:44


Reid Hoffman, co-founder of professional networking site LinkedIn, and Ben Casnocha, former Chief-of-Staff of LinkedIn, talk to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about LinkedIn and their book The Alliance. Hoffman and Casnocha discuss the founding and vision of LinkedIn along with their ideas in The Alliance on how to improve employee/employer relations when turnover is high and loyalty on each side is low.

EconTalk Archives, 2014
Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha on LinkedIn and The Alliance

EconTalk Archives, 2014

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2014 69:44


Reid Hoffman, co-founder of professional networking site LinkedIn, and Ben Casnocha, former Chief-of-Staff of LinkedIn, talk to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about LinkedIn and their book The Alliance. Hoffman and Casnocha discuss the founding and vision of LinkedIn along with their ideas in The Alliance on how to improve employee/employer relations when turnover is high and loyalty on each side is low.

LinkedIn Speaker Series
LinkedIn Speaker Series with Jeff Weiner, Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha - June 26, 2014

LinkedIn Speaker Series

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 26, 2014 59:45


LinkedIn's co-founder/chairman, Reid Hoffman, has written a new book with Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh: The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age. Jeff Weiner  sat down with Reid and Ben to discuss this fascinating and very relevant topic before the book is released in early July. The premise of the book is that the employer-employee relationship is broken. Managers face a seemingly impossible dilemma: You can't afford to offer lifetime employment. But you can't build a lasting, innovative business when everyone acts like a free agent. The solution: Stop thinking of employees as family or free agents, and start thinking of them as allies on a tour of duty. This bold but practical guide for managers and executives will give you the tools you need to recruit, manage, and retain the kind of employees who will make your company thrive in today's world of constant innovation and fast-paced change. What Are Business Leaders Saying About The Alliance? "GE is competing in its third century. The key to sustained performance is developing competitive leaders in every era. The Alliance captures the essence of modern talent development: trust and mutual value creation helps both employer and employee compete in the marketplace. The authors lay out a framework that helps big companies as well as startups develop their people more effectively, while creating a competitive team." – Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman and CEO, GE ___ "Engaged employees are the key to success in any business. The Alliance is a terrific book that offers real world insights on how to build loyalty, inspire creativity and manage winning teams for the long term." – Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman & CEO, American Express

HBR IdeaCast
Talent Strategies for the Post-Loyalty World

HBR IdeaCast

Play Episode Listen Later May 16, 2013 18:51


Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh, coauthors of the HBR article "Tours of Duty: The New Employer-Employee Compact."

Notebook on Cities and Culture
S2E15: Places are People with Ben Casnocha

Notebook on Cities and Culture

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2012 66:20


Colin Marshall sits down in San Francisco's South Beach with entrepreneur, author, blogger, traveler, and learner Ben Casnocha. His latest book, co-written with Reid Hoffman, chairman of LinkedIn, is The Start-Up of You. They discuss the advantages of hanging an IKEA world map on the wall; his ten days of silent meditation and the feeling of enlarged thumbs that resulted; the San Francisco Bay Area's convergence of Californian spirituality and Californian technological intensity; the three Californias: San Francisco, Los Angeles, and everything else; "NorCal" pride and State of Jefferson stickers; being the average of the five people you spend the most time with, and how that got him involved in technology startups to begin with; how where you physically live now matters both more and less than it used to (and who still lives virtually on Livejournal); how loyalty now extends horizontally to your network rather than vertically to your company, and how your identity now comes before your role as an organizational component; his lifelong habit of reaching out to interesting people, and how it differs from the standard sleaziness of "networking"; his visits to Detroit and Athens, and how those cities may have strained his appreciative thinking muscles; his interest in underrated and underdiscussed places as well as people, such as those in South America; his adoption of "home bases" around the world, be they in San Francisco, Santiago, Zurich, or Tokyo; the pronunciation of Tegucigalpa; the loneliness he sees deep in the eyes of people who declare themselves "nomadic"; the necessity of acting consistently on curiosity, and of cultivating both a highly technical and a highly nontechnical mind; whether moving to a city means moving to randomness; and his sensory-deprivation experience floating in a saltwater pod.

Six Pixels of Separation Podcast - By Mitch Joel
SPOS #310 - The Startup Of You With Ben Casnocha

Six Pixels of Separation Podcast - By Mitch Joel

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2012 44:46


Welcome to episode #310 of Six Pixels Of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast. Reid Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn - the very popular online social network for business professionals - in December 2002. With close to 140 million members in over 20 countries, LinkedIn's IPO in May of last year made Hoffman a billionaire. Currently, he serves as Executive Chairman of LinkedIn and is a partner at Greylock Partners - a very popular venture capital firm. Hoffman's passion is in understanding how these connected networks that we're all creating everyday as we connect, friend, like, link and follow one another creates new business opportunities. He also believes that in these highly networked times, we have to start thinking differently about business and the work that we're doing. Along with Ben Casnocha (an award-winning entrepreneur and author), they recently published the business book, The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career. Casnocha took some time out of his busy schedule to talk about the new value systems we should all be looking at when we come to work everyday. Enjoy the conversation... Here it is: Six Pixels Of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast - Episode #310 - Host: Mitch Joel. Running time: 44:45. Please send in questions, comments, suggestions - mitch@twistimage.com. Hello from Beautiful Montreal. Subscribe over at iTunes. Please visit and leave comments on the Blog - Six Pixels of Separation. Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook. or you can connect on LinkedIn. ...or on twitter.  Six Pixels of Separation the book is now available. CTRL ALT DEL is coming in Spring 2013. In conversation with Ben Casnocha. The Start-Up Of You. Follow Ben on Twitter. This week's music: David Usher 'St. Lawrence River'. Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels Of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast - Episode #310 - Host: Mitch Joel. Tags: advertising podcast ben casnocha blog blogging business book david usher digital marketing facebook greylock partners itunes linkedin marketing marketing podcast online social network podcast podcasting reid hoffman social media the startup of you twitter

Escape from Cubicle Nation Podcast
Learn how to build your personal brand

Escape from Cubicle Nation Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 7, 2009 21:57


I will never forget reading Tom Peter's article The Brand Called You in Fast Company Magazine in August 1997.  Growth in Silicon Valley was sizzling hot, and the fresh perspective on personal marketing was totally new and exciting.25-year old Dan Schwabel felt the same thing when he read the article, although it was many years later, when he stumbled upon it on the internet.  According to Dan, it summed up what he had been doing in his own education and career since Junior High.  So he made the decision to become the personal branding expert for the new generation.Today, Dan releases his first book on the topic, called Me 2.0:  Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success.I interviewed him in a 23-minute podcast where we discuss:How to build your own personal brandCan you still build a strong personal brand if you are no longer a young whipper-snapper?How to maintain focus on brand building in a busy lifeHow to start small and grow your visibility in national and global markets We can all learn from Dan's focus, drive and determination.  He is, like my other young mentors Ramit Sethi, Ben Casnocha and Shama Hyder, showing that experience is not the only thing that builds a great brand.Enjoy the interview and grab the book! 

Notebook on Cities and Culture
Entrepreneur and blogger Ben Casnocha

Notebook on Cities and Culture

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 19, 2007 54:30


A conversation about optimism, eternal studenthood and funny conservatives with entrepreneur and author Ben Casnocha. His most recent book is My Start-Up Life.