Podcasts about Bloomberg Beta

Roy Bahat, Head of Bloomberg Beta, joins Justin Blake, Executive Director of the Edelman Trust Institute to talk about why he thinks employers are the most trusted institution, based on data from the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust at Work, and how workplaces can responsibly integrate AI. “If we want an accelerated pace … Continue reading "Bloomberg Beta's Roy Bahat on Responsible AI in the Workplace  "

Jeff Huber is Co-Founder of Chroma, the open source vector database. Their open source project, also called chroma, has 13K stars on GitHub. Chroma has raised $20M from investors including Quiet Ventures and Bloomberg Beta. In this episode, we dig into why vector databases are important for AI applications & why AI workloads are different, how their partnership with LangChain helped with early growth, why data is really the only tool a user has to change modern AI's behavior & more!

There's one marketing tactic that can make people laugh, it can make people gasp. But either way it'll make them remember your content for years. It's shock factor. And people aren't using it enough in B2B marketing. It's eliciting this strong emotional response that grabs your audience's attention, gets them talking about your brand, and makes your content rise above the noise. What's not to love? So in this episode of Remarkable, we're talking about a group of filmmakers who know about shock factor: Traktor. And with the help of our special guest, Senior Director, Head of Content at Domino Data Lab, Yuval Zukerman, we chat about going for the shock factor, creating a series of ads for a single campaign, and using your constraints to your advantage.About our guest, Yuval ZukermanYuval Zukerman is Senior Director, Head of Content at Domino Data Lab. He joined the company in July 2022 as Director of Technical Alliances. Prior to Domino Data Lab, Yuval served as Manager of Partner Marketing at VMWare. He has also founded his own company, Enavigo, LLC, focusing on technology leadership for results-oriented marketers, mobile development, developer relations, translation and localization project management.Over his career, he has served in a variety of roles across the technology lifecycle. From developer and engineer to project manager, technology consultant to technical creative and sales. He has worked with non-profits, medium-sized clients and global Fortune 500 companies in verticals that included CPG, B2C and B2B services, hospitality and financial. Past clients include Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Wells Fargo, Verizon Wireless, The Coca-Cola Company, Philips, and The Greater Boston Food Bank. He has a B.S. in Computer Science from UCLA and an M.A. in Information Technology and Software Engineering from Harvard.About Domino Data Lab​​Domino Data Lab powers model-driven business for the world's most advanced enterprises, including over 20% of the Fortune 100. Their Enterprise MLOps platform speeds up the development and deployment of data science work while increasing collaboration and governance, to scale data science into a competitive advantage. Their platform enables thousands of data scientists to develop better medicines, grow more productive crops, adapt risk models to major economic shifts, build better cars, improve customer support, or simply recommend the best purchase to make at the right time. Domino is backed by leading venture capital firms: Sequoia Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Coatue Management, Dell Technologies Capital, Highland Capital Partners, In-Q-Tel, and Zetta Venture Partners.About TraktorTraktor is a group of filmmakers based in Venice, California. Though they're based in California, they're originally from Sweden and met in film school: Directors Sam Larsson, Pontus Löwenhielm, Patrik von Krusenstjerna, Ole Sanders, Mats Lindberg and producer Richard Ulfvengren. They're globally renowned for their work serving brands like Lego, Nike, PepsiCo, Levi's, Fox Sports, MTV, Virgin Atlantic, and more. They've done music videos for Fatboy Slim, the Flaming Lips and Madonna. At least twice they've been recognized as the most award-winning directors in the world. They've won three Grand Prix at Cannes, a handful of Clios, an Emmy, and been nominated for a Grammy.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Traktor:Go for the shock factor. Knock your audience off-balance with unexpected content. It's inexpensive, it's attention-grabbing, it's memorable. Traktor made ads for Fox Sports that showed a man high diving straight into the ground, and another of two blindfolded men swinging oversized bats at each other. They were shockingly off-kilter for sports ads at the time. Over 20 years later, Yuval still remembers them vividly. Ian says, ”I wouldn't say Traktor's first ads are cheaply done, but comparatively. Like, there's no celebrities. They're just jarring. It's just taking the one salient point that you want the person to know and finding some sort of crazy connection out there in the ether to drive that home and then make the audience think, make them laugh.”Create a series within your campaign. It gives you a format while allowing you freedom to play on your theme. So you can create a variety of ads that appeal to different audience preferences, increase brand awareness and recall, and even run A/B testing with them. It's like how Traktor made a series of ads for Fox Sports. Ian says, ”They have one ad on an Indian sport and one on a Chinese sport. As the viewer, you realize it's a series. It becomes something that's beyond just a one-off thing. And now people think they're so funny. That's where ads are at their best, when it's less of a one-off and more of something that's ongoing.”Use your constraints to your advantage. Traktor leaned into their tight budget, and in doing so created stylized videos that were visually unique and captivating. Ian says, “If you don't have the budget, how can you steer into doing things grainier or less quality or unintentionally done in that way?”Quotes*”You're taking time from your audience. Traktor is giving them an exchange: Humor. They're giving you a giggle and a laugh. And that is something that is very important for us, to provide people value for their time. Time is the most valuable thing we have. So you better not waste it.” - Yuval Zukerman*”No matter what your goal is in the content, stand up to your core set of values. Live up to those standards. I always tell my kids, ‘Are you proud of what you just did?' Because there's something you can feel good that you delivered or created.” - Yuval ZukermanTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Yuval Zukerman, Senior Director, Head of Content at Domino Data Lab[2:08] Why are we talking about ads by Traktor?[3:01] What does Yuval's work at Domino Data Lab entail?[5:35] Learn more about Traktor[12:07] What makes ads by Traktor remarkable?[20:35] What are marketing lessons we can take from Traktor?[27:58] What's Yuval's content strategy?[33:02] How does Yuval get leadership buy-in on new content?[41:40] How does Yuval prove the ROI of content?LinksCheck out films by TraktorConnect with Yuval on LinkedInLearn more about Domino Data LabAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today's episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

AI feels like a tornado that has hit society: unpredictable, powerful, and out of our control. How do we as Christians respond to this force in the world? Curtis is joined by two friends who live and work at the intersection of AI and spiritual reflection: James Cham of Bloomberg Beta and John Kim of the Karamaan Group. Together, the three friends explore how Christians might flip the question from “Where is AI taking us spiritually?” to “Where should Christians take AI?”   Pose your questions to the Good Faith chatbot (BETA)   An AI primer by John Kim (on Medium)   Is AI a religion? (conversation on Bloomberg)   AI: Grappling with a new kind of intelligence (YouTube video from the World Science Festival)   Data, Truth, and AI (a BioLogos podcast)   The Spirituality of Chat GPT (Good Faith episode with Andy Crouch)

Join Julia Hobsbawm in discussion with Roy Bahat, head of Bloomberg Beta, the first venture capital firm to invest in AI at work as far back as 2016. In a wide-ranging discussion covering trade unionism, technology and innovation and the philosophy of work including the question: what will the last job be? A Fully Connected production co-hosted with Stefan Stern and edited by Kevin Hirshorn.

How do you find signals for greatness in a noisy world with thousands of ideas? James Cham is a Partner at Bloomberg Beta. At the firm, he focuses on investments in data-centric and machine learning-related companies. Previously, he was a Principal at Trinity Ventures where he focused on investments in consumer services specifically ecommerce, social media, and digital media. James was a Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners where he focused on advanced web technologies and investments in consumer internet services, security, and digital media sectors along with a number of seed investments. While with Boston Consulting Group, James developed marketing strategies for entertainment and information technology companies. James received an A.B. degree in Computer Science from Harvard University, an M.B.A. from MIT's Sloan School where he was a Siebel Scholar and interned at Sun Microsystems. In this episode, we discuss how to think about organizations as technology, James's early investments in artificial intelligence, and his views on the best path towards AI regulation or “bugs as a public good”. We talk about the latest developments in large language models and the problem with anthropomorphizing AI.

How can Christians thoughtfully approach the topic of artificial intelligence?How should we use it? What are the ethical considerations? Is it good or dangerous?These are relevant questions for Faith Driven Investors as AI continues to be a topic for conversation in both the business world and the broader culture. That's why we're excited to feature James Cham on the podcast. James is an early-stage venture capitalist and a partner at Bloomberg Beta, a Silicon Valley-based firm that invests in the “new world of work.” Conversations about Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are a big part of his day-to-day life. In this crossover episode, he talks with the Faith Driven Entrepreneur hosts about wrestling through the ever-changing landscape of technology with wisdom, discernment, and a redemptive vision of the world.

Welcome to episode 224 of The CloudPod Podcast - where the forecast is always cloudy! This week, your hosts Justin, Jonathan, and Ryan discuss some major changes at Terraform, including switching from open source to a BSL License. Additionally, we cover updates to Amazon S3, goodies from Storage Day, and Google Gemini vs. Open AI.  Titles we almost went with this week: None! This week's title was ✨chef's kiss✨ A big thanks to this week's sponsor: Foghorn Consulting provides top-notch cloud and DevOps engineers to the world's most innovative companies. Initiatives stalled because you have trouble hiring?  Foghorn can be burning down your DevOps and Cloud backlogs as soon as next week.

How can Christians thoughtfully approach the topic of artificial intelligence?How should we use it? What are the ethical considerations? Is it good or dangerous?These are relevant questions for Faith Driven Entrepreneurs as AI continues to be a topic for conversation in both the business world and the broader culture. That's why we're excited to feature James Cham on the podcast. James is an early-stage venture capitalist and a partner at Bloomberg Beta, a Silicon Valley-based firm that invests in the “new world of work.” Conversations about Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are a big part of his day-to-day life. In this episode, he talks about wrestling through the ever-changing landscape of technology with wisdom, discernment, and a redemptive vision of the world.

Christopher Golec is a seasoned entrepreneur with a demonstrated record of fostering innovation and leading successful start-ups. Golec's journey spans from his early days as a chemical engineer to becoming a key figure in the world of fintech, with his co-founding of Demandbase, a pioneering B2B marketing platform, serving as a remarkable testament to his visionary leadership. His venture, Channel99, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like GTMfund, Norwest Venture Partners, Jackson Square Ventures, and Bloomberg Beta.

Chat Joglekar is an experienced executive and the CEO and co-founder of Baton, a data-enabled marketplace that empowers small business acquisitions. Baton's innovative platform allows owners to unlock liquidity in their most valuable asset, while also providing serious buyers access to a vast but fragmented asset class. Baton's goal is to become the go-to platform for SMB acquisitions, much like Zillow is for real estate.Prior to founding Baton, Chat served as an executive at Zillow for over five years. During his tenure, he launched and grew the company's New Construction marketplace, generating over $100 million in revenue. He has also played instrumental roles in scaling iconic companies such as Spotify and Google from their earliest stages and has held leadership positions at various early-stage startups.With the support of investors such as Bloomberg Beta, Giant Ventures, and others, Baton is excited about the potential to create the next great asset class while also supporting small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy. Baton is committed to continuing its mission to enable small business acquisitions and provide a platform for growth and success for all its users. Chat currently resides in New York City with his wife and three children. Connect with Behind Company Lines and HireOtter Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn:Behind Company LinesHireOtter Instagram Buzzsprout

Matt Welsh is the cofounder and CEO of Fixie, an automation platform for LLMs. It allows developers to build natural language agents that connect to your data, talk to APIs, and solve complex problems. They've raised $17M from investors such as Redpoint, Madrona, Zetta, SignalFire, Bloomberg Beta, and more. He has previously held roles at OctoML, Apple, Xnor, and Google. He was a Professor of Computer Science at Harvard and has a PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley. In this episode, we cover a range of topics including: - LLMs as the new computational engine - What can LLMs do well and where are the gaps - Fine-tuning vs In-context learning - Smart Agents - Few shot learning - Use cases of Fixie Matt's favorite book: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Author: Michael Chabon)--------Where to find Prateek Joshi:  Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com Website: https://prateekj.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

In der Rubrik “Investments & Exits” begrüßen wir heute Enrico Mellis, Principal bei Lakestar. Enrico spricht über die Finanzierungsrunde von Replit. Replit, ein webbasiertes IDE-Startup, hat in einer Series-B-Finanzierungsrunde fast 100 Millionen US-Dollar aufgebracht. Angeführt wurde die Runde von Andreessen Horowitz, mit Beteiligung von Khosla Ventures, Coatue, SV Angel, Y Combinator, Bloomberg Beta, Naval Ravikant, ARK Ventures und Hamilton Helmer. Das Unternehmen entwickelt “Ghostwriter”, ein KI-gestütztes Tool zur Code-Generierung. Es ermöglicht Benutzern, in Echtzeit zusammenzuarbeiten, Projekte zu teilen, Hilfe zu suchen und Tutorials zu nutzen. Replit hat bereits über 22 Millionen Entwickler als Benutzer und plant, die neuen Mittel zur Weiterentwicklung des Kernprodukterlebnisses, zur Erweiterung der Cloud-Dienste und zur Förderung von Innovationen im Bereich KI einzusetzen.Das in San Francisco ansässige Unternehmen wurde 2016 von den Programmierern Amjad Masad, Faris Masad und der Designerin Haya Odeh mitbegründet. 

Massive transformation is underway in the way we work and our relationship to work. Many people felt this shift when we left our offices to indefinitely work from home in 2020. The change continues, with exponential technology and AI reshaping how we define work altogether. The United States is also experiencing an economic downturn, with labor shortage being one of the biggest drivers, particularly in low-wage industries where jobs lack basic benefits and livable pay.At the same time, there has been an undeniable resurgence of the organized labor movement in the US. This coalition looks different from past waves in both its composition and approach. This provides an opportunity to re-think some key questions:What does it mean to be a worker? What does it mean to be a leader? And could our relationships to the organizations in which we work and lead advance a more just society?To explore these questions, we're in conversation with Roy Bahat and Liba Rubenstein from Bloomberg Beta - an early-stage venture firm backed by Bloomberg that invests in companies broadly focused on the future of work. They also lead the Aspen Institute's Business Round Table on Organized Labor, an initiative from the Aspen Institute's Economic Opportunities Program and MIT that brings together business and labor leaders to innovate and share learnings on what a thriving workplace with more organized labor might look like.Roy and Liba invite us to rethink how ideas of power and our relationship to work and the workplace could help inform better decision-making and ultimately create prosperity for everyone.Resources:Get Connected: Learn more about joining an upcoming Business Roundtable on Organized Labor by connecting with Liba at liba.rubenstein@aspeninsitute.org. Article: Could organized labor be good for business?Article: How Businesses Should (and Shouldn't) Respond to Union OrganizingVideo: Bloomberg's Bahat on Organized Labor in the Tech Industry

Today, we have a bonus double episode of the Newcomer podcast for you — two conversations from the Cerebral Valley AI Summit last week. Part 1: Replit CEO Amjad Masad and Hugging Face Clément DelangueTogether, they're a charismatic open-source alliance.We talked about the threat posed by OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft, the questions around Replit and Hugging Face's business models, and where they would like to see more development in artificial intelligence.Charles Hudson, at Precursor, wrote up a smart reflection on the Cerebral Valley event and one of his main takeaways was about open-source companies like Replit and Hugging Face. Hudson wrote:Open-source applications will play a big role in this early phase of experimentation. One of the more refreshing and interesting things for me to hear was the different approaches that open-source companies were taking relative to their more commercially-minded peers. It wasn't simply about business models or go to market approaches — it felt way more fundamental and philosophical about how they wanted to see AI deployed and governed. I didn't have a full appreciation for that difference before the event, but it was one of the things that I was most struck by at the event.The Cerebral Valley AI Summit is presented bySamsung Next invests in the boldest and most ambitious founders.Tell us about your company. We'd love to meet.Part 2: Adept CEO David Luan and Greylock partner Saam MotamediOn stage with Luan and Motamedi, a major investor in Adept, I wanted to know how Adept planned to compete with foundation models like OpenAI and Anthropic — especially now that OpenAI has introduced plugins that allow third-parties to easily connect to ChatGPT. Adept is building an AI model that mirrors humans input into computers. It's a different approach than the language models that are getting built by other foundation model companies.I also asked Luan about his time at OpenAI and at Google. I particularly wanted to know if he trusted his old team at OpenAI to spearhead the AI revolution.Find the PodcastWe're also posting all the on-stage conversations on our YouTube channel over the next few days. Right now, you can watch:* Stability CEO Emad Mostaque one-on-one with me (the first half of my last podcast).* Shane Orlick (President at Jasper) and Cristóbal Valenzuela (CEO of Runway) with Coatue's Caryn Marooney.* Benchmark's Miles Grimshaw's conversation with Quora CEO and OpenAI board member Adam D'Angelo and with LangChain founder Harrison Chase.* A panel of investors (Leigh Marie Braswell at Founders Fund, Bucky Moore at Kleiner Perkins, and Amber Yang at Bloomberg Beta) moderated by me.* Volley CEO Max Child's talk with Lisha Li (Rosebud), Caroline Zhang (Knowtex), Chun Jiang (Monterey AI), and Medha Basu (Defog).* General Catalyst's Deep Nishar with me (also featured in Tuesday's podcast episode) .* Volley CTO James Wilsterman's talk with Yasmin Dunsky (Wild Moose), Emily Dorsey (Pyq), and Lydia Ding (Code Complete). Get full access to Newcomer at www.newcomer.co/subscribe

Today, we have a bonus double episode of the Newcomer podcast for you — two conversations from the Cerebral Valley AI Summit last week. Part 1: Replit CEO Amjad Masad and Hugging Face Clément DelangueTogether, they're a charismatic open-source alliance.We talked about the threat posed by OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft, the questions around Replit and Hugging Face's business models, and where they would like to see more development in artificial intelligence.Charles Hudson, at Precursor, wrote up a smart reflection on the Cerebral Valley event and one of his main takeaways was about open-source companies like Replit and Hugging Face. Hudson wrote:Open-source applications will play a big role in this early phase of experimentation. One of the more refreshing and interesting things for me to hear was the different approaches that open-source companies were taking relative to their more commercially-minded peers. It wasn't simply about business models or go to market approaches — it felt way more fundamental and philosophical about how they wanted to see AI deployed and governed. I didn't have a full appreciation for that difference before the event, but it was one of the things that I was most struck by at the event.The Cerebral Valley AI Summit is presented bySamsung Next invests in the boldest and most ambitious founders.Tell us about your company. We'd love to meet.Part 2: Adept CEO David Luan and Greylock partner Saam MotamediOn stage with Luan and Motamedi, a major investor in Adept, I wanted to know how Adept planned to compete with foundation models like OpenAI and Anthropic — especially now that OpenAI has introduced plugins that allow third-parties to easily connect to ChatGPT. Adept is building an AI model that mirrors humans input into computers. It's a different approach than the language models that are getting built by other foundation model companies.I also asked Luan about his time at OpenAI and at Google. I particularly wanted to know if he trusted his old team at OpenAI to spearhead the AI revolution.Find the PodcastWe're also posting all the on-stage conversations on our YouTube channel over the next few days. Right now, you can watch:* Stability CEO Emad Mostaque one-on-one with me (the first half of my last podcast).* Shane Orlick (President at Jasper) and Cristóbal Valenzuela (CEO of Runway) with Coatue's Caryn Marooney.* Benchmark's Miles Grimshaw's conversation with Quora CEO and OpenAI board member Adam D'Angelo and with LangChain founder Harrison Chase.* A panel of investors (Leigh Marie Braswell at Founders Fund, Bucky Moore at Kleiner Perkins, and Amber Yang at Bloomberg Beta) moderated by me.* Volley CEO Max Child's talk with Lisha Li (Rosebud), Caroline Zhang (Knowtex), Chun Jiang (Monterey AI), and Medha Basu (Defog).* General Catalyst's Deep Nishar with me (also featured in Tuesday's podcast episode) .* Volley CTO James Wilsterman's talk with Yasmin Dunsky (Wild Moose), Emily Dorsey (Pyq), and Lydia Ding (Code Complete). Get full access to Newcomer at www.newcomer.co/subscribe

In this episode, Minn Kim, an early-stage investor, talent scout, and community builder, shares her insights on supporting technology talent that enables step changes in human agency. Minn is building Plymouth Street to help extraordinary talent immigrate to the US, she is the founder of Stealth and is the lead at Dialogue, a community and newsletter on accelerating technological, industrial and scientific progress; they bring you perspective and insights by builders, investors and policy makers pushing the frontier forward, and innovate collaboratively. Formerly, she was an investor at Ridge, Bloomberg Beta and On Deck, backing founders as early as possible. During the episode, Minn discusses her perspectives on community building and how it intersects with entrepreneurship. She also provides an overview of Dialogue and how it brings together practitioners who are driving innovation in technology that enables step changes in human agency. Additionally, the episode explores the topic of immigration and its importance in fostering innovation. Minn shares her views on the current state of the US immigration system and how it has collapsed. She talks about how Plymouth is working to make the system better, more transparent, and faster. Don't forget to support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark The Rhys Show - Insights from The Frontier https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark helps you become a live player building our solarpunk future. Join our fellowship https://twitter.com/roote_ Full show notes at: https://www.roote.co/episodes

Joining me us the Deep End today is Minn Kim. Minn spent a few years as an investor at Ridge, Bloomberg Beta and On Deck, backing founders as early as possible and is now building Plymouth to help extraordinary talent immigrate to the US. In this conversation we go deep into Minn's core belief – that technology enables step changes in human agency. We discuss navigating the idea maze, picking who to start a company with, why immigration is key to innovation and so much more.

Roy Bahat is the head of Bloomberg Beta, a venture capital firm that invests in companies building the future of work. Bahat joins Big Technology Podcast to explain why he — a VC — is investing in labor-organizing technology. We spend the first half speaking about how VCs trusted FTX, where the economy goes from here, and whether Elon Musk's plan for Twitter can work. Join us for a fun, lively discussion that takes some unexpected twists and turns.

James & Amber are investors at Bloomberg Beta. Find their bios below.James Cham is a Partner at Bloomberg Beta, a firm focused on investing in the future of work. James invests in companies working on applying machine intelligence to businesses and society. He's currently invested in companies like Orbital Insight (satellite imaging), Primer (analyst tools), Domino Data Labs (AI model management), and AppZen (expense management). James speaks and writes on the implications of AI for companies, including a landscape of machine intelligence companies (https://t.co/jnBX6Wdr5R). In the past, he's been involved in investments with companies like LifeLock, LinkedIn, Twilio, DropCam (now Nest), and Skybox Imaging. James was previously an investor at Bessemer Venture Partners and Trinity Venture Partners, a management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, and a software developer. He has an M.B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was an undergraduate in computer science at Harvard College. He currently resides in Palo Alto with his family and children.Amber Yang is an investor at Bloomberg Beta, where she invests in companies at the pre-seed and seed stages working on machine intelligence, robotics, data infrastructure, and developer tools. In the past, she founded Seer Tracking, a startup working on creating a sustainable space environment by predicting satellite collisions with space debris, which led her to be named Forbes 30 Under 30. She did her master's and undergraduate degree in computer science from Stanford University and spent a quarter abroad studying philosophy at Oxford University. While she was in college, she was an investment partner at Dorm Room Fund and a fellow at 8VC. She is based in San Francisco and writes about tech and philosophy on Twitter and Substack. ★ Support this podcast ★

While today's software may seem magical compared to that of previous generations, it still takes multiple software iterations to fold in new fundamental technologies.   Joining us for this episode is James Cham, Partner at Bloomberg Beta. Bloomberg Beta runs several seed-stage investment funds, with a particular interest in low-code/no-code/WebAssembly startups.   In this episode, James and host Peter Wang discuss:   - why it's important to be humble when looking towards the future of software - why venture capitalists (VCs) shouldn't be considered “Yodas” who can fix every problem   - what James is looking for when it comes to investing in a business   After listening to this episode, you may enjoy reading “Selling Wine Without Bottles - https://www.eff.org/pages/selling-wine-without-bottles-economy-mind-global-net” by John Perry Barlow, referenced by Peter during the discussion, and “Seeing Like a Finite State Machine - https://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/publications/seeing-finite-state-machine” and “Street–Level Algorithms: A Theory at the Gaps Between Policy and Decisions - https://hci.stanford.edu/publications/2019/streetlevelalgorithms/streetlevelalgorithms-chi2019.pdf,” referenced by James.   You can find a human-verified transcript of this episode here - https://know.anaconda.com/rs/387-XNW-688/images/ANACON_James%20Cham_V1.docx.pdf.   Resources: Peter Wang LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pzwang/ James Cham LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcham/ Bloomberg Beta LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/bloombergbeta/about/   If you enjoyed today's show, please leave a 5-star review. For more information, visit https://www.anaconda.com/podcast.

Invest In Her host Catherine Gray talks with Christine Tao, Co-founder and CEO of Sounding Board, the first Leader Development Platform designed to bridge the leadership gap. Christine has also enjoyed several roles in Silicon Valley at Google and Youtube, but her inspiration to launch Sounding Board began while she worked at TapJoy, a leading, venture-backed mobile advertising and publishing network. Sounding Board is backed by leading investors Canaan, Jazz Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, and Precursor, and is one of less than three percent of female-founded companies to raise venture capital.    www.sheangelinvestors.com  https://www.soundingboardinc.com/   Follow Us On Social Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn

From teachers to baristas, warehouse workers to nurses, the media has been filled with stories of strikes, walkouts and union votes. The National Labor Relations Board says that petitions for union representation are up more than 50 per cent from this time last year. What's behind this surge in labor organizing? On this episode, Brian talks to Rebecca Givan, Associate Professor in the School of Management and Labor at Rutgers University. They discuss the relationships between workers and management, how the pandemic exposed the inequities of the labor system, and how a new generation of employees is using technology to advocate for their rights. Then, Brian revisits his conversation with Mary Kay Henry, International President of the 2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Roy Bahat, head of Bloomberg Beta, a venture firm investing in the future of work. For more about Brian Lowery, visit knowwhatyousee.com

James Cham is a co-founder and partner at Bloomberg Beta, an early-stage venture firm that invests in machine learning and the future of work, the intersection between business and technology. James explains how his approach to investing in AI has developed over the last decade, which signals of success he looks for in the ever-adapting world of venture startups (tip: look for the "gradient of admiration"), and why it's so important to demystify ML for executives and decision-makers. Lukas and James also discuss how new technologies create new business models, and what the ethical considerations of a world where machine learning is accepted to be possibly fallible would be like. Show notes (transcript and links): http://wandb.me/gd-james-cham --- ⏳ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:46 How investment in AI has changed and developed 7:08 Creating the first MI landscape infographics 10:30 The impact of ML on organizations and management 17:40 Demystifying ML for executives 21:40 Why signals of successful startups change over time 27:07 ML and the emergence of new business models 37:58 New technology vs new consumer goods 39:50 What James considers when investing 44:19 Ethical considerations of accepting that ML models are fallible 50:30 Reflecting on past investment decisions 52:56 Thoughts on consciousness and Theseus' paradox 59:08 Why it's important to increase general ML literacy 1:03:09 Outro 1:03:30 Bonus: How James' faith informs his thoughts on ML --- Connect with James:

James Cham is a Seed Stage VC at Bloomberg Beta. You can follow him on Twitter @jamescham. For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/james-cham-vc-at-bloomberg-beta/ If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools  

This episode finds Maggie Kenefake, Venture Partner with Royal Street Ventures, continuing her series of talks with Roy Bahat, a Partner at Bloomberg Beta. The company, Roy said, is a small firm that invests only for financial return, not as a strategic investor. They're exclusively focused on the future of work and everything relating to modern business.

In this HRchat we consider why the time for leadership coaching is now. Bill's guest this time is Christine Tao, co-founder & CEO at Sounding Board, a fast-growing scalable leadership development platform, combining technology and coaches to drive business impact for global enterprises.  Christine's rapid career growth in Silicon Valley at Google and various startups inspired her to co-found Sounding Board with Lori Mazan, her executive coach. She has scaled hyper-growth startups to over $100M in revenue. Sounding Board is backed by leading investors like Bloomberg Beta and Precursor, and one of

In the fickle age of COVID-19, it is harder than ever to have assuredness, and confidence. A solution? "Radical imagination"—and with it the power to transform our present and see our future. Game-designer turned author Jane McGonical, wants to give people the key to unlock their imagination potential and in doing so design their own futures with limitless possibilities and creative certainty. In her newest book, Imaginable, McGonigal coaxes audiences to dive into the unimaginable as a way to problem solve, future-plan, and find transformative fulfillment. She uses psychological research to embolden readers and make real the possibilities that are unfathomable—but not for long. At INFORUM, the renowned future forecaster will invite audiences into her mind and lay out the daring vision necessary to give life to a book about imagination. McGonigal answers the age-old question, “How do we learn to feel at peace with the unknown?” and teaches how mental, imagination training can reduce anxiety and boost tenacity. SPEAKERS Jane McGonigal Future Forecaster; Game Designer; Author, Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything—Even Things that Seem Impossible Today; Twitter Twitter @avantgame In Conversation with Roy Bahat Head, Bloomberg Beta; Twitter @roybahat In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 30th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Work ain't what it used to be—just ask the millions of Americans who are part of the “Great Resignation.” Venture capitalist and head of Bloomberg Beta, Roy Bahat, is looking to shape work for the better, from new forms of labor organizing to remote-friendly tech. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

No founder should be all-consumed with work, and that is why Head of Bloomberg Beta Roy Bahat is no longer a founder. This week Roy joins Gina Trapani and Michael Shane to discuss how workplace boundaries are becoming normalized and why providing VC support in a company's irrational phase excites him more than a later, safer bet. He also stresses the importance of language in a large and diverse workforce and questions whether metaphors and analogies are useful or alienating.Links:Roy Bahat on TwitterBloomberg Beta#thisisnotadviceJam.ai‘It's All Just Wild': Tech Start-Ups Reach a New Peak of Froth - Erin Griffith'My company is not my family': Fed up with long hours, many employees have quietly decided to take it easy at work rather than quit their jobs - Aki Ito

Marshall and Saagar's Book's of the Year Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/lists/marshall-and-saagar-s-realignment-2021-books-of-the-year Subscribe to The Realignment's Substack Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/ Roy Bahat, head of Bloomberg Beta, a venture firm investing in the future of work and former co-chair of New America's Shift Commission on Work, Workers, and Technology, joins The Realignment to discuss the challenges facing labor and capital, the future of work, and how the technology can (and can't) redefine questions of representation and ownership.

Minn Kim is Partner at On Deck, an education technology startup supporting ambitious, talented individuals start or join high growth […]

The Agenda

For this new episode of the Building Bridges podcast, I'm excited to share my interview with Roy Bahat, who as the Head of Bloomberg Beta has been “obsessed with how we make work—the thing we do with more waking hours than any other—better”. He's been an inspiration for me at least since I watched this video in which he speaks about two key drivers for workers: “stability and dignity”.Roy is used to making short, insightful and actionable pieces of content about work, careers, entrepreneurship and personal development. I recommend his series of to-the-point #thisisnotadvice interviews which you can watch on Twitter. They cover a wide range of topics like “Should I mentor someone and, if so, how do I do it?” or “How can I be the type of founders that VCs want to fund?”. But I confess I wanted more time with him. I wanted to hear him in a longer format so he could tell his career story, what it means to be a VC specialised in the future of work and so we'd still have time left to speak about the future of work and how we can prepare for it. I'm so grateful he accepted!As he explains in this podcast, he hadn't planned to become a VC, let alone one who focuses on the future of work! But after doing tons of reading, talked to thousands of people and given the subject a lot of thought, you could say he's become quite the expert. (More exactly, he's reached that level of expertise where you become humble again. It's a bit like Japanese martial arts: when you reach the highest level, you can wear a white belt again like a beginner!) I simply love how he adresses the most simple yet profound questions. Here's how he sums it all up neatly on his LinkedIn profile:I've had a messy, hand-wringy career (in non-profit, professional services, city government, big media, video games, academia, day-zero startup, investing), where I was never hired for any job for which I was qualified (including starting a company, where I guess I sort of co-hired myself and was still unqualified). Only later did I realize the one thread that tied it all together -- making work better.In 2013, Bloomberg L.P. gave me the opportunity to turn my obsession with the future of work into my job when we created Bloomberg Beta. I believe the fastest way to make change is to build extraordinary technology companies (and, these days, machine intelligence companies in particular).We talked about a lot of things, including feminism and why it's important to embrace it. Among the many themes covered were also the skills of the future. How do you make yourself “futureproof” in a fast-changing world? I asked him because in his book Futureproof, NYT journalist Kevin Roose thanks Roy profusely for the inspiring conversations he had with him. (Check out this article I wrote about the book.) Here's Roy's conclusion:How do we prepare? Most of the past thinking about preparation for the future that I learned growing up what “point preparation”—”here's what the world's going to be like: prepare yourself for it” (…) But if you believe that the pace of change is going to be more rapid, then learning is the most essential skill, rapid reinvention… In the tech world, I call this being the CIO of your own life… constantly looking for new tools and trying to integrate them and experiment with them. Another one is setting your own priorities. We don't learn in school that this is a skill. The third one is the scientific method applied to everything around us. If the world is going to keep changing, scientific method is our best way of understanding how.I hope you enjoy listening to this podcast! Do not forget to share it with people who might be interested

In this episode, we're talking with Roy Bahat, head of Bloomberg Beta, an early stage venture firm backed by Bloomberg LP, focused broadly on the future of work. We're going to dive into how COVID has accelerated that future of work and how some of the trends that we're experimenting with today will continue.

The Agenda

Today, On Deck is announcing that it's raising a $20 million Series A led by Keith Rabois at Founders Fund with participation from Learn Capital, Chamath Palihapitiya, Slack Fund, Village Global, Eric Yuan, Fred Ehrsam, Allison Picken's The New Normal Fund, Charles Hudson at Precursor Ventures, Adam D'Angelo, Jen Rubio, Elad Gill, Julia DeWahl, Henry Ward, Afton Vechery, Jules Walter, Eric Su, Julia Lipton, Scott Belsky, Anthony Pompliano, Bloomberg Beta, Dylan Field, Aarti Ramamurthy, and many, many more members of the On Deck community. We cover why On Deck has a chance to build a Stanford for the internet: On Deck Investment Thesis. Natively Integrated Education. Platform and Team Constellation. The On Deck Opportunity. You can read the full original post and subscribe at notboring.co. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/notboring/message

In this episode I interview James Cham from Bloomberg Beta.  We discuss the book "The Man Who Lied to His Laptop" and the book "Prediction Machines" about the economics of AI.  We discuss how startups compete with big companies when it comes to AI and the data sets needed, and we have a spirited debate about whether or not AI is the new electricity.

Minn graduated from Villanova University with a degree in Economics and Psychology. She is a former New Yorker turned San Francisco-based investor at Bloomberg Beta, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the future of work. At Bloomberg Beta, she focuses on automation, productivity tools for knowledge workers, and robots. In this episode, Minn tells us about working in venture capital, talks about Bloomberg Beta and the future of work, and gives her best career advice for students and recent grads. Shownotes: Connect and follow Minn on her Twitter (https://twitter.com/minney_cat) and website (https://minnkim.com/). Learn more about Bloomberg Beta on their website (https://www.bloombergbeta.com/).

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Christine Tao of Sounding Board, an online platform that is democratizing coaching for emerging business leaders (https://www.soundingboardinc.com/). In this episode, Christine shares how she raised capital as a female, non-technical co-founder, how coaching is similar to mentoring, how she kept in touch with her investors (each of which had previously told her "no"), how to look at investors as equals, and how she ran a lightning-fast oversubscribed process in 6 weeks. The Company most recently raised a $13.1 million Series A led by Canaan Partners. Other investors include Correlation Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Precursor Ventures, as well as Degreed founder David Blake and Kevin Johnson, the former CEO of Udemy. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $2.5 Billion since 2016. Create a free account at www.foundersuite.com

Spike Lipkin is the cofounder and CEO of Newfront Insurance which is a modern commercial insurance brokerage. The company has raised so far over $100 million from top tier investors such as Founders Fund, Index Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, or Meritech Capital Partners to name a few.

Spike Lipkin is the cofounder and CEO of Newfront Insurance which is a modern commercial insurance brokerage. The company has raised so far over $100 million from top tier investors such as Founders Fund, Index Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, or Meritech Capital Partners to name a few.

What is podcast about? Podcast missing genres. Signal vs Whatsapp. Giving up on privacy. The Star Wars Radio Broadcast. What does it mean to believe in something? All jobs are automated. We are all just finger-pushing talkers. Noah's 2 types of belief theory. Thinking by talking. All this and more from Bloomberg Beta creators Minn Kim and Roy Bahat. Check out #thisisnotadvice for their fine work! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bandcast/message

Listen now (48 min) | This episode was particularly a fun one to record in that we moved a bit away from our traditional interview format to more of a water-cooler format with Mac Conwell of RareBreed Ventures and Roy Bahat of Bloomberg Beta for a wide-ranging chat about the state of emerging venture capital. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

If you’re like me, you’re always out to pick up a new skill. So, you’ve likely heard of MasterClass, one of the fastest-growing VC-backed companies around. With over 100 high-quality online courses, MasterClass teaches you something new every day. The instructors are anything but ordinary. MasterClass includes: Annie Leibovitz’s course on photography Serena Williams’ course on tennis Carlos Santana’s course on guitar Steve Martin’s course on comedy writing And they add a new one each month. The quality is astounding. These aren’t some homemade YouTube videos. Masterclass treats each as a mini movie production. In just 5 years, they’ve gone from an idea to a team of 400 people. And they’ve raised over $200 million from top investors like Fidelity, NEA, IVP, Owl Ventures, and Bloomberg Beta. So, I caught up with Mark Williamson, Chief Operating Officer, to find out how he’s scaled the team. In this 20-minute conversation, Mark provides…well…a master class on recruiting.

How does being an entrepreneur make you a better investor? In this episode, Hambro Perks principal and founder of media startup CompassNewsUK, Matilde Giglio, details what it’s like to go from seeking funding to being the one awarding funding. We discuss learning hard lessons as a founder, transitioning into venture capital, and even Matilde’s own angel investing strategies. Follow us, Instagram: @ialsopodcast, Twitter: @IAlsoPodcastSpeaker Bio: Matilde is a Principal at Hambro Perks, where she invests in Seed and Series A technology companies. Prior to joining Hambro Perks, Matilde co-founded Compass News, a machine learning journalism start-up with offices in London and New York and over 100,000 monthly active users that was backed by Hambro Perks, Bloomberg Beta and others. Before that, Matilde worked at Fox and Paramount leading their marketing campaigns in Europe. At the start of 2019, she moved to India to run digital strategy for the Congress Party in the 2019 Indian general elections.Matilde holds a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is an advisor at Techstars and Startupbootcamp where she advises early-stage technology companies on growth, product development and operations. Follow Matilde on Twitter @MatildeGiglio

Replicant is an autonomous contact center that creates an always on customer experience with Voice AI. They just raised a $27M Series A led by Norwest Venture partners with participation from State Farm's venture arm, Atomic, Bloomberg Beta, and Costanoa Ventures. Insights: - Quick history on how Replicant was incubated out of Atomic, one of the Replicant investors - Overview of the product experience between conversing with the AI or being handed off to a human - Look into where the fundraising capital will be put to work Subscribe: Newsletter Youtube Collin Dave

Max Simkoff is the cofounder of States Title which is an insurtech platform that uses machine intelligence to remove friction from residential real estate transactions. The company has raised $230 million from top tier investors such as Foundation Capital, Horizons Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Greenspring Associates, Fifth Wall, Assurant Growth Investing, Lennar Corporation, SCOR Global P&C Ventures, HSCM Bermuda, and Eminence Capital LP to name a few.

Max Simkoff is the cofounder of States Title which is an insurtech platform that uses machine intelligence to remove friction from residential real estate transactions. The company has raised $230 million from top tier investors such as Foundation Capital, Horizons Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Greenspring Associates, Fifth Wall, Assurant Growth Investing, Lennar Corporation, SCOR Global P&C Ventures, HSCM Bermuda, and Eminence Capital LP to name a few.

The post E1043: News Roundtable! Bloomberg Beta’s Roy Bahat & Coelius Capital’s Zach Coelius on how tech is helping during the crisis, how startups should approach SMB loans, when VC funding will bounce back, Notion’s $50M raise, Zoom’s security issues, Luckin coffee & more! appeared first on This Week In Startups.

The post E1043: News Roundtable! Bloomberg Beta’s Roy Bahat & Coelius Capital’s Zach Coelius on how tech is helping during the crisis, how startups should approach SMB loans, when VC funding will bounce back, Notion’s $50M raise, Zoom’s security issues, Luckin coffee & more! appeared first on This Week In Startups.

We’re living in unprecedented times. Coronavirus continues to spread, and the fear and anxiety attached to it are moving even faster. It’s no secret the effects this pandemic is having on the economy and investing market. So, what do we do?That’s the question we posed to James Cham, a venture capital investor with Bloomberg Beta. He provided a unique and positive spin on everything happening worldwide, and we’re excited to share his encouraging words amidst these challenging days.If this episode encourages you, we hope you share it with others who may need an uplifting word. As always, thanks for listening!Useful Links:An Interview with James Cham@jameschamJames Cham LinkedIn

Roy Bahat has seen the future. The future of work. Because he’s head of Bloomberg Beta, the $200M Venture Capital fund based in SF and NYC. Backed by Bloomberg, Beta invests in startups that are changing the future of work. Making it more productive & humane. And it’s working. With 25 roaring portfolio companies such as Slack, MasterClass, and Codecademy. Formerly, Roy was President IGN Entertainment, the leading games maker. In this 20-minute conversation, he reveals how your employees (really) want to work. And how work in the future will look.  

Intuition Robotics, the company best known for its ElliQ robot, a digital home companion for the elderly, today announced that it has raised a $36 million Series B round co-led by SPARX Group and OurCrowd. Toyota AI Ventures, Sompo Holdings, iRobot, Union Tech Ventures, Happiness Capital, Samsung Next, Capital Point and Bloomberg Beta also participated in this round. This brings the total funding for the company, which was founded in 2016, to $58 million.

www.vchunting.com/roy-bahat - Show notes!

Roy Bahat is the Head of Bloomberg Beta, one of the leading early-stage funds in the valley and NYC with a portfolio that includes the likes of Flexport, Kobalt, Textio, Rigetti Computing and more incredible companies. Prior to Bloomberg Beta, Roy was the Co-Founder & Chairman @ Ouya, the company that created a new kind of games console and raised over $33m from the likes of Kleiner, Alibaba and even $8.6m on Kickstarter. Before the world of startups, Roy held numerous incredible and fascinating roles including Director of International Strategy at New York's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games and also was a Senior Policy Director in the Office of the May of New York City. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Roy made his way from policy director for Mike Bloomberg to entering the world of venture and leading Bloomberg Beta? 2.) What is the big news when it comes to Bloomberg Beta? Roy has previously said, "your fund size is your strategy", what did he mean by this? What does that mean for BB moving forward? How has Bill seen what founders want from their VC change over the last 6 years? How is being "founder-friendly" vs the founder being your "customer" different? 3.) Investment Decision-Making: Does Roy believe that speed is the biggest determinant in winning deals today? What else does Roy believe is crucial? What have been some of Roy's biggest lessons in how to build trust early with founders? How does Roy and BB approach investment decision-making on initial investment? How does this change when it comes to reserve allocation decisions? 4.) Price sensitivity: Roy has said before that, "price is the dependent variable", what does he mean by this? Why is it wrong to assume that the price a VC is willing to pay shows their level of belief in your company? How does fund size change this? How does Roy think about large multi-stage funds playing at seed? How has it impacted seed? 5.) Boards: Why does Roy call boards "b-o-r-e-d-s"? When does Roy think it is important to instil a board? Why is it dangerous to have a board too early in the life of a company? What have been some of Roy's biggest lessons from sitting on a board with Alfred Lin @ Sequoia? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Roy's Fave Book: Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood Roy’s Most Recent Investment: States Title As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Roy on Twitter here!

My guest today is Roy Bahat who is the head of Bloomberg Beta, an investment firm with over 150 million dollars under management. He invests in the future of work with a focus on machine intelligence and automation. Fast Company magazine named Roy one of the Most Creative People in Business. Before heading up Bloomberg Beta, Roy served as the president of IGN Entertainment, the leading Video Games' media company. There he was known for unorthodox but very effective hiring strategy. Roy is also on the faculty at U.C. Berkeley, where he teaches about media at the Haas School of Business. He's a graduate of Harvard and was also a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.I had a great time chatting with Roy today. He is the leading expert on the future of work. In our conversation we talk about how he choses a startup team, the principals he uses to run Bloomberg Beta, the future of media, and more. Below are all the show notes with associated timestamps:Bloomberg Beta background (min. 02:45)Finding companies with potential (min. 03:45)Data vs. gut feeling (min. 06:30)Successful startup team makeup (min. 12:00)Lessons learned over the years at Bloomberg (min. 15:30)Trends of the future (min. 22:30)Future of work (min. 25:00)Artificial Intelligence (min. 28:00)Separating the signal from the noise (min. 33:45)De-emphasizing the resume (min. 35:00)Future of formal education (min. 39:00)Advice for next generation (min. 41:30)Projects working on now (min. 43:45)Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode I've also started a monthly newsletter where I send out a few useful or insightful things that have helped me over the last month. You can sign up by clicking here or going to:https://www.professionalsplaybook.com/newsletter Instagram-- @justinfighterpilotFacebook--@justinfighterpilotIf you got value from this episode, please give the show a review. Thanks!

The post E981: Roy Bahat, Head of Bloomberg Beta, shares the myths of venture capital, the great value of founders turned investors, why VCs reject startups, searing insights on fundraising & valuations, and predictions on the future of enterprise, AI, work & automation @ LAUNCH Accelerator appeared first on This Week In Startups.

The post E981: Roy Bahat, Head of Bloomberg Beta, shares the myths of venture capital, the great value of founders turned investors, why VCs reject startups, searing insights on fundraising & valuations, and predictions on the future of enterprise, AI, work & automation @ LAUNCH Accelerator appeared first on This Week In Startups.

Roy Bahat, Head of Bloomberg Beta, discusses the future of employment and why a universal basic income could spur innovation. He also discusses the mental leaps it requires to wrap our minds around the basic income, and what we can do to help others to make those leaps. This episode originally aired January, 2017. 

Peter Yared is the Founder & CEO @ InCountry, the startup that allows you to operate globally with data residency as a service meaning they store your mission-critical data in it’s country of origin, without compliance. To date, Peter has raised $8m for InCountry from some of my very favourites including Bloomberg Beta, Felicis, Ray Tonsing @ Caffeinated and CRV just to name a few. Prior to InCountry, Peter founded six and sold 6 enterprise software companies that were acquired by Sun, Citrix, VMware, Oracle, Sprinklr and Prograph. Previously, Peter was also the CTO/CIO of CBS Interactive where he brought CBS into the cloud. At Sun, Peter was the CTO of the Liberty identity consortium that designed SAML 2. In Today’s Episode We Discuss: How did Peter make his way into the world of enterprise SaaS with the founding and selling of 6 companies and how did InCountry come about? What is that founding moment? Why does Peter feel like it enterprise is really hard again? Why is it no longer to come into large enterprises with a small contract and expand? How does Peter think about enterprise pilots today? Do they really mean anything? What proof points suggest an enterprise is really bought in? What benchmarks should startups bake into the agreements?  How does Peter think about and approach market sizing today? Why is market risk no longer a risk he is willing to take? Where do many entrepreneurs make mistakes when it comes to market timing? In terms of timing, how should entrepreneurs think about whether to start at SMB and move to enterprise or start enterprise and move to SMB? What are the considerations?  Why does Peter believe that large orgs are so dysfunctional today? What can founders do to extract the truly special talent out of these large orgs with big pay packets and troves of options? How has Peter found the transition from CTO to CEO this time? What have been some of the challenges? Where has he asked for external help?  Having built numerous successful remote teams, what have been Peter’s biggest learnings in what it takes to successfully build remote teams? Where do many people go wrong? Does it have to be from Day 1? When is the right time to start thinking about this as a startup?   Peter’s 60 Second SaaStr: What would Peter most like to change about the world of Silicon Valley and tech? Who is the biggest rockstar in the valley that is less well known? Hire fast, fire fast, agree or disagree?  Read the full transcript on our blog. If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Peter Yared

Interview starts: 06:15This conversation took place on the third Comeback Cities tour on May 15, 2019, aimed at connecting venture capitalists from the East and West Coasts with investment opportunities in the heartland. It also had stops in Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Youngstown.This conversation includes:Ashley Brasier and Janou Gordon from Lightspeed Ventures Partners, a Bay Area VC firm focusing on early stage investments in the enterprise technology and consumer space.Learn more about Lightspeed: https://lsvp.com/Courtney Buie Lipkin from First Round Capital, a Bay Area and Philadelphia based early stage VC fund specializing in technology based around real estate, manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, and transportation, among other industries.Learn more about First Round: https://firstround.comEzra Galston from Starting Line Ventures, an early stage Chicago based Venture Capital fund investing in premier consumer startups & brands.Learn more about Starting Line: https://www.startingline.vc/Nitin Pachisia from Unshackled Ventures, a Bay Area based early stage venture capital fund for immigrant founded startups.Learn more about Unshackled Ventures: https://www.unshackledvc.com/Patrick McKenna from HighRidge Venture Partners, which invests in early stage companies and focuses on tech startups bases outside of Silicon ValleyLearn more about HighRidge: https://www.highridgevp.com/Peter Rojas from Betaworks Ventures, a seed stage venture capital fund based in New York and the Bay Area investing in network-focused, consumer-facing media businesses.Learn more about Betaworks Ventures: https://betaworksventures.comRoy Bahat from Bloomberg Beta, an early stage venture capital fund based in the Bay Area and New York focused on investing in the future of work.Learn more about Bloomberg Beta: https://bloombergbeta.comFollow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm

James Cham is a partner at Bloomberg Beta, a venture capital firm focused on the future of work. James invests in companies applying machine intelligence to businesses and society. Prior to Bloomberg Beta, James was a Principal at Trinity Ventures and a VP at Bessemer Venture Partners. He was educated in computer science at Harvard and at the MIT Sloan School of Business.Resources James Cham Bloomberg Beta Transcript

James Cham is a partner at Bloomberg Beta, a venture capital firm focused on the future of work. James invests in companies applying machine intelligence to businesses and society. Prior to Bloomberg Beta, James was a Principal at Trinity Ventures and a VP at Bessemer Venture Partners. He was educated in computer science at Harvard and at the MIT Sloan School of Business.Resources James Cham Bloomberg Beta Transcript

James Cham is a partner at Bloomberg Beta, a venture capital firm focused on the future of work. James invests in companies applying machine intelligence to businesses and society. Prior to Bloomberg Beta, James was a Principal at Trinity Ventures and a VP at Bessemer Venture Partners. He was educated in computer science at Harvard and at the MIT Sloan School of Business.

Steve Newman is the Founder of Scalyr which offers a cloud platform for high-speed log management and server monitoring. The company has raised over $30 million from investors such as Google Ventures, Shasta Ventures, or Bloomberg Beta. His most recent company prior to Scalyr, Writely, was acquired by Google to become Google Docs. Steve Newman has co-founded 6 companies so far. In this episode you will learn: How to pick an idea that serves you where you are a representative of the customer How to survey customers to get to product-market fit, quickly Why he finally raised money for his latest startup, after bootstrapping all the others What traits to look for when seeking investors The importance of competition – and of sharing your ideas The advantage of being the underdog, even against a giant like Google SUBSCRIBE ON: iTunesGoogle PlayStitcherTuneInRSSSoundCloudSpotify For a winning deck, take a look at the pitch deck template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here) that I recently covered. Thiel was the first angel investor in Facebook with a $500K check that turned into more than $1 billion in cash. .alg-cta-consulting { grid-template-columns: minmax(-webkit-min-content,-webkit-max-content) 1fr; grid-template-columns: minmax(min-content,max-content) 1fr;; } .post-719 .wp-block.alg-cta-consulting.book .title { font-size: 40px !important; margin-bottom: 30px; } .post-719 .wp-block.alg-cta-consulting.book .red { font-size: 24px; color: #ff5e00; font-weight: 600; } .post-719 .wp-block.alg-cta-consulting.book p.btn-w { margin: 20px 0; } .sumo-wrapper .sumo-form .btn.btn-wrr { background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Montserrat", sans-serif; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-size: 28px; line-height: 1.5; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 15px 0px; margin: 25px 0 0; display: block; width: 100%; height: 100%; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px inset; cursor: pointer; color: #fff; letter-spacing: 0; border-radius: 0; } .sumo-form .wpcf7-form-control-wrap.email input { color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-size: 25px; text-align: left; border-width: 1px; border-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-style: solid; border-radius: 4px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px inset; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 7px; margin: 0px; display: block; width: 100%; max-height: none; height: 64px; transition: none 0s ease 0s; } .sumo-form .wpcf7-form.init .wpcf7-form-control.wpcf7-submit { color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Montserrat", sans-serif; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.5; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 0px; margin: 0px; display: block; width: 100%; height: 100%; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px inset; cursor: pointer; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); text-transform: uppercase; } #left-area .entry-content .sumo-form p { padding-bottom: 10px; } .sumo-wrapper .content-block .sumo-form { padding: 0px 5px; } .sumo-wrapper .sumo-form-wrapper.listbuilder-popup-embedded { position: relative; margin: 20px 0; } @media screen and (min-width: 992px) and (max-width: 1199px){ .sumo-wrapper .content-block h3 { font-size: 38px; } .sumo-wrapper .content-block h4 { font-size: 35px; } } @media screen and (min-width:768px) and (max-width:991px){ .sumo-wrapper .

Steve Newman is the Founder of Scalyr which offers a cloud platform for high-speed log management and server monitoring. The company has raised over $30 million from investors such as Google Ventures, Shasta Ventures, or Bloomberg Beta. His most recent company prior to Scalyr, Writely, was acquired by Google to become Google Docs. Steve Newman has co-founded 6 companies so far. In this episode you will learn: How to pick an idea that serves you where you are a representative of the customer How to survey customers to get to product-market fit, quickly Why he finally raised money for his latest startup, after bootstrapping all the others What traits to look for when seeking investors The importance of competition – and of sharing your ideas The advantage of being the underdog, even against a giant like Google SUBSCRIBE ON: For a winning deck, take a look at the pitch deck template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here) that I recently covered. Thiel was the first angel investor in Facebook with a $500K check that turned into more than $1 billion in cash. Moreover, I also provided a commentary on a pitch deck from an Uber competitor that has raised over $400 million (see it here). Remember to unlock for free the pitch deck template that is being used by founders around the world to raise millions below. About Steve Newman: Steve Newman is the Founder and Chairman of Scalyr. Steve learned to program at the age of eight and is a lifelong engineer and entrepreneur. Scalyr is the sixth company he has founded. His most recent company prior to Scalyr, Writely, was acquired by Google to become Google Docs. Prior to Writely, Steve started San Andreas Systems (the second graphical web page builder, acquired by Claris), Bitcraft (acquired by Macromedia), and Peninsula Game Works (makers of Spectre). He also spent a few years at Intuit, where he built the Quickbooks Customer Manager. Steve studied mathematics at the University of Michigan and received his Master of Computer Science at Stanford University. Connect with Steve Newman: Website Linkedin Twitter * * *FULL TRANSCRIPTION OF THE INTERVIEW: Alejandro: Alrighty. Hello everyone and welcome to the DealMakers show. Today, we're going to speak with someone that has the engineering chops, and I think that we're going to learn quite a bit from all of his experience. So without further ado, Steve Newman, welcome to the show today. Steve Newman: Thank you. Alejandro: Steve, originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan. How was life growing up there? Steve Newman: It was nice. It's a college town. It's the University of Michigan. I grew up outside of town. Just a nice, classic, mid-western upbringing with the addition of a computer. I was one of those kids who was on my computer from a young age. A nice place to grow up. Alejandro: Cool. At what point did you start engaging with mathematics and with computers? Steve Newman: It was pretty early on. My father was in the computer business, and he brought a Commodore PET home when I was eight years old. I started learning to code in Basic all the way back then. Alejandro: Really cool. Then you got your mathematics degree from the University of Michigan, and then you did Stanford. What was Stanford about? What happened there. Were you studying the Masters of Computer Science? Steve Newman: Yes. Side note: I never actually finished my undergraduate degree. The Masters in Computer Science is the only degree I ever finished. I dropped out of Michigan to go work at a software startup. A decision I don't necessarily recommend, but it turned out okay. That was mathematics. My passion has always been computers. I found myself working at a software startup. That led to a move out to California. But I never had any formal education in computer science or software.

Roy Bahat of Bloomberg Beta joins Nick to discuss VCs Ride the Bus, Comeback Cities & Unorthodox Investing. In this episode, we cover: Backstory / Path to Bloomberg Beta Bloomberg Beta has taken a self-described "unorthodox approach"-- Tell us about your approach and why it's unique. I was exploring your page on Github and noticed that you've open sourced the entire operating manual-- why'd you do so and do you think other VCs should do the same? What's worked and what hasn't? You've talked about how you struggled figuring out what you wanted to do for a living. Have you figured it out? So, last year a number of SF-based VCs got on a bus and traveled the Midwest in what they called the Comeback Cities tour. Tell us about the experience and why you and others came to the Midwest to look for opportunities? How did the tour lead to a venture fund? Why do you think it's important to work w/ angels in the Midwest? What surprised you on the trip? Can you talk a bit about machine intelligence and how it's impacting the future of work? How do you see the VC asset class changing over the next few years?

Steve Newman is the Founder & CEO @ Scalyr, the startup that helps your devops team solve more problems in less time with log monitoring and analysis in seconds. Steve has raised over $27.5m in funding with Scalyr from many friends of the show including Susa Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Shasta and GV. As for Steve, prior to Scalyr, he was the Founder of Writely which was acquired by Google to become the little known, Google Docs. Before that he founded 2 prior startups, Ann Arbour Softworks (acq by Ashton-Tate) and BitCraft (acquired by Macromedia). If that was not enough, Steve also sat on the Technical Advisory Board at Box for over 3 years.    In Today’s Episode We Discuss: How Steve made his way into the world of startups and SaaS over 30 years ago? What is the founding story with Scalyr and what was that a-ha moment? Why does Steve believe that you should involve customers very early in the process of developing your narrative? Where does Steve see most startups go wrong when it comes to messaging? How does one structure the feedback mechanism? How does one determine between feedback you integrate and feedback you do not? Why does Steve believe that you should not focus too much on numbers in the early days? What makes them deceiving at this stage? If not numbers, what should early stage founders be focusing on and measuring? Why does Steve believe that ARR is not the leading metric? What metrics should early stage SaaS founders really be prioritising? How does Steve respond to PG’s “to scale, you have to do unscalable things”? What challenges and nuance does Steve present that founders must be wary of? How does Steve’s thinking here affect his view towards customisation? Why does manual input not put a cap on scalability? What are the parameters for manual involvement to be scalable?    Steve’s 60 Second SaaStr: What does Steve know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? Who does Steve believe is crushing it in the world of SaaS today? The hardest element about the move from tech co-founder to CEO? Read the full transcript on our blog. If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr  

Fouad ElNaggar is the Founder & CEO @ Sapho, the only employee experience portal designed for the digital workforce. To date, Ray has raised over $27m in funding with Sapho from some real favourites of ours including Ray @ Caffeinated, Felicis, Uncork, Bloomberg Beta, Clark Landry and Howard Lindzon @ Social Leverage, just to name a few. Prior to founding Sapho, Fouad was the Chief Strategy Officer at CBS Interactive overseeing strategy, operations, partnerships, and M&A. At CBSi, Fouad structured deals with partners such as Yahoo, IAC, and Twitch and acquired premium brands such as TV Guide and Giant Bomb. Prior to CBSi, Fouad was a VC at Redpoint Ventures overseeing the firm’s LA office and helping establish a dedicated fund in Brazil. Fouad has previously founded three venture-backed companies – Marketing Technology Solutions (acquired), Liquid Light (acquired), and Hark. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How Fouad made his way from the world of VC to the world of CBS and media to founding SaaS companies being a serial SaaS founder with his 4th company, Sapho? What does Fouad mean when he says the role of the CEO is to be an “inspirational asshole”? Why is this role so crucial and how is it embodied both in the approach to inspiring a team and driving goals and decision-making? How does Fouad think about structuring decision-making internally? Where do so many go wrong in implementing a decision-making process? Why is Fouad a believer that “it is about coaching and promoting rather than signal hiring”? What does Fouad really interpret as signal hiring? When does signal hiring work well? How does Fouad determine when a stretch VP is a stretch too far? What are the leading indicators? Does Fouad agree with Mariam Naficy that rotation of function is key to internal upscaling? What does Fouad believe are the 2 fundamental benefits of “being old” in SaaS? How would Fouad respond to the suggestion that the rate of decay on experience has never been greater with Moore’s law effect on technology? Applied to hiring, how does Fouad think about the decision to hire a jack of all trades vs a specialist? When is the time to make the transition?   Fouad’s 60 Second SaaStr What does Fouad know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? A moment in Fouad’s business life that changed the way he thinks? What would Fouad most like to change in the world of SaaS today? Read the full transcript on our blog. If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Fouad ElNaggar

It's not hard to make a link shortener, as Bitly's Mark Josephson shares. The trick is doing it at scale, in order to provide marketers with the insights they need.

Jon Lee is the Founder & CEO @ ProsperWorks, the #1 recommended CRM for G Suite. To date, ProsperWorks have raised over $85m in VC funding from the likes of True Ventures, Norwest, GV, Bloomberg Beta and more incredible names. As for Jon, prior to ProsperWorks, he started in investment banking at Merrill Lynch before moving to run a large operations team at Yahoo. Jon then founded Bazaar Advertising Solutions, a business self funded from a Palo Alto apartment that Jon scaled into a highly profitable $47m business in less than 2 years. Jon then sold Bazaar to Epic Media in 2006. Following the acquisition, Jon founded DNA Games, the number one casino simulation game on Facebook with more than 20 million players, ultimately acquired by Zynga in May 2011. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How Jon made his way into the world of CRM having successfully founded and sold 2 prior business in the lead gen and gaming space? Why does Jon believe building a SaaS business is very much like building a gaming business? How does on think about the scaling of company culture with the scaling of headcount? Where does Jon see the inflection points where this culture starts to break down? What does Jon mean when he suggests “the importance of a culture of innovation”? Why does Jon believe it is so important to insert a culture of risk into the organisation? How does this risk mindset differ and look across different segments of the business? How does Jon aim to create a culture of risk and ambition without a fear of failure and not hitting targets? Why does Jon think it is always better to start in SMB and move to enterprise? How does this decision change how one thinks about product roadmap? How does this change how one approaches traction building ahead of fundraising? What should one look to learn from rapid iteration and testing before moving to the enterprise market?    60 Second SaaStr? What does Jon know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? What keeps Jon up at night? What is Jon’s favourite SaaS reading material? Read the full transcript on our blog. If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Jon Lee

Tim O’Reilly’s official book launch party kicked off at our November Edition of What's Now: San Francisco, hosted in conjunction with Capgemini and Bloomberg Beta. Tim’s new book WTF?: What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us. At What’s Now, the founder of O’Reilly Media laid out his thoughts on the future of work, and in particular, the role that platforms will play in this future. Tim used this book to force the tech world to face up to the responsibility the industry has to actively spread wealth and structure systems so that they benefit everyone. “We must keep asking,” Tim writes in the introduction, “what will new technology let us do that was previously impossible? Will it help us build the kind of society we want to live in?”

Roy Bahat is one of the founder of Bloomberg Beta. I met Roy through my friend Shivon Zilis who is also a partner at Bloomberg Beta. Shivon was in one of our earlier podcasts on Array talking about AI. Bloomberg Beta is one of my favorite firms to work with and not only because they are also an LP in my fund Array Ventures but because I respect how they have built their firm and constructed their portfolio in a thoughtful way. They are the only firm I know that sends a survey to their companies asking for feedback on what they can do better. Bloomberg Beta was born out of Roy's frustration when he was raising money for his own startup. That's when Roy saw a need to start a fund with transparency, focus on their experience with the founders, and clear thesis on future of work. With so many VC firms being formed in last few years differentiation is important to be able to attract the right entrepreneurs. Let's dive into how Roy thought about building a new VC firm from scratch and how he thinks about the VC industry today with all the changes in recent years. Shruti's twitter: @atShrutiRoy's twitter: @roybahat Bloomberg Operating Manual: https://github.com/Bloomberg-Beta/Manual Array VC: www.array.vc

Roy Bahat, Head of Bloomberg Beta, may spend his days “slinging money around,” as he phrases it, discovering and investing in hot new artificial intelligence (AI) startups, but he devotes much of his free time helping to imagine and plan for the future of work. These aren’t unrelated pursuits—Bahat says that AI gives him the...

Cord-cutting was a theme of the latest Equity episode. We were joined by Bloomberg Beta's Roy Bahat and TechCrunch's Silicon Valley editor Connie Loizos joined the crew this week. We talked about Roku's upcoming IPO and Netflix's earnings. We also talked about the challenges facing on-demand shipping company Shyp, which is closing shop in three markets.

On our podcast from a few weeks ago on All things AI we heard from Lucas Baker of Google Deepmind on his perspective on current state of AI. Today we chat with Shivon Zilis who is an investor at VC firm Bloomberg Beta and gives an investment perspective on AI. Shivon became somewhat of a celebrity in AI after she first launched the state of machine intelligence in 2014. She has continued to add to that over the years. Let’s have a chat with her about investing in machine intelligence. Follow us @atShruti and @Shivon

Edith Harbaugh is the Founder & CEO @ LaunchDarkly, the startup that allows you to fearlessly and swiftly release software by separating feature rollout from code deployment. They have raised over $10m in funding from many previous guests of The Twenty Minute VC including Andy McLoughlin @ SoftTech, Josh Stein @ DFJ and the wonderful team at Bloomberg Beta. As for Edith, prior to LaunchDarkly, she was a Director of Product @ Tripit and Concur. Edith also holds two patents in deployment from her time in engineering at Vignette. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How Edith made her way into the world of SaaS and came to found LaunchDarkly? Does Edith agree with Jason Lemkin that the hardest element is the 1-10 customer phase? How has Edith navigated this process with her differing companies? How does Edith look to structure her sales team to successfully close Fortune 500 deals? What is the fundamental difference in selling to enterprise rather than SMB? What can founders do to make NPS a more intelligent metric? How can NPS be analysed effectively to tell you more about the state of your business? What are the signs of a truly great sales person? How do they aid not only their company but the customer they are serving? What is their required knowledge base? 60 Second SaaStr What is Edith’s fave SaaS resource? What does Edith know now that she wishes she had known before? Oakland Office: Why not SF? What are the benefits? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Edith Harbaugh  

Software systems that learn are on the cutting edge of practical A.I. But what’s the market for these mysterious technologies, and how will they transform the business economy? James Cham, a partner in the investment firm Bloomberg Beta, explains the machine learning market and how these technologies will change our world.

Software systems that learn are on the cutting edge of practical A.I. But what’s the market for these mysterious technologies, and how will they transform the business economy? James Cham, a partner in the investment firm Bloomberg Beta, explains the machine learning market and how these technologies will change our world.

Roy Bahat, Head of Bloomberg Beta, discusses the future of employment and why a universal basic income could spur innovation. He also discusses the mental leaps it requires to wrap our minds around the basic income, and what we can do to help others to make those leaps.

Ryan Petersen is the Founder and CEO of Flexport, the freight forwarder for the internet age. Flexport recently raised a phenomenal $65m Series B from the likes of Founders Fund, First Round, Felicis, Bloomberg Beta, Yuri Milner, Susa Ventures and more incredible investors. With none other than YC founder Paul Graham stating ‘Ryan has the rare ability to not just satisfy the market but grow it’. Prior to Flexport, Ryan was Founder and CEO of ImportGenius.com, the largest provider of business intelligence to the import-export industry.   In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ryan came to found Flexport? What was the a-ha moment for him? 2.) Why does Ryan believe it is crap that MBA's do not make good entrepreneurs? How did Ryan design his life to be an entrepreneur without the opportunity to work for someone else? 3.) How has Ryan found the experience of being a single founder? What are the pros and cons? What was the investor reaction? What does Ryan advise other single founders? 4.) How did Ryan find the fundraising for the latest $65m raise? What did he do well? What would he like to improve upon for later rounds? How did he educate investors without being patronising? 5.) Why does Ryan want to see boards be rethought? What is so inefficient about boards? When did Ryan gain his board? What would Ryan advise fellow founders on building a board? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Ryan's Fave Blog: SaaStr As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ryan on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. So many problems start with your head: stress, depression, anxiety, fear of the future. What if there was some kind of exercise you could do, that would help you get your head in shape. That’s where the Headspace app comes in. Headspace is meditation made simple. The Headspace app provides guided meditations you can use whenever you want, wherever you want, on your phone, computer or tablet. They have sessions focused on everything from dealing with stress and depression, to helping you eat more mindfully. So download the Headspace app and start your journey towards a happier, healthier life. Learn more at headspace.com/20vc. That’s headspace.com/20vc. Xero is beautiful, easy-to- use online accounting software for small businesses. With Xero, you can easily manage your accounting anytime, anywhere from your computer or mobile device.When you add Xero to your small business you are able to: Send online invoices and get paid faster. Get an instant view of your cash flow. Track your payroll and keep tabs on your inventory. Partner with your accountant and bookkeeper in real time whenever you like. You can also customize your Xero experience with over five hundred business apps, including advanced solutions for point-of- sale, time tracking, ecommerce and more. Sign up for a free thirty-day trial at Xero.com/twentyVC

The O’Reilly Bots Podcast: Bots are the new web.In this episode of the O’Reilly Bots Podcast, Pete Skomoroch and I recap O’Reilly Bot Day, held October 19, 2016, in San Francisco. The event gave us a good picture of what the bot community—and bot landscape—looks like, and the diverse group of attendees conveyed a strong sense of optimism about bots. Slides from Bot Day presentations are available here.We then speak with Shivon Zilis, partner at Bloomberg Beta, who has written extensively about artificial intelligence and its impact on a variety of industries. She wrote influential surveys of what she calls machine intelligence in 2014 and 2015, and she’s planning to publish her 2016 update at the end of October. Discussion points: Where “agents” (which Zilis calls “things we can trust that act as an extension of ourselves”) fit into the landscape of machine intelligence The impact that bots and AI agents will have on the future of work How the current AI hype cycle is creating, in Zilis’ words, “a tendency to throw AI at every problem” Can startups even compete in the AI landscape against large players like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook? The impact of open source machine learning libraries like Google’s TensorFlow

The O’Reilly Bots Podcast: Bots are the new web.In this episode of the O’Reilly Bots Podcast, Pete Skomoroch and I recap O’Reilly Bot Day, held October 19, 2016, in San Francisco. The event gave us a good picture of what the bot community—and bot landscape—looks like, and the diverse group of attendees conveyed a strong sense of optimism about bots. Slides from Bot Day presentations are available here.We then speak with Shivon Zilis, partner at Bloomberg Beta, who has written extensively about artificial intelligence and its impact on a variety of industries. She wrote influential surveys of what she calls machine intelligence in 2014 and 2015, and she’s planning to publish her 2016 update at the end of October. Discussion points: Where “agents” (which Zilis calls “things we can trust that act as an extension of ourselves”) fit into the landscape of machine intelligence The impact that bots and AI agents will have on the future of work How the current AI hype cycle is creating, in Zilis’ words, “a tendency to throw AI at every problem” Can startups even compete in the AI landscape against large players like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook? The impact of open source machine learning libraries like Google’s TensorFlow

Ryan Petersen is the Founder and CEO of Flexport, the freight forwarder for the internet age. Flexport recently raised a phenomenal $65m Series B from the likes of Founders Fund, First Round, Felicis, Bloomberg Beta, Yuri Milner, Susa Ventures and more incredible investors. With none other than YC founder Paul Graham stating ‘Ryan has the rare ability to not just satisfy the market but grow it’. Prior to Flexport, Ryan was Founder and CEO of ImportGenius.com, the largest provider of business intelligence to the import-export industry. A huge hand to Chad Byers @ Susa and Jason Lemkin for the intro In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Ryan make her way into the world of SaaS and come to found Flexport? How does Ryan view NPS? Why is he so bullish? Why is it the most important metric? What are the downsides to relying on NPS? What is the optimal method to structure internal compensation structures? Why is compensation based on NPS and Net not effective and what are the dangers of this? How can founders look to implement bottoms up decision making in their organisation? What are the benefits of this and what are the challenges to it’s implementation? Ryan is hiring his first VP of Marketing? What should founders look for in their VP of Marketing? Why is now the right time and what challenges has Ryan faced in the process? 60 Second SaaStr Fave SaaS reading material? What does Ryan know now that he wishes he had known when he started? What has been his biggest learning throughout the Flexport journey? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Ryan Petersen

James Cham is a Partner @ Bloomberg Beta and one the pre-eminent thinkers in the machine learning space. Prior to Bloomberg, James was a Principal @ Trinity Ventures and before Trinity, James was a VP at Bessemer Venture Partners. At Bessemer, James was a Board Member of CrowdFlower and Open Candy. However, James has not always been a VC as he was originally a programmer receiving his degree in Computer Science from Harvard.   In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How James made his way into the wonderful world of VC from being a programmer? 2.) How are organisations and corporations thinking about machine learning? How are they looking to incorporate it into their current infrastructure? 3.) Kieran Snyder @ Textio said, ‘the writing is on the wall for enterprise to embrace machine learning’. What are James' thoughts and how does the business model vary from licensed and SaaS? 4.) How is building machine learning models different from software development? On the topic of software development, how does James perceive the productivity differences between software developers? 5.) Moving to VC and how does James approach the investment decision making process as a VC? How does James relationship to religion intertwine with his investment career? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: James’ Fave Book: Man Who Lied To His Laptop James’ Fave Blog or Newsletter: Rob May, Jack Clark, Tyler Cowan James’ Most Recent Investment: Netlify As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and James on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. This episode was brought to you by DesignCrowd, the online marketplace for custom graphic, logo and web design that helps startups, entrepreneurs, web developers and agencies outsource design projects to designers from around the world.

Roy Bahat is the head of Bloomberg Beta, a new venture fund backed by Bloomberg L.P. Prior to Bloomberg, Roy was chairman of OUYA, a new kind of game console, where he was the first investor. Before that Roy spent five years leading News Corporation’s IGN Entertainment, an online media company with a monthly audience of 70 million people, a top 10 YouTube channel, and the leading website in its category in almost every market globally. Roy served on the board of Revision3 (acquired by Discovery) and was a board observer at Flixster (acquired by Warner Bros). Before joining News Corp., Roy was in the public sector in the office of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and at New York’s 2012 Olympic bid.  In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Roy made his way into the world of VC from working alongside Mayor Michael Bloomberg? 2.) What do all these definitions within AI mean? What does artificial intelligence include? What is machine learning? What is deep learning? 3.) When we talk about AI are we talking pure AI , with the likes of Watson and DeepMind or are we talking consumer centric software with elements of AI? 4.) With data playing such a huge role in the efficiency of AI, do large incumbents like Google and Facebook not have a massive advantage? How can startups get access to datasets? Is AI not fundamentally an acquihire industry? 5.) How important has open source in allowing and encouraging the progression of the machine intelligence ecosystem? What more can be done to further it's growth? 6.) With the rise of machine intelligence, what does the future of work look like? How will we live in a world where 47% of white collar jobs will be replaced by machines and AI? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Roy's Fave Book: Watershed Down Roy's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Media ReDefined by Jason Hirschhorn, Asim Azar, the exponential view As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Roy on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!   The Twenty Minute VC is brought to you by Leesa, the Warby Parker or TOMS shoes of the mattress industry. Lees have done away with the terrible mattress showroom buying experience by creating a luxury premium foam mattress that is order completely online and ships for free to your doorstep. The 10 inch mattress comes in all sizes and is engineered with 3 unique foam layers for a universal, adaptive feel, including 2 inches of memory foam and 2 inches of a really cool latex foam called Avena, design to keep you cool. All Leesa mattresses are 100% US or UK made and for every 10 mattresses they sell, they donate one to a shelter. Go to Leesa.com/VC and enter the promo code VC75 to get $75 off!  

Eric Duffy, Co-Founder and CEO of Pathgather, a beautiful and engaging learning platform for the modern workforce joins us on episode 6 of Ambition Today. We get into the insights fast on this episode: "What do I think will allow me to have the most impact on my short time on earth" - Eric Duffy For Eric, after some time abroad in Africa, the answer to his question was to start Pathgather. We discuss how traveling the world can lead to inspiration for new great ideas. From there Eric moved back to Silicon Alley and joined the Founder Institute in New York to launch Pathgather. His journey through founding a startup takes us through: + How a great MVP tests user behavior and can attract your first customer. + Graduating the Founder Institute New York. + How to position yourself to enable meeting your Co-founder. + Joining Techstars New York City. + Disrupting a stagnate industry such as the Learning Management System (LMS) space. + Fundraising your seed round and how a convertible note works. + Attracting investors such as Bloomberg Beta, Contour Venture Partners, Techstars, The Vedas Group, Tigerlabs Ventures, Palm Drive Ventures, Jerry Wang, Thomas Wisniewski, and Michael Derikrava. + And also: The Ambition Today Question of the Day: What should a new startup founders first step be? Todays News: What are your thoughts on Twitter naming Jack Dorsey, one of its founders, as CEO? Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS and on Stitcher for Android.

This week, award-winning, globe-trotting travel journalist Adam Skolnick returns as guest host for another edition of Writer Porn, where we discuss pertinent, writerly paraphernalia that has crossed our collective radar.   Adam is the author and co author of 25 Lonely Planet guidebooks. He has also written for publications as varied as the New York Times, ESPN, Men’s Health, Outside, and Playboy. He recently finished his first narrative non-fiction book — based on his award-winning New York Times coverage of the death of the greatest American free diver of all time — titled One Breath (slated for publication in January). In this 41-minute file Adam Skolnick and I discuss: What is Writer Porn? How to Counteract the Negative Effects of Sitting All Day Why You Think Better on Your Feet Is Binge Reading Online Making Us Dumber? How Taking Notes by Hand Might Boost Comprehension Why Relaxing Your Process Can Help Your Productivity Learn How to Write a Bestseller with James Patterson Is the MasterClass Startup onto Something Huge? Adam Skolnick s Patterson MasterClass Experiment How to Listen to Moby Dick for Free Listen to The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience below ... Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes The Show Notes Is Sitting a Lethal Activity? Everything Science Knows Right Now About Standing Desks Yoga Hacks: How to Undo the Damage of a Desk Job 5 Things You re Doing Wrong At Your Standing Desk You Won t Finish This Article Binge Reading Disorder James Patterson s MasterClass in Writing Adam Skolnick on Instagram Adam Skolnick on Twitter Writer Porn on Twitter Kelton Reid on Twitter Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By   Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! The Transcript Writer Porn: Standing Desks, Binge Reading, and James Patterson s MasterClass Voiceover: This is Rainmaker.FM, the digital marketing podcast network. It’s built on the Rainmaker platform, which empowers you to build your own digital marketing and sales platform. Start your free 14-day trial at RainmakerPlatform.com. Kelton Reid: These are The Writer Files, a tour of the habits, habitats, and brains of working writers, from online content creators to fictionists, journalists, entrepreneurs, and beyond. I’m your host, Kelton Reid: writer, podcaster, and mediaphile. Each week, we’ll find out how great writers keep the ink flowing, the cursor moving, and avoid writer’s block. This week, award-winning, globe-trotting travel journalist Adam Skolnick is back as guest host for another edition of Writer Porn, where we discuss pertinent, writer-ly paraphernalia that has crossed our collective radar. Adam is the co-author and author of 25 Lonely Planet guide books. He has also written for publications as varied as The New York Times, ESPN, Men’s Health, Outside, and Playboy. He recently finished his first narrative, non-fiction book based on his award-winning New York Times coverage of the death of the greatest American free diver of all time. In this episode, Adam and I will discuss how to counteract the negative effects of sitting all day, why you think better on your feet, is binge reading online making us dumber, why relaxing your process can help your productivity, and how to write a bestseller according to James Patterson. What Is Writer Porn? Kelton Reid: I am pleased to welcome Adam Skolnick back to The Writer Files for another edition of something that we are calling ‘Writer Porn.’ Adam Skolnick: Ha, ha, ha. Porn! You said ‘porn.’ Kelton Reid: What is Writer Porn? Adam Skolnick: I have no idea. You named it that. Kelton Reid: I think it’s things that come across our desk that are pertinent to the writing life. Adam Skolnick: Oh, to the writer and only the writer? Kelton Reid: Sure, yeah. Adam Skolnick: What if our listeners aren’t writers? Kelton Reid: Well, that’s okay. We welcome you. Adam Skolnick: Welcome, welcome non-writers. Kelton Reid: I collect these kind of tidbits of whatever they might be — quotes, writer-ly advice — and lump them into this category, and I asked you back, and thankfully you took me up on it, to do another session where we riff on some of these things. It’s a little bit different than the interview segments that I do for The Writer Files, but I’m excited to have you back. Thanks for taking time to do this. I know that you just finished your book. That’s very exciting. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this, but I did get to look at a galley. Did you know that? Adam Skolnick: I don’t think it was a galley. I think I emailed you the book. Yes, I knew that. I emailed it to you. Kelton Reid: Oh. Adam Skolnick: Who do you think emails my emails? Do you think I hire an email service? Kelton Reid: I don’t know, but I was very honored to get into it. Man, it’s good stuff, very compelling. I’m excited for the rest of the world to get a chance to see it. Congratulations, man. Adam Skolnick: Thanks, man, I really appreciate that. Kelton Reid: What are you presently working on over there? Adam Skolnick: I am about to get on a boat with Jack Johnson and a couple of pro surfers in the Bahamas, and I’m going to sail through the Bermuda Triangle to Bermuda, researching marine plastic pollution for a magazine story. I leave on Friday for that. That should be a wild and interesting journey. Kelton Reid: Jack Johnson, is he the musician? Adam Skolnick: Yeah. Kelton Reid: Okay, cool. He’s also a well-known surfer, so I get it now. Adam Skolnick: Yeah, yeah, he’s lives on the north shore of Hawaii. He’s been surfing his whole life. The ocean’s important to him, and he’s giving back. He’s sponsoring this expedition. It should be cool. Kelton Reid: Sounds really exciting. I’m jealous. Adam Skolnick: Thanks, man. Well, I hope it’s cool. I’ve never gotten sea sick before, so I trust I’ll be fine. I bought a windbreaker at REI, so I think if I bring my windbreaker, and my moleskin notebook, and nothing else, I should be fine. Kelton Reid: Your bikini. Adam Skolnick: Oh, my bikini and my cowboy hat. Kelton Reid: Yeah, don’t forget the hat. It really completes the look for you. Now that I’ve got you here, I can pick your brain about some stuff that’s crossed my desk. I know you’ve seen a lot of these things as well. How to Counteract the Negative Effects of Sitting All Day Kelton Reid: Speaking of desks, the first thing we should chat about is standing desks. Essentially, I keep seeing more and more stuff about standing desks. For people who work online and are professional writers — full-time writers, content creators, what have you — a lot of us are getting these missives about the standing desk. Do you have a standing desk, Adam? Adam Skolnick: I do not, Kelton. Kelton Reid: Have you ever used a standing desk? Adam Skolnick: I have. There was a period of time where I had two desks going on, and I would switch back and forth. It was one of those butcher blocks that became a desk. I’d have my sitting desk and my standing desk, and I liked it. It worked, but with me and my lifestyles, I’m so nomadic that I end up just pretty adaptable. I’ll sit wherever I have to sit to work. When I was writing the novel, the non-fiction book, it just required too much focus. I didn’t find standing at it was working for me, but if I’m working on a guide book, something like the Lonely Planet book or a magazine article where it doesn’t take as much long-term focus, I can bang out a few things standing. I do stand a lot when I’m talking on the phone in between. I don’t sit all day at any one point, but I’ll sit for a couple of hours at a time maybe. Kelton Reid: Well, I think writers of all disciplines tend to work sitting down for many hours at a time. Now we’re seeing evidence that, that excessive sitting can technically be considered a lethal activity — or we keep hearing sitting is the new smoking. Adam Skolnick: Yes, but what would sitting and smoking be then? Kelton Reid: Probably not great for you. Adam Skolnick: No. Kelton Reid: I quit many, many decades ago. Adam Skolnick: I only smoke on the treadmill now. Kelton Reid: Writers are investing money in these standing desks for their health. There’s a couple different kinds of standing desks. Certainly, there are some hacks to get into a standing desk. You could do what you do, just use a higher counter. Adam Skolnick: Yes. Kelton Reid: That New York Times article, Is Sitting a Lethal Activity?, pointed out that there are a cascade harmful metabolic affects that occur when we’re sitting. It’s not great for your heart or your cholesterol levels to be sedentary. Adam Skolnick: Right. Kelton Reid: Over a lifetime, these unhealthful effects of sitting do add up according to research by these epidemiologists. Am I saying that right? Adam Skolnick: Epidemiologist, yeah. Kelton Reid: Thank you. At the American Cancer Society, they did this huge study that showed a definite overall increase in the death rate. They estimated that, on average, people who sit too much definitely shave a few years off their life. Adam Skolnick: Well, that makes sense to me. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Adam Skolnick: I think everyone knows that sitting and being a potato of some kind — couch or desk potato, I guess that’s what we are now, desk potatoes — that’s going to be bad for your physical fitness. Not everyone has the space or the attention span, frankly, to create the perfect work environments. You’re one of those people that your physical environment, your interior environment, your office has always been important to you, so you’re going to do something about it. There are a lot of people like you. Then there are people who just don’t have the capacity to care about much. What I read recently, I read something in Outside Magazine that said it’s really not necessarily that you’re sitting all the time while you’re working — it’s that you’re sitting all those hours unbroken. I know Outside just published something online, and if you look at cures for sitting at the desk or something on their website, Outside Online, you’d find this incredible exercise routine that wouldn’t take long. It includes things that babies do — crawling and rolling yourself over without using your hands on your back. Basically, just rolling over, rolling from one side of the room to the other, and it does something. It aligns your body and your posture in a way that basically counteracts everything you’ve been doing at the desk for that 55 minutes beforehand. If you do something like that every five minutes, that’s another example that that could help, every five or 10 minutes, or if you take two hours to work and then 15 minutes to do moderate yoga or something in the office to counteract it. Take a walk around. It’s the unbroken sitting that’s the bad part. I don’t think it’s that you can’t sit at a desk and work. What you’re doing, which is to allow yourself to be more productive in different ways, is also a great cure for it. There’s a lot of ways to do it. Kelton Reid: Sure, absolutely. There’s definitely no one way. I have seen the yoga poses, which, frankly, isn’t something I’m going to do, but one of the other studies was saying that, in that sense, any kind of non-exercise activity — ‘thermogenesis’ is what they call it, or NEAT is the acronym — is basically the little movements that you do throughout the day to counteract that stuff, any kind of stretching or moving around in the office. Why You Think Better on Your Feet I tend to pace, which is another thing that we can talk about in a second, but it’s actually really good for you. Just getting up and walking around helps you to be more creative, interestingly enough. What that big study showed was that the good news is that, that peril can be countered is — I think, the point that you are also getting at. This other study by these Canadian researchers showed that both types of the different standing desks actually reduce sedentariness, which is one of the big problems, and improved mood. Either a standing desk or a treadmill desk, and clearly the treadmill desk is going to be a little bit more distracting. Adam Skolnick: Treadmill desk? Kelton Reid: A treadmill desk. This is a thing. Basically, overall, they’re saying the evidence suggests that both standing and treadmill desks may be effective in improving overall health, both physiologically and your mental health combined. It’s kind of interesting, but they did say that the treadmill desk ranked lower for productivity stuff. I think that’s probably because how can you walk and … Adam Skolnick: I don’t think the treadmill desk is destined to be a big seller. I’m going to go out on a limb here. Kelton Reid: Well, you wouldn’t know until you tried it, but I just can’t imagine doing it. Adam Skolnick: That’s going to hurt its product profit rollout. Kelton Reid: I’m not selling it here. I’m not an affiliate. Adam Skolnick: It’s going to hurt the product rollout if you can’t imagine ever using it. Kelton Reid: Probably. Adam Skolnick: That’s the problem with the treadmill desk. Kelton Reid: International Journal of Health, Promotion Education proved that, in another study, that people really do think better on their feet, which is probably another check mark in the category of we should be probably standing more while we work. There are some ways that have been proven to be effective, and there are some ways that actually probably wouldn’t be that effective. I think the treadmill desk is a question mark, but making sure that you’re using the right posture when you are actually using a standing desk is also important. Are you using the right technique? This other article that I found, basically — for MakeUseOf — said that if you’re using the wrong posture, it’s going to basically counteract those positive things that you’re doing as a user of a standing desk. My hack here was I’ve inherited a very nice bookshelf from a friend. It looks like some kind of piece of modern art, but it has the perfect height to put a laptop, which should, according to MakeUseOf, be at eye level. Of course, typing on the laptop at that level would be terrible for, say, my back or getting some type of carpel tunnel syndrome, so it is suggested to do some kind of Bluetooth keyboard and/or mouse on a different shelf, and that’s exactly what I’ve done. Zero dollar hack — I have a standing desk. I can get up and use it when I start to feel slothful. Slothful? Adam Skolnick: Yes, slothful. Okay, I think we’ve covered standing desks. Kelton Reid: Okay, well, that was the big one. It’s been a topic that keeps coming across my own desk, so we nailed it. Adam Skolnick: Yeah, we really nailed that one. I hope they’re all still listening. Is Binge Reading Online Making Us Dumber? Kelton Reid: Let’s talk about word consumption. Adam Skolnick: Let’s talk about it. Kelton Reid: What does it mean? Adam Skolnick: Binge reading disorder, is that what you’re referring to? Kelton Reid: Yes, binge reading disorder. Adam Skolnick: Ah, explain binge reading disorder, Kelton Reid. Kelton Reid: Well, I’m not sure if that’s the scientific terminology for it, but according to data, recent data, a typical American consumes more than 100,000 words a day and remembers probably very little of that information that’s being scanned into their cerebral cortex. Adam Skolnick: Is that a good thing? Kelton Reid: I don’t know. Is it making us dumber? What’s your take on it? Adam Skolnick: I don’t think so. I think we were already dumb. Kelton Reid: That’s a great answer. I think we can just stop right there. Adam Skolnick: I don’t know. Typically, if I’m reading stuff online, it’s typically mindless sports drivel. News stories I’ll read on my phone in the morning. I’ll get the newspaper on the phone. You’re reading more now. You’re just not reading all of it in the same place. The big argument is, is there a difference in reading it on the screen versus reading a hard copy? I like to read both ways. I don’t think it matters. I’m kind of agnostic on platform stuff. It’s just easier to use a Kindle when I’m on the road. I’ll use a Kindle when I’m on the road, and I don’t feel bad about it. I don’t think it’s making us dumber at all. If anything, our memories are probably hampered because you can Google anything at any time, but that also makes our arguments more informed. Instead of just two people talking over a cocktail about something that neither of them knows anything about but really being really passionate about it, they can actually Google it. Then they don’t have to talk about it anymore. Kelton Reid: True. Yeah, I pull out the smartphone on countless occasions in any sort of, not argument per se, but discussion. Adam Skolnick: What-does-it-all-mean type discussion? Kelton Reid: Sure, sure, right. I think it’s interesting that — going back to that Atlantic article by Nicholas Carr, Is Google Making Us Stupid? — where he argued that the abundance of information that the Internet provides is diminishing our abilities to comprehend what we read. I don’t know how I feel about that. I do feel at times like I know too much because I’ve scanned so much stuff in there. What this study found, at least the UC San Diego report, said the average American basically ingests 100,000 plus words — includes text messages, emails, social media, subtitles, advertisements. Adam Skolnick: Right. Kelton Reid: We’re just bombarded with stuff. Adam Skolnick: Yes. Kelton Reid: The truth is that when this gentlemen, Josh Schwartz — he’s a data scientist for the traffic analysis firm Chartbeat — found that the way people read on the Internet is that they very rarely make it past halfway through any article that crosses their desk, and there’s a very large percentage that don’t even get into the article. They just click the link, grab a link, share it without even reading it. So a lot of the stuff that we’re seeing in the Twitter feed is stuff that these social shares haven’t actually ingested, comprehended. Adam Skolnick: Yes, that’s for sure. People do that all the time. I, myself, have done that once or twice. I don’t know if Schwartz knows that. Was it Schwartz? Did Schwartz out me on that one? Kelton Reid: Yeah, he pointed me to your sham Twitter feed. Adam Skolnick: Damn you, Schwartz. Listen, if I Tweet out a link, chances are I’ve read at least half of that link. If there’s something at the end of that story that makes me look like a jerk, it’s not my fault because I’m just following. I’m just following. Kelton Reid: Right, but this is probably what most of us are feeling that, “All right, I kind of get it,” so we’re scanning. We’re scanning. Adam Skolnick: Well, I think we’re also parroting. We see someone’s Tweet come across, and we’re like, “Oh, I like that guy, so that must be cool.” You just want to support that person. For whatever reason, you want to be a positive in their social media sphere for that moment, so you do it. Kelton Reid: Sure. Adam Skolnick: I think a lot of times the Retweets of other people’s links are fine, but the funny part is if no one ever read the link. Kelton Reid: Right. Adam Skolnick: What if the person who you’re Retweeting hasn’t even read the link that they’re Retweeting, and it’s just this crazy hall of mirrors. Kelton Reid: Sure, it’s a crazy hall of mirrors. Adam Skolnick: Wait, you’re saying the Internet is a hall of mirrors? Kelton Reid: Well, there’s definitely an echo chamber. Adam Skolnick: Is that what Schwartz is saying because he’s a genius? Kelton Reid: Yeah, well, this is some kind of existential question about something else. Moving on, a peer report comparing the habits of ebook readers versus print readers, which is kind of interesting, noted that paginated reading comprehension far outpaced the continuous, infinite scroll, like we face on the Internet every day. Maybe there is something to be said for comprehension of reading done in a different way than we are so used to seeing on the Internet. Adam Skolnick: Well, that could also just mean books are taken more seriously than the general scroll, or the time you take to leaf through a magazine is going to matter more than the general scroll that you do on a typical day. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Well, I think this researcher from that report in Sweden said that scrolling took more of your mental resources that could be spent comprehending text, at least enough to memorize it. I guess if you’re doing some pretty heavy research, you probably want to make sure that you’re staying a little more focused. I think coffee works great, too. Adam Skolnick: Oh, yeah, good. Kelton Reid: Is that helpful? Adam Skolnick: No. I think we should just go directly to James Patterson okay, at the beginning of your podcast. I think you’re going to find, as you go through this podcast, it really should be all Patterson. This is our big tease to the Patterson experiment. Kelton Reid: Just a quick pause to mention that The Writer Files is brought to you by the Rainmaker Platform, the complete website solution for content marketers and online entrepreneurs. Find out more and take a free 14-day test drive at Rainmaker.FM/Platform. How Taking Notes by Hand Might Boost Comprehension Kelton Reid: Okay, we’re going to skip over the notebook portion. I’m assuming that’s what you’re suggesting? Adam Skolnick: Well, I don’t know. The notebook portion? We could do the notebook portion. Kelton Reid: Well, I just think it’s interesting that this other study, the last study that we’ll mention, by a researcher at Northwestern University, showed that students who took notes in a notebook in a class compared to on a computer ended up with better test scores for that class. I’ve seen this in a few different places. Adam Skolnick: Yeah. Kelton Reid: How do you feel about that? Adam Skolnick: I might have talked about this in the last podcast. I feel like I’m repeating myself, but I was a part of a process at Lonely Planet when Lonely Planet was going to a shared publishing platform. Before that, authors were preparing their manuscripts in Word, emailing that to a coordinating author, who was putting that all into one document, and sending that in to the publishers, who were then taking it apart and putting it in their own publishing platform internally, their own software so that they could paginate and do everything they needed to do. Then after that book was done, the web people would take it apart, put it online, and update whatever their online content was. Basically, what that was doing was making it impossible to have fluid, updated material online and in a timely and efficient way because everything was geared towards the brick-and-mortar bookshops and the print books. Now, as everything was changing, I think about 2008 this was, whenever I was in Colorado doing that. Was that ’08? No, that was like 2010, so everything started to change around 2010. They decided to get sleeker and try to be more competitive, and try to figure out a way that you could be updating online at the same time you’re updating the books. They had a couple of us pilot this shared publishing platform experiment where I would take notes in my phone or on an iPad. They didn’t want me using my moleskins, which is how I was usually taking notes when I was in the field. It was everything from using this new database type platform when we were writing it up, but all the way to, in the field, try to use some other type of equipment. At first, I thought, “Wow, I’m going to lose something in the translation,” because I always thought there’s something about putting your pen to paper in an analog way that opens your brain and opens your own perception and comprehension in a way that’s unique and interesting. I always thought that. At first, I found it really clunky to use the iPhone for notes, but then over time, I just stayed with it. I was asked to stay with it for a week and see if it changed. Within a few days, it started to change. Within a few days, I started to get comfortable taking notes. Now I can take notes on the phone faster than I can write them in a moleskin. I can then save those notes. The notes are going to constantly get uploaded to the cloud, so you’re not going to lose stuff. If you somehow lose a notebook, you’re screwed, but not on the phone. I also find that this idea that using a pen and a paper opens your mind in a certain way isn’t so accurate anymore, either. Once I got used to doing that, I could come up with similar insights. I don’t think the insights are any different. My conditioning to creating the insight, or discovering my own insight, or whatever it might be that was a condition, I just happened to be doing that while I was using the pen and paper. When I started to use the phone, it worked that way, too. Now, when you’re trying to comprehend something, I think writing it down might do something to your brain that typing it wouldn’t. I don’t know, but it might. Could be. It sounds like Solomon found that to be true. It could be, yeah. Kelton Reid: A lot of my stuff definitely starts on paper. I find that it helps me early on in the process. Then I move into the more digital idea-building. I feel like the ideas are born more easily for me when they start in a notebook or on a note card, but I’m a fan of all these hybrid models, you know? Why Relaxing Your Process Can Help Your Productivity Adam Skolnick: Yeah. I think the key point for writers, especially newer writers or younger writers that are making a go of it, the important point isn’t are you sitting at a desk, or standing up, are you using a notebook or are you using a phone, or using a laptop. The key is do it. Just keep doing it. It doesn’t matter. I’m really agnostic with all this process stuff. I’m not a real process guy. Partly, it’s because I’m on tight deadlines a lot, so I’m constantly having to do it. Partly because I’m traveling so much, I’ve just become adaptable by nature. The key thing is to not be too precious, for me anyway. I think the more precious I get about the way things have to be done, the greater the excuses to not getting things done. That’s my personal approach. It’s not everybody’s approach. I think process can really matter for some people, and it’s really important. Some people are super interested in that. I’m less interested in that and more interested in are you doing the work. However you need to do it, do the work. If it helps to create a process that works for you, then do it. I’m just to the point where process takes a back seat. Kelton Reid: Nice, that’s a great take away. Thank you for getting us there. Adam Skolnick: Sure, man. Learn How to Write a Bestseller with James Patterson Kelton Reid: So — precious. Let’s talk about another precious American resource. Adam Skolnick: No, this man is decidedly not precious, which is probably the greatest thing about him. Kelton Reid: James Patterson. Adam Skolnick: That and his website. Kelton Reid: James Patterson. Adam Skolnick: James Patterson. I am so excited to be talking about James Patterson, mainly because I’ve never once read a James Patterson book, not one time. Kelton Reid: That is so strange. I cannot honestly say the same thing. The reason we’re talking about this is because he is offering a masterclass in writing through a website called MasterClass, a startup called MasterClass. There’s no question that James Patterson, whose annual salary clocks in at $90 mil it looks like, knows how to write a bestseller. Now, for $90 — that’s right, $90 American — you, too, can learn how to write a bestseller from James Patterson. Adam Skolnick: Yes, or not, but we’re going to find out if this works. Kelton Reid: What is it about James Patterson that ruffles people’s feathers, aside from the fact that he is the author of 19 consecutive number one New York Times bestsellers? Adam Skolnick: I think it’s because he has basically created this stable of co-authors and comes up with these ideas. Then they execute them. Then he manages to turn them all into bestsellers — it’s almost like the sausage factory of writing. That bothers a lot of people, especially in the literary world, who are super driven towards the auteur type production. Although, in a lot of ways, what he’s doing is kind of the new 2.0 version of Pulp Fiction past, which was just get stuff on the market and get people reading. He’s very un-precious about it, which is probably the coolest thing about it. I haven’t read his novels, so I have no idea how good they are. There must be something to them. They’re selling a lot. Kelton Reid: Sure, so he’s basically the bestseller machine over there. Now he’s working with these ghostwriters and co-authors. Probably nothing wrong with that other than it ruffles some people’s feathers probably in the literary. It actually even ruffled Stephen King’s feathers, but it’s interesting debates about James Patterson and his kind of claim to fame. Adam Skolnick: He’s written 95 novels since 1976. That’s amazing. Kelton Reid: Yeah. He holds the New York Times record for most bestselling hardcover fiction titles by a single author, a total of 76, and that is also a Guinness record. Adam Skolnick: That’s amazing. He’s got something going on, you know? Kelton Reid: Well, he clearly knows what he’s doing. Adam Skolnick: Yeah. Kelton Reid: In a sense, could you compare him to McKee and his kind of screenwriting formula? Adam Skolnick: Well, I don’t know because I’ve read a story by Robert McKee, and I liked it. I thought it was interesting. I don’t know. I’m excited to hear that part. For me, personally, why I’m interested in the course — aside from hoping that there’s some amazing James Patterson quotes that we can talk about on the podcast over the next several weeks — I’m hoping that it’s absurd but also poignant. I’m hoping he strikes gold here and there. I’m sure not every episode’s going to be great, but I’m hoping there’s some good moments. I keep thinking of Adaptation. Kelton Reid: Yes. Adam Skolnick: That great movie with Nicholas Cage where he plays Charlie Kaufman, and Kaufman takes the Robert McKee class after his twin brother had taken it and decided to write a screenplay. Now Charlie, who’s kind mired in writer’s block and is having a hard time turning The Orchid Thief — a great book by Susan Orlean — into its own movie, he takes McKee’s class. McKee berates him publicly, and then gives him some great, great tips. That’s an amazing scene. It’s tremendous, and I hope at some point James Patterson personally lambastes me during this class. Kelton Reid: What? Okay. Adam Skolnick: Kaufman was having a hard time in that scene. I know it’s fictional, but it’s still funny. He was having a hard time because he was trying to take this somewhat complex subject and turn it into a story without falling into the cliché traps of beginning, middle, end, action, act 1, act 2, act 3 — all the things you’re supposed to do. He wanted to break that mold. McKee basically tells him, no, you’ve got to see that mold through and come out in the end because life is like that. I, personally, have a different issue. I get attracted to ideas that have so much to them, it’s hard to distill it in a simple storyline. I’m always envious of writers who can create simple, small, perfect stories. I think those are the stories readers like the best. They can relate to them the best. They can get lost in them a little easier. Even the book I’ve just finished — which I really like, and I think you can get a lot out of it — there are three levels to it. It works for that book, but if I’m going to write a better novel next time around my previous novel was this slice of life, 10 years of my life squashed into one. There’s just so many twists and turns to it. It’s definitely not that neat and tidy story. I think, if anything, Patterson definitely has story hooks down. I’m interested in being able to reign myself in as a writer and bringing my energy into a bit more of a tight story. I’m hoping Patterson will have some tips in that regard, so that’s a serious reason. Kelton Reid: True. Adam Skolnick: I’m hoping there’s something there, and then I’m also hoping there’s a lot of unintentional comedy. Kelton Reid: Well, there is something to be said for these writing formulas, and certainly Hollywood uses it, a screenwriting formula, as you know. Copywriters also use formulas all the time. I’m thinking of the AIDA method for writing good online and print copy, which is attention, interest, desire, action. These are all things that writers can learn from. I think it’s interesting, actually, you coming from a creative non-fiction, fiction, and screenwriting background, me coming from some of those same backgrounds with the copywriting thing thrown in there — it’ll be interesting for us to experiment. So, what are we going to do? Adam Skolnick: Well, I think we have to figure out, do we like Patterson, first off. I think it’s easy. It’s funny, you look at this MasterClass, and you can take acting classes from Dustin Hoffman or tennis lessons from Serena Williams. It’s so absurd. Is the MasterClass Startup onto Something Huge? Kelton Reid: Well, the MasterClass project is very interesting. Adam Skolnick: It’s just completely absurd, but it’s like your famous icons pitching infomercials. Kelton Reid: Right. Adam Skolnick: It used to be the people on infomercials were the people who were the washed-up actors of old. For instance, I think it would make more sense if Erik Estrada was giving a masterclass on acting online than Dustin Hoffman. That’s what I think. Kelton Reid: What these guys have done with the MasterClass Project, this San Francisco startup has gotten some really impressive, marque names to back them for this San Francisco based project. Well, not only did they get Usher and Robert Downing Jr.’s company, and Michael Bloomberg’s venture capital, Bloomberg Beta, backing for this project, they’re using some really high-profile directors to make these online courses, which are kind of the new black for sure. They’re directed by top filmmakers, so they look beautiful. They have interactive exercises. Hopefully, one of them is Mr. Patterson yelling at you. Adam Skolnick: Yeah, I hope so. I’m holding out hope. Kelton Reid: They come with additional learning materials, Q&A sessions. This is the new — and it’s been around forever — online business model. These are like beautiful digital products, like the highest quality. Adam Skolnick: Yes, they’re great products. But they’re like dream products where people taking them can imagine that one day they’ll be like the person teaching them. Kelton Reid: Right. Adam Skolnick: In reality, it’s just a way to get those other people rich. It’s not like this giving. Listen, if Dustin Hoffman and James Patterson wanted to teach a class, and they cared mostly about just giving what they’ve learned to create their legacy freely to people, they would do it for free and on YouTube. Kelton Reid: Okay. So you’re saying it’s not philanthropy? Adam Skolnick: Absolutely not. It’s this crazy marketed approach to teaching people. I think it’s going to be limited, but I’m interested in it because, if anything, there’s going to be nuggets. I don’t think you could put people who’ve accomplished what they’ve accomplished on camera telling them to teach the way they want to teach and not have nuggets. I think it’s one of those flawed, genius concepts. Hopefully we’ll find out. Adam Skolnick s Patterson MasterClass Experiment Kelton Reid: Okay, so we’re going to put journalist Adam Skolnick on the case, and you are going to take the course. I’m going to try to do it as well, if I find the time or the patience. Adam Skolnick: First, we’ve got to read up on some Patterson. Kelton Reid: What are you going to read? Adam Skolnick: I don’t know. I’ve got his list. There’s 1st to Die. If you look at Goodreads, and there’s a Listopia I guess, and Goodreads. I like Goodreads. It’s a cool website. They have the list of favorite Patterson novels. 1st to Die comes up number one — 91 people voted, and that’s number one. It’s part of his Women’s Murder Club series, which is interesting, so I’m going to do that. I love a whodunit, so I’m cautiously optimistic about 1st to Die. You wanted to do Along Came a Spider, right? Kelton Reid: I think so, yeah. I think I want to start there with the Alex Cross. That sounds more up my alley. Adam Skolnick: Yeah, you know what, I think so, too. I think I might switch. I never saw the movie. Kelton Reid: It’d be kind of like CliffsNotes — how do you pronounce it? How to Listen to Moby Dick for Free Adam Skolnick: CliffsNotes. That’s like I’ve never read Moby Dick. I’ve read the CliffsNotes of Moby Dick, and now I’m going to read Along Came a Spider. So far. I’m exactly who they’re looking for. I’m the target audience of the MasterClass. Kelton Reid: They have a Moby Dick Big Read. You can hear the entire Moby Dick read by famous people. A lot of them are famous authors that read the entire text of Moby Dick. It’s a free podcast. You can download it today. Adam Skolnick: Really? Kelton Reid: Yeah. Adam Skolnick: I thought we’re supposed to read it. Kelton Reid: Exactly. Okay, last thing I’m going to skip over the fact that James Patterson is also starting an imprint of Ray Schultz’s books because does he really need to extend his brand further? Adam Skolnick: He’s just having a good time. There’s something about how his website, I love how he just having a good time. Like he doesn’t care. He’s breaking all the social mores. Somewhere the great authors, like Jonathan Franzen must hate James Patterson. I can only imagine. Franzen must think Patterson is the devil. Kelton Reid: Oh my. Adam Skolnick: I wouldn’t know, but it seems to me that Franzen’s pretty serious about his work. I love Franzen, and I have no idea if I’m going to like Patterson. I love Franzen, but I can imagine a guy like that who’s super literary, literary to the 10th degree, isn’t going to be into the Patterson approach. But there’s something about that approach which is appealing to me in some way. Like, “Don’t be so precious. Do your work however you want to do it. This is what I do,” so I’m hoping we can have some J Pat nuggets. Kelton Reid: All right. Well, we’re going to bring you back and get your take on the James Patterson course once you have completed it. Adam Skolnick: Yes. Kelton Reid: And I will pretend that I have also. Adam Skolnick: Then I can start in on the Dustin Hoffman course straight after that. Kelton Reid: I’m going right to Usher. Adam Skolnick: I’m going to go to the Usher, how to be an R&B crooner, right after that. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Think about it. With my — yeah, nevermind. Adam Skolnick: Nevermind. Actually, I want to take the LeBron James course. If I finish the LeBron James course, then I can be quite good at basketball. Kelton Reid: I think that’s probably a wrap on the MasterClass seq. Adam Skolnick: Oh, sorry. Kelton Reid: Adam, thank you so much for coming back on The Writer Files, doing this session of Writer Porn as a guest host. I really appreciate your time, and I look forward to rapping with you again in the future. Adam Skolnick: Thank you, man. I’ll be back with some J Pat nuggets of knowledge. Kelton Reid: Where can listeners find you at out there in the world? Adam Skolnick: AdamSkolnick.com, @AdamSkolnick on Instagram and Twitter. I think that’s it. Kelton Reid: All right, my friend. Adam Skolnick: There’s an article in the June issue of Playboy Magazine that’s out right now on free diving I think you’ll like. Kelton Reid: Excellent, and have a great time in the islands. Which islands? Adam Skolnick: Oh yes, in the Bermuda Triangle. Kelton Reid: Ooh, that sounds like another episode. Adam Skolnick: It sounds like a James Patterson novel. Kelton Reid: Okay, perfect. Use it. It’s all grist for the mill, my friend. All right, thanks, bud. Adam Skolnick: Cheers. Kelton Reid: Cheers. Thank you for tuning into the Writer Files. Now get back to work. I am going to take a long walk. For more episodes of The Writer Files and all of the show notes, or to leave us a comment or a question, drop by WriterFiles.FM. Please subscribe to the show in iTunes. Leave us a rating or review, and help other writers to find us. You can always chat with me on Twitter, @KeltonReid. See you out there.

This week's PHR comes from the beautiful Bloomberg Beta HQ on the Embarcadero with Roy Bahat (Head of Bloomberg Beta) and Dan Strickland (Operations at Bloomberg Beta). Roy shares his secrets to get to inbox 0, keyboards, we discuss invisible apps, and a preview of what’s to come at Product Hunt. - Keyboardio (http://www.keyboard.io/) - Making keyboards better - Nudgemail (http://www.nudgemail.com/) - The easiest way to send yourself reminders - Zapier + Product Hunt (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/zapier-product-hunt) - Create your own Product Hunt notifications - Jarvis (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/jarvis) - A personal assistant for $100/mo - Digit (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/digit) - SMS bot that monitors your bank account & saves you money - RubCam (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/rubcam) - Minimal iOS camera for taking pictures by rubbing the screen - Frontback (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/frontback) - Tell stories with photos - Checkr (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/checkr) - An API to Do Background Checks - SaviOne (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/savione) - A revolutionary delivery robot for the services industry - Jobr (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/jobr) - Tinder for job hunting - Two Margins (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/two-margins) - Annotate financial documents (ex. SEC filings) w/ the crowd

Context Relevant CEO Stephen Purpura is working on the leading edge of big data — helping companies use their data more effectively. But Purpura, whose company scored $21 million from Bloomberg Beta, Madrona, Vulcan and others earlier this year, followed a career path many of his peers advised him against. After working at Microsoft, Purpura decided to go back to school, earning a degree from Harvard and studying at Cornell before returning to found his own company. He describes being CEO of Context Relevant as “one of the most exciting things that I could do in my life.” At Context Relevant, Purpura and his team are leaders in the field of big data and automated machine, exploring a space few other companies have investigated so deeply. Explaining why he loves his position, Purpura says the big idea behind Context Relevant is “to analyze data without hiring an expert.” [1:40] Though an executive now, Purpura’s focus has always been on the technical. He explains that he wanted to be more than an “empty suit” who couldn’t explain how a product worked. “The only way you can do interesting new things and really explore the space is to get in and do it, he says. He adds: “If you do not understand [the tech], it is really difficult to lead a team effectively.” [6:40] Before he was a startup CEO, Purpura spent several years at Microsoft, though he knew he wasn’t meant for that environment for long. “At bigger companies I sort of felt stifled,” he explains. As a CEO, “I get more ability to…be my inner child, in the sense that I get to do what I want as long as I can back it up and actually make it happen.” [9:00] On leaving big companies to pursue further education, Purpura explains that many of his technical peers told him he was making a mistake. “Many people believed it was a blunder for me to go back to school,” he says. But he counts this time as a blessing. “Let’s face it: when you work at Microsoft or when you work in the industry, you sort of get a point of view, and you put blinders on that point of view. And what I was able to do in the middle of my career was redefine my point of view.” [11:00] When asked if he had advice for other startup founders, Purpura emphasized the importance of being in the right market. He shared a story from an earlier startup where they failed to find a big enough market for their product, from which he ultimately learned that it’s better to find a great solution to a problem in a big market than to focus on finding the right team or the most money. “Even if you have a fantastic team with $100 million in cash, it’s difficult to fix the market,” he said. “If the opportunity is large enough, you will find people who want to work on it” even if you have to bootstrap on the weekends. Purpura closed the interview with thoughts on life as a founding CEO. He describes his company as “an overnight success story that took 13 years.” “You are responsible for everything and there is nothing going for you,” he says, adding that it’s the hardest job he’s ever had in his life.

Venture capitalists, founders, and others in the tech industry are feeling pretty raw these days. Once admired as upstarts fighting the status quo, they now feel under siege, under attack for the negative things their products do without being appreciated for how they improve our lives. Bloomberg Beta head Roy Bahat, a veteran venture capitalist, joins the Big Technology Podcast for a nuanced conversation about what's going with the tech world, how it's innovation may be connected to its problems, and how it should handle the criticism. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/big-technology-podcast/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands