Podcasts about Zenefits

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(Russian version is available on our Youtube channel) Today, we have a very special episode. Our guest is Prasanna Sankar—a billionaire, India's top competitive programmer, and founder of numerous startups. Plus, we've prepared a special Russian-language dub for this episode. In this episode, Prasanna shares a lifelong journey: how he became the number one competitive programmer in India, went through Y Combinator multiple times, sped up Bing's performance at Microsoft only to quit shortly after, and discovered his passion for startups. We dive deep into how he co-founded Rippling, now valued at $13.5 billion, the mistakes made with their previous startup Zenefits, and why they turned down a $100 million offer from Facebook. Prasanna reflects extensively on the history of companies, how the world has changed, and where it's headed next. Buckle up, and let's take off into this stellar episode! Arman Suleimenov: https://www.instagram.com/armansu/ Prasanna Sankar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myprasanna/ Produced by Daniyar Akhmetzhanov: https://www.instagram.com/good.years/ Our Telegram channel: https://t.me/nfactorialpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nfactorialpodcast/ TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@nfactorialpodcast  

Künstliche Intelligenz verändert unsere Arbeitswelt – und macht auch vor dem Personalwesen nicht halt. Doch welche Chancen bietet AI für Recruiting, Employer Branding und Personalmanagement? Welche konkreten Tools können Unternehmen bereits heute sinnvoll nutzen? Und wie verändert sich dadurch die Rolle von HR-Profis?In unserer neuen Podcast-Folge diskutieren wir diese Fragen mit Matthias Wiesmann von den "personalisten". Er bringt nicht nur spannende Einblicke aus der Praxis mit, sondern gibt auch wertvolle Tipps, wie Unternehmen AI gezielt einsetzen können, um schneller, effizienter und erfolgreicher die passenden Talente zu finden. Wir sprechen in der Folge unter anderem über folgende Tools:  * Tl,DV...ein virtueller Assistent, der in TEAMS oder Zoom Meetings mithört und daraus Protokolle und Zusammenfassungen erstellt. * Automatisierung von Bewerbungsprozessen: Tools wie SAP SuccessFactors, Workday oder Greenhouse nutzen KI, um Lebensläufe zu analysieren, passende Kandidaten herauszufiltern und einen ersten Abgleich mit den Anforderungen der Stelle zu machen.  * Chatbots für Bewerberkommunikation: Chatbots wie Mya oder Paradox Olivia beantworten Fragen von Bewerbern, informieren über den Status der Bewerbung und übernehmen die Vorqualifikation.  * Sourcing-Tools: KI-gestützte Plattformen wie LinkedIn Recruiter oder Entelo können potenzielle Kandidaten auf Plattformen finden, die gut zu einer Stelle passen.  Mitarbeiterentwicklung & Weiterbildung  • Personalisierte Lernplattformen:  Tools wie Cornerstone OnDemand, Udemy for Business, oder Degreed verwenden KI, 3. Mitarbeiterbindung und -engagement  * Engagement-Analysen: Plattformen wie Peakon, Qualtrics oder Officevibe analysieren Mitarbeiterfeedback, identifizieren Stimmungen und erkennen Herausforderungen frühzeitig.  * Erkennung von Fluktuationsrisiken: Tools wie PredictiveHR oder Workday nutzen KI, um anhand von Verhaltensmustern und Datenquellen die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines Mitarbeiterwechsels vorherzusagen.  Performance Management  * Zielsetzung und Überwachung: Tools wie Betterworks oder 15Five verwenden KI, um Zielerreichungen zu tracken und personalisiertes Feedback zu generieren.  * Leistungsbewertung: KI-gestützte Analysen wie von Synergita oder Reflektive helfen bei objektiveren Performance-Bewertungen, indem sie Daten aus verschiedenen Quellen kombinieren.  Automatisierung von HR-Prozessen  * Vertrags- und Dokumentenmanagement: Plattformen wie DocuSign oder Personio automatisieren und digitalisieren Vertragsprozesse und Personalakten.  * Zeiterfassung und Schichtplanung: Lösungen wie Kronos oder Deputy setzen KI ein, um Schichten effizient zu planen und Arbeitszeiten zu optimieren.  Diversity und Inklusion  * Bias-Reduktion im Recruiting: Tools wie Pymetrics oder HireVue verwenden KI, um unbewusste Vorurteile im Einstellungsprozess zu minimieren.  * Sprachoptimierung: Software wie Textio analysiert Stellenausschreibungen auf inklusive und geschlechtsneutrale Sprache.  Payroll und Compliance  * Automatisierung der Gehaltsabrechnung: Systeme wie ADP Workforce Now oder Paychex können Gehaltsabrechnungen automatisieren und sicherstellen, dass gesetzliche Anforderungen erfüllt werden.  * Compliance-Monitoring: Plattformen wie Zenefits oder Gusto halten Vorschriften aktuell und warnen vor potenziellen Verstößen.  Beispiele für bekannte KI-Tools im HR-Bereich:  * Eightfold AI: Für Talentmanagement und Predictive Analytics.  * Hiretual: KI-gestütztes Recruiting.  * Beamery: CRM für das Talentmanagement.

Join us as we welcome Branca Ballot, VP of Marketing at Glide, a groundbreaking platform enabling non-technical people to build custom software solutions.  With extensive experience from companies like GoDaddy and Zenefits, Branca shares insights on how Glide is revolutionizing the way businesses approach software development.  In this episode, she discusses the power of turning spreadsheets into functional applications, their content-driven marketing strategy, and how they're helping operations leaders, IT professionals, and agencies streamline their workflows without traditional coding.

In this episode of The Insurance Technology Podcast, Reid chats with Niji Sabharwal, co-founder and CEO of AgentSync, in an engaging conversation that blends culture, creativity, and cutting-edge technology.Need some inspiration to keep momentum with your New Year's resolutions? Tune in to hear about Niji's ambitious spirit, from selling candy in middle school to the journey that eventually led him to co-found AgentSync.Episode HighlightsGrowing up as a first-generation American in the Bay area (00:50)A punk rock era, selling candy and going on BMX adventures (4:22)College life and job hunting in a recession (7:54)The Zenefits journey (16:06)Starting AgentSync, finding a market (30:21)Working with your spouse (37:26)AI's impact on insurance (55:12)Entrepreneurial advice, having a north star (57:48)Leader vs. problem solver (1:02:14)Leaning into the hurt (1:04:00)

Ep. 469 Dennis Qian | Advanced Trading Platform with Definitive Finance For episode 469, Co-founder Dennis Qian joins Brandon Zemp to discuss Definitive Finance, the leading institutional-grade, advanced trading platform for onchain execution on EVM & Solana. Previously, Dennis led engineering development for Coinbase Prime's algorithmic execution engine. Prior to Coinbase, Dennis held senior engineering roles at Tagomi and Zenefits. ⏳ Timestamps: 0:00 | Introduction 0:58 | Who is Dennis Qian? 2:54 | How was Definitive Finance created? 5:12 | How does Definitive Finance work? 9:40 | 3rd Party Auditing 12:28 | TWAP 13:35 | Definitive Fi use-cases 15:38 | Types of Clients 17:58 | DeFi-forward Funds 20:13 | Definitive's Trading API 22:24 | AI Agents 24:22 | AI & Web3 25:03 | Web3 in 2025 29:56 | Top trending blockchains & ecosystems 31:48 | Definitive Finance 2025 Roadmap

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.This week we welcome the three co-founders of Saga Ventures: Ben Braverman, Thomson Nguyen, and Max Altman. Saga Ventures is a seed-stage investment firm that recently closed its first fund of $125M.The conversation dives into their experiences in raising their first fund, building a team, and navigating a competitive seed-stage market. The co-founders bring unique skill sets from their previous roles in operating and investing, and this episode sheds light on how they strategically combine those skills to differentiate themselves from other firms.About Ben BravermanBen Braverman is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Saga Ventures, a $125M venture capital fund he co-launched in March 2024 alongside Max Altman and Thomson Nguyen. At Saga, Ben focuses on early-stage investments, working with pre-seed and seed-stage companies across various sectors. His background in scaling companies' go-to-market strategies provides valuable insight into helping startups grow efficiently and sustainably.Before founding Saga Ventures, Ben spent nearly nine years at Flexport, a major player in the logistics space. Starting as Chief Revenue Officer in 2014, he was instrumental in building and scaling Flexport's global sales and go-to-market teams. Later, as Chief Customer Officer, Ben oversaw customer relationships and corporate development, ensuring the company's growth aligned with customer needs. His final role at Flexport saw him leading Flexport Ventures and Corporate Development, where he focused on the company's strategic investments.Earlier in his career, Ben held growth and sales leadership positions at startups like URX, which was acquired by Pinterest, and Heyzap, acquired by RNTS Media. He holds a degree from Vassar College and has spent his career helping innovative companies grow through a hands-on approach to business development and customer engagement.About Thomson NguyenThomson Nguyen is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Saga Ventures, where he has been since March 2024. At Saga, he focuses on early-stage investments in technology-driven companies, drawing on his extensive experience in data science, machine learning, and entrepreneurship. Thomson's deep technical expertise helps him identify promising startups, especially those at the intersection of technology and business.Prior to Saga, Thomson founded Nearside, a financial services platform for small businesses, which he led from 2019 until its acquisition by Plastiq in 2022. Before that, he was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Kleiner Perkins and the Head of Capital Data Science at Square, where he managed the data science team responsible for critical business areas like default risk, marketing optimization, and product innovation. His career in fintech is rooted in his work at Framed Data, a startup he founded and later sold to Square.Thomson started his career as a data scientist at tech companies like Lookout and Causes, where he applied his expertise to user segmentation and predictive analytics. He also has a longstanding academic affiliation with New York University's Courant Institute, where he continues to contribute to research in machine learning and cybersecurity. Thomson holds degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.About Max AltmanMax Altman is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Saga Ventures, a venture capital fund he helped establish in March 2024. Max focuses on investing in pre-seed and seed-stage companies, working closely with his co-founders to identify and support high-potential startups. His experience as both an investor and operator allows him to bridge the gap between capital and company-building.Before co-founding Saga Ventures, Max was a Partner at Alt Capital from 2021 to 2024, where he invested in early-stage companies. Prior to that, he held a similar role at Apollo Projects, another investment firm focused on startups. His career as an investor began at Hydrazine Capital, where he worked from 2016 to 2019. During his time there, Max honed his skills in evaluating high-growth tech companies and building meaningful relationships with founders.Earlier in his career, Max gained operating experience at Zenefits, where he worked in product management, and at Allston Trading as a trader. He also spent time at Microsoft as a program manager. Max holds a degree in Computer Science from Duke University and has built his career by combining his technical background with a passion for early-stage investments.In this episode, we discuss:* (01:42) The origin story of Saga Ventures, and how the co-founders decided to join forces. Max Altman shares how the idea of starting a fund came about and why he didn't want to follow a solo GP model* (03:31) The unique, complementary skill sets the team brings to the table—Ben's expertise in go-to-market strategy, Thomson's technical knowledge, and Max's investor relationships—and how this combination is designed to support early-stage founders* (04:58) Their hands-on, founder-first approach, focusing on critical areas like product development and initial hires, differentiates Saga from other early-stage firms.* (06:11) The "reality meter" and the importance of being able to take hard hits as an entrepreneur or venture firm, emphasizing how all three co-founders share this mentality* (07:50) The team reflects on the challenges of raising their first fund, including dealing with partnership risk, self-awareness, and the difficulties of convincing LPs early on without firm commitments* (10:02) The careful consideration that went into deciding the fund size of $125M, balancing capital deployment with staying competitive in seed-stage deals.* (12:00) Their fundraising process, the strategic decisions involved, and the importance of securing anchor investors before taking meetings with LPs.* (15:19) What LPs are looking for in early-stage venture firms and the role of partnership risk in their decision-making process* (17:33) Why their shared vision and complementary skill sets have aligned them for long-term success as a team, along with their commitment to focusing on specific sectors like fintech and infrastructure* (19:22) The importance of having a clear value-add for founders beyond capital, and the importance of storytelling and salesmanship in early-stage companies* (23:25) The internal decision-making process at Saga, how the partners determine which deals to pursue, and the dynamics of reaching consensus when choosing investments* (26:45) Patience and long-term thinking are critical when evaluating deals, and how they ensure they don't rush into investments just for fear of missing out* (28:19) The importance of founder resilience and self-awareness, noting that the best founders are those who can attract talent and navigate through difficult times* (30:00) Why salesmanship and charisma are critical qualities in founders, as startup leadership often requires convincing others to join and invest in challenging ventures* (32:00) The team discusses their approach to sourcing and winning deals in a highly competitive market, focusing on the importance of building trust and delivering consistent value to founders.* (34:05) Max talks about the significance of being the first firm to back companies and how they collaborate with other VCs to co-lead investments.* (36:45) Being transparent and responsive to founders creates lasting relationships, even when they pass on deals* (38:04) How they measure success internally at Saga Ventures, focusing on inputs such as responsiveness and the strength of founder relationships, while understanding that long-term results will take years to evaluate* (41:00) Key lessons from the fundraising process, stressing the importance of clarity when positioning their fund to LPs and being patient in closing commitments* (43:25) How the venture landscape has evolved over the past 18 years, highlighting the increasing competition and the need for VCs to be highly self-aware and strategic when entering deals* (45:40) Building a venture firm requires a long-term mindset, much like running a successful companyI'd love to know what you took away from this conversation with Glenn. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you'd like to be considered as a guest or have someone you'd like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Parker Conrad has spent the last 8 years building Rippling into a $13B company, marking his redemption after being ousted from Zenefits. In his second appearance on the podcast, Parker and I discussed Paul Graham's "founder mode" essay and how he operationalizes it at Rippling. He also reflected on the key lessons he's learned throughout his career, highlighting the differences in how he ran Zenefits compared to Rippling today. Additionally, Parker shared his candid views on the challenges of having investors as board members and why he believes much of VC "value add" is overrated.(00:00) Intro(01:31) Parker's Leadership Principles at Rippling(02:16) The Importance of Anecdotal Evidence(04:09) Balancing Founder Mode and Team Collaboration(05:08) The Risks of Over-Extrapolating Founder Mode(06:56) The Reality of Sales Compensation(08:15) Hiring Founders for New Products(11:10) The Pace of Execution in a Company(11:21) The 'C on a Box' Dilemma(12:07) The Speed vs. Quality Debate(13:56) The Viral Tweet Incident(16:51) Governance and Board Dynamics(20:04) Choosing the Right Investors(29:57) The Role of Career VCs as Board Members(33:43) Misaligned Incentives Between Founders and Investors(35:43) Navigating Business Challenges(36:27) Sam Altman's Crucial Support(38:45) The Role of Venture Capitalists(40:06) The Value of Y Combinator(43:16) Fundraising and Valuations(01:00:39) Lessons from Past Ventures(01:06:05) Building Compound Software(01:09:33) The Future of Compound Software Businesses(01:10:04) Microsoft's Unassailable Approach(01:10:40) Building Narrow vs. Compound Software(01:12:16) Investment Decisions in New vs. Existing Products(01:14:42) Platform Development and Resource Allocation(01:16:32) The Journey from Chem Major to Software Visionary(01:18:34) Challenges and Strategies in Multi-Product R&D(01:25:32) Improving Customer Support Metrics(01:28:50) The Role of a Founder in Product Management(01:31:23) Hiring and Cultivating Executive Talent(01:39:07) The Motivation Behind Rippling's Success(01:41:58) Conclusion and Final Thoughts Executive Producer: Rashad AssirProducer: Leah ClapperMixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career ✓ Claim Key Takeaways Check out the episode pageRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMike Maples, Jr. is a legendary early-stage startup investor and a co-founder and partner at Floodgate. He's made early bets on transformative companies like Twitter, Lyft, Twitch, Okta, Rappi, and Applied Intuition and is one of the pioneers of seed-stage investing as a category. He's been on the Forbes Midas List eight times and enjoys sharing the lessons he's learned from his years studying iconic companies. In his new book, Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future, co-authored with Peter Ziebelman, he discusses what he's found separates startups and founders that break through and change the world from those that don't. After spending years reviewing the notes and decks from the thousands of startups he's known over the past two decades, he's uncovered three ways that breakthrough founders think and act differently. In our conversation, Mike talks about:• The three elements of breakthrough startup ideas• Why you need to both think and act differently• How to avoid the “comparison trap” and “conformity trap”• The importance of movements, storytelling, and healthy disagreeableness in startup success• How to apply pattern-breaking principles within large companies• Mike's one piece of advice for founders• Much morePre-order Mike's book here and get a second signed copy for free. Limited copies are available, so order ASAP: patternbreakers.com/lenny.—Brought to you by:• Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth• Anvil—The fastest way to build software for documents• Webflow—The web experience platform—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-find-a-great-startup-idea-mike-maples-jr—Where to find Mike Maples, Jr.:• X: https://x.com/m2jr• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maples/• Substack: https://greatness.substack.com/• Website: https://www.floodgate.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Mike's background(03:10) The inspiration behind Pattern Breakers(08:09) Uncovering startup insights(11:37) A quick summary of Pattern Breakers(13:52) Coming up with an idea(15:30) Inflections(17:09) Examples of inflections(28:10) Insights(36:58) The power of surprises(47:36) Founder-future fit(55:33) Advice for aspiring founders(56:41) Living in the future: valid opinions(55:34) Case study: Maddie Hall and Living Carbon(58:40) Identifying lighthouse customers(01:00:53) The importance of desperation in customer needs(01:03:57) Creating movements and storytelling(01:24:22) The role of disagreeableness in startups(01:34:42) Applying these principles within a company(01:40:43) Lightning round—Referenced:• Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future: https://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Breakers-Start-Ups-Change-Future/dp/1541704355• Justin.tv: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin.tv• Airbnb's CEO says a $40 cereal box changed the course of the multibillion-dollar company: https://fortune.com/2023/04/19/airbnb-ceo-cereal-box-investors-changed-everything-billion-dollar-company/• Brian Chesky's new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach• The Unconventional Exit: How Justin Kan Sold His First Startup on eBay: https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/the-unconventional-exit-how-justin-kan-sold-his-first-startup-on-ebay-4d705afe1354• Kyle Vogt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylevogt/• The State of Telehealth Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9035352/• The Craigslist Killers: https://www.gq.com/story/craigslist-killers• The social radar: Y Combinator's secret weapon | Jessica Livingston (co-founder of Y Combinator, author, podcast host): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-social-radar-jessica-livingston• Michael Seibel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwseibel/• The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions ... and Created Plenty of Controversy: https://www.amazon.com/Airbnb-Story-Ordinary-Disrupted-Controversy/dp/0544952669• Scott Cook: https://www.forbes.com/profile/scott-cook/• Chegg: https://www.chegg.com/• Aayush Phumbhra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aayush/• Osman Rashid on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osmanrashid/• Okta: https://www.okta.com/• The Man Who Makes the Future: Wired Icon Marc Andreessen: https://www.wired.com/2012/04/ff-andreessen/• Peter Ludwig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterwludwig/• Qasar Younis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/qasar/• Paul Allen's website: https://paulallen.com/• Louis Pasteur quote: https://www.forbes.com/quotes/6145/• What was Atrium and why did it fail? https://www.failory.com/cemetery/atrium• Patrick Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison/• Drew Houston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhouston/• William Gibson's quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/681-the-future-is-already-here-it-s-just-not-evenly• Maddie Hall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maddie-hall-76293135/• Living Carbon: https://www.livingcarbon.com• Zenefits (now Trinet): https://connect.trinet.com/• Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama• Steve Wozniak on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wozniaksteve/• Horsley Bridge Partners: https://www.horsleybridge.com/• David Swensen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_F._Swensen• Judith Elsea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judithelsea/• 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy: https://www.amazon.com/7-Powers-Foundations-Business-Strategy/dp/0998116319• Business strategy with Hamilton Helmer (author of 7 Powers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/business-strategy-with-hamilton-helmer• Lyft's Focus on Community and the Story Behind the Pink Mustache: https://techcrunch.com/2012/09/17/lyfts-focus-on-community-and-the-story-behind-the-pink-mustache/• Logan Green on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/logangreen/• John Zimmer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnzimmer11/• Storytelling with Nancy Duarte: How to craft compelling presentations and tell a story that sticks: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/storytelling-with-nancy-duarte-how• Steve Jobs Introducing the iPhone at MacWorld 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7qPAY9JqE4• Jonathan Livingston Seagull: https://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Livingston-Seagull-Richard-Bach/dp/0743278909• The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career | Jeffrey Pfeffer (author of 7 Rules of Power, professor at Stanford GSB): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-paths-to-power-jeffrey-pfeffer• Robin Roberts on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-roberts-393a934b/• Skunkworks: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks.html• Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product at Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/vision-conviction-hype-mihika-kapoor• Hard-won lessons building 0 to 1 inside Atlassian | Tanguy Crusson (Head of Jira Product Discovery): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-0-to-1-inside-atlassian-tanguy-crusson• Figma: https://www.figma.com/• Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/• Vinod Khosla: https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/vinod-khosla/• Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing: https://www.amazon.com/Top-Five-Regrets-Dying-Transformed-ebook/dp/B07KNRLY1L• Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty: https://www.amazon.com/Chase-Chance-Creativity-Lucky-Novelty/dp/0262511355• Clay Christensen's books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Clayton-M.-Christensen/author/B000APPD3Y• Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform: https://www.amazon.com/Resonate-Present-Stories-Transform-Audiences/dp/0470632011• Ferrari on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Adam-Driver/dp/B0CNDBN672• Montblanc fountain pens: https://www.montblanc.com/en-us—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career ✓ Claim Key Takeaways Check out the episode pageRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMike Maples, Jr. is a legendary early-stage startup investor and a co-founder and partner at Floodgate. He's made early bets on transformative companies like Twitter, Lyft, Twitch, Okta, Rappi, and Applied Intuition and is one of the pioneers of seed-stage investing as a category. He's been on the Forbes Midas List eight times and enjoys sharing the lessons he's learned from his years studying iconic companies. In his new book, Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future, co-authored with Peter Ziebelman, he discusses what he's found separates startups and founders that break through and change the world from those that don't. After spending years reviewing the notes and decks from the thousands of startups he's known over the past two decades, he's uncovered three ways that breakthrough founders think and act differently. In our conversation, Mike talks about:• The three elements of breakthrough startup ideas• Why you need to both think and act differently• How to avoid the “comparison trap” and “conformity trap”• The importance of movements, storytelling, and healthy disagreeableness in startup success• How to apply pattern-breaking principles within large companies• Mike's one piece of advice for founders• Much morePre-order Mike's book here and get a second signed copy for free. Limited copies are available, so order ASAP: patternbreakers.com/lenny.—Brought to you by:• Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth• Anvil—The fastest way to build software for documents• Webflow—The web experience platform—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-find-a-great-startup-idea-mike-maples-jr—Where to find Mike Maples, Jr.:• X: https://x.com/m2jr• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maples/• Substack: https://greatness.substack.com/• Website: https://www.floodgate.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Mike's background(03:10) The inspiration behind Pattern Breakers(08:09) Uncovering startup insights(11:37) A quick summary of Pattern Breakers(13:52) Coming up with an idea(15:30) Inflections(17:09) Examples of inflections(28:10) Insights(36:58) The power of surprises(47:36) Founder-future fit(55:33) Advice for aspiring founders(56:41) Living in the future: valid opinions(55:34) Case study: Maddie Hall and Living Carbon(58:40) Identifying lighthouse customers(01:00:53) The importance of desperation in customer needs(01:03:57) Creating movements and storytelling(01:24:22) The role of disagreeableness in startups(01:34:42) Applying these principles within a company(01:40:43) Lightning round—Referenced:• Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future: https://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Breakers-Start-Ups-Change-Future/dp/1541704355• Justin.tv: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin.tv• Airbnb's CEO says a $40 cereal box changed the course of the multibillion-dollar company: https://fortune.com/2023/04/19/airbnb-ceo-cereal-box-investors-changed-everything-billion-dollar-company/• Brian Chesky's new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach• The Unconventional Exit: How Justin Kan Sold His First Startup on eBay: https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/the-unconventional-exit-how-justin-kan-sold-his-first-startup-on-ebay-4d705afe1354• Kyle Vogt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylevogt/• The State of Telehealth Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9035352/• The Craigslist Killers: https://www.gq.com/story/craigslist-killers• The social radar: Y Combinator's secret weapon | Jessica Livingston (co-founder of Y Combinator, author, podcast host): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-social-radar-jessica-livingston• Michael Seibel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwseibel/• The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions ... and Created Plenty of Controversy: https://www.amazon.com/Airbnb-Story-Ordinary-Disrupted-Controversy/dp/0544952669• Scott Cook: https://www.forbes.com/profile/scott-cook/• Chegg: https://www.chegg.com/• Aayush Phumbhra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aayush/• Osman Rashid on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osmanrashid/• Okta: https://www.okta.com/• The Man Who Makes the Future: Wired Icon Marc Andreessen: https://www.wired.com/2012/04/ff-andreessen/• Peter Ludwig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterwludwig/• Qasar Younis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/qasar/• Paul Allen's website: https://paulallen.com/• Louis Pasteur quote: https://www.forbes.com/quotes/6145/• What was Atrium and why did it fail? https://www.failory.com/cemetery/atrium• Patrick Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison/• Drew Houston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhouston/• William Gibson's quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/681-the-future-is-already-here-it-s-just-not-evenly• Maddie Hall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maddie-hall-76293135/• Living Carbon: https://www.livingcarbon.com• Zenefits (now Trinet): https://connect.trinet.com/• Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama• Steve Wozniak on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wozniaksteve/• Horsley Bridge Partners: https://www.horsleybridge.com/• David Swensen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_F._Swensen• Judith Elsea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judithelsea/• 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy: https://www.amazon.com/7-Powers-Foundations-Business-Strategy/dp/0998116319• Business strategy with Hamilton Helmer (author of 7 Powers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/business-strategy-with-hamilton-helmer• Lyft's Focus on Community and the Story Behind the Pink Mustache: https://techcrunch.com/2012/09/17/lyfts-focus-on-community-and-the-story-behind-the-pink-mustache/• Logan Green on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/logangreen/• John Zimmer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnzimmer11/• Storytelling with Nancy Duarte: How to craft compelling presentations and tell a story that sticks: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/storytelling-with-nancy-duarte-how• Steve Jobs Introducing the iPhone at MacWorld 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7qPAY9JqE4• Jonathan Livingston Seagull: https://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Livingston-Seagull-Richard-Bach/dp/0743278909• The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career | Jeffrey Pfeffer (author of 7 Rules of Power, professor at Stanford GSB): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-paths-to-power-jeffrey-pfeffer• Robin Roberts on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-roberts-393a934b/• Skunkworks: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks.html• Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product at Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/vision-conviction-hype-mihika-kapoor• Hard-won lessons building 0 to 1 inside Atlassian | Tanguy Crusson (Head of Jira Product Discovery): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-0-to-1-inside-atlassian-tanguy-crusson• Figma: https://www.figma.com/• Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/• Vinod Khosla: https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/vinod-khosla/• Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing: https://www.amazon.com/Top-Five-Regrets-Dying-Transformed-ebook/dp/B07KNRLY1L• Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty: https://www.amazon.com/Chase-Chance-Creativity-Lucky-Novelty/dp/0262511355• Clay Christensen's books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Clayton-M.-Christensen/author/B000APPD3Y• Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform: https://www.amazon.com/Resonate-Present-Stories-Transform-Audiences/dp/0470632011• Ferrari on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Adam-Driver/dp/B0CNDBN672• Montblanc fountain pens: https://www.montblanc.com/en-us—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career ✓ Claim Key Takeaways Check out the episode pageRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMike Maples, Jr. is a legendary early-stage startup investor and a co-founder and partner at Floodgate. He's made early bets on transformative companies like Twitter, Lyft, Twitch, Okta, Rappi, and Applied Intuition and is one of the pioneers of seed-stage investing as a category. He's been on the Forbes Midas List eight times and enjoys sharing the lessons he's learned from his years studying iconic companies. In his new book, Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future, co-authored with Peter Ziebelman, he discusses what he's found separates startups and founders that break through and change the world from those that don't. After spending years reviewing the notes and decks from the thousands of startups he's known over the past two decades, he's uncovered three ways that breakthrough founders think and act differently. In our conversation, Mike talks about:• The three elements of breakthrough startup ideas• Why you need to both think and act differently• How to avoid the “comparison trap” and “conformity trap”• The importance of movements, storytelling, and healthy disagreeableness in startup success• How to apply pattern-breaking principles within large companies• Mike's one piece of advice for founders• Much morePre-order Mike's book here and get a second signed copy for free. Limited copies are available, so order ASAP: patternbreakers.com/lenny.—Brought to you by:• Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth• Anvil—The fastest way to build software for documents• Webflow—The web experience platform—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-find-a-great-startup-idea-mike-maples-jr—Where to find Mike Maples, Jr.:• X: https://x.com/m2jr• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maples/• Substack: https://greatness.substack.com/• Website: https://www.floodgate.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Mike's background(03:10) The inspiration behind Pattern Breakers(08:09) Uncovering startup insights(11:37) A quick summary of Pattern Breakers(13:52) Coming up with an idea(15:30) Inflections(17:09) Examples of inflections(28:10) Insights(36:58) The power of surprises(47:36) Founder-future fit(55:33) Advice for aspiring founders(56:41) Living in the future: valid opinions(55:34) Case study: Maddie Hall and Living Carbon(58:40) Identifying lighthouse customers(01:00:53) The importance of desperation in customer needs(01:03:57) Creating movements and storytelling(01:24:22) The role of disagreeableness in startups(01:34:42) Applying these principles within a company(01:40:43) Lightning round—Referenced:• Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future: https://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Breakers-Start-Ups-Change-Future/dp/1541704355• Justin.tv: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin.tv• Airbnb's CEO says a $40 cereal box changed the course of the multibillion-dollar company: https://fortune.com/2023/04/19/airbnb-ceo-cereal-box-investors-changed-everything-billion-dollar-company/• Brian Chesky's new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach• The Unconventional Exit: How Justin Kan Sold His First Startup on eBay: https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/the-unconventional-exit-how-justin-kan-sold-his-first-startup-on-ebay-4d705afe1354• Kyle Vogt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylevogt/• The State of Telehealth Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9035352/• The Craigslist Killers: https://www.gq.com/story/craigslist-killers• The social radar: Y Combinator's secret weapon | Jessica Livingston (co-founder of Y Combinator, author, podcast host): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-social-radar-jessica-livingston• Michael Seibel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwseibel/• The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions ... and Created Plenty of Controversy: https://www.amazon.com/Airbnb-Story-Ordinary-Disrupted-Controversy/dp/0544952669• Scott Cook: https://www.forbes.com/profile/scott-cook/• Chegg: https://www.chegg.com/• Aayush Phumbhra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aayush/• Osman Rashid on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osmanrashid/• Okta: https://www.okta.com/• The Man Who Makes the Future: Wired Icon Marc Andreessen: https://www.wired.com/2012/04/ff-andreessen/• Peter Ludwig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterwludwig/• Qasar Younis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/qasar/• Paul Allen's website: https://paulallen.com/• Louis Pasteur quote: https://www.forbes.com/quotes/6145/• What was Atrium and why did it fail? https://www.failory.com/cemetery/atrium• Patrick Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison/• Drew Houston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhouston/• William Gibson's quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/681-the-future-is-already-here-it-s-just-not-evenly• Maddie Hall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maddie-hall-76293135/• Living Carbon: https://www.livingcarbon.com• Zenefits (now Trinet): https://connect.trinet.com/• Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama• Steve Wozniak on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wozniaksteve/• Horsley Bridge Partners: https://www.horsleybridge.com/• David Swensen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_F._Swensen• Judith Elsea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judithelsea/• 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy: https://www.amazon.com/7-Powers-Foundations-Business-Strategy/dp/0998116319• Business strategy with Hamilton Helmer (author of 7 Powers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/business-strategy-with-hamilton-helmer• Lyft's Focus on Community and the Story Behind the Pink Mustache: https://techcrunch.com/2012/09/17/lyfts-focus-on-community-and-the-story-behind-the-pink-mustache/• Logan Green on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/logangreen/• John Zimmer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnzimmer11/• Storytelling with Nancy Duarte: How to craft compelling presentations and tell a story that sticks: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/storytelling-with-nancy-duarte-how• Steve Jobs Introducing the iPhone at MacWorld 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7qPAY9JqE4• Jonathan Livingston Seagull: https://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Livingston-Seagull-Richard-Bach/dp/0743278909• The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career | Jeffrey Pfeffer (author of 7 Rules of Power, professor at Stanford GSB): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-paths-to-power-jeffrey-pfeffer• Robin Roberts on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-roberts-393a934b/• Skunkworks: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks.html• Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product at Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/vision-conviction-hype-mihika-kapoor• Hard-won lessons building 0 to 1 inside Atlassian | Tanguy Crusson (Head of Jira Product Discovery): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-0-to-1-inside-atlassian-tanguy-crusson• Figma: https://www.figma.com/• Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/• Vinod Khosla: https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/vinod-khosla/• Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing: https://www.amazon.com/Top-Five-Regrets-Dying-Transformed-ebook/dp/B07KNRLY1L• Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty: https://www.amazon.com/Chase-Chance-Creativity-Lucky-Novelty/dp/0262511355• Clay Christensen's books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Clayton-M.-Christensen/author/B000APPD3Y• Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform: https://www.amazon.com/Resonate-Present-Stories-Transform-Audiences/dp/0470632011• Ferrari on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Adam-Driver/dp/B0CNDBN672• Montblanc fountain pens: https://www.montblanc.com/en-us—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Mike Maples, Jr. is a legendary early-stage startup investor and a co-founder and partner at Floodgate. He's made early bets on transformative companies like Twitter, Lyft, Twitch, Okta, Rappi, and Applied Intuition and is one of the pioneers of seed-stage investing as a category. He's been on the Forbes Midas List eight times and enjoys sharing the lessons he's learned from his years studying iconic companies. In his new book, Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future, co-authored with Peter Ziebelman, he discusses what he's found separates startups and founders that break through and change the world from those that don't. After spending years reviewing the notes and decks from the thousands of startups he's known over the past two decades, he's uncovered three ways that breakthrough founders think and act differently. In our conversation, Mike talks about:• The three elements of breakthrough startup ideas• Why you need to both think and act differently• How to avoid the “comparison trap” and “conformity trap”• The importance of movements, storytelling, and healthy disagreeableness in startup success• How to apply pattern-breaking principles within large companies• Mike's one piece of advice for founders• Much morePre-order Mike's book here and get a second signed copy for free. Limited copies are available, so order ASAP: patternbreakers.com/lenny.—Brought to you by:• Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth• Anvil—The fastest way to build software for documents• Webflow—The web experience platform—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-find-a-great-startup-idea-mike-maples-jr—Where to find Mike Maples, Jr.:• X: https://x.com/m2jr• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maples/• Substack: https://greatness.substack.com/• Website: https://www.floodgate.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Mike's background(03:10) The inspiration behind Pattern Breakers(08:09) Uncovering startup insights(11:37) A quick summary of Pattern Breakers(13:52) Coming up with an idea(15:30) Inflections(17:09) Examples of inflections(28:10) Insights(36:58) The power of surprises(47:36) Founder-future fit(55:33) Advice for aspiring founders(56:41) Living in the future: valid opinions(55:34) Case study: Maddie Hall and Living Carbon(58:40) Identifying lighthouse customers(01:00:53) The importance of desperation in customer needs(01:03:57) Creating movements and storytelling(01:24:22) The role of disagreeableness in startups(01:34:42) Applying these principles within a company(01:40:43) Lightning round—Referenced:• Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future: https://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Breakers-Start-Ups-Change-Future/dp/1541704355• Justin.tv: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin.tv• Airbnb's CEO says a $40 cereal box changed the course of the multibillion-dollar company: https://fortune.com/2023/04/19/airbnb-ceo-cereal-box-investors-changed-everything-billion-dollar-company/• Brian Chesky's new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach• The Unconventional Exit: How Justin Kan Sold His First Startup on eBay: https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/the-unconventional-exit-how-justin-kan-sold-his-first-startup-on-ebay-4d705afe1354• Kyle Vogt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylevogt/• The State of Telehealth Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9035352/• The Craigslist Killers: https://www.gq.com/story/craigslist-killers• The social radar: Y Combinator's secret weapon | Jessica Livingston (co-founder of Y Combinator, author, podcast host): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-social-radar-jessica-livingston• Michael Seibel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwseibel/• The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions ... and Created Plenty of Controversy: https://www.amazon.com/Airbnb-Story-Ordinary-Disrupted-Controversy/dp/0544952669• Scott Cook: https://www.forbes.com/profile/scott-cook/• Chegg: https://www.chegg.com/• Aayush Phumbhra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aayush/• Osman Rashid on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osmanrashid/• Okta: https://www.okta.com/• The Man Who Makes the Future: Wired Icon Marc Andreessen: https://www.wired.com/2012/04/ff-andreessen/• Peter Ludwig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterwludwig/• Qasar Younis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/qasar/• Paul Allen's website: https://paulallen.com/• Louis Pasteur quote: https://www.forbes.com/quotes/6145/• What was Atrium and why did it fail? https://www.failory.com/cemetery/atrium• Patrick Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison/• Drew Houston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhouston/• William Gibson's quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/681-the-future-is-already-here-it-s-just-not-evenly• Maddie Hall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maddie-hall-76293135/• Living Carbon: https://www.livingcarbon.com• Zenefits (now Trinet): https://connect.trinet.com/• Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama• Steve Wozniak on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wozniaksteve/• Horsley Bridge Partners: https://www.horsleybridge.com/• David Swensen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_F._Swensen• Judith Elsea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judithelsea/• 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy: https://www.amazon.com/7-Powers-Foundations-Business-Strategy/dp/0998116319• Business strategy with Hamilton Helmer (author of 7 Powers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/business-strategy-with-hamilton-helmer• Lyft's Focus on Community and the Story Behind the Pink Mustache: https://techcrunch.com/2012/09/17/lyfts-focus-on-community-and-the-story-behind-the-pink-mustache/• Logan Green on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/logangreen/• John Zimmer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnzimmer11/• Storytelling with Nancy Duarte: How to craft compelling presentations and tell a story that sticks: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/storytelling-with-nancy-duarte-how• Steve Jobs Introducing the iPhone at MacWorld 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7qPAY9JqE4• Jonathan Livingston Seagull: https://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Livingston-Seagull-Richard-Bach/dp/0743278909• The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career | Jeffrey Pfeffer (author of 7 Rules of Power, professor at Stanford GSB): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-paths-to-power-jeffrey-pfeffer• Robin Roberts on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-roberts-393a934b/• Skunkworks: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks.html• Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product at Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/vision-conviction-hype-mihika-kapoor• Hard-won lessons building 0 to 1 inside Atlassian | Tanguy Crusson (Head of Jira Product Discovery): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-0-to-1-inside-atlassian-tanguy-crusson• Figma: https://www.figma.com/• Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/• Vinod Khosla: https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/vinod-khosla/• Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing: https://www.amazon.com/Top-Five-Regrets-Dying-Transformed-ebook/dp/B07KNRLY1L• Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty: https://www.amazon.com/Chase-Chance-Creativity-Lucky-Novelty/dp/0262511355• Clay Christensen's books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Clayton-M.-Christensen/author/B000APPD3Y• Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform: https://www.amazon.com/Resonate-Present-Stories-Transform-Audiences/dp/0470632011• Ferrari on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Adam-Driver/dp/B0CNDBN672• Montblanc fountain pens: https://www.montblanc.com/en-us—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Do you really understand sales? Learn how great startups grow from founder led origins to dynamic regional teams while maintaining a shared company DNA. In this episode, sales team hyper-scalers Matt Loop (Rippling, Slack, LinkedIn, Salesforce) and Matt Plank (Rippling, Zenefits) explain how to build a sales team that doesn't suck. Matt, Matt, and Yaniv discuss: Culture Club: Why early stage founder-led sales should give way to a scalable sales team aligned around your company culture. Going Global: The importance of understanding local markets and maintaining effective communication and trust within the team as your startup expands internationally. Ripple Effects: How sales and product teams collaborate at Rippling to deliver on their goal – automating back-office work so that other companies can focus on their core missions. The Pact Honour The Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please: Follow, rate, and review us in your listening app Subscribe to the TSP Mailing List at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thestartuppodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Secure your official TSP merchandise at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://shop.tsp.show/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on YouTube at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@startup-podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media following. Key links The Startup Podcast is sponsored by Rippling. Rippling is a single all-in-one platform for your global workforce, covering HR, IT, payroll, expenses, and more. For a TSP listener offer of 3 months free, go to ⁠⁠www.rippling.com/tsp⁠⁠. Get your question in for our next Q&A episode: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Startup Podcast website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tsp.show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about Chris and Yaniv Work 1:1 with Chris: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://chrissaad.com/advisory/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Chris on Linkedin: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Credits Editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Justin McArthur⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Intro Voice: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jeremiah Owyang⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Jessica Livingston is a co-founder of Y Combinator, the first and most successful startup accelerator. Y Combinator has funded over 5,000 companies, 200 of which are now unicorns, including Airbnb, Dropbox, DoorDash, Stripe, Coinbase, and Reddit. Jessica played a crucial role in YC's early success, when she was nicknamed the “social radar” because of her uncanny ability to quickly evaluate people—an essential skill when investing in early-stage startups. She's also the host of the popular podcast The Social Radars, where she interviews billion-dollar-startup founders, and the author of the acclaimed book Founders at Work, which captures the origin stories of some of today's most interesting companies. In our conversation, we discuss:• How Jessica gained the affectionate title of the “social radar”• Why defensive founders are a red flag• How to develop your social radar• What she looks for in founders during YC interviews• How YC's early inexperience in angel investing led to the batch model• Her favorite stories from interviews with Airbnb, Rippling, and more• Lessons learned from hosting her own podcast• Much more—Brought to you by:• Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth• Anvil—The fastest way to build software for documents• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-social-radar-jessica-livingston—Where to find Jessica Livingston:• X: https://x.com/jesslivingston• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicalivingston1/• Podcast: https://www.thesocialradars.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Jessica's background(02:42) Thoughts on being under-recognized(07:52) Jessica's superpower: the social radar(15:11) Evaluating founders: key traits and red flags(21:00) The Airbnb story: a lesson in hustle and determination(25:57) A YC success story(28:26) The importance of earnestness(32:45) Confidence vs. defensiveness(34:43) Commitment and co-founder disputes(37:46) Relentless resourcefulness(40:00) Jessica's social radar: origins and insights(43:24) Honing her social radar skills(45:44) Conviction and scams: a Y Combinator story(46:50) The interview process: challenges and insights(48:20) Operationalizing founder evaluation(49:38) Advice for building social radar skills(52:08) The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” quiz(55:19) Jessica's podcast: The Social Radars(01:00:34) Lessons from podcasting and interviewing(01:09:58) Lightning round—Referenced:• Paul Graham's post about Jessica: https://paulgraham.com/jessica.html• Paul Graham on X: https://x.com/paulg• Robert Tappan Morris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Tappan_Morris• Trevor Blackwell on X: https://x.com/tlbtlbtlb• Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/• “The Founders” examines the rise and legend of PayPal: https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/02/19/the-founders-examines-the-rise-and-legend-of-paypal• Patrick Collison on X: https://x.com/patrickc• John Collison on X: https://x.com/collision• Brian Chesky on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/• Nate Blecharczyk on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blecharczyk/• Joe Gebbia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgebbia/• Airbnb's CEO says a $40 cereal box changed the course of the multibillion-dollar company: https://fortune.com/2023/04/19/airbnb-ceo-cereal-box-investors-changed-everything-billion-dollar-company/• Parker Conrad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parkerconrad/• Zenefits: https://connect.trinet.com/hr-platform• Goat: https://www.goat.com/• Eddy Lu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddylu/• Drew Houston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhouston/• Arash Ferdowsi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arashferdowsi/• Lessons from 1,000+ YC startups: Resilience, tar pit ideas, pivoting, more | Dalton Caldwell (Y Combinator, Managing Director): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-1000-yc-startups•Bitcoin launderer pleads guilty, admits to massive Bitfinex hack: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/03/new-york-man-admits-being-original-bitfinex-hacker-during-guilty-plea-in-dc-to-bitcoin-money-laundering.html• Paul Graham's tweet with the facial recognition test: https://x.com/paulg/status/1782875262855663691• SmartLess podcast: https://www.smartless.com• Jason Bateman on X: https://x.com/batemanjason• Will Arnett on X: https://x.com/arnettwill• Sean Hayes on X: https://x.com/seanhayes• The Social Radars with Tony Xu, Co-Founder & CEO of DoorDash: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Ja-tony-xu-co-founder-ceo-of-doordash• The Social Radars with Brian Chesky: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/JW-brian-chesky-co-founder-ceo-of-airbnb• The Social Radars with Patrick and John Collison: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Kx-patrick-john-collison-co-founders-of-stripe• The Social Radars with Brian Armstrong: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/K3-brian-armstrong-co-founder-and-ceo-of-coinbase• The Social Radars with Emmett Shear: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/KM-emmett-shear-co-founder-of-twitch• The Social Radars with Paul Graham: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/JV-paul-graham-co-founder-of-y-combinator-and-viaweb• The Social Radars with Adora Cheung: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/L0-adora-cheung-co-founder-of-homejoy-instalab• Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days: https://www.amazon.com/Founders-Work-Stories-Startups-Early/dp/1430210788• Startup School: https://www.startupschool.org/• The Social Radars with Parker Conrad: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Ky-parker-conrad-founder-of-zenefits-rippling• Rippling: https://www.rippling.com/• Carry on, Jeeves: https://www.amazon.com/Carry-Jeeves-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486848957• Very Good, Jeeves: https://www.amazon.com/Very-Good-Jeeves-Wooster-Book-ebook/dp/B0051GST06• Right Ho, Jeeves: https://www.amazon.com/Right-Ho-Jeeves-P-Wodehouse-ebook/dp/B083FFDNHN/• Life: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Keith-Richards-ebook/dp/B003UBTX72/• My Name Is Barbra: https://www.amazon.com/My-Name-Barbra-Streisand/dp/0525429522• Clarkson's Farm on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Clarksons-Farm-Season-1/dp/B095RHJ52R• Schitt's Creek on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/schitts-creek-a2e7a946-9652-48a8-884b-3ea7ea4de273• Yellowstone on Peacock: https://www.peacocktv.com/stream-tv/yellowstone• Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama• Justin Kan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinkan/• Alexis Ohanian on X: https://x.com/alexisohanian• Steve Huffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shuffman56/• Breaking News: Condé Nast/Wired Acquires Reddit: https://techcrunch.com/2006/10/31/breaking-news-conde-nastwired-acquires-reddit/• Charles River Venture: https://www.crv.com/—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Ashley Kelly is the VP of Global Sales Development at Rippling, the all-in-one platform for HR, IT, and finance. Before Rippling, Ashley played a crucial role in scaling Brex's outbound sales from $2M to over $300M in ARR, and has hired over 800 SDRs during her time in some of the best tech companies in Silicon Valley, including Lever and Zenefits.  In Today's Episode with Ashley Kelly We Discuss: From NASCAR to Silicon Valley SDR How did Ashley make her way into the world of sales? Why does Ashley think the best AEs and leaders start off as SDRs? What is Ashley's advice to new SDRs starting their jobs today? Age of AI: Is SDR Outbound Dead? Does Ashley agree that outbound is dead today? Is SDR dead? How will AI change SDR? Why is Ashley hesitant to adopt AI? Why does Ashley think founders should always build the first sales playbook? What did Ashley mean by SDR is the 3rd pillar between sales and marketing?  What does Ashley think most companies get wrong about outbound? SDR Hiring: Who, What, When & How When does Ashley think founders should hire their first SDR? How does Ashley structure the hiring process? What questions does she ask? What profile does Ashley look for when hiring for an SDR? How does Ashley structure the finance package? How is it different for each team? Why did Ashley avoid hiring SDRs with SDR experience? Why has she changed her mind? What was Ashley's biggest hiring mistake? What were her takeaways? Onboarding New SDR Hires How does Ashley onboard new SDR hires? What is her onboarding timeline? How does Ashley set targets for new hires? When should they be fully productive?  When does Ashley know if a new hire isn't working? What are common traits among Ashley's most successful hires?

Today's episode of Turpentine VC is a throwback to a conversation Erik Torenberg recorded with Parker Conrad and Parker Thompson that debates how much "value-add" investors can offer founders, issues around the misalignment between investors and founders, and the underdiscussed factors that influence VC deals. Parker Conrad is the co-founder and CEO of Rippling (and co-founder/CEO of Zenefits) and Parker Thompson is a current partner at SAX Capital (formerly Partner at Angellist). The conversation was recorded in 2018. Access global engineering without the headache and at a fraction of the cost: head to https://choosesquad.com and mention “Turpentine” to skip the waitlist. -- SPONSORS:

Sam Blond is the former CRO at Brex, where he led the company from near $0-$400M in ARR and a $12.5B valuation. Before Brex, Sam was VP of Sales at Zenefits, where he led the company from $0-$70M ARR in 2 years and a $4.5B valuation. Sam joined Founders Fund as a Partner in 2022 and recently left to focus more on operating. In Today's Episode with Sam Blond We Discuss: 1. Lessons From Scaling Brex to $400M ARR & Zenefits to $70M ARR: What are the secrets that very few people know, that led to the success of Brex and Zenefits? What was the single worst sales investment Brex made? What was the best? What are Sam's biggest tips to people picking the rocketship they will join? 2. Who, What and When to Hire: When is the right time to hire your first sales rep? Should the founder be the one to create the sales playbook? What is the right profile for the first sales hire? Does it matter if the new hire has domain experience? Why does Sam always advocate to hire through network and not recruiters? 3. How to Hire the Best Sales Reps: What are the questions Sam always asks in interviews with sales hires? Does Sam do case studies with candidates? What is he looking for? What are the biggest green and red flags a candidate can show in an interview process? What are the biggest mistakes founders make when hiring sales teams? 4. How to Have the Best Performing Sales Team: What are the three ways to measure the success of a rep in the first 30-60 days? Why does Sam believe most startups are doing outbound wrong? What should they change? Why does Sam believe demand gen is the bottleneck for all companies? What can be done to solve the demand gen challenge? How does outbound change in a world of AI?

(00:00) Intro(01:25) Parker's Early Life and Education(02:08) Parker's Experience at Harvard and Early Career(05:21) Parker's Journey to Entrepreneurship(08:27) The Founding of Sigfig and Challenges Faced(10:15) The Birth of Zenefits and its Rapid Growth(13:13) The Downfall of Zenefits and Lessons Learned(19:12) Parker's Perspective on Media Narratives and VC Involvement(35:48) The Power of Investors and Branding(37:22) The Influence of Media on Investment Success(38:42) The Role of Venture Capitalists and Founders(39:39) The Impact of Social Media on Business(40:48) The Rise of Andreessen Horowitz(41:18) Introducing Rippling: A New Approach to Business Software(41:32) The Power of Employee Data in Business Software(49:47) The Advantages of Compound Companies(56:13) The Role of Founders in Business Units(01:09:20) The State of San Francisco and the Tech Industry Produced: Rashad Assir & Leah ClapperMixed and edited: Justin HrabovskyExecutive Producer: Josh Machiz

Sara Roberts (Bayview Talent and host of Success Unscripted) may not immediately jump out to you as an obvious guest of this podcast. No, she doesn't run a digital CS function nor does she have a rich history in CS.What she does have is her finger on the pulse for growing and scaling CS teams as that is her recruiting agency's specialty. As such, it was a great opportunity to talk about two specific areas: the state of the CS job market today and how to build & scale digital functions.In this fascinating interview we discussed:Being part of the Zenefits growth and the evolution into her establishing Bayview, specifically focused on CS recruitingHiring and the job search freeze are thawingSara's motivation for starting the Success Unscripted PodcastThe importance of being vulnerable and sharing your hard experiences to help others who are doing the sameBuilding and scaling digital teams from a hiring perspective Hiring for digital is not just about putting your Junior CS teams in a scaled team but instead looking for technical resources, marketing people, product…etc.Start by analyzing what systems & people you have. What are the skills gaps in relation to what problems you're trying to solve. That will inform your hiring strategy for digital.For a digital role - you are looking to hire people who can go deep into the data, but can also pull up and see the strategyPractical advice for CSMs looking for their next role: take on projects and prove you can already do the work of that roleFor those looking for work: Focus on the industry you already have experience with which will give you a leg up over other applicants. Focus on the ACV of the target customer that is within your comfort range. Finally, focus on what stage company it is vs. your experience.Don't just send in your resume and call it a day - recruiters are likely not looking at those resumes. Find the manager of the team and send them a note on LinkedIn.Sara's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saralynneroberts/Bayview Talent: https://www.bayviewtalent.com/Success Unscripted Podcast: https://www.unscriptedpod.com/Resources:Crunchbase for conducting targeted company searches based on your criteriaSupport the show+++++++++++++++++Listener Submissions:If you'd like to call in with commentary or a question to be addressed in a future episode, call our submission line at +1 (512) 222-7381. Leave us a 2-3 minute message with your comment or question using either your real name or a pseudonym, and we'll feature your clip on the show!Like/Subscribe/Review:If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review. Website:For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com. Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcspThank you for all of your support!The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic

Over 90% of VC-funded startup founders fail. In other words, the default scenario for a founder is moving on from their startup and figuring out their next career chapter. Most founders will naturally consider launching another startup vs. other employment opportunities. Learn more about Harvard research about what types of second-time founders succeed on their next venture. Jeremy then shares about the three patterns of sequel startups: revenge, rebound and rebirth startups. Examples include Adam Neumann (Flow vs. WeWork), Travis Kalanick (Cloud Kitchens vs. Uber), Kevin Systrom (Artifact vs. Instagram), Conrad Parker (Rippling vs. Zenefits) and Palmer Luckey (Anduril vs. Oculus). Jeremy then goes into how to gain personal closure, maintain professional integrity and explore what it takes to succeed in a new venture.  Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/paths-forward Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com WhatsApp: https://chat.whatsapp.com/CeL3ywi7yOWFd8HTo6yzde TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremyau Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyauz Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremyau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremyau Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyauz Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremyau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea English: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Bahasa Indonesia: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Learn more about Hive Health here: https://www.ourhivehealth.com

Today we're talking with Parker Conrad, who founded two startups that went on to become unicorns: Zenefits in 2013, and Rippling in 2016. Parker's story is one the more dramatic ones you'll hear on this podcast. In fact this episode is two stories: his misadventures at Zenefits, and the ambitious ideas he has implemented at Rippling.

Guests: Parker Conrad, CEO of Rippling, and Mamoon Hamid, partner at Kleiner PerkinsHow long did it take for Parker Conrad to stop wanting revenge? “I'll let you know when it switches over,” the Rippling CEO and co-founder jokes. He resigned from his last company, the buzzy HR unicorn Zenefits, in 2016 and then quickly realized that the company's new leaders would never return it to its former glory. He still loved the problems he had been trying to solve, and launched Rippling because “there was an opportunity there, [and] if it works ... it's going to be fundamentally and foundationally better as a product.” It worked. As of March, Rippling has been valued at more than $11 billion, more than double Zenefits' peak.In this episode, Parker, Mamoon, and Joubin discuss what happened at Zenefits, avoiding press coverage, FOMO and expectations, Paul Graham, fixing corporate insurance, Ryan Peterson's “revenge portfolio,” CEO coaches, Mike Vernal, approving expenses, anecdata, and the Costco of SaaS. In this episode, we cover: How Parker and Mamoon met (00:56) The Zenefits Series B (06:29)  “Stuck in a nightmare” (09:20)  Entrepreneurship is “soul-destroying” (12:46)  Parker's first company, SigFig (17:17)  Starting a company for the right reasons (21:02)  Starting over after Zenefits (27:06)  Avenging Zenefits (31:57)  Rippling's unusual Series A (38:40)  What it does well (43:13)  “Go and see” (46:35)  The compound startup (51:44) Who Rippling is hiring and what “grit” means to Parker (01:00:39)  Links: Connect with Parker Twitter LinkedIn Connect with Joubin Twitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

The Hunters and Unicorns session with Anant Bhardwaj, Founder and CEO of Instabase unveiled an extraordinary journey, starting from humble beginnings to becoming the visionary founder of a groundbreaking AI company, Instabase. The emphasis on developing applications around real-world use cases struck a chord, highlighting the need to identify broader relevance beyond a specific scenario for achieving impactful market fit. Key Takeaways; 1. Early Life and Education: Grew up in a rural part of India called Nalanda, Bihar, without modern amenities. Initially struggled adjusting to a city environment due to a shift in language and educational medium to English. 2. Career Aspirations: Initially wanted to join the Army like family members but was rejected due to colour blindness. Had an interest in literature, poetry, and writing but was discouraged from pursuing it as a career. 3. Academic Journey: Accidentally got into computer science during college in India and discovered a passion for programming. Moved to the US for a master's at Stanford but felt pressure to start a company during this time. Pursued research projects at MIT, one of which was Data Hub, exploring abstracting complex data for diverse applications. Faced challenges with visa status and legal issues but was supported by MIT during this period. 4. Formation of Databricks: Founded Databricks without a clear commercial application but had an academic focus initially. Initially targeted academia, providing free products to professors and students at various universities. 5. Discovery of Commercial Use: Identified a commercial use case with companies like Zenefits and Lending Club needing data extraction from diverse sources like PDFs and images. 6. Product Development and Market Fit: Iterated the product based on market needs and feedback, eventually finding a product-market fit in data extraction and analysis for various industries. Emphasized a fearless and experimental approach to adapt to new opportunities and discover viable product uses. 7. Key Advice from Martin Casado: "Use cases precede the product; product precedes the platform; platform precedes the ecosystem." Don't build a product without understanding the use case it solves. Don't build a platform without a real product. A platform allows value creation by someone other than the creator. 8. Discovery of Product-Market Fit: Understand the key drivers and drags for customers; drivers are critical to why they buy. Find the one or two core drivers that make customers want to buy your product. Prioritize features that cater to these key drivers and address critical pain points. 9. Approach to Product Development: Engage in parallel experimentation to find both the use cases and the right product. Engage early customers to help validate and define the product, ensuring it addresses their needs. Focus on problems applicable across a wide range of industries to have a broad market impact. 10. Building a Platform: Allow customers to create value by building their own apps on your platform. Separate the product from custom services and prioritize building a scalable product. Be open to iterating and adjusting the product based on customer feedback and use cases. 11. Ecosystem Building: Move towards creating an ecosystem by enabling third-party developers to build on the platform. Aim for apps built by one entity to be usable and valuable for another, promoting a broader ecosystem. 12. Early Growth and Funding: Achieved significant growth from $250k to $5 million in a year, gaining investor interest. Raised funding at a $1 billion valuation in 2019 due to perceived strong product-market fit. 13. Challenges in Scaling Sales: Initially, sales were handled by the founder, but transitioning to a sales team required careful planning. Incorrect hiring and lack of understanding of sales dynamics led to a wasted year in scaling sales. 14. Building an Effective Sales Team: Hiring salespeople requires careful consideration of ramp-up times, quotas, and net new revenue targets. Defined sales process stages: first meeting, technical deep dive, proof of value, success criteria, business value, commercial and pricing, legal. 15. Sales Process and Experimentation: Focused on identifying and repeating successful use cases to drive sales effectively. Employed a small growth team for experimentation and exploration of new use cases and verticals. Launched a self-serve product (iHub) to understand the market, not focusing on specific deal sizes initially. 16. Sales Velocity and Incentives: Emphasized velocity of feedback and signal collection over deal size to learn from a larger customer base. Experimenting with sales team incentives to encourage high-velocity growth and learning from a diverse customer set. Episode 3 of 'The Founders Edition' is not to be missed!

Alex Frommeyer is the co-founder and CEO of Beam Benefits, a digitally-native employee benefits company that offers dental, vision, life, disability, and supplemental health coverage for employers of all sizes. The company simplifies and modernizes the $100+ billion ancillary benefits industry through its intuitive online platform, self-service tools, AI-powered underwriting, and thoughtful coverage for improved overall wellness. Its Beam Perks™ program offers incentives to members and rewards them for healthy behaviors. Beam has raised over $160 million in funding and is available in 44 states across the U.S. Learn more at beambenefits.com Highlights from the Show Fro was on the show around the company he co-founded and is CEO of, Beam Benefits, was in The Future of Insurance, Volume II. The Startups Beam started as a dental insurer, but 18 months ago spread to other benefits products in response to customer needs and their focus on those needs Beam looks at established ancillary benefits and emerging ancillary benefits Established are things like dental, group health, short and long term disability - products Beam has grown to include in its portfolio Emerging ancillary benefits are driven by generational changes – things like pet insurance, mental and tele-health - and some purely new products like cancer coverage, and some non-insurance products in the wellness arena This growth of products is about employers looking to create value for their employees rather than just coverage, which is different from P&C Beam is a very customer-driven business, looking at what customers want or need, and let that define the kind of products they design (or don't) This helped as they setup their initial IoT-based, connected tooth brush and dental insurance to their move to non-IoT-based products A lot has changed since Fro was on last time in the industry and with InsurTech investing For Beam, they set a 2 year window to become Beam Benefits, and they're at or ahead of schedule in that transformation Benefits is more primed for new product introduction, with one key factor being brokers Beam came out very counter to Zenefits in that they were pro-broker, and listened to brokers' desire to not have everything change all at once, but do it more methodically He's seen an interest in changing so many things amongst some startups so quickly that the product becomes unrecognizable to the market and therefore struggles to take hold Fro sees a transition from phase 1 to phase 2 companies, which means some will go out of business, but there's also been an aggregate increase in employment in the space A lot of founders have had to be heads down building or on the defensive for the prevailing tone of negativity from the focus on the failed startups or poor performers, and there would be benefit to the space to give some attention to celebrate what has worked well or been done to great benefit Fro is optimistic about what customers will experience because of the presence of insurtech in the space Fro see insurance existing on two axes - the risk transfer side and the customer experience side, and where the most innovation will be He believes, if AI delivers on its promise, the impact on the risk axis will be profound This would lower the capital required to start new coverage solutions, allowing more startups to try to innovate in the space He also sees the benefits world more directly impacted by the experience axis to catch insurance up to where other consumer industries are This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance Volume III. The Collaborators, part of the Future of Insurance thought leadership series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Today Jeremy and Jack are doing a TEARDOWN battle! The two outreach pros are taking a look at emails from two well-known companies to see who will come out on top in this cold outreach battle!    HERE'S WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE:   -First touch email showdown! -Making sure your email lands -Do “cute” emails work? -Working in “the same industry” -Asking good questions -Overpacking your email? -Elements of curiosity -AWFUL email example! -Is your purpose clear? -Filling up prospects' inboxes? -Send in your questions for a rapid-fire episode!  Think you can go head-to-head with these companies? Become an industry-level cold outreach expert in just 8 weeks with our Cold Email Masterclass at https://course.quickmail.io/! Try it for 30 days risk-free!   Have an email you want us to teardown? Send us your emails, cold emailing questions, and campaign examples at podcast@quickmail.io and it could be featured on the air!   Happy Cold Emailing! Jeremy and Jack  

This week on The #MiamiTech Podcast the hosts chat with Javier Ramirez Lugo of Cuota!Javier is the founder of Cuota which is a company of B2B Sales consultancy, he has helped over 40 venture backed-startups. His B2B Sales experience comes from being a top-performing sales leader at 3 unicorns: Zenefits, Rippling & WeWork.Before tech, his career originated in Wall Street, first as a Credit Analyst then joining the Sales & Trading organization at Goldman Sachs.Javier graduated from Northeastern University with a Bachelor's in Business Administration with a dual concentration in Finance and Entrepreneurship.He was born & raised in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.Topics on Deck:- Javi's experience leading sales team at 3 unicorns (Zenefits, Rippling & WeWork)- Why he chose to move to Miami- What most founders get wrong when hiring a sales leader- What most Sales leaders get wrong when selling- Parallels between B2B sales and dating- and more!Follow Javier on Twitter! @Javib2bLearn more about Cuota: https://www.cuota.ioJaviers new podcast:https://www.youtube.com/@0a100.podcastFollow the Hosts:Brian Breslin @BrianBreslinMaria Derchi @MariaDerchiCesar Fernandez @CFernandezFLWill Weinraub @WillWeinraubIf Interested in being on the podcast please email: Miamitechpod@gmail.comPlease Like + Subscribe + Rate + Review!#miamitech #miamitechpod #crypto #nft #technology #startup

Javier Ramírez Lugo is the founder of Cuota. He has had an incredible experience doing sales at Zenefits, Rippling, and WeWork. He is one of the most experienced and insightful people I have ever talked to about sales, and I always learn something every time we speak. This conversation breaks down how you as a founder or a salesperson can get better, how you can drive revenue, processes, hiring, firing, how to manage, and other hacks & tricks. ======================= Pomp writes a daily letter to over 250,000+ investors about business, technology, and finance. He breaks down complex topics into easy-to-understand language while sharing opinions on various aspects of each industry. You can subscribe at https://pomp.substack.com/

The silo effect or silo mentality in organizations, when one group's specialization walls then off from everyone else is often viewed as a consequence of growth.But todays guest, Sarah Siwak Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Airhouse, says that the silo effect shuts out more than it shuts in and hurts the bottom line.And in this insightful interview she share more about what those costs actually are.What You'll Discover About the Silo Effect:* How the silo effect reduces productivity* Why the silo effect slows the scaling of your business* How cross-functional teams combat the silo effect* How to incentivize better communication to limit the silo effect* And MUCH more.Guest: Sarah SiwakSarah Siwak is proof that staying in one lane is rarely the best option.After obtaining her B.A. in Russian, she stepped into a marketing and web production role at an early-stage tech startup in Tokyo. Armed with a new-found love for both marketing and tech, Sarah went on to lead marketing initiatives for several large, innovative players in the industry like Zenefits, Heap, and Shyp. Now, as the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Airhouse, she's applying lessons learned from her less-than-traditional path to power logistics solutions for emerging direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands.The single-minded pursuit of narrow expertise has its perks. But so does intellectual omnivory. When it comes to navigating dynamic business landscapes, the broader your palate, the better your chances to survive and thrive.That kind of intellectual omnivory — a boundless appetite to learn, coupled with a capacity to see the hidden threads among disparate ideas — comes naturally to Sarah Siwak. As Chief Revenue Officer and Co-Founder of direct-to-consumer e-commerce logistics solution Airhouse, Sarah is living proof that staying in one lane is rarely the best option.After obtaining her B.A. in Russian, she stepped into a marketing and web production role at an early-stage tech startup in Tokyo. Armed with a new-found love for both marketing and tech, Sarah went on to lead marketing initiatives for several large, innovative players in the industry like Zenefits, Heap, and Shyp.Now at Airhouse, she's putting a lifetime of intellectual omnivory to good use by helping direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands simplify the costly, unpredictable business of getting their products into the hands of buyersRelated Resources:If you liked this interview, you might also enjoy our other Leadership and Management episodes.Contact Sarah and connect with her on LinkedIn, and Twitter .And be sure to check out Airhouse. Join, Rate and Review:Rating and reviewing the show helps us grow our audience and allows us to bring you more of the rich information you need to succeed from our high powered guests. Leave a review at Lovethepodcast.com/BusinessConfidential.Joining the Business

Sam Blond is a Partner at Founders Fund, a top Venture Capital firm founded by Peter Thiel and other Co-Founders of PayPal. Founders Fund's total assets under management are around $11 Billion (according to TechCrunch 2022), and their portfolio includes SpaceX, Palantir, Stripe, Facebook, Airbnb, and Spotify, among others. Before joining Founders Fund, Sam was the former Chief Revenue Officer at Brex, overseeing revenue growth from less than $1M to several hundred million dollars of annualized revenue. Sam joined the company before its official launch, and when he left four years later, the company was valued at $12.5B. Before Brex, Sam was the VP of Sales at Zenefits, overseeing revenue growth from less than $1M to $70M of ARR in two years. He joined the company pre-Series A as employee number 18. When he left, the business was over 1500 employees and was valued at $4.5B.    You can learn more about:  Strategies for accelerating revenue growth in your startup Building a robust network and honing your skills as a sales leader Identifying and investing in the next wave of top-tier SaaS companies ===================== YouTube: @GraceGongCEO Newsletter: @SmartVenture LinkedIn: @GraceGong TikTok: @GraceGongCEO IG: @GraceGongCEO Twitter: @GraceGongGG =====================

This week's guest is Kyle Poyar, Operating Partner at OpenView. Kyle sat down with Patrick Campbell at SaaStock 2022 to discuss the ins and outs of product-led growth and how businesses can capitalize on this strategy to propel their success.Throughout the conversation, Kyle and Patrick delve into the importance of focusing on product usage as a key driver for customer acquisition, retention, and expansion. They discuss how companies like Zenefits have harnessed the power of sidecar products to provide additional value to their customers while strengthening their overall product offering. Kyle also shares valuable insights on why it's crucial to pay attention to user feedback and continuously iterate on product design to stay competitive in the market.High Level Overview:Product-led growth is a powerful strategy where product usage drives customer acquisition, retention, and expansion.To harness product-led growth, businesses must focus on creating effective and user-friendly products that exceed user expectations.Sidecar products, free offerings that complement the core product, can help attract customers early in their journey and increase the chances of conversion.Companies like Zenefits have successfully implemented sidecar products to broaden their suite of offerings and generate more value for their customers.Listening to customers and iterating on product design is crucial for continuous improvement and maintaining a competitive edge in the market.A Crash Course on Product-Led Growth:Product Led Growth (PLG) is a valuable approach to growth that focuses on getting customers to use the product, rather than relying on traditional sales and marketing. This guide will introduce you to the key components of PLG according to Kyle Poyar and how to leverage them for success:Quantitative Insights: The first step in PLG is to gain a better understanding of your customers' journey. Invest in a product analytics platform to gain quantitative insights into how users interact with your product. This will help you identify features that are being used, as well as unsuccessful user journeys.Session Replays and Recordings: In addition to quantitative insights, you should also look at session replays and recordings of user journeys. This will help you gain empathy with your users and identify areas where you could improve their experience. Tools such as Hotjar and FullStory can be used to get these insights.Micro Surveys: Micro surveys are a great way to get feedback from users on their experience with your product. Services such as Sprig allow you to collect user feedback on usability and product experience. This will help you better understand how users are engaging with your product and identify areas for improvement.User Testing: User testing is another great way to get feedback from users. It involves sending out prototypes and collecting feedback, through videos and questionnaires. This is helpful when targeting audiences that you have not reached yet, as you can get feedback on whether your product is compelling to them.Sales Assist Motion: You should also consider using a sales assist motion, even when you are trying to move towards PLG. This involves getting an email from the customer, running a rich through a service such as Clearbit and then using that data to inform how much resource investment you should put on the account. It is important to differentiate between customers that need a sales assist motion and those that can self-serve.Product Led Growth is a powerful tool for software businesses. By leveraging the tools discussed in this guide, you will be able to get a better understanding of your customers' journey and identify areas for improvement. With the right approach, you can unlock success with PLG.Further LearningsFollow Kyle on LinkedIn and check out OpenView for more on Product-Led Growth.

The Sunday Times' tech correspondent brings on Parker Conrad, founder and chief executive of Rippling, to talk about getting caught in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (3:30), receiving a call at 5:30 am (8:30), how wide the SVB blast radius was (11:00), moving $130m to JP Morgan in three hours (13:45), raising $500m in a day (17:00), why some people still didn't get paid (23:40), the growing vulnerabilities of regional banks (30:20), the importance of SVB to tech (32:30), Conrad's experience at Zenefits (37:15), why automating things with software is harder than it seems (42:30), and operating in a slowing economy and tighter funding environment (44:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why growth isn't always good, and how to infuse integrity into a toxic company culture. Zenefits was on its way to a multi-billion dollar valuation but, behind the scenes, it was all about to come crashing down. When Jay Fulcher was called in to save the company, his first job was laying off almost half its employees.

My story of failure: Not correctly tying my shoes and tripping over them.Dave Snyder is the CEO of CopyPress. His background in SEO, social media, and content marketing led Dave to look for a better way to scale and create content and market it. That search led to the formation of CopyPress. Today CopyPress is one the most trusted content marketplaces online working with brands like Sears, Macy's, Linkedin, Zenefits, and IHG.In today's episode Dave talks about:getting a creative writing degreeteaching and starting a websitedoing fantasy sports writinglearning SEOfaking it till you make ittripling revenue in eight months at 28starting his first agencybuilding the original blueprint for Copypressgetting kicked out of Blueglassstruggling for ten years out of the gatebeing ahead of the marketpenny a word contentfiguring out their nicheneeding time to figure out your identityhow AI effects businesseswhy AI can't think of new thingsan inherent issue with capitalfiguring out what products people wantnot letting your eyes fool youscaling up but having money issuesstart slow and perfect as you gogoing after the premium markethaving enough humilitydo it, fail, and then do the next thingstructure chaos and building on what worksthe only reason Dave had a partner in businessnot being the grind guynot wanting to let everyone downconfidence vs survivalwhy Dave developed into a good salesmanbeing genuine and transparent to a faultnot trying to sell peoplenot a one size fits all solutionthe biggest failure for Dave with cashflowcashflow problemsmerchant credit account loanspredatory loans for businessesfloating loans revolving for five yearsbeing concerned with the interest rates and people taking loanshaving to personally guarantee short term loansfiguring out cash forecastinghaving to cut expenses and getting profitablethree years to pay down loansbuilding his own software to forecast cashflowmaking sense from a risk perspectiveAI not being creativeAI not creating anything wholly newhow AI could potentially replace developersspammers and AIkids using ChatGPT to do homeworkmoving apart sociallysome form of this has always existedoutsourcing tweets and social media to Fiverrcapitalism will figure itself outburst of people doing dumb stuff and then fading outthe end of social media?an exciting time for business ownersautomating tasksAI sourcing and plagiarismNFT's and copyrightspeople suing over lack of accessibilitywhy you have other cryptocurrenciesthe stability of Bitcoinonly worth what someone is willing to pay for itnothing that keeps Bitcoin from going to zerothe lack of utility of Bitcoinevery investment carrying a riskFTX and the exchange being gone, and being too wild westregulating Ripple and why it would stabilize the marketwhy you might as well gamblewhy Dave likes building producthow he's going to help his employees grow and make more moneycreating cool productgiving up social media and whyemail: dsnyder@copypress.comwww.copypress.com

This week I am really happy to have Anthony Ferrario on the podcast to discuss his background. Yes, Anthony is my son. He is the oldest of two. My other son is Nick, who is a personal trainer in Virginia. Anthony is a software developer at Pure Storage, where he has been for 3 ½ years. He recently moved into software development. Prior to that, he was a senior product manager. Before joining Pure, Anthony was with Brightedge. He started there after graduating from college in the sales organization. He quickly moved into customer support. He left for a short time to work at Zenefits and Levitt Insurance. And then returned to Brightedge as an R&D Consultant and moved into Product Management. Anthony graduated from UC Berkeley with bachelor's degrees in History and Economics. While there, he was on a competitive Indian dance team and walked onto the Cal Bears football team. I hope you enjoy!

This week Anthony Ferrario is back on the podcast, this time to discuss product managers and software developers. We talk about the roles, what he liked and disliked about each, how they need to work together, and other related topics. As a refresher, Anthony is a software developer at Pure Storage, where he has been for 3 ½ years. He recently moved into software development. Prior to that, he was a senior product manager. Before joining Pure, Anthony was with Brightedge. He started there after graduating from college in the sales organization. He quickly moved into customer support. He left for a short time to work at Zenefits and Levitt Insurance. And then returned to Brightedge as an R&D Consultant and moved into Product Management. Anthony graduated from UC Berkeley with bachelor's degrees in History and Economics. While there, he was on a competitive Indian dance team and walked onto the Cal Bears football team. I hope you enjoy!

Adam Jackson is the co-founder and CEO of Freelance Labs, builders of Braintrust, the first user-controlled talent network that provides enterprises with the highly skilled technical and design talent they need.Prior to founding Braintrust, Adam co-founded Doctor on Demand, the popular video telemedicine provider, with daytime talk show personality Dr. Phil, as well as his son Jay McGraw. Other notable ventures include DriverSide, the first website specifically designed for car owners, which was acquired by Advance Auto Parts in September of 2011 and MarketSquare, the first online local shopping destination on the Internet which was acquired by Intuit in September of 2006. Adam is a passionate Angel investor in 45+ companies including LTSE, SuperHuman, Automatic, Apero Health, Zenefits, and more.Adam joins me today to talk a lot about marketplace dynamics in web two and web three. We also discuss how he's taken his learnings from growing his marketplace businesses before into a new world aligning incentives in the web three world we talked about compliance risks. We also talked about management challenges, and about advice that he has for founders on how to become a better storyteller.“You have to be telling a big, powerful story, there's a disconnect with founders, it's the art of the possible. What if this could exist? How cool would that be? With VCs, It's the art of the probable. How many bets do I need to make? And what do they need to look like for me to return the fund and hopefully raise the next one? So there's, there's a little bit of misalignment there.” - Adam JacksonToday on Startups for Good we cover:Braintrust and it's uniquenessHow the tokens workDifferences in extracting more value than you are providingCommon mistakes when pitching to investorsHow to approach competitionConnect with Adam on LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Even though employee engagement is all the rage right now, according to Gallup, only 33% of employees feel engaged at work. In this episode, David Watson, Product Marketing Manager at Zenefits, shares why engagement is so important to a company's success and how to survey your employees to gauge where they're at. Additional Resources: Order your copy of our book People Operations: Zenefits.com/pops-book Submit your People Ops questions: https://www.zenefits.com/workest/ask-a-question/ On this episode, you'll hear: [00:25] The benefits of an engaged team [01:30] Addressing the need to create happier, more engaged employees [2:40] Customizing your surveys

Holiday cheers with a visionary on Drinks With A VC featuring Ben Narasin of Tenacity Venture Capital. Tracing back to his roots as an e-commerce pioneer with Fashionmall.com, Ben shares tales of early-stage triumphs, from DropCam to Kabbage. Vik and Bree tap into his love for comic books, his recent puppy adoption, and why Dungeons & Dragons aligns with venture strategy. Tune in for an episode filled with insights and Ben's philosophy: "Life is not about having what you want, it's about wanting what you have."Links:www.tenacity.vcwww.twitter.com/BNarasinFoster puppies here.www.nikubutchershop.com/ (Restaurant!)

(0:00) Intro and Recap(27:08) Packy & Ben Thompson on Optimism and Internet Trolls(33:26) Palmer Luckey on getting fired from Facebook(43:26) Parker Conrad on being forced out of Zenefits(51:33) Packy & Zach crypto debate(55:03) Mike Dudas & Zach crypto debate(1:02:49) Eric Glyman on being purposeful(1:10:16) Jon Wu & Zach crypto debate(1:16:49) Antonio García Martínez gets Zach to agree to a crypto use case(1:25:35) Sam Lessin & Zach have the biggest crypto fight(1:30:28) William Hockey on crypto's role in finance(1:38:22) Dick Costolo on his history at Second City(1:52:01) Kate Ryder on how healthcare coverage is decided(2:00:27) The live crypto debate(2:06:21) Mark Cuban on crypto/early internet parallels(2:14:24) The FTX crash Mixed and edited: Justin HrabovskyProduced: Andrew Nadeau and Rashad AssirExecutive Producer: Josh MachizMusic: Griff Lawson 

Summary:This week on How To Win: Brian Bourque, SVP of Marketing at SmartAsset, where they've grown a lead generation business from $0 to $100M+ in revenue primarily through paid acquisition marketing and SEO. Brian has a ton of experience leading profitable paid acquisition teams in quantitative, direct-response marketing businesses. He's an advocate of using behavioral psychology, tech, data, and creativity to find exciting, new approaches to business. In this episode, Brian breaks down six important lessons he's learned throughout his career. We discuss why tactics aren't strategy, why the internet is bigger than you think, and, for lesson one, why scaling is about realizing where the leverage lies in each part of your company. I give my thoughts on what a good strategy looks like, the concept of pattern interrupt, and why if they 'zig', you should 'zag'.Key Points: Lesson One - Scaling is about realizing where the leverage lies in each part of your company (01:17) How do you find out which points of leverage are the best? (02:51) I weigh in on the overuse of the term 'scaling' (05:15) Lesson Two - Tactics are not the same as strategy (05:53) I talk about the differences between tactics and strategy with a quote from author Richard P. Rumelt (08:15) Lesson Three - There is value in asking, "What would need to be true to achieve X?" (09:42) I give my thoughts on finding your way to 'X' with a quote from author Roger Martin (12:08) I recall a story from Matt Epstein, former VP of Marketing at Zenefits, about impossible goals with a quote from Matt (14:07) Lesson Four - The internet is larger than you think (15:44) Lesson Five - At scale, everyone is a competitor (18:09) I discuss the concept of pattern interrupt with a quote from Mutiny's Jaleh Rezaei (20:41) Lesson Six - When they 'zig', you 'zag' (22:11) I explain why you should always 'zag' with a quote from author Marty Neumeier (22:55) Wrap up (24:40) Mentioned:Brian Bourque LinkedInBrian Bourque TwitterBrian Bourque's NewsletterRichard P. Rumelt 's Good Strategy Bad Strategy - The Difference and Why It MattersRoger Martin's A New Way To ThinkMatt Epstein LinkedInContent, community, and customer acquisition with Mutiny's Jaleh RezaeiMarty Neumeier's ZAGMy Links:TwitterLinkedInWebsiteWynterSpeeroCXL

“Carpenters aren't scared of nail guns. It can replace the hammer but, it can't replace the carpenter. I think that is what AI is and represents.” Dave Snyder is the CEO of CopyPress. His background in SEO, social media, and content marketing led Dave to look for a better way to scale and create content. That search led to the formation of CopyPress. Today, CopyPress is one the most trusted content providers online working with brands like Linkedin, Zenefits, Sears, Macy's, IHG, and Stitchfix. With help from CopyPress, clients are able to increase their organic web traffic, improve their search engine rankings, and build their brand awareness. Questions and topics we covered include: Dave's story from how he transitioned from teacher to getting his first SEO job. The story of how is first agency merged with Search Engine Journal (it was called Search and Social). How he kicked off CopyPress and when he began to see the early signs of success. How to keep a long-term relationship with your clients? Why should content marketers care about AI? What is your sales strategy, how are you getting consistently big clients? What can they do now to prepare for future changes in the craft? Why should content marketers care just as much about attribution as they care about the content they are making? Why should all marketers study sales letters? How should companies build a blog in 2022? How can content marketers find the right balance between creating content people want to read and creating content that ranks on search? You can find Dave through his website (https://copypress.com), his Twitter, (https://twitter.com/davesnyder), and his LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/davesnydercp/). PS - My favorite moment in this podcast was “sure if you want to be a generalist, you'll get paid like a generalist.” If you want to make the big bucks as a marketer, you have to be known as an expert in one specific thing. That's how you prove you're reliable and that you can bring in revenue. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Geoff Lewis is a Founder and Managing Partner of Bedrock, one of the breakout and new venture firms of the last decade, famously in search of narrative violations. He serves or has served on the Board of Directors for companies including Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT), Nubank (NYSE: NU), Epirus, and Vercel. Additionally, he has led sizable early-stage venture capital investments in dozens of companies including Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST), Tilray (NASDAQ: TLRY), Leafly (NASDAQ: LFLY), Wish (NASDAQ: WISH), Workrise, and Rippling. Prior to founding Bedrock, Geoff served as a partner at Founders Fund for several years. In Today's Episode with Geoff Lewis: 1.) Meeting Parker Conrad: A Generational Defining Entrepreneur: How did Geoff first come to meet Parker Conrad, over a decade prior to making the first Rippling investment? What was it about Parker that compelled Geoff so much in the early days? How did Geoff analyze the chip on Parker's shoulder from Zenefits? How does he believe it has driven him with Rippling? 2.) Searching for Narrative Violations in Rippling: Why does Geoff believe Parker himself is a "narrative violation"? What does Geoff believe is the foundational narrative violation in the way Parker is building Rippling? Rippling has a large portion of its team as former founders, how does Geoff believe this impacts the culture of Rippling? What does Geoff believe are the single biggest barriers to Rippling being the "App Store for Business"? On the upside case, if Rippling goes right, how big could this be? 3.) Rippling: The Financing: What has been Geoff's biggest lesson on price and price sensitivity that he has learned through Rippling? Why does Geoff never do uncapped notes? Why did Geoff break that rule with Rippling? What gave Geoff the conviction to write Bedrock's largest ever check in Rippling's Series D? What was the massive mistake that both Geoff and Bedrock made in not financing their Series C? 4.) Geoff Lewis: The Investor What single trait does Geoff believe all generational defining founders share? How does he test for it? Does Geoff believe he has a chip on his shoulder today? How has his relationship to the chip on his shoulder changed over time? To what extent does Geoff engage in outcome scenario planning when making investments? What upside scenario plan does Geoff need to be able to see for him to make an investment? Has Geoff ever lost money in an investment? What were his takeaways from this experience?

Parker Conrad is the Founder & CEO @ Rippling, the company that lets you easily manage your employees' payroll, benefits, expenses, devices, apps & more—in one place. To date, Parker has raised over $697M for Rippling from some of the best including Sequoia, Founders Fund, Greenoaks, Bedrock, Kleiner Perkins and Initialized to name a few. Prior to founding Rippling, Parker was the Co-Founder and CEO @ Zenefits and if that was not enough, Parker is also a prominent angel having invested in the likes of Census, Pulley and then also AgentSync and TrueNorth, alongside 20VC Fund. In Today's Episode with Parker Conrad: 1.) Entry in Startups and Zenefits: How did Parker make his way into the world of startups? How did Parker end up being kicked out of his own company, Zenefits? How did he respond? How did that experience of being kicked out of Zenefits inspire him to build Rippling? 2.) Parker Conrad: The Leader: How does Parker define "high performance"? How would Parker describe his leadership style today? Why does Parker fundamentally disagree that with speed comes a trade-off in quality? How does Parker ensure Rippling does all things fast and to the best of its ability? How would Parker break down his decision-making framework today? How does he decide what to prioritize vs not? How does he decide what to delegate vs not? What are Parker's biggest insecurities in leadership today? How have they changed over time? What does Parker do to combat and mitigate them? 3.) Rippling: The Compound Startup How does Parker define a compound startup? What types of business do this verticalized approach work for vs not work for? What does Parker believe are the 4 core benefits of this approach? What are the single biggest challenges of building a compound startup? 4.) Rippling: The Economics: How does this compound startup approach impact ability to cross-sell? How much net new ARR today comes from cross-sell? What have been some of Rippling's biggest lessons on what it takes to do cross-sell so effectively? How do the margin profiles differ across their different products? How have the margin profiles changed over time? Why does Parker not believe that most startup margins are accurate? How does the compound startup approach change the amount invested in R&D? How does that impact the fundraising requirements of the business? 5.) Rippling: The Partner Ecosystem: How does Rippling think about building out the best partner ecosystem? What will it take for that to work? Why do Rippling want to introduce services that compete with their own products? Why do they not only build their own? How do the margins differ when comparing revenue share on partner products vs Rippling products? What are the single biggest barriers to this partner ecosystem working?

Any change starts with your people. When decisions need to be made, people's opinions will differ, and it's HR's job to make decisions that take everyone's view into account. In this episode, David Watson, Product Marketing Manager at Zenefits, talks about how the rational and emotional aspects of decision-making can play into people operations. Additional Resources: Order your copy of our book People Operations: Zenefits.com/pops-book Submit your People Ops questions: https://www.zenefits.com/workest/ask-a-question/ On this episode, you'll hear: [00:28] What does “emorational” mean? [01:19] Taking everyone's view into account [02:00] Balancing business and people

As an HR leader, the process of expanding your workforce outside of your current country can be unfamiliar territory. There's so much to consider, and it can be overwhelming not knowing what types of hurdles you might need to go through. In this episode, David Watson, Product Marketing Manager at Zenefits, talks through some key questions to ask before starting the process. Additional Resources: Order your copy of our book People Operations: Zenefits.com/pops-book Submit your People Ops questions: https://www.zenefits.com/workest/ask-a-question/ On this episode, you'll hear: [00:28] Why companies expand global workforces [00:58] The role of HR during expansion [01:12] Questions you should ask

Trinet (TNET) provides H.R. solutions for small and medium-size businesses. CEO, Burton M. Goldfield joins Nicole Petallides to discuss TNET. He talks about how TNET acquired Clarus R&D Solutions and Zenefits this year. He also goes over the pandemic has changed the H.R. business. Finally, he notes that TNET is hosting the Trinet Peopleforce conference in New York this week. Tune in to find out more about Trinet (TNET).

Many steps in the income verification process can lead to headaches for your HR team and your employees. So how can you simplify it to get people what they need without unnecessary stress? To answer this question, Adam Kerin, VP of Product Marketing at Truework, explains how SMB leaders can automate this process for free. Additional Resources: Order your copy of our book People Operations: Zenefits.com/pops-book Submit your People Ops questions: https://www.zenefits.com/workest/ask-a-question/ On this episode, you'll hear: [00:38] What the process should look like [01:37] Problems that can arise [02:30] How to avoid frustrations using Zenefits and Truework

As the future of work continues to evolve, employers and HR leaders are seeing a steady increase in the importance of how we treat the people who make up our organizations. But unfortunately, HR employees themselves might get forgotten. On this episode, Lora Patterson, Senior People Ops Advisor at Zenefits, joins to share where employees working in HR should turn to when they're the ones facing an internal conflict. Additional Resources: Order your copy of our book People Operations: Zenefits.com/pops-book Submit your People Ops questions: https://www.zenefits.com/workest/ask-a-question/ On this episode, you'll hear: [00:46] Who HR should report to [01:36] When to approach and when to quit [02:45] Hiring outside help with HR [04:02] Involving a legal team or expert [05:45] When there might not be a solution to the problem

From long COVID to major injuries, life hits us hard when we least expect it. As an employer, how do you support an employee through a health crisis like this? Ankur Patel, Director of Product Marketing at Zenefits, and Shelley Dorais, Director of Customer Success and Renewals, both recently experienced major health challenges. They learned firsthand about best practices for caring for employees when life hits them hard. Listen in to hear their stories and their top takeaways for employers caring for employees through illness and injury. Additional Resources: Order your copy of our book People Operations: Zenefits.com/pops-book Submit your People Ops questions: https://www.zenefits.com/workest/ask-a-question/ On this episode, you'll hear: [01:00] The personal and professional challenges of long COVID [05:30] The importance of flexibility and empathy in battling illness [09:45] Un-learning unhealthy work habits [11:00] Supporting employees through recovery from major injuries [16:00] Believing the best of people [17:00] Respecting both privacy and authenticity [19:00] Top takeaways for caring for employees through a health crisis [23:00] Silver linings of health challenges

(00:08) Welcome Zach Weinberg(00:55) Andreessen Horowitz/Flow Carbon(10:41) Crypto Litigation Risk(16:27) Venture vs. Hedge Funds(22:25) Sequoia's Leaked Deck(27:04) Different Kind of Crisis(28:20) Tech Companies Had It Easy(30:21) Uber vs. Lyft(34:16) Down Rounds(40:27) High Valuation Doesn't Mean Good Employment(45:31) 2008 Work Force(49:50) Parker Conrad Intro(50:13) Working on Harvard's Crimson(52:45) Left School for a Little Rock Newspaper(55:13) Cancer Diagnosis(57:16) Starting SigFig(58:52) Raising Money Pre-2013(1:05:29) Challenges in Automating(1:08:36) The Public Narrative(1:10:36) Forced Out of Zenefits(1:19:50) VC's Role in Narrative(1:22:59) What Do Founders Want From VCs?(1:25:46) Do VCs Increase Success?(1:30:09) Discussing Rippling(1:38:16) Building a Compound Company(1:46:56) Hiring People With a Chip On Their Shoulder(1:49:02) Most Important Job of a CEO(1:51:05) Raised the Next Round(1:54:47) Determining the Valuation(1:58:09) San Francisco Follow the show:https://twitter.com/cartoonavatarshttps://www.instagram.com/cartoonavatars/https://www.tiktok.com/@cartoonavatars Follow the host:https://twitter.com/loganbartlett Mixed and edited: Justin HrabovskyProduced: Andrew Nadeau and Rashad AssirExecutive Producer: Josh MachizMusic: Griff Lawson Links:Sequoia's Leaked Deck - https://fortune.com/2022/05/25/sequoia-capital-slide-dek-warning-to-founders-downturn/Zack's Twitter Battle - https://twitter.com/zachweinberg/status/1527107650911186944?s=20&t=DN_FdiP-WW6rDwmHNkJPTAParker Conrad Discussing Chip on Their Shoulder - https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/18/parker-conrad-i-like-working-with-people-who-have-a-chip-on-their-shoulder/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAqlH6GlRJ8EA-ptL8cD-XPUGeoXNRqKe9l_Qegi--qyyHZQrMTJ8bwlg47vSJ9rkc2eaJlUKyMvb3wA-Rw2PjFYJl5gUwZfO0WPMLF-tRT_lVDYq_uoEnC29d6L45AlVFRTnPJqbCPEJM0_ICBeqES_kZ8t5gUQkVg7BwMKsGs7Chesa Boudin and San Francisco - https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/chesa-boudin-recall-san-francisco-crime/629907/Andreessen Horowitz/Flow Carbon - https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2022/05/25/a16z-crypto-record-4th-fund-doubles-down-on-web3-amid-market-crash/?sh=7f704b7f34ffVCs Driving Down Valuation Narrative - https://twitter.com/bgurley/status/1528535418076995584