To understand how some of the strongest brands are thriving with the omnichannel approach, Greylock general partner Mike Duboe hosted a wide-ranging discussion on Greymatter on what it takes to build the next generation of commerce companies with Color Capital co-founders Jaime Schmidt and Chris Cantino. The husband-wife team partner with companies creating the future of CPG, marketplaces, ecommerce, and media, and both bring a wealth of experience to the table. Schmidt is the founder of personal care brand Schmidt’s Naturals (which was acquired by Unilever in 2017), and is the author of Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms, which evolved into a media company Schmidt and Cantino run together. In this conversation, Schmidt and Cantino share stories from the early days of Schmidt’s Naturals, which began at local farmer’s markets in Portland, (also known as “the original DTC,” sales channel, says Cantino); their views on bootstrapping versus raising outside capital; how to assess partnerships and potential M&A; and the growing importance of media and content in the ecommerce world. This episode is part of a series of conversations on commerce hosted by Mike Duboe.

Jaime Schmidt and Chris Cantino | Creating Commerce Opportunities

While many CEOs choose to stay out of the public eye during times of crisis, Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky has always opted for the opposite. It was no different during the Covid-19 pandemic, when travel came to a standstill and the company was forced to restructure. Chesky remained open, candid and transparent throughout the experience, and the company was able to navigate the crisis in stride. Chesky joined Greylock partner Reid Hoffman on Greylock's  Iconversations speaker series to talk about how he guided Airbnb from an 80% loss within the first two months of the pandemic to a record-breaking IPO by the end of 2020; why Silicon Valley needs to redefine how it measures growth; how Chesky’s design background informs Airbnb’s business strategy; and, ultimately, the importance of putting people first.

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky | People-First Capitalism

A rebroadcast of our episode featuring Coda CEO and co-founder Shishir Mehrotra. The company, which saw a surge in usage during the Covid-19 pandemic and the widespread shift to remote work, recently closed $100 million Series D round. In this episode, which was recorded last year as part of Greylock general partner Sarah Guo's Work From Anywhere podcast series, Shishir talks about the way collaboration and productivity tools have created a lasting impact on the workplace, and what the office (virtual, hybrid and physical) might look like in the future. 
https://greylock.com/greymatter/powering-the-maker-generation/

Coda | Powering the Maker Generation

Greylock general partner and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman talks with his Blitzscaling co-author Chris Yeh about how a fundamental understanding of philosophy can be a powerful tool for entrepreneurship. Hoffman, who holds a master's degree in philosophy from Oxford University, outlines how studying philosophy helps people develop new frameworks for grappling with truth, humanity and decision-making, and how it has helped him succeed in his career as an entrepreneur and investor. This episode is the first of a two-part series.

Reid Hoffman | The Philosopher-Entrepreneur

Greylock welcomes Mustafa Suleyman as the firm's newest venture partner. Suleyman is known for his pioneering work in the field of artificial intelligence, and joins the firm from Google, where he was Vice President of AI Product Management and AI Policy. Before that he co-founded DeepMind, the world’s leading artificial intelligence company, which was acquired by Google in 2014 for $650M. Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman and Suleyman discuss the current AI landscape, the pivotal advances that have gotten the field to this point, and where they see opportunities for startups.
You can read a transcript of this conversation here: https://greylock.com/firm-news/welcome-mustafa-suleyman/

Reid Hoffman | Mustafa Suleyman, A Pioneer in Applied AI

YouTube chief product officer and Google senior vice president Neal Mohan talks with Greylock general partner David Thacker about the dynamics of building, scaling, and governing one of the world's most popular user-generated content platforms. Mohan began his internet career at DoubleClick in the ‘90s, where he was a pioneer of the now-widespread advertising business model. He arrived at Google via the company’s 2007 acquisition of DoubleClick, and was instrumental in expanding advertising technology as well as laying the foundation for user-generated content platforms to thrive. Today, Mohan oversees every aspect of the Youtube platform and ecosystem for over 2B users and millions of content creators and media partners. 
This interview is part of Greylock's Iconversations speaker series. 
You can watch the video of this interview on YouTube here: https://www.economist.com/checks-and-balance-our-weekly-podcast-on-american-politics
You can read a transcript of the interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/powering-creators/
You can find all Greylock Iconversations here:https://greylock.com/iconversations/

YouTube's Neal Mohan | Powering Creators

More than half of the American workforce is paid hourly, and often work at jobs that must be performed in-person. Historically, however, this population has been left out of conversations about the future of work, and haven't benefitted from the significant technological improvements many other occupations have. Instawork is trying to change that. The flexible staffing platform connects businesses to local talent, and is generating some valuable data on the changing labor market in the meantime. Instawork CEO and co-founder Sumir Meghani joined Greylock general partner David Thacker to discuss how hourly workers are gaining new levels of flexibility and control over their careers - and changing the employment landscape. 

You can read a transcript from this interview here:  https://greylock.com/greymatter/flexibility-on-demand/

Instawork | Flexibility on Demand

This is an episode from Fungible Times, the Web3-focused podcast produced by Greylock crypto investors Christine Kim, and Mike Duboe, and Greylock board partner Sarah Guo. Sarah and Christine spoke with Chris Giancarlo, the former CFTC Chairman who is widely recognized as one of the most influential people in financial regulation. Giancarlo, who is known as "Cryoto Dad"  for his father-like advocacy of cryptocurrency, was also a member of the US Financial Stability Oversight Committe as well as the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. He recently published the book  "Crypto Dad: The Fight for the Future of Money”.

You can also find this episode and all other Fungible Times episodes on their show website, fungibletimes.xyz, and you can subscribe on SoundCloud, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Fungible Times | "Crypto Dad" Chris Giancarlo

In his commencement speech to Vanderbilt University's graduating class of 2022, Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman discusses the impact and importance of friendship. "Not the Hallmark kind – not all sunshine and roses and bunny rabbits," says Hoffman. "I mean real, substantial friendship – that’s sometimes really hard – and that shapes and changes our lives."
In this speech, Hoffman shares some of the key decisions and actions that friends helped him figure out to take, and which significantly impacted the course of his professional and personal life. You can read the full text of the speech here:  https://greylock.com/firm-news/reid-hoffman-the-importance-of-friendship/

Reid Hoffman | The Importance of Friendship

Convoy CEO and co-founder Dan Lewis discusses the current shipping landscape and how his company is upgrading the long-antiquated trucking industry. Convoy, which has developed a platform that puts drivers, shipping companies, and freight brokers on the grid has allowed all parties to operate more efficiently, resulting in saved costs and time as well as reducing pollution. Founded in 2015, Convoy now works with about 80,000 registered trucking companies (which collectively have some 400,000 trucks in their network), and in April raised $260 million in Series E funding. Greylock has been an investor since 2015, and general partner Reid Hoffman sits on the company’s board. 
You can read a transcript of this interview here: https://greylock.com/firm-news/convoy-transporting-innovation/

Convoy | Transporting Innovation

Known as the "AWS of Web3", Alchemy's platform powers most of the top web3 applications around the world. The idea came to founders Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau following their own frustration when building a crypto analytics tool. Seeing that developers around the world needed a toolkit to enable the next wave of innovation, they set out to build Alchemy. Launched in 2020, the company's platform quickly became an indispensable tool for developers creating projects with blockchain technology, including the top NFT platforms such as Open Sea and Makerspace. Greylock investor Christine Kim spoke with Viswanathan for Greymatter's new crypto-focused series Mint Condition. You can read a transcript of the conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/bringing-web3-to-the-world/

Alchemy | Bringing Web3 to the World

The “talent investor" Entrepreneur First was created with a mission to connect founders no matter where they are in the world, and recruits and backs them at the very earliest stages. By focusing on connecting individuals rather than defined teams, they've gained a unique perspective into what makes good ideas, and how the right co-founder dynamics can bring it into reality. Now, they've gathered some of their main insights into a book: "How to be a Founder: How Entrepreneurs Identify, Fund, and Launch Their Best Ideas." Bentinck and Clifford join Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman to discuss the book and their vision for the future of entrepreneurship. You can read a transcript of this interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/how-to-be-a-founder/

Alice Bentinck and Matt Clifford | How To Be A Founder

Greylock general partners Reid Hoffman and Saam Motamedi discuss the current state of artificial intelligence, including the most recent technological advancements; top areas for investment; and the ethical considerations needed to ensure tools are developed safely. This discussion is the kickoff for Greylock's Intelligent Future series featuring conversations with experts, visionaries, and early-stage innovators across the AI ecosystem. Guests of this series include Microsoft CTO, Kevin Scott, Stanford professor, Dr. Fei-Fei Li, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and the founders of some of the most promising AI startups today. You can read a transcript from this conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/the-intelligent-future/

Reid Hoffman and Saam Motamedi | Introducing the Intelligent Future

Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman interviews OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The AI research and deployment company's primary mission is to develop and promote AI technology that benefits humanity. Founded in 2015, the company has most recently been noted for its generative transformer model GPT - 3, which uses deep learning to produce human-like text, and its image-creation platform DALL-E.
This interview took place during Greylock’s Intelligent Future event, a day-long summit featuring experts and entrepreneurs from some of today’s leading artificial intelligence organizations. You can watch the video of this interview on our YouTune channel here: https://youtu.be/WHoWGNQRXb0
You can read a transcript of this interview here:  https://greylock.com/greymatter/sam-altman-ai-for-the-next-era/

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman |  AI for the Next Era

There are millions of entrepreneurs running small retail businesses in Latin America. While they may differ in the types of products sold or specific customers they target, the challenges they face in everyday operations are common. From low credit card penetration to poor visibility into shipping logistics and pricing, the various difficulties often boil down to a singular issue: lack of data. Brazil-based Inventa has been working to change that. The company’s digital marketplace steps in to fill the gaps left by the outdated modes of phone calls, paper catalogs, and in-person trade shows where much of LatAm retail commerce takes place. Greylock general partner and Inventa board member Mike Duboe talks with Inventa CEO and co-founder Marcos Salama about the company's strategy, explosive growth, and vision for the future of commerce in Latin America. You can read a transcript of this conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/inventa-supplying-commerce-connections/

Inventa | Supplying Connections

Introducing Fireside Chatbots, a miniseries featuring conversations not only about AI, but with AI. Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman talks with ChatGPT, a large language model created by OpenAI. Hoffman, who serves on OpenAI's board, poses questions to ChatGPT about the massive positive impact he believes AI will all facets of society. For this podcast, we used an AI-generated voice for ChatGPT, powered by the text-to-speech platform of Play.ht. The chat transcripts are exact, word for word, which Hoffman says, " show the magic and the current limitations of the technology. "
You can read the transcript of this conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/reid-hoffman-chatbots-talking-ai-with-ai

Reid Hoffman and ChatGPT | Talking AI with AI

The second episode of Fireside Chatbots featuring Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman and ChatGPT, the large language model created by OpenAI. This week, Reid and ChatGPT talk about the ways humans and AI can work together to significantly increase productivity, scientific discovery, analytical capabilities, and creativity. As ChatGPT says, "The jobs of the future will likely be a combination of technical and human skills, requiring individuals to be adaptable and able to work with new technologies. "
You can read a transcript of this conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/the-human-ai-partnership/

Reid Hoffman and ChatGPT | The Human-AI Partnership

Navigating uncertain economic conditions is part and parcel of running a business. Yet, throughout challenging times, it’s critical that startups stay committed to continually pushing the possibilities of what technology can deliver, says Stripe CEO Patrick Collison. That means leading with the guiding principle “micro pessimism and macro optimism.” Often, Collison says, this means having a relentless ability to be critical about the state of technology (including one’s own products) while still believing in its possibilities.That viewpoint acknowledges the structural tension companies face when trying to innovate in the context of economic reality, and can be the difference between persisting through challenging times or becoming a casualty of yet another tech boom and bust cycle. Collison joined Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman on our Iconversations speaker series to discuss Stripe’s early days and its evolution into the payment and financial services platform giant it is today, and his advice to startups for navigating the predictable unpredictability of business. 
You can watch the video of the interview here: https://youtu.be/rzic-FivMfc
You can read the transcript here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/micro-pessimism-macro-optimism/

Stripe's Patrick Collison | Micro Pessimism, Macro Optimism

A re-broadcast of Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman's interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, recorded during Greylock's Intelligent Future summit in August 2022. Founded in 2015, OpenAI has recently released several high-profile products in quick succession: succession: its generative transformer model GPT-3 – which uses deep learning to produce human-like text – its image-creation platform DALL-E – and most recently, ChatGPT. Trained on massive large language models, the highly sophisticated chatbot can mimic human conversation and speak on a wide range of topics. 
You can watch a video of the interview here: https://youtu.be/WHoWGNQRXb0
You can read a transcript of this interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/sam-altman-ai-for-the-next-era/

OpenAI's Sam Altman | AI for the Next Era

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo shares the company's vision for building a tech-enabled food system for all. Simo, who previously spent 10 years at Meta, is accustomed to taking bold bets on transformative tech. She spoke with Greylock general partner David Thacker about joining Instacart in 2021 following a period of significant growth; how she  identifies moments in time where new technology can find traction; what she learned from leaders and mentors throughout her career; her approach to leadership; and how she separates major disruptive events from secular trends in order to chart a sustainable business course forward. 
You can watch the video of the interview on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/agAJbOhuNaQ
You can read an essay with the highlights of the conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/whats-in-store/

Instacart's Fidji Simo | Building A Tech-Enabled Food System

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi talks with Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman about his strategy for decision-making. Like most companies, Uber has experienced many ups and downs. Getting through each phase (good or bad), depends on how the leadership team responds, says Khosrowshahi. In difficult moments, which he refers to as "war time," it's critical to prioritize speed and quick decision-making. Conversely, during "peace time", he is more team-oriented and focused on incorporating as many viewpoints as possible. 
You can watch the video of this interview on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/Dn46NeZrRt0
You can read a transcript of this interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/uber-dara-khosrowshahi-navigation-systems/

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on Decision-Making

A special guest episode of Possible, the new podcast hosted by Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger. Possible looks at the future through a decidedly optimistic lens - and what it will take to get there. Each episode features a visionary from a different field, such as media, climate science, criminal justice, and more. Also joining for each episode is ChatGPT-4, OpenAI’s latest language model. GPT4 will provide a companion story to serve as a jumping off point for each discussion, which will explore what could possibly go right if we as a society work together to leverage technology effectively. 
Comedian, writer, and former Daily Show host Trevor Noah joined Reid and Aria for the inaugural episode of Possible. They discuss what a world would look like if every TV show could be perfectly tailored to each viewer’s interest, knowledge level and needs. Trevor responds to a speculative story, generated by GPT-4, that paints a picture of a futuristic “AI-ly Show.” Plus, he reviews some unexpected AI-generated light bulb jokes. Is GPT-4 actually funny?
Follow the Possible podcast wherever you listen here: https://link.chtbl.com/fYlpikol
Read the AI-generated story for this episode here:
https://www.possible.fm/ailyshow/
Read the transcript of this episode here: https://www.possible.fm/podcast/trevornoah/
Read Reid Hoffman’s essay “A Co-Pilot for Every Profession” here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/elevation-human-work-reid-hoffman/

Introducing Possible: A New Podcast by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger

Audio version of the introduction to Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman’s latest book, entitled “Impromptu: Amplifying Our Humanity Through AI." Impromptu was co-written by Hoffman and GPT-4, OpenAI’s latest and most powerful large language model. The book aims to serve as a sort of “travelog” of Hoffman’s experience with GPT-4, as he explores the tool’s strengths and limitations. Through hundreds of prompts, Hoffman and GPT-4 discuss the potential advantages and drawbacks of AI, argue about human nature, conceive original sci fi plots, and even try to make a few jokes. As AI is quickly advancing, Hoffman hopes his book can serve as a guide to encourage people to learn more about the technology, consider how we might use it, and ponder the complex questions about how our choices might play out in the future. 
You can read the text of this chapter here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/amplifying-humanity-through-ai/ ‎
Impromptu is now available:
As a free PDF: https://lnkd.in/eZSsGYgB
On Kindle: https://lnkd.in/eUE2ukM3

Reid Hoffman and GPT-4 | Impromptu: Amplifying Our Humanity Through AI

Greylock general partner Asheem Chandna talks with Rubrik CEO and co-founder Bipul Sinha about a core leadership lesson he's learned: not losing sight of one's own intuition, especially during times of high growth. Today, the data security company works with more than 5,000 customers around the world and across nearly every industry. When Rubrik launched in 2014, its mission to secure the world's data resonated immediately with clients, and the company grew rapidly in the first few years. Then came a rough patch, as the company's relentless push for expansion – and the many more people involved in every decision, from hiring to product pipeline  – impacted the leadership's team focus. Recognizing this, Sinha recalibrated his approach, and Rubrik got back on track. In this discussion, he shares his strategy for collaborative decision-making without losing sight of one's own ideas. 

You can read a transcript of this interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/rubrik-scaling-with-intuition/
You can watch the video of this interview here: https://youtu.be/wIjkX2gfzmE

Rubrik CEO Bipul Sinha | Scaling with Intuition

Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman talks with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about their mutual learnings from the AI tools released to date, primarily GPT-4 4, OpenAI's language model that co-wrote Hoffman's recent book “Impromptu." Keeping up with all the AI advancements – and questioning both the pros and cons of their immediate impact – is why Hoffman wrote Impromptu. As he describes, the book is intended to act as a travelog of his experience with GPT-4. Above all, he sees AI as a human amplifier, but urges it must be developed safely. Safety is exactly what OpenAI is striving for, Altman says, and Hoffman’s detailed chronicle of his experience with GPT-4 is exactly the kind of data the organization needs to continue developing the technology with safety in mind.

You can read a transcript of this conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/ai-field-notes/
You can access Impromptu for free here:  https://www.impromptubook.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/impromptu-rh.pdf
And on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYG9V1RN/

Reid Hoffman and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman | AI Field Notes

Greylock general partner Mike Duboe talks with Treat CEO Matt Osman, Fermat CEO Rishabh Jain, and independent analyst, consultant and investor Eric Seufert about the changing world of commerce performance marketing following the passage of ATT. For years, targeted ads meant the mechanisms to grow an ecommerce brand were relatively simple, accessible, and fast-acting. But the passage of Apple's App Tracking Transparency policy in 2021 turned that world on its head. Now, companies have gotten creative about the ways they reach their audience, which has given rise to a class of startups like Treat and Fermat that provide the tooling and platform to develop, test, and iterate marketing campaigns.

You can read a transcript of this conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/the-post-att-world/

Mike Duboe | The Post-ATT World

Fintech has perhaps the most to gain from artificial intelligence technology. Even slight improvements in forecasting default rates on a loan or cash flows of a business can have a dramatic economic impact. But for the most part, fintech has been left out of the conversation, partly because there is low margin for error in a regulated space. Encouragingly, this is starting to change. Ramp, a fintech startup that is noted for being one of the fastest-growing companies ever to hit $100M in ARR, is among the fintech frontrunners using automation and machine learning to help customers with expense management, payments, reporting, and more. The upside of automated, intelligent, personalized, and more secure financial services with the help of AI is in reach. Greylock investor Seth Rosenberg spoke with Ramp CEO Eric Glyman and Greylock's Reid Hoffman for a wide-ranging discussion on how AI is impacting every profession today – and how there is considerable room for it to impact financial services in the future. 

You can watch the video of this interview here: 
https://youtu.be/q5Rhetnw_64

You can read a transcript of the interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/intelligent-money/

Ramp CEO Eric Glyman | Fintech's AI Moment

Re-broadcast of Greylock marketing partner Elisa Schreiber's interview with CNBC Senior Media & Tech reporter Julia Boorstin. While there may be plenty of discussion about the disparity between funding for women-led startups and those led by men, women still receive just 2% of all venture capital funding. And yet, many women are still finding success as entrepreneurs. How? Boorstin dug into the stories of women entrepreneurs founding, funding, and running companies, and uncovered a variety of smart tactics and approaches. Those stories and the data are shared in her book, "When Women Lead." Boorstin and Schreiber spoke in front of a live, female-majority audience in late 2022 as part of Greylock's Iconversations speaker series. 

You can watch a video from the interview here: youtu.be/7moBNBLIVMA

You can read a transcript here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/julia-boorstin-when-women-lead/

CNBC's Julia Boorstin | When Women Lead

Audio version of Greylock investor Jason Risch's essay "Three Trends in VC-Backed Cloud." As part of our Castles in the Cloud project, which maps the activity in the venture capital-funding startup ecosystem with that of the Big 3 Cloud providers, we compile a database of fundraising at the end of each calendar year and identify trends. Although 2022 and the first part of 2023 has been marked by notable advancements in cloud technology – mostly via AI integrations – there is still considerable restraint in today’s venture capital-backed ecosystem. That figure doesn’t translate to lower activity, however. Many venture capital firms report they are just as busy as prior to the market correction, albeit with a focus on smaller checks for early-stage companies. Technological advancements, partnerships between major powerbrokers, and vertical specialization are all components of the current wave. The top three trends for this period are the rise of AI/ML in cloud, Vertical specialization (or, industry clouds), and security.

You can read this essay here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/three-trends-in-vc-backed-cloud/ 

You can view the entire Castles in the Cloud project here: https://greylock.com/castles/

Jason Risch | Three Trends in VC-Backed Cloud

Greylock general partner Jerry Chen analyzes top trends impacting funding, company creation, product launches, and partnerships throughout the cloud ecosystem for 2022 and the first part of 2023. This analysis is based on data compiled for Greylock's Castles in the Cloud project, which maps the activity of VC-backed startups as well as that of the Big 3 cloud providers AWS, Google, and Microsoft Azure. AI, an increased focus on vertical specialization, and the expansion of security needs are all fueling activity in the cloud ecosystem. 

The trends in this discussion are also examined in Greylock investor Jason Risch's recent essay, which you can read here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/three-trends-in-vc-backed-cloud/

You can find the entire Castles in the Cloud project here: greylock.com/castles.

Jerry Chen | The Next Wave of Cloud Innovation

As anyone who has experimented with the latest artificial intelligence tools that generate human-like responses to text, every interaction with technology is increasingly becoming a conversation. Beyond pre-programmed responses based on specific key words, interacting with AI trained on large language models is beginning to feel like a natural back and forth dialogue. 

"In the future, I think there will be an ever-present relationship that you have with an AI that helps you to make sense of the world around you," says Inflection AI CEO and co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, whose company recently released Pi, or "personal AI", designed to listen, talk, and provide support like a companion.  

Listen to Suleyman and his Inflection co-founder Reid Hoffman on the Greymatter podcast discuss how they approached building the "AI sidekick" that is Pi, and share their vision for the future of the technology. [Link]

You can read the transcript of this conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/inflectionai-the-ai-friend-zone/

Inflection AI | The Friend Zone

This is session 18 of Technology-enabled Blitzscaling, a Stanford University class taught by Reid Hoffman, John Lilly, Allen Blue, and Chris Yeh. This class features Reed Hoffman interviewing Brian Chesky, the Co-Founder and CEO of Airbnb.

Brian Chesky on Launching Airbnb and the Challenges of Scale | Blitzscaling 18

This is session 2 of Technology-enabled Blitzscaling, a Stanford University class taught by Reid Hoffman, John Lilly, Allen Blue, and Chris Yeh.  This class features John Lilly interviewing Y Combinator President Sam Altman. 

Sam Altman on Y Combinator and What Makes The Best Founders | Blitzscaling 02

This is session 1 of Technology-enabled Blitzscaling, a Stanford University class taught by Reid Hoffman, John Lilly, Allen Blue, and Chris Yeh. This lecture lays out an overview of the course and provides a summary of the five stages of Blitzscaling.

Overview of the Five Stages of Blitzscaling | Blitzscaling 01

Are B2C companies starting to see a decline in viral growth responsiveness? That’s what Greylock’s Growth Advisor Casey Winters and Head of Rider Growth at Uber, Andrew Chen believe. Andrew coined the term The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs to describe the idea that every ad channel and every marketing platform eventually sees a decay in responsiveness. Due to increased consolidation and competition, viral growth is now much harder to break through and in the long term will see a break down in effectiveness. 
 
In this episode of Greymatter, Casey and Andrew riff on why consumer growth is getting harder and more expensive, and what viable opportunities companies can leverage in their own growth strategies. Both Andrew and Casey have a deep background in growth. Andrew advises and invests in tech startups including Barkbox, Dropbox and Tinder and for the past decade, he’s written extensively on mobile, metrics, and growth. Before heading growth at Pinterest, Casey ran marketing for Grubhub.
 
Casey and Andrew share actionable growth strategies for startups, current trends in paid acquisition, and why they are excited for the rise of enterprise viral growth. For even more growth advice, be sure to check out Andrew’s blog and Casey’s blog.

Getting Smart About Growth with Casey Winters & Uber's Andrew Chen | Greymatter

Research advances over the past five years in artificial intelligence and machine learning have caused organizations of all kinds to look for ways to apply these powerful algorithms and techniques in their businesses. Eventually, AI could have the same impact that electricity had across all industries a hundred years ago by transforming industries, displacing existing jobs and creating new ones, and requiring massive policy changes.
 
In this episode of Greymatter, Greylock’s Sarah Guo and Dr. Andrew Ng, one of the foremost leaders in AI discuss AI and ML techniques being used in industry today, areas of ongoing research, how companies can leverage this technology, and the broader impact on the future workforce.

Building An AI-Powered Society with AI Fund's Andrew Ng | Greymatter

From the 2019 SFELC Summit, Affirm Founder and CEO Max Levchin on leadership qualities and the early days of PayPal.

What does it take to be a real leader? It's not about your title or past experience. Leadership is about taking care of the people within your organization and leading by example. In this episode of Greymatter, you'll hear from Ben Jun, CEO of HVF Labs and Max Levchin, Founder and CEO of Affirm. Max shares the one metric your organization should be tracking, leadership advice for new managers, and lessons learned from the early days building PayPal.

Max is a serial entrepreneur, computer scientist, philanthropist, and active investor in more than 100 startup companies. He is the Founder and CEO of Affirm, chairman of Glow, and general partner at SciFi VC. All three of these companies were created and launched from his San Francisco based innovation lab, HVF (Hard, Valuable, Fun). Earlier, Max was one of the original Co-Founders of PayPal where he served as the CTO until its acquisition by eBay in 2002.

This discussion took place at the 2019 SFELC Summit. SFELC is a curated community of 2500+ engineering leaders evolving the way leadership is implemented in the tech industry. Greylock Partners is the VC partner for SFELC, and sponsored the annual SFELC Summit which hosted top industry leaders to share management best practices and leadership advice.

Building A Team Of Inspirational Leaders w/ Affirm CEO Max Levchin | Greymatter

Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman and OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman on the transformative potential of AGI.

The AI revolution has only just begun. Over the next several decades, numerous industries will continue to see significant transformations as a result of advanced AI research and applications. As AI technology ramps up, so does the potential for artificial general intelligence, AGI, which refers to autonomous systems capable of human-level intelligence. It's challenging to predict when AGI will come into reach or even comprehend the impact this technology will have on society. Early on though, it will be important to have organizations that can prioritize a beneficial outcome for humanity.

OpenAI's mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. This episode of Greymatter features Sam Altman, OpenAI co-founder and CEO and Reid Hoffman, Greylock partner and OpenAI investor and board member.

Safely Scaling Artificial General Intelligence with Reid Hoffman & Sam AltmanI | Greymatter

This episode of Greymatter is part of a series of conversations between Blitzscaling co-authors Reid Hoffman (who is also a general partner at Greylock) and Chris Yeh. While the disruption and turbulence associated with the Covid-19 pandemic is broadly negative and unpredictable, it does open up new opportunities. Even during a pandemic, there will still be blitzscaling opportunities. They’ll just look different from the opportunities that emerged during the long economic expansion. It’s more critical than ever to focus on and enable entrepreneurship.

Reid Hoffman | Blitzscaling During Covid

Greylock general partners Reid Hoffman and Sarah Guo discuss the all-important topic of raising early stage capital (with updated guidelines for the current economic environment).  From understanding what metrics matter to team-building and reference-checking potential board members, this Greymatter episode provides entrepreneurs practical advice and unique insight from some of Silicon Valley's most active and experienced investors.

Reid Hoffman & Sarah Guo | From Seed to Series A: What VCs look for in early stage investments

Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman and Blitzscaling co-author Chris Yeh, discuss why it’s so lonely to be an entrepreneur.  In this podcast, Hoffman shares how he dealt with this challenge through both success (LinkedIn) and failure (SocialNet), and how entrepreneurs can find allies and aid in their struggle against loneliness.

Reid Hoffman | Entrepreneurship and Loneliness

How do tech startups go from idea…to iconic? Greymatter’s weekly podcast features interviews with VCs, founders, and tech visionaries on everything from AI, marketplaces, and cybersecurity as well as company-building strategies like growth, finding product-market-fit, and recruiting top talent. Founders and VCs offer candid accounts of success, failure, and adaptation. Greymatter delivers practical insights mixed with the bold optimism that defines entrepreneurship.

Greymatter by Greylock

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