The Silicon Valley Podcast

Ep 162 African Startup Ecosystem with Gavin Reardon

Show Notes Gavin Reardon
Gavin is a founder, investor and entrepreneur specialist. Before founding Kingson, Gavin provided financial leadership to a fintech that grew revenues to more than USD 50 million before being acquired. Gavin understands the nuances and challenges that face entrepreneurs and how the right investment can unlock accelerated growth. In Kingson, Gavin provides strategic leadership to the development of the Kingson funds and portfolio construction of the underlying businesses. He focuses on capital raising and deal making and loves the people aspect of seeing strategy and execution combined into operational excellence.
 
As a VC, Gavin focuses on mobile, data and IoT across financial, insurance and health tech investing in emerging startups that have both reach and scale to solve real-world problems.
 
 
We talk about         
What are some of the biggest surprises for the startup founders when they arrive in Silicon Valley from Africa?
What is the current VC landscape in South Africa?
What is the background of many of the Investors in Africa?
What areas of Tech are African companies excelling in?
What is the biggest misconception about the African startup ecosystem?
 
 
 
Connect with Gavin Reardon
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavreardon/
gavin@kingsoncapital.com
https://kingsoncapital.com/
Gav Reardon (@GavReardon) / Twitter

Ep161 Leading with Heart with John Baird

Show Notes John Baird
John is Founder of Velocity Coaching and coauthor (with Edward Sullivan) of the recently published book, Leading with Heart (Harper Collins).
John is considered to be one of the premier executive coaches in Silicon Valley, having coached CEOs and Founders for over 25 years. John built his career working with the top leaders at companies ranging from early stage start-ups to Fortune 500 firms like Apple and Nike. His first company ExecutivEdge (with Michele Bolton) in many ways set the standard for executive coaching in Silicon Valley over 20 years ago. He considers his 25 years of coaching work at Apple, from their fast growth period to the present, to be among his most significant achievements.
John’s passion for bringing strong leadership and culture building skills to early stage ventures resulted in the founding of the Velocity Group in 2015 (with Ben Tauber). John is currently the Senior Partner and Board Chair at Velocity. He and Managing Partner Edward Sullivan have positioned Velocity as the “go to” coaching firm for early stage companies beginning to scale. They have worked with companies at various stages of growth including Marketo, Krux, AirTable, Clover Health, CultureAmp, Doordash, Grail, MasterClass, Remitly, and many others. Most recently, John serves as a Fellow at Sapphire Ventures.
John brings a strong business perspective to his work, helping leaders leverage their natural talents and expand their skill sets to the next level. John is passionate about innovation and change and helps leaders scale and transform their teams and organizations while building cultures of inclusion and diversity. CEOs have found his advice, counsel and practical tools critical to scaling their companies and avoiding many of the pitfalls along the way.
John holds a PhD in Organizational Communication and Leadership from Purdue University. He spent 17 years on the faculty at San Jose State University in the College of Business and was named Outstanding Professor of the entire University during his time there.
 
We talk about         
What questions should someone ask when looking for an executive coach?
Heart led companies’ vs fear led companies?
Is it different coaching Fortune 500 CEOs vs CEO from Early startups?
What do you need to see or hear to be able to say someone is a leader?
 
Connect with John Baird
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbaird2191/
http://www.velocitycoaching.com
Leading with Heart (leadingwithheartbook.com)

Ep 160 The Next Wave of AI with Christopher Nguyen

Show Notes Christopher Nguyen
CEO and Co-Founder of Aitomatic
Hacker, Professor, Builder/Founder w/ successful exits, Leader, Knowledge-First ML Creator @h1st_ai, ex-GoogleApps, http://bit.ly/scholar-ctn
 
‣ Strategic executive leadership [Google, Panasonic]
‣ CEO/CTO/VP Eng, successful startup+corp experience [Agenda-Asia, Arimo, Aitomatic]
‣ Hands-on software engineering management - built & led teams of '00s
‣ Machine Learning/AI, Extreme Internet-scale, highly available, low-latency service architectures
‣ Quantitative finance, applied statistics
 
We talk about         
What’s it like to successful start and exit several companies?
What is a Knowledge-First App Engine?
How do you train a cyber-security system against something that has not happened yet?
What is open-source project Human-First AI.
What are some of the top strategic technology trends you are seeing now and believe will be there in 2023 and 2024?
 
 
Connect with Christopher Nguyen
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ctnguyen/
https://www.aitomatic.com/
ctn@alumni.stanford.org

Ep 159 Nasdaq Private Market with Kevin Gsell

Kevin Gsell is the Managing Director, Company Solutions for Nasdaq Private Market,
NPM is leading the way by bringing private companies, banks and brokers, stakeholders, and investors together to transact in one marketplace.
 
How have the private markets changed over the years?
What is the history of the Nasdaq private market?
How important is it for liquidity, or a way for people to sell their shares, for these companies that stay private for so long? For employee, investors?
How are people for lack of a better word getting “screwed” on prices for shares of privately traded companies?
 
Connect with Kevin Gsell
 
(5) Kevin Gsell | LinkedIn
Kevin.gsell@npm.com
Trade Private Company Stock | Nasdaq Private Market

EP 158 Bootstrapping your way to Success with Michael Brooks

Show Notes Michael Brooks
Life is a freelance paradise. How do I know? Thanks to my company's $150 million in freelance payouts. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐧-𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤As the CEO and Founder of GoLance, I have an insider's view of the POWER of the "gig-economy," and how lucrative and benefit packed it truly is to work remotely.For all parties involved!I've created one of the world's largest freelance platforms, where high-quality global talent is able to connect with, and work for, incredible companies all over the world.
 
We talk about         
What is the future of outsourcing?
How does risk impact one’s decision making?
What's it like to run a company from Puerto Rico?
How to stand up to a larger company that tries to bully your startup?
How to use Quora and Podcast for all your marketing
And much more
 
 
Connect with Michael Brooks
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelabrooks/
Company goLance.com
Twitter MichaelBrooksPR

Ep 157 Hangry by The Founder of GrubHub Mike Evans

Show Notes Mike Evans
Mike Evans
I’m building a new company, Fixer. We’re a “right now” handyman service. Using our website, anyone in Chicago can book a fixer in minutes for whatever time is convenient for them. Our fixers are full time employees with benefits, as our company is committed to creating a career path alternative to the “gig” economy.Before Fixer, I went to MIT where I graduated with a pile of degrees and an equally impressive pile of debt. After that adventure, I co-founded GrubHub because I was frustrated with futilely searching for delivery restaurants and grumbling through inaccurate orders. I wrote version one of GrubHub.com in 2004 then armed with a “Sales for Dummies” book, I bootstrapped the business for two years. From there, I lead GrubHub through 5 financing rounds, a couple of acquisitions, a merger, and ultimately an IPO. Phew!Sign up to preorder my memoir, Hangry, at mikeevans.com.
 
We talk about         
How is riding a bike cross country like building a company?
How long should a Founder be out there selling a product?
What are the terms on a term sheet that founders should be aware of?            
What is the significance of a website that makes 1 dollar vs zero dollars?
How does one go through life content or discontent?
 
Connect with Mike Evans
https://www.linkedin.com/in/authormikeevans/
m_evans
mikeevans.co 

Ep 156 US-China and Tech with Rory Murphy

Show Notes Rory Murphy
Rory Murphy is the Vice President of Government Affairs at the US-China Business Council and is based out of Washington DC.Before joining USCBC, Murphy worked as an attorney at Squire Patton Boggs LLP. He previously worked in the policy office of the Export-Import Bank of the United States and as a professional staff member on the trade staff of the Senate Finance Committee under former Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT). Murphy received an undergraduate degree from Seton Hall University and a law degree from the Catholic University of America. He is a native of Great Falls, Montana..
 
We talk about
Tech companies in Silicon Valley and decisions around CFIUS.
Outbound or reverse CFIUS, what is that? 
Where is capital flowing? It is staying in Mainland China, flowing to Hong Kong, or is it going to other countries like Singapore?
Publicly traded Chinese companies being delisted
 
Connect with Rory Murphy
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rory-murphy-80047122/
rory.murphy@gmail.com
https://www.uschina.org/

Ep 155 Private Equity and Startups with Jim Toth

Jim Toth, Managing Partner at Riverside Acceleration CapitalI have been investing in enterprise software companies since 2006, both as an individual and as an institutional investor. I am passionate about software and entrepreneurship and strive every day to be helpful as an investor and partner for growth.
 
We talk about
Why should companies think of raising debt when taking outside capital vs equity?
What should one know about Private Equity?
Where is the Private Equity world moving towards in the next 5 years?
What type of operation partners can a PE group bring to one of their investments?
 
Connect with Jim Toth
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimtoth/
RAC | Designed for Growth (riverside.ac)

Ep154 Negotiate like a CEO with Jotham Stein

Show Notes Jotham Stein
Jotham S. Stein is the principal of the Law Offices of Jotham S. Stein P.C. (www.jotham.com). Mr. Stein has more than twenty-five years of experience representing entrepreneurs, C-Suite executives, board members, venture capitalists, private equity principals, investment bankers as well as employees of companies of all types and sizes. Mr. Stein has negotiated numerous employment agreements, separation agreements, M & A agreements, change in control agreements, stock option agreements, restricted stock agreements, management carve out agreements, non-compete agreements, and much more.Mr. Stein is also a litigator. He has represented individuals and corporate clients in state and federal courts and in multidistrict litigation, before state and federal agencies, and in arbitration, including before JAMS, the American Arbitration Association and FINRA. Mr. Stein has also served as part-time General Counsel of a high-technology Silicon Valley company.Mr. Stein is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Princeton University. He is admitted to practice in California, Illinois, New York, Colorado and the District of Columbia as well as the United States Supreme Court, United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh, Ninth and District of Columbia Circuits and several United States District Courts. He is also a member of multiple bar associations, including the American Bar Association.Mr. Stein’s new book, Negotiate Like a CEO, is an engaging look at how top entrepreneurs and executives protect themselves and how you can too.Mr. Stein is also the author of the professional guide for attorneys: Executive Employment Law: Protecting Executives, Entrepreneurs and Employees (first published by Oxford University Press, and now its ninth edition, published by Mathew Bender/LexisNexis).
 
We talk about
What is better, to get a two-page offer letter or a 50-page offer letter and why?
Should negotiations be done face-to-face or with the new world, is zoom, ok?
What are the areas of an employment contract that can be negotiated?
What are single action and double action triggers in a contract?
 
 
Connect with Jothem Stein
(3) Jotham S. Stein | LinkedInjothamstein@jotham.com
joe@totalexpertinc.com
jotham.com 
Negotiate Like a CEO – Negotiate Like a CEO, What Every CEO, Entrepreneur, Attorney Should Read! (negotiatelikeaceobook.com)
 

Ep 153 Betting on Yourself with Joe Welu

Show Notes Joe Welu
Fiercely committed to building Total Expert into a world class technology company through incredible people and a relentless focus on innovation and getting better every single day. I have dedicated my life to staying ahead of trends and creating incredible value for our customers as CEO of Total Expert.Areas of Expertise:-Digital transformation in financial services -SaaS/Fintech-Sales and Marketing leadership and strategy -Customer Loyalty-Real Estate and Mortgage Lending
 
We talk about
How did you land your first major customer?
Why is it important to define what is “customer success”?  What questions should be asked?
How many customers does one need to have to know they have found product market fit for what they are making?
How long was your company around before you felt that a distinct business culture had been formed?
How can a company go about utilizing their customers data?
And much more
 
 
Connect with Joe Welu
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-welu-4056726/
joe@totalexpertinc.com
TotalExpertInc