The Silicon Valley Podcast

Ep 189 AI and the Human Touch with Tatyana Mamut PHD

Show Notes for Tatyana Mamut
 
Transformational technology executive who delivers game-changing results by anticipating the future, obsessing over customers and building amazing teams. Humans create the future; technology is a tool.
- Board Director and Chair of Comp Committee for NYSE IPO.
- Advisor to tech leaders making bold and courageous moves that will bend the trajectory of the world.
 
We talk about:
How has building products in Silicon Valley changed over time?
Where in the decision-making chain does the focus on the customer gets lost?
What are some brand-building strategies for startups?
How is OpenAI/ChatGPT, as well as web3, being discussed in new product development these days?
 
Connect with Tatyana
(2) Tatyana Mamut
 

Ep188 Planning the Exit Before you Purchase with Dan Abbate

Bio
Dan Abbate is an entrepreneur, thought leader, and investor with a career-long focus in business process optimization and automation using advanced technology, organizational development, and continuous improvement. Dan has a heavy transaction background including startup financing, mergers and acquisitions, and turnarounds. As an investor, Dan’s focus is on capital preservation, fixed-income and cash flow through a variety of investment vehicles in operating
We talk about:
What does a “Chief Problem Solver” at a company do?  
When to replace staff with software?
What is the thought process when building customized software for a company vs buying a 3rd party license?
Strategies when acquiring a company
And much more
 
Connect with Dan
 
(2) Dan Abbate | LinkedIn
Twitter robotaton
dan@thebigda.com

Ep 187 Private Equity Playbook with Adam Coffey

Show notes Adam Coffey
 
CEO, Board Member, Best-Selling Author, and Acclaimed International Speaker, Adam Coffey is a visionary leader who drives transformative growth and fosters high-performance cultures.
 
With 21+ years of experience as CEO, Adam led three national private equity-backed service companies for 9 private equity sponsors. During this time period he completed 58 acquisitions, his track record includes notable outcomes measured in the billions, averaging 5x MOIC at exit.
 
Adam is a respected mentor to MBA candidates and a sought-after speaker at UCLA. He brings diverse expertise from commercial and industrial service businesses, alongside being a licensed general contractor, pilot, former GE executive, and US Army veteran.
 
As an author, Adam's books "The Private Equity Playbook" and "The Exit Strategy Playbook" became #1 Amazon Best Sellers. Recognized as one of the "Most Influential Leaders" by the Orange County Business Journal, he founded the CEO Advisory Guru in 2021, providing consulting services to private equity firms, their portfolio companies and to founders.
 
Adam's impactful seminars have generated millions in revenue, solidifying his position as one of the world's top speakers. He resides in Westlake, TX, with his family.
 
We talk about:
 
How should one go about evaluating Private Equity groups when looking to be acquired?
 
What are the roles of consultants in a Private Equity Deal?
 
What is rolling over equity in a transaction and how that can become a residual income streams?
 
There are many mastermind groups here in Silicon Valley, what should one look for when they are thinking of joining one?
 
How did Adam get the nickname “The Chairman”?
 
And much more…
 
Connect with Adam
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamecoffey/

Ep 186 The Growth of Netflix and more with Arthur Mrozowski

Show Notes Arthur Mrozoski
Successful media entrepreneur and investor with an international track record of building successful technologies, enterprises, and strategic partnerships have resulted in several M&As. His career has been defined by his pioneering new technologies that spearheaded new industries.He started as a software engineer with Meridian Data, soon acquired by IBM, after which he joined Sony Corporation. At 28, he co-founded Round Book Publishing with colleagues from Sony.Founded Media Galleries, multimedia publishing company: produced first film using QuickTime 1.0. Designed and co-produced "35 years of Grammy's" award-winning multimedia. Published first Digital Multimedia Magazine PC ROCK with Poland's largest national radio RFM. Published Multimedia Chopin Encyclopedia, with UCSC Professor Anatoly Leikin.1998 Founded MGE, to post-produce Hollywood films to DVD.1999 Published NETFLIX first original content making, creating a first national company recognition, with CNN, Wall Street Journal front coverage.2000 He created a first national campaign for the first Master Card branded gift card—GiftAmerica Card by OneNetwork.2002 Sold MGE to a company servicing Netflix's postproduction needs (Left Coast Digital) 2003 founded MGE FILM; distributing European Films: NETFLIX, Amazon.In 2008, co-founded Silicon Hill Ventures to develop break-through ideas into valuable companies with strong exits in the fields of media creation and distribution, revolutionary advertising platforms, big data analytics, and life sciences. 2009, he founded in and became the CEO of Magic Screen, a holographic advertising platform. Clients included Red Bull, Tao Club. In 2013, Magic Screen was acquired by publicly-traded company Nanotech.2014 Co-founded NovoSensus, a big-data analytics company, with Phil Sakakihara, Hewlett Packard's first CTO. 2015 Co-founded VPILA. Company dedicated to a tennis or golf ball tracking.2016 Co-founded DotHot. The company focus mobile proximity advertising platform based on GPS and IoT.2017 CoFunded Under the Sun/Yachtbook, SAAS platform for management of Yachts and Villas.2017 CoFunded Looptronic. IoT company that is utilizing a wearables for authentication and transactions.Advisor for several start-ups, as well as an accomplished inventor with multiple U.S. patent applications
We talk about
Advice on Negotiating the sale of your company?
How Chat GPT is disrupting all of Silicon Valley?
How can a companies mistake end up being a pivotal part in its success?
When is it time to sell your company?
 
Connect with Arthur Mrozowski
https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthurmrozowski/
siliconhillventures.com 
dvdart

Ep 185 Launching Your Product with Michael Smart

Show Notes Michael Smart
Over 25 years in the information technology and software industry in several executive positions with responsibility for product management, product marketing, development and operations for NASDAQ--traded companies in the internet and software industries.In these roles I have successfully guided the development and launch of new products in the internet security, service management and mobile data software markets.The most exciting and rewarding work I do is show marketing and product executives how to change the ground rules and win in the market with their solutions. As a practitioner in product management, product marketing and product lifecycle management; I work with small and large firms to improve their go-to-market results. I have delivered value to companies in the following areas: Product Assessment- identifying the cause of potential revenue and profit leaks for the product. This is followed with recommendations for quick fixes with fast payback and long term strategies.Product Transformation -defining new opportunities for existing products in adjacent markets through re-packaging and pricing options.Specialties: Developing and implementing product lifecycle, product management and product marketing best practices in technology companies.
 
We talk about:
 
What is a product life cycle and what we should know before we talk about launching a product?
What is a product assessment and where do companies struggle with this?
How has launching a product changed over time in Silicon Valley?
What is it like to run a consulting agency?
 
And much more
 
Connect with Michael
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/masmart/
 
msmart@egresssolutions.net
 
Twitter Mike_Smart
 

Ep 184 How to Navigate Escalating Costs with Michael Plesha

Show notes for Michael Plesha
 
Mike is an accomplished executive business leader with over 20 years of experience in global operations, sales & marketing, strategic planning, and value chain solution design. His strong relationship skills, consulting, and leadership abilities, combined with his broad industry experience, allows him to seamlessly connect across organizational landscapes, to partner with corporate leaders and build effective long-term board-level relationships. He is an active member of the Board of Directors for the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), the Turnaround Management Association (TMA), and the California League of Food Producers. Additionally, Mike serves on the Board of Directors of The Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, one of California's oldest nonprofit organizations serving the blind and those with vision impairment.
 
As a Consulting Partner with Expense Reduction Analysts (ERA), Mike is a strategic advisor to C-Suite executives focused on driving improved costs, maximizing supplier value, operating margins, and EBITDA. ERA operates on a global basis working in both the middle- and enterprise markets. With a focused approach on business intelligence, analytics, and AI capabilities, Mike and his team of supplier industry subject matter experts provide their clients unique insights on supplier industry behaviors and real time benchmark data to achieve significant financial improvement in both cost structure and service levels.
 
 
 
We cover
 
Expense and spend management- is this the job of the CFO, the controller, purchasing, who?  Does it change as a company grows?
 
What is Tail Spend and why is it difficult to manage?
 
How does one go about finding hidden savings opportunities?
 
How often should the CEO and the CFO look over expenses?
 
What should or shouldn’t companies outsource? 
 
 
Connect with Michael
 
mplesha@expensereduction.com
 
Website
 
expensereduction.com 

Ep 183 The Venture Studio Model with Mark McNally

Show Notes Mark McNally
 
An accomplished and visionary product and marketing executive with broad-based experience scaling companies from startup through multinational establishment. Career includes impressive results as a visionary tech innovator, global business veteran and results oriented operations executive. Led companies from startup through successful IPO. As a senior executive successfully developed and launched visionary new products in multiple industries and managed multi
 
What are the problems with startups coming out of the big-name accelerator programs?
 
What is a venture studio and what is its model?
 
What are the problems with building a company thinking it will be disruptive for 15 years?
 
In terms of metrics, what does success look like for a Venture Studio?
 
Connect with Mark
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrkmcnally/
 
https://nobodystudios.com/

Ep 182 Technology Between Two Great Countries with Marco Sermoneta

Marco Sermoneta
Ambassador Marco Sermoneta is the Consul General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, based in San Francisco. A career diplomat since 1993, he will be building partnerships and coalitions of support for Israel with the people and governments of Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. He plans to focus on strengthening relations in the areas of innovation and technology, trade, agriculture, tourism, sustainability and the environment, and culture.  He looks forward to working together with the active Jewish communities, businesses, and Israeli entrepreneurs in San Francisco, Seattle and Portland. A native Italian and fluent Spanish speaker, he intends to work closely with the Italian American and Hispanic American communities. He is eager to work with the Americans of Asian descent, including the Japanese and Indian communities, based on his diplomatic experiences.
Marco served as Israel’s Ambassador to Colombia and strengthened the political and trade relations significantly with the first ever visit of an Israeli Prime Minister to the country, and with the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement during his tenure.  This set the framework for commerce and economic cooperation which has flourished until today.  Throughout Marco’s tenure there was increased cooperation on technology, innovation, development, and defense issues.
As Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica, he was instrumental in strengthening relations in a number of areas including agriculture, development, and defense. Israel was one of the first countries to respond to the devastating earthquake of Haiti in 2010, providing immediate humanitarian assistance and long-term trauma-care knowledge. Additionally, he served as Deputy Ambassador to Japan helping represent Israel as the Indo-Pacific Region became more of a focus for Israeli foreign policy. 
He was the Head of the European Multilateral Organizations desk in the European Division of the Foreign Ministry, which included NATO, OSCE and others. He played an important role in the Papal Visit of John Paul II to Israel in 2000. Previously he served as the Political Counselor of the Israeli Mission to the United Nations focusing on social affairs, human rights, economics, and sustainability. He helped Israel gain a more appropriate representation on various UN Committees and staff, and helped many Israeli NGOs obtain UN recognition and accreditation. At the start of his career, he was a Deputy Chief of Mission in both Mumbai and Dublin.
Born in Rome, Marco’s family was active in the Roman Jewish Community, who trace their origins to the Second Temple period 2,000 years ago. He immigrated to Israel as a child on the day before the Yom Kippur War started in 1973 growing up in Lod, a city with various economic and social challenges. For him, being accepted as a Cadet in the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and representing Israel, is a personal and professional dream. 
Before joining the Foreign Ministry, he was assistant to the night editor of the Jerusalem Post, wrote articles for the paper, and worked in a bookstore. Besides international diplomacy, Marco has been writing and publishing poetry for the past 20 years. He also translates Italian and English poetry into Hebrew. He received a BA in English Linguistics and International Relations from Hebrew University and served in a field intelligence unit in the IDF. He enjoys Italian cooking and music, and is hoping to expand his vinyl record collection during his time in San Francisco.
 
We talk about:
How can a Silicon Valley company get in contact with investors from Israel?
How can the Israel consulate help companies here and abroad?
How has the technology that has been developed in Israel spilll over to other countries into other parts of the world or has it?
And  much more…
Connect with Marco
https://embassies.gov.il/san-francisco
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-sermoneta-28907a18/
 

Ep 181 From Bootstrapping to IPO, CEO at Every Stage with Mark McClain

Mark McClain
I’ve been an entrepreneur in the identity management market for more than 20 years, cofounding two companies that have driven innovation in the market. SailPoint (NYSE:SAIL), has built its business on the foundational principle that identity is power. We have been in business for more than 15 years, and the company continues to grow with profitability. Our commitment to innovation and consistently high customer satisfaction are among the reasons the biggest, most complex organizations in the world rely on SailPoint to help them improve security while staying agile.As CEO, I’m passionate about building a corporate culture that brings good people together to accomplish great things. I love giving back to our community and working with up-and-coming entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and expand Austin’s influence in technology. I speak frequently at investor and industry events and write for the SailPoint blog and a variety of industry publications. I have also been recognized as a highest-rated CEO by Glassdoor and by EY as an Entrepreneur of the Year.Specialties: leadership, organizational development, innovation, culture, business operations, strategy, start-ups
 
We talk about
 
From raising Venture Capital, Private equity, to going public… How has the company changed at each of these stages?
How does a board change with each stage of a company?
What are companies missing when they talk about corporate culture?
 
And much more
 
Connect with Mark
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmcclainceo/
Website
https://www.sailpoint.com/

Ep 180 Never Say Whatever with Richard Moran

Possible Show notes for  Richard Moran 
 
Richard Moran
 
Richard A. Moran is a General Partner at Tonic Bioventures. He is a noted San Francisco based business leader, workplace pundit, bestselling author, consultant and venture capitalist. He is best known for his series of humorous business books beginning with bestselling, Never Confuse a Memo with Reality that started the genre of "Business Bullet Books."​
 
 
 
 
We talk about:
 
What tips can you give companies from the side of a Venture Capitalist, on not running out of Money.
 
What is the meaning of the word “Whatever”?
 
How can one change a “whatever” business culture?
 
As a Venture Capitalist, how did you do analysis on companies before investing?
 
Contact:
 
Twitter richmoran
Blog  richardmoran.com 
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardamoran/