#153 COO & CRO Weights & Biases, Yan-David Erlich: ML’s Moment

Guest: Yan-David Erlich, COO and CRO of Weights & Biases

After starting four companies, Yan-David Erlich had found happiness and success as a GP in Coatue’s venture fund — but then, after investing in the AI developer platform Weights & Biases, he realized the time was right to get back into operating. That was not a decision he made lightly, consulting with his wife before he became the startup’s COO. The challenges of entrepreneurship get easier, he explains, when you have a supportive partner in your corner. That’s why he believes he could roll with the loss of his home or his job or his money — but not her. 

In this episode, Yan-David and Joubin discuss Snowflake vs. Amazon, Slack vs. Microsoft Teams, Donald Trump, charting your own destiny, regret minimization, alternate selves, Michael Dearing, chips on your shoulder, Google Glass, industrial sales, the AI & ML window, hairball problems, fixing giant messes, and fighting a bear.

In this episode, we cover:

• The advantage of speed (01:06)
• Competing against a massive business (05:24)
• Idiocy and secrets (09:45)
• Yan-David’s past companies (12:34)
• His philosophy on life (17:17)
• Leaving LinkedIn (22:14)
• Anxiety and regret (26:27)
• The failure of Happiness Engines (34:43)
• Why Yan-David left Parsable after five years (38:05)
• Coatue’s venture fund (46:13)
• Weights & Biases and the ML moment (48:08)
• Why AI is still underhyped (51:05)
• From investor to board member to COO to CRO (55:20)
• Being a good lieutenant (58:51)
• The hidden costs of operating (01:01:33)
• Successful entrepreneurs and happy relationships (01:05:55)
• Who Weights & Biases is hiring & what “grit” means to Yan-David (01:10:26)

Links:

• Connect with Yan-David
  • 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