Ep 56: Poker helped me negotiate contracts, says Andrew Woods, GC @PubMatic

Can playing cards teach you to be a better lawyer? How do you make it in Silicon Valley without the traditional big law firm experience? And how do you make the jump to public company general counsel?

Join Andrew Woods, General Counsel at PubMatic, as he discusses the unique path he forged from professional poker player to legal star. From founding a think tank at Harvard focused on poker and law to breaking into tech and privacy as Director of Legal and Associate Counsel at Twitter, Andrew relies on his belief in the value of autonomy, mastery, and significance to guide him towards work that makes him happiest.

Listen as Andrew discusses his love for game theory, landing a fulfilling job leading legal at a tech company, hiring lawyers based on their ambitions instead of their experience, and more.

Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-56

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Starting your career as a professional poker player: 1:33
Comparing poker skills with skills required to succeed as general counsel: 6:10
Taking an unorthodox path after law school: 13:02
Transitioning to in-house roles in tech: 17:12
Moving away from skill questions in the hiring process: 22:52
Developing mastery over fields like privacy and ad tech: 29:05
Breaking into privacy: 33:18
Considering the future of AI governance from a privacy perspective: 36:37
Making the jump to Twitter and PubMatic: 39:21
Book recommendations: 54:23
What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 57:23
Connect with us:
Andrew Woods - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmichaelwoods/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.

Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.