Christopher Lochhead Follow Your Different™

In this episode, we are taken for a ride on how to go from sales rep to Chairman of the board with the amazing Elisa Steele. We have a powerful conversation about how she went from sales rep to regional sales to CMO, then CEO. We also talk about what she’s learned from working in massive tech companies like Microsoft and Yahoo and many more, Wait for the part where she gives advice on how women can design legendary careers and have children too. From Sales Rep to CEO Elisa Steels is the Chairman of the board of two publicly traded tech companies, Cornerstone on Demand and Namley. She’s also on the Board of $25B Splunk. More of her career background includes former CEO of Namley and Jive and former CMO of Skype, and Yahoo. She candidly shares what she learned from her career in these huge tech companies and from smaller entrepreneurial companies. From the time she graduated, she had a clear vision of what success looks like and she believes she will achieve it through sales.  “If I went into sales, then its really clear. If I’m successful, I made or overachieve my number. Nobody can be subjective about that. If I go into some of these other fields, that was like, a complete mystery to me, how do I know if I am actually gonna make it? - Elisa Steele Legendary Career Woman Initially, Elisa shares the only one thing she wished for her career: to not work with other people. The second thing she wished was to have financial independence. She believes that if women do not build resources for themselves, the critical decisions will be left to other people other than themselves.  “I was motivated by the fact or maybe even terrified by the fact that I wouldn’t have choices in life if I didn’t have resources. If you don’t have resources, then decisions in your life are up to somebody else. Resources equals choice.” - Elisa Steele For Elisa, resources generally are assets. It is representative of the things that help women make a decision on what they want to do. Creating some wealth will make those choices, especially those that are critical in life. How to Disagree and Commit Elisa is a powerful executive and she shares the thought of disagreeing, but still committing. She describes herself as a consensus builder. “Being the smartest in the room doesn’t actually help anybody. You have to actually make decisions and together, execute, because strategy is nothing without strong execution. Executiion is everything. Even if the strategy is off, you can still win, if you execute. Disagree but commit and be one team.” - Elisa Steele To hear more information about Elisa Steele and to listen to his tips on how to go from sales rep to chairman of the board, download and listen to the episode. Bio: Elisa Steele is the Chairman of the Board at Cornerstone (CSOD) and Namely; Board Director at Splunk (SPLK) and an advisor to Advisor to Tile and people.ai. She’s the former CEO of Namely  and Jive Software, Inc.,  Ms. Steele served as Chief Marketing Officer and Corporate Vice President, Consumer Apps & Services at Microsoft Corporation, a worldwide provider of software, services and solutions, and Chief Marketing Officer of Skype, an Internet communications company, from 2012-2014.  Ms. Steele also has held executive leadership positions Yahoo! Inc. and NetApp, Inc.  Ms. Steele has served as a member of the board of directors of Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc., a learning and human capital management software company, since 2018.  Ms. Steele holds a B.S. from the University of New Hampshire and an M.B.A. from San Francisco State University. Links:  Linkedin - Elisa Steele Twitter: - @elisasteele We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes! Get amazing, different stories on business, marketing, and life. Subscribe to our newsletter The Difference.

This dialogue is a glimpse into a legend— whose name might not be world-renown but surely is worth getting to know—Dr. Sean Peterson. We connected over our love of people and children who are, “differently-abled. We talk about autism, uniqueness, human behavior and more. Love For Kids We’re at a point where every guest we have on could be someone famous. But just because someone’s well known, doesn’t mean you can have a real-life affirming conversation with them.  Today, Christopher converses with Dr. Sean Peterson. Dr. Sean has a Phd. in Applied Behavior Analysis and has spent 10 years running an autism clinic. He’s a wonderful guy, a husband and father. He also runs a physical therapy clinic with his wife called FYZICAL. “I think people are wonderful in general but working with kids in particular, is amazing. the delight that they have in their eyes, the ability to just make me laugh about ridiculous things.” - Dr. Sean Peterson What is Autism? Dr. Sean defines autism as “a neurodevelopmental disorder. He acknowledges that everyone, doctors and parents alike, needs a lot more to understand autism, but on the most basic level, it is categorized by repetitive behavior and social deficit. “A lot of that social deficit comes in the form of communication deficit. In particular, being able to communicate basic wants and needs and also being able to interpret the feedback that is given back.” - Dr. Sean Peterson Functional Behaviors As a behavioral analyst, Dr. Sean shares his point of view on why humans behave such way. It is basically categorized into four: access to attention, access to tangible items, escape from unpleasant situations and access to sensory input or automatic reinforcement He further cites examples of how to identify each one.  “Everybody is unique. Follow your different right? So, its really finding that specific piece for each kid and so from a behavior analyst standpoint, from an applied behavior analysis perspective, our goal is really to teach functional replacement behaviors and skill acquisition.” - Dr. Sean Peterson He further shares that behavior is functional. Everything we do has a functional outcome and the same behavior could actually bring us different things. To hear more information about Dr. Sean Peterson and to learn more about human behavior and loving differently abled kids, download and listen to the episode. Bio: Originally, from outside of Los Angeles, CA, Sean spent his college years at TCU down in Ft. Worth, TX.   During his time in Ft. Worth, Sean spent 4 years as TCU's Mascot, SuperFrog!   He also had the privilege of cycling across the United States to raise money for individuals with disabilities.   After finishing at TCU, Sean went on to complete his PHD in Applied Behavior Analysis at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.   He moved his young family to Sioux City, IA, where he was the first clinical director of the Pier Center for Autism.   When Sean and Lauren began to consider a move to be closer to family, Oklahoma City was the perfect choice.  Sean and his wife Lauren have a passion for evidence based medical care and opened FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers of Oklahoma City to provide physical therapy focused on Pelvic Health, and Balance and Falls Prevention.  It is with Lauren's physical therapy knowledge and passion that FYZICAL has grown, and is helping the people of OKC Love Their Lives!   Links: Fyzical Linkedin - Sean Peterson We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes! Get amazing, different stories on business, marketing, and life. Subscribe to our newsletter The Difference.

For our first episode this year 2020, we hang out with professional athlete fitness trainer and founder of Paradigm Sport in Santa Cruz, CA, Joey Wolfe. Today we go beyond all of 7-minute abs BS, get fit quick, scams and shams and have a real, different conversation about making fitness and wellness stick in your life. Trainer of Champions and Weekend Warriors The last time Joey Wolfe had a conversation with Christopher was a year ago. Joey’s episode remains one of our most popular ever.  We’re definitely sure, listeners will get practical ideas for well-being improvement, He has trained superstar athletes like Mitch Haniger of the Seattle Mariners. Additionally, he has worked with former UFC champion Luke Rockhold.  World Surf League rookie of the year Nat Young and a lot of regular weekend warrior type like us have trained with him. “We all know what to do. We all know that going and exercising in the gym for a min of 30 min is a good thing. But for a lot of people, there’s something preventing them from doing that. So just try to get clear on what their motivating factor is” - Joey Wolfe New Year’s Resolutions and Diet Crazes One of the reasons why people hit the gym is its part of their New Year’s resolution. Joey says that although it is a good reason, it doesn’t qualify as a great one as it cannot s sustain through the rest of the years. “Just getting clear what their goals are and then, really trying to start off easy with their habit change. Trying to get them to do something that I know they’re gonna be successful with.” - Joey Wolfe He also shares how he tried intermittent fasting, keto, paleo diet, vegan, blood typing diet and what works faster, what works slower and what doesn’t work at all.  “Try to educate yourself on this stuff and then try it. Everybody is different. There are polarizing ideas in terms of what’s right and even someone like me in the health and fitness profession,  its hard to know what’s right.” - Joey Wolfe Recommendations and What Nots Christopher loves Joey’s POV that everyone is an athlete. We all have an athlete inside us.  Designing a legendary life entails being active, fit and healthy. With this said, he shares how athletes and weekend warriors alike can follow the same set of principles for fitness and health. Joey shares adding more habits is better than removing some. He says there is science behind developing habits. For example, it is better to drink more water, take more protein, add more supplements, among others, rather than cutting down sugar and carbs.  To hear more information about Joey Wolfe and to listen to his tips on how to get and stay fit,, download and listen to the episode. Bio: Joey is a lifelong athlete. He is the founder and CEO of Paradigm Sport, located in Santa Cruz, CA Early in his career he played professional baseball and was on track to be a major league catcher when injures took him out.  Never a quitter, Joey dedicated his life to empowering others to be fit, healthy and make their athletic dreams come true.   He’s trained countless pro-baseball players, UFC fighters, pro-surfers and regular folks who want to take their game up in life.  A native of the Central Coast of California, his talent and passion for baseball took him to the professional level where he worked with some of the country’s best trainers. As an ACSM-certified trainer he now shares his experience and enthusiasm with world-class athletes and fitness clients alike. Joey has built a business with the goal of bringing the most advanced techniques and the highest levels of individualized athlete training to the Central Coast community.  The local environment has shaped his interests and defined sport-specific training in two disciplines: competitive surfing, for which Santa Cruz is world-renowned; and baseball, which launched his career. Links: Paradigm Sport  Instagram: @Paradigm_Sport Facebook: Paradigm Sport We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™!

Today, one of the most prolific and important writers in the world, Dushka Zapata, joins us for a very unusual but moving discussion. They talk about grief, happiness and why its okay to opt-out for the holidays. Her work has been viewed over 150 million times on Q & A site Quora.  This might be the most different conversation you’ve ever heard about the holidays! Remembering Those We Have Lost The holidays are wonderful celebratory times for us to focus on our friends, family and for many of us, our faith. For many of us, the holiday season can be a happy season. However, there are quite a number who have moments of some sorrow. The holidays, intentionally or unintentionally, reminds us of the people we have lost. “As you know, I write a lot at Quora. A lot of questions I answer are about people who are asking permission.’Is it normal for me to be sad? How long should grief last? i lost my dog four years ago and I’m still mourning, is that normal?’ To me, my answer is always, ‘who cares?’ Who cares if it’s normal? You should feel whatever it is that you’re feeling. Who is it that is an authority on regulating what other people should or shouldn’t be feeling?” - Dushka Zapata The 7 Steps To Overcome Grief Christopher shares that there are no 7 steps to overcome grief. Some people advise those who are grieving with tips on how to cope but the reality is, there are no stages to grief and Dushka says its totally acceptable. “I think so many people want to help but I’m going to tell you, asking someone to cheer up when they’re grieving is like sitting on someone's chest when they’re trying to breathe.” - Dushka Zapata A Happy Person Who Grieves Dushka shares some personal stories on how she considers herself as a happy person who grieves. The primary reason she grieves during December was her father passed away that month. Ever since, she has not celebrated the holiday.  “I just feel like we should all be making that space for others. It’s okay to grieve, it’s okay to be sad, it’s okay to hate the holidays, its okay to not want other people to have a happy holiday because you just can’t do that to another person, to be happy, forceful happiness, its okay.” - Dushka Zapata To hear more information about Dushka Zapata and to listen to why its okay to feel grief over the holidays, download and listen to the episode. Bio: Dushka Zapata is one of the most prolific and popular writers working today.  On question and answer site Quora her work has been viewed over 150 million times. She’s the author of eight best-selling books. Dushka has over 20 years experience as a senior communications executive in Silicon Valley.  When she’s not writing, she serves as a communications executive at tech juggernaut Zendesk. Links: Quora - Dushka Zapata Amazon - Dushka Zapata Love Yourself: and Other Insurgent Acts That Recast Everything You Belong Everywhere: and Other Things You'll Have to See for Yourself  Twitter - @dushkaamateur Linkedin - Dushka We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes! Get amazing, different stories on business, marketing, and life. Subscribe to our newsletter The Difference.

One of Christopher Lochhead’s hero, UFC Hall of Famer and MMA legend Bas Rutten joins us today for another powerful and insightful conversation. We talk about how as a Dutch Kid, Bas, over-came horrible asthma and eczema, and bullying to become, the “Baddest Man in the World.” He shares about his outlook in life, his techniques when learning a new skill and a lot more. Fun, Playful and Affable Bas Rutten shares how some people see his life as almost like a cartoon character. He shares how he did a commercial for Cartoon Network focusing on anti-bullying and getting fit. These campaigns were personally moving for him as he was bullied when he was young due to severe asthma and eczema. “I know people who have asthma 365 days a year. I know people who are covered with eczema. Compared to them, this is not really that bad. That was my outlook always in life. There's always somebody, out there who has it worse than you.”  - Bas Rutten Greatest and Most Terrifying Bas is a Sensei, commentator, and inventor. He is also the former UFC Heavy Weight Champion of the World. He scored 13 knockdowns without getting dropped, become the most accurate striker in UFC history with 70% accuracy and ended his career on a mind-blowing 22-fight winning streak. “I found out about that [statistics] when I was inducted in the Hall of Fame. That was so cool. That was my fighting style. I don’t want to waste things. I like to look for openings. The opponent, most of the time gives the knock out for me. He'll make a mistake, if he punches, the body is open.” - Bas Rutten Overcoming Everything Non-fans will definitely love this episode and will surely learn a ton from Bas.  His mindset around losing, overcoming adversity and the drive to learn new skills, Is something we can all learn from. Bas is also an entrepreneur and inventor. His new O2 Trainer is fast becoming a must-have for professional athletes, weekend warriors and among people with asthma and breathing challenges. The O2 trainer strengthens the lungs and breathing muscles.  To hear more information about Bas Rutten and to listen to his ideas how to over-come anything, download and listen to the episode. Bio: Sebastiaan “Bas” Rutten (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbɑs ˈrʏtə(n)];) is a Dutch retired mixed martial artist (MMA), Karate and Taekwondo blackbelt, and Muay Thai kickboxer.  He was a UFC Heavyweight Champion, a three-time King of Pancrase world champion, and finished his career on a 22 fight unbeaten streak (21 wins, 1 draw ).  Bas has been inducted to the UFC Hall of Fame in 2015.  He suffered severe asthma in his childhood years and inspired by his struggle breathing developed the O2 Trainer.  When Bas is not teaching at his gym in Westlake Village, he might be working on some acting or commentating at Karate Combat with Kenny Rice. Links: Bas Rutten Wikipedia Twitter - @BasRuttenMMA O2 Trainer Instagram - @basruttenmma Also, special thanks to Luis Congdon for the kind introduction. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes! Get amazing, different stories on business, marketing, and life. Subscribe to our newsletter The Difference.

After breaking the internet with our Mia Khalifa Episode 111, we are bringing you another episode with John McAfee, Legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and 2020 U.S Presidential candidate. He joins us to share his experiences in Silicon Valley and talks about why he thinks “it doesn’t matter who the President is. This will no doubt be one of our most controversial episodes. Then and Now John has been called “The most interesting man in the world.” He was an outlaw, from parts unknown, He has lived part of his adult life, on the run, somewhere in Latin America. Today, John is a candidate for US President in 2020 If his name rings a bell, that is because he is the founder of McAfee The Security Company. John also got into a well-publicized Twitter war with Kim.com, the founder of now-defunct file hosting service Megaupload. Garden of Eden of Technology John passionately describes Silicon Valley then as the Garden of Eden of Technology. It was known as a tech hub for the world. He also shared interesting thoughts on Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, and Nolan Bushnell. “Most of the personalities in Silicon Valley were pleasant, creative, very different. Steve Jobs, as an example, never find time to take a bath. I can smell him across the room. That was just his thing, he did not have the f*cking time to take a bath. He is a serious businessman who took a bath at least once a month, I know I did. But I also work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week for 2 years. Not because I had to, but because I f*ckin’ want it. I love what I was doing.” - John McAfee In the past, John describes Silicon Valley as heaven. He is also candid that he does not know anything about it now, as he left it 25 years ago.  “Everyone you met in your circle, did something or showed you something which opened your mind to the potential of digital technology. Trust me that’s not there anymore.” - John McAfee The President Doesn’t Matter John shares why he thinks it doesn’t matter who sits in the Oval Office. He claims that the CIA is running the show. He says there are instances that the CIA manipulates information, information that the President refers to when making decisions that affect not only the country but the whole world. John shares more of his insights on CIA, one of the biggest clients of McAfee Security Company in the past. “Selective information is the ultimate power.” - John McAfee To hear more information about John McAfee and to listen to his ideas on his bid to U.S. Presidency for 2020, download and listen to the episode. Bio: John David McAfee (/ˈmækəfiː/ MAK-ə-fee;[1][2] born September 18, 1945) is a British-American computer programmer and businessman. He founded the software company McAfee Associates in 1987 and ran it until 1994, when he resigned from the company. McAfee Associates achieved early success as the creators of McAfee, the first commercial antivirus software, and the business now produces a range of enterprise security software. The company was purchased by Intel in 2011 and spun back out in 2017 with TPG Capital owning a majority stake, though the software has always borne the McAfee brand name.  McAfee's wealth peaked in 2007 at $100 million, before his investments plummeted in the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Since leaving McAfee Associates, he has founded the companies Tribal Voice (makers of the PowWow chat program), QuorumEx and Future Tense Central, among others, and has been involved in leadership positions in the companies Everykey, MGT Capital Investments and Luxcore, among others.  His personal and business interests include smartphone apps, cryptocurrency, yoga, and all-natural antibiotics.  He resided for a number of years in Belize, but later returned to the United States in 2013. McAfee is also a political activist, who sought the 2016 Libertarian Party nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 election, losing to former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson. Links: McAfee 2020

Join us in another fascinating and timely discussion with Yancey Strickler, Co-Founder & former CEO of Kickstarter, one of the most important new companies in the Startup ecosystem. He is the author of the new book This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World. Yancey is an experienced entrepreneur who shares very powerful insights that apply to your business and your life. Listen to our discussion about Bentoism. It’s an intriguing way to think about life. A Chapter From The Book In a chapter of Yancey’s new book This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World, he shares about Adele and how he found a startup company that measures loyalty and engagement. Adele faced issues with scalpers purchasing and jacking up prices of her concert tickets. “Currently, we imagine that economics is how everything should be distributed and here, Adele, found some other value through which to make herself available.” - Yancey Strickler Through the algorithm, Adele chose Top 30 per area of her most loyal fans. These people got access to tickets at their original prices. According to reports, fans were able to save 6 to 10 million pounds. A New Lens in Doing Business Yancey considers the Adele example as a powerful and pervasive lens in doing business. Adele found a could-have-been a post-economic way to distribute goods, placed a halt to that and ultimately, provided more value to her loyal fans. “To me, that is a new kind of choice, a very new kind of decision. It is suggestive of what, of how capitalism evolves, of how we evolve as a society. Basically, where we all recognize the importance of financial value. We can also recognize the limitations of financial value being so dominant, as it is right now.” - Yancey Strickler Social Entrepreneurship and Bentoism Christopher and Yancey exchanged stories about social entrepreneurship and how it has become an emerging conversation right now. Yancey believes that social entrepreneurship will succeed when it becomes a dominant point of view of everyone. “Right now, marrying a financial purpose for a nonfinancial purpose is like the cute indie thing to do. But we should root for this to be like mainstream arena rock. I want this, headlining stadiums.” - Yancey Strickler Yancey also shares his idea on Bentoism or Beyond Near Term Orientation. He came up with this idea when he was doodling and creating graphs while evaluating what he wants at the moment and what he would want to achieve in the future.  To hear more about This Could Be Our Future and more information about Yancey Strickler, Kickstarter Co-Founder, download and listen to the episode. Bio: Yancey Strickler is a writer and entrepreneur. He is the cofounder and former CEO of Kickstarter, author of This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World, and the creator of Bentoism. Yancey has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People.  He’s spoken at the Museum of Modern Art, Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals, Web Summit, and events around the globe.  He cofounded the artist resource The Creative Independent and the record label eMusic Selects. Yancey grew up in Clover Hollow, Virginia, and began his career as a music critic in New York City.  Links: Yancey Strickler Bentoism  Book: This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes! Get amazing, different stories on business, marketing, and life. Subscribe to our newsletter The Difference.

Today, entrepreneur and the incredibly creative guy Steve Lieberman, Founder & CEO of SJ Lighting, joins us today for another riveting conversation. Steve and his team have had a hand in almost every nightclub and electronic music festival in the US for the last ten years. He shares how he creates a lasting impact on attendees and how the whole production process goes, from planning to execution. Monumental Impact Even at a young age, he shares how he finds big, monumental art pieces as impactful. He carried on this astonishment for impactful art as he pursued a career in events production, specifically focusing on lights. “Whether it’s a big show or a little show, its 100,000 or 300-people-intimate-club-show, we like impact. An audience is coming to some show, they want to be moved. They want to be stimulated.” - Steve Lieberman Steve Lieberman has worked with more than 50 clubs and major festival brands like Electric Daisy Carnival, Coachella, Ultra, Lollapalooza, Rolling Loud and many more.  Similar Philosophies Steve shares how he and his colleagues share the same philosophies when it comes to event production. He further describes the whole lighting experience as “fluid with the music” as it is a visual representation of what the music is.  “When an audience comes in there, we have their attention and we want to give them something that they're gonna live with. I want them to leave that show and have something specific. It doesn’t need to be ten things. Whether it’s visual, oral—something that they heard—just part of their experience that they're going to take with them and they’re going to keep that forever.” - Steve Lieberman Puzzle Pieces Steve describes how every show is a little bit different. He says that there is no linear path from a  to b. As a designer, it’s not just taking out a worksheet and figuring out math problems. He sees production as fitting different pieces of a puzzle.  The design, procedures, modify based on what’s required and is highly dependent on the scale of the show. He shares he has to absorb all the information of what the show is, what the performers might prefer and who are the headlining artists. “I’d like to think, the promoters and basically, the guys who write the checks for the show, we’re on the same team. At the end of the day, my contracts are 99.9% with them. My priority is to protect their best interest.” - Steve Lieberman To hear more about Legendary Lighting & Nightclub Designer Steve Lieberman, download and listen to the episode. Bio: Steve Lieberman has been working in the festival and nightclub community since 1987. As a teen exploring NYC nightlife, he saw the potential of enhancing the events visually and got involved as a lighting designer for warehouse parties. This led naturally to stage design as his career picked up steam. By the time he moved to California in 2001, Steve’s reputation for next-level work made him a no-brainer for Insomniac, who came knocking at his door.  Some of Steve’s favorite projects of the past 25+ years are not necessarily the largest; he recalls fondly several side stages at EDC LA in the late nineties, such as one bassPOD stage consisting of a complete grid of LED fixtures laid into a matrix creating a truly dynamic perspective, and another stage with sets of stairs leading in all directions à la MC Escher.  Steve approaches each show, each stage, each environment with special attention based on the needs of the producer, the artist riders and the creative concepts. The primary principle to which Steve has held true all these years is not to fight your environment but to embrace it. Links: SJ Lighting How I Made It: Steve Lieberman got his start lighting illegal warehouse parties. Now, it’s Coachella. An Interview With Steve Lieberman: Founder of SJ Lighting We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter,

In another riveting episode, Scott Kupor, the managing partner of one of the highest-profile VC on the planet over the last decade, Andreessen Horowitz, joins us today to discuss startups, how to get funded and a lot more! He is also the author of the book called Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It. “Inside Baseball” Scott addressed the common issue of "inside baseball" between entrepreneurs and VCs. He shares that there is no reason why questions shouldn’t be answered and that VCs should reach out to entrepreneurs. “People don’t understand why decisions are made. I think that just leads to mistrust quite frankly between VCs and entrepreneurs.” - Scott Kupor Moreover, Scott shares the reason why he wrote the book. He wanted to bridge the gap between VCs and entrepreneurs. Through this book, he answers several entrepreneur questions that previously were assumed to be understood, since they have done a lot of deals in the past.  Information Asymmetry Scott discusses the idea about information asymmetry and how it results to one party benefitting at the expense of the other in those types of scenarios. “Capital is scarce and VCs have it. There was definitely a very different balance of power between entrepreneurs and VCs. There’s probably less incentive quite frankly for the VC. The biggest change, I think,  in the last 10 yrs is, its as competitive as its ever been.” - Scott Kupor  Money clearly a commodity in this business. For Scott, if VCs and entrepreneurs can level the playing field, he would enter into a relationship on a basis of actually understanding one another, knowing what motivates one another as it would definitely be a good place better place to start. More From Scott Aside from talking about Silicon Valley, Startups and how entrepreneurs could get funding, he shares his thoughts on the overall VC backed industry.  “My personal view is—I’ve talked about this with people in DC publicly—the idea that more and more growth is happening in the private markets, while beneficial, selfishly for people like me, who get to, kind of monetize that growth. I don’t think its good for the country. I don’t think its good to not have companies going public at a reasonable stage where a broader cross-section of public market investors can actually enjoy the appreciation there.” - Scott Kupor To hear more about Secrets of Sand Hill Road Venture Capital and more information about Scott Kupor, Managing Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, download and listen to the episode. Bio: Scott Kupor is the managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz where he is responsible for all operational aspects of running the firm. He has been with the firm since its inception in 2009 and has overseen its rapid growth, from three employees to 150+ and from $300 million in assets under management to more than $10 billion. Prior to joining Andreessen Horowitz, Scott worked as vice president and general manager of Software-as-a-Service at Hewlett Packard. Scott joined HP in 2007 as part of the Opsware acquisition, where he was senior vice president of Customer Solutions.  In this role, he had global responsibility for customer interaction, including professional services, technical pre-sales, and customer support. Scott joined Opsware shortly after the company’s founding and held numerous executive management positions including vice president, financial planning and vice president, corporate development.  In these roles, he led the company’s private financing activities as well as its initial public offering in 2001. Scott also started the company’s Asia Pacific operations and led the execution of the company’s multiple acquisitions. Prior to Opsware, Scott represented software companies in both financing and mergers and acquisitions transactions at Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers.  He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in public policy with honors and distinction.

Today, Dave Bittner, Producer and Host of The CyberWire Podcast and Hacking Humans podcast, joins us for a timely discussion about security, the future, deep fakes Apple glasses and more. He is a regular guest of podcast Grumpy Old Geeks with previous guests, Jason DiFillipo & Brian Schulmister. Trade-Off Between Operations and Risks Security has played a huge role in every technology company nowadays. The episode starts off with a very timely topic on security. Christopher poses the question “why security is hard?”  Dave honestly answers that there is a trade-off and risk-reward decision-making process that needs to happen.  Dave continues that breaches started getting bigger as well as ramifications and costs resulting in bad publicity, too. Board Members now have started giving their attention to security threats, as they, themselves can be liable for these breaches. “I think these days good board members have to have a certain level of knowledge and education in cybersecurity because it touches everything.” - Dave Bittner More on Data Breaches and Hacking  Would there be more data breaches and hacking in the near future since the cost of technological equipment is getting cheaper? Dave answered, yes. Hackers are professionalizing themselves. They also have access to knowledge and tools that enables them to target victims, as opposed to the usual shotgun approach. “I think there are a few things going on right now, I think we are seeing the sophistication of the actors increased in the sense that, there’s an increase in the professionalism of them.” - Dave Bittner Other Future Related Topics Dave shares more about privacy and security. Also there's the fact that 60% of people in the US genetic connections can be implied from data available from 23andme or Ancestry.com. “The security implication is that biometric data—your DNA, your fingerprints, your face ID, facial recognition—those are the things that it’s very difficult to change, if not, impossible to change. If someone gets a hold of that and that something, that you’re using as a factor for your security, you cant just go reset that. That’s one of the long term concerns.” - Dave Bittner To hear more about Security, Deep Fakes and Apple Glasses and more information about Dave, download and listen to the episode. Bio: Dave Bittner is the Producer and Host of The CyberWire Podcast, Hacking Humans podcast. Links: Twitter: @bittner The Cyberwire Survey: Most Data Center Managers Rely on Outdated Security Practices Internet Companies Prepare to Fight the ‘Deepfake’ Future We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes! Get amazing, different stories on business, marketing, and life. Subscribe to our newsletter The Difference.