Greymatter

In 2014, Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman co-authored The Alliance with Chris Yeh and Ben Casnocha. The book argued that in the modern economy, the key to a stronger, healthier, longer-lasting employee relationship was to be honest about the temporary nature of nearly every job. Much like negotiators of a treaty of alliance, employees can work with their managers and employers to steer their careers on a track that transforms both company and employee. In 2020, the world is suffering through the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic fallout, and those alliances are under more stress than ever before. In this Greymatter episode, Chris and Reid discuss how the current crisis also represents an opportunity to honor and strengthen those alliances, even in cases where employers are furloughing or laying off employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Health tech startup Cleo CEO SJ Sacchetti sat down with Greymatter to discuss how the company is quickly iterating products and services to meet the needs of working parents in the time of Covid-19 and beyond. SJ also shared her experience as a working parent and new CEO, and how adapting to a crisis has helped focus the Cleo team. The episode is part of a series of conversations with Greylock-backed startups operating in health technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of Greymatter is part of a series of conversations between Blitzscaling co-authors Reid Hoffman (who is also a general partner at Greylock) and Chris Yeh. While the disruption and turbulence associated with the Covid-19 pandemic is broadly negative and unpredictable, it does open up new opportunities. Even during a pandemic, there will still be blitzscaling opportunities. They’ll just look different from the opportunities that emerged during the long economic expansion. It’s more critical than ever to focus on and enable entrepreneurship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode, which features Grand Rounds CEO and co-founder Owen Tripp, is one in a series of Greymatter podcasts with health tech startup executives. While the coronavirus pandemic has caused a significant downturn in business for many companies, health tech startup Grand Rounds has had the opposite experience, and has risen to meet demand with new technology and resources including an online symptom checker, telemedicine appointments, and guidelines for safe return back to the office. The company is also supporting employers as they rethink healthcare spending in uncertain economic times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In May 2020, Jeff Weiner stepped down as CEO of LinkedIn after 11 amazing years. In this episode of Greymatter, Greylock partner and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman shares his favorite memories and most valuable lessons learned from working with Jeff. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of Greymatter features a portion of a virtual town hall held in May with Greylock general partner and LinkedIn co-Founder Reid Hoffman, moderated by general partner David Thacker. Portfolio company founders joined the session to hear Reid’s assessment of the current economic, political and public health landscape. He answered questions about how entrepreneurs, investors and new graduates can adapt to the new market and societal conditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you scale a consumer brand company to profitability without losing the human touch? Moreover, since marketplace platforms like Shopify have made it relatively simple to launch an ecommerce business, how do you stand out among the noise and reach customers in the first place? And how do you measure how well those methods are working? This episode of Greymatter is one in a series of growth discussions featuring Greylock’s Mike Duboe. In this conversation, Mike chatted with Moiz Ali, the founder of personal care company Native Co. (acquired by Procter & Gamble) and Nik Sharma, the CEO of CPG advisory and marketing firm Sharma Brands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of Greymatter is the third in a series of growth discussions featuring Greylock investor Mike Duboe. Lenny Rachitsky, former growth lead at Airbnb, and Dan Hockenmaier, founder of Basis One and former director of growth marketing at Thumbtack, join Mike to share lessons learned when growing marketplaces from startup to scaleup. They discuss how to design a growth org, processes and frameworks around experiments, building growth models, understanding marketplace liquidity, how to think about disintermediation, and parallels between B2C /B2B marketplaces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman, and Wences Casares, Greylock portfolio company CEO and founder of Xapo, are back for their second conversation. This time to discuss how blitzscaling works when you’re not in Silicon Valley or China. In this episode of Greymatter, Wences and Reid talk about some of the learnings and tools he’s found that help him make remote work at Xapo more effective (Xapo has 275 employees scattered across 62 different countries). Wences explains how he uses always-on Zoom videoconferencing to implement a virtual “open door” policy that generates serendipitous meetings between employees on different continents, and why hiring employees without ever seeing their face or hearing their voice is actually a competitive advantage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman, and Wences Casares, Greylock portfolio company CEO and founder of Xapo, discuss what diverse entrepreneurial ecosystems like Argentina can teach Silicon Valley. This episode of Greymatter digs into how assumptions about the world that hold true in America don’t in most other places around the globe. It also explores how being outside of Silicon Valley helped Wences realize early on the importance of a global, nation-independent, reliable monetary ecosystem, and the story that led Wences to become a Bitcoin user and investor. It also explores how childhood and family can prepare you for life as a tech entrepreneur. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices