
Greymatter
How do tech startups go from idea…to iconic? Greymatter’s weekly podcast features interviews with VCs, founders, and tech visionaries on everything from AI, marketplaces, and cybersecurity as well as company-building strategies like growth, finding product-market-fit, and recruiting top talent. Founders and VCs offer candid accounts of success, failure, and adaptation. Greymatter delivers practical insights mixed with the bold optimism that defines entrepreneurship.
Latest episodes

Apr 25, 2022 • 49min
Fungible Times | "Crypto Dad" Chris Giancarlo
This is an episode from Fungible Times, the Web3-focused podcast produced by Greylock crypto investors Christine Kim, and Mike Duboe, and Greylock board partner Sarah Guo. Sarah and Christine spoke with Chris Giancarlo, the former CFTC Chairman who is widely recognized as one of the most influential people in financial regulation. Giancarlo, who is known as "Cryoto Dad" for his father-like advocacy of cryptocurrency, was also a member of the US Financial Stability Oversight Committe as well as the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. He recently published the book "Crypto Dad: The Fight for the Future of Money”.
You can also find this episode and all other Fungible Times episodes on their show website, fungibletimes.xyz, and you can subscribe on SoundCloud, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 snips
Apr 19, 2022 • 56min
Cloudflare's Michelle Zatlyn | Cyber Stewards
The vastness of the internet, as an entity, can be difficult to put into perspective. Cloudflare, however, has a clear sense of its scope, as it handles roughly 20-percent of internet traffic. To frame it with another stat: More than 70 billion cyber attacks are stopped by Cloudflare each day. In this episode of Iconversations, Greylock’s Holly Rose Faith talks with Cloudflare Co-Founder, President, and COO Michelle Zatlyn about what it’s like to run a company that a massive constituent of users touch – often without knowing it.
You can watch this interview on our YouTube channel here:
https://youtu.be/WW3grzormsg
You can read a transcript from this interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/cyber-stewards/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 14, 2022 • 45min
Obsidian Security | Defending Critical SaaS
A re-broadcast of our episode featuring Obsidian Security CEO and co-founder Glenn Chisolm, whose company just raised $90 million in Series C funding. Chisolm spoke with Greylock general partner Sarah Guo and New York Times cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth in early 2021, shortly after the SolarWinds attack. In this conversation, they discuss the ever-evolving cybersecurity risk landscape and how businesses and governments can proactively protect their data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 12, 2022 • 55min
Google's James Manyika | Social Intelligence
Google's first-ever SVP of Technology and Society James Manyika joins Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman for a discussion on the various ways technology impacts business, global economies, culture, and humankind. Manyika is a renowned expert in artificial intelligence, robotics, and globalization, and has been a highly-sought out advisor to many of the world's top tech companies. He spent nearly 30 years as an advisor at McKinsey Global and has held numerous board and consulting roles across academia, nonprofits, and government.
This interview is part of Greylock's Iconversation speaker series. You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/NAAT2wO-ZrQ
You can read a transcript of the interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/social-intelligence/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 5, 2022 • 23min
Holly Rose Faith | Executive Reference Checklist
Greylock talent partner Holly Rose Faith, who works with startups to find, recruit, and place executive team members, outlines smart strategies to deploy when checking references. From having a plan of what you are looking to validate at the outset, to the specific questions depending on the role or stage of company, all hiring managers should go into referencing with a reliable, repeatable, formal system in place. This episode is part of Greylock's Brain Trust series. You can read a transcript of the interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/holly-rose-faith-greylock-executive-reference-checklist/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 31, 2022 • 35min
Common Room | Collective Intelligence
In recent years, there has been a seismic shift in the way software is built, distributed, and adopted. Rather than relying wholly on a traditional sales-led model, companies are empowering their communities of users, and as a result are among the fastest-growing organizations today. That’s why Common Room developed a platform to enable deeper engagement with those users. Launched last year, the company's tech is now available for anyone to try. Common Room CEO and co-founder Linda Lian discusses the company's first year with Greylock general partner and Common Room board member Sarah Guo. You can read a transcript of this interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/collective-intelligence/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 29, 2022 • 56min
Footwork VC's Mike Smith | Finding Your Fit in ECommerce
Greylock general partner Mike Duboe interviews Mike Smith, the co-founder of FootworkVC. Smith spent the past two decades developing and scaling consumer businesses. He was an early employee at Stitch Fix and helped grow the fledgling startup into a public company. Prior to Stitch Fix, Smith spent nine years at Walmart, where he managed the company's multichannel business and oversaw operations. He also serves on the boards of Ulta Beauty, Herman Miller, and Mayvenn among others.
This interview is part of Greylock's Iconversations series. You can watch a video of the conversation here: https://youtu.be/xvngA0R31Fw
You can read a transcript from this interview here: https://bit.ly/3Lm5rV9 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 23, 2022 • 28min
Tome | Persuasion Through Stories
Keith Peiris and Henri Liriani join Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman to discuss the launch of Tome - a storytelling platform for work. Anything on the internet can be easily embedded in a Tome, including Figma prototypes, Airtable spreadsheets, YouTube videos, Tweets, and Gifs. Users can play with 3D models and interact with live data tables that update automatically. With dynamic pages and foolproof formatting, Tome adapts to what you want to say – not the other way around – allowing users to skip time-intensive slide design and get straight to the story. Tome was incubated at Greylock, and Reid Hoffman and Seth Rosenberg are on the board.
You can read a transcript of this episode here: https://greylock.com/portfolio-news/persuasion-through-stories/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 16, 2022 • 38min
Fungible Times | Magic Eden
Another special broadcast from the Fungible Times podcast, created and hosted by Greylock crypto investors Sarah Guo, Christine Kim, and Mike Duboe. On this episode, Magic Eden co-founders Jack and Zhuoxun talk about NFTs, gaming, mobile, and Solana. In less than 6 months, Magic Eden has risen to more than $1b USD in secondary trading volume and more than 95% share of the Solana ecosystem. Greylock is proud to be an investor in Magic Eden, which just raised $27M in Series A funding to accelerate their developments in gaming and mobile.
You can also find this episode on the Fungible Times website fungibletimes.xyz, or by subscribing on Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple, or YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 15, 2022 • 32min
Instawork | Flexibility on Demand
More than half of the American workforce is paid hourly, and often work at jobs that must be performed in-person. Historically, however, this population has been left out of conversations about the future of work, and haven't benefitted from the significant technological improvements many other occupations have. Instawork is trying to change that. The flexible staffing platform connects businesses to local talent, and is generating some valuable data on the changing labor market in the meantime. Instawork CEO and co-founder Sumir Meghani joined Greylock general partner David Thacker to discuss how hourly workers are gaining new levels of flexibility and control over their careers - and changing the employment landscape.
You can read a transcript from this interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/flexibility-on-demand/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices