“During the highs of the 2020-2021 era, a lot of companies were encouraged to grow at any cost. We’ve always been much more oriented around trying to grow but making sure you are thinking about your profitability and building a sustainable business.” Join ⁠Spandana Bhattacharya⁠ and ⁠Javier Torres⁠ on ⁠Wharton Tech Toks⁠ as they talk to ⁠AJ Jangalapalli⁠, Principal on the Discover team at Thoma Bravo. Listen in to learn more about Thoma Bravo’s investments in Mailgun and Greenphire, the recent tech market pullback, enterprise software industry and value creation initiatives.

“My two biggest competitors are the two wealthiest people on the planet. And capital is a giant tool and a giant weapon, especially in the space industry.” In this episode Emma Robinson sits down with Peter Beck, the CEO of Rocket Lab, who shares how the company is facing off against the giants and the decision to go public.  We also discuss Rocket Lab's unique approach to vertical integration, making it a one-stop-shop for building, launching, and even operating spacecraft. This episode also offers a glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of competing in the space race, underscored by the reality that success hinges on avoiding that “one tiny error” that could lead to disaster. Learn about the passion, the pressure, and the precision needed to succeed in space, straight from the heart of one of its most ambitious players.

In this Valentine’s Day special, Zoë sits down with current Wharton students Annie Xu and Chloë Ahle. After hearing both friends and therapy clients discuss the challenges of dating, Annie used her experience in social work to start Pairfect. Chloë joined the team, using her experience as a logistics officer to support the development of the purpose-driven platform. Tune in to learn more about combining the scalability of technology with the personalization of a matchmaking service.

In the latest episode of Wharton Tech Toks, join Steph Kim as she speaks with Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera. They discuss the launch and reception of Coursera’s generative AI-powered Coach, his contrarian thoughts on the value of bite-sized content, his very first job, his advice on life itself, and more.

“We want clients to use our service in whatever way that’s best for you, your needs, your unique exposure to styling. In the longer term, we want to build a better way to shop that will change the retail paradigm and to become the blueprint for the industry to follow. ” Join Spandana Bhattacharya and Cynthia Zhou on Wharton Tech Toks as they talk to Janiece Okpobiri, Director of Product and Growth at Stitch Fix. At Stitch Fix, Janiece focuses on client onboarding and loyalty. Prior to Stitch Fix, Janiece was a senior PM on the Customer and Loyalty team at Abercrombie & Fitch and also held roles at Hilton. Listen in to learn more about Janiece’s product management philosophy, her perspective on how to build customer loyalty in retail, and her insights on how to build a successful career in product management.

In this episode, Leon Zhang and Steph Kim interview John Nack, Principal Product Manager at Adobe, about the future of AI in creative experiences. They discuss the use cases for generative AI across Adobe, AI ethics, and his vision on the future of AI. With over 20 years of experience in PM at Adobe and Google, John reflects on the role of PM and shares insights about his career journey.

"To maintain your position as a market leader in the tech space means that you have to constantly innovate...you can't rest on your laurels. So we have to constantly push the envelope in what we do in this space. What we've been doing is really being a tech partner for educators and school systems... we have many educators in our app and many schools want that help. They want to understand what can they do with all these AI [tools] and it's changing every day... so [we're] pairing [up] with schools to help them deploy AI safely in the classroom and evolve their coursework, homework, and assessment... and we're very glad to be the partner in all this." Join Sophie Wang for an interview with Dr. Minh Tran, Vice President of Operations at Goodnotes, as they delve into the transformative journey of this beloved note-taking app. Minh reveals how Goodnotes is turning its visionary ideas into reality, empowering students, professionals, and educators alike with innovative AI tools and a dedication to serving as a thought leader in the field. Minh also offers invaluable advice on navigating the entrepreneurial landscape, drawing from his own rich career path.

“It ends up being about: is this truly a venture investable business? You need to be in a massive market and have the ability to scale quickly…the company should grow with speed and accelerate.”  Join Manasi Patwa in her conversation with Arjun Arora, Founder and Managing Partner at Format One, where he advises transformational companies on their growth strategies through hands-on and impactful collaboration. Prior to starting FormatOne, Arjun was a Partner at 500 Startups, where he invested in technology companies at the pre-seed and seed stages.  In this interview, Manasi and Arjun discuss valuable tips for founders at the earliest stages of their journeys, common challenges faced by entrepreneurs and ways to address them, and what tech investors look for as differentiators of success.

"We don't always need an AI person [to] come up with a new transformer-like model, but we do need people who have a good intuition on understanding where these models do well and where these models can fail." In this episode, Cynthia and Leon interviewed Dr. Kanu Gulati, partner at Khosla Ventures. Kanu started her career as a research scientist at Intel, was a founding engineer at a number of early start-ups, and has since been investing at the forefront of AI/ML applications, robotics and hardware acceleration. In this episode, we talked about how Khosla Ventures became one of the earliest backers of OpenAI, Kanu's investment thesis in AI and Robotics, and what traits she looks for in founders. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, an investor, or just intrigued by the rapid advancements in AI, tune into this episode to learn more!

“On the sustainability side, [we’re] helping our members understand the benefits and positive impact they’re having… How much are they able to reduce their carbon footprint? How much waste is diverted from landfills by shopping from our platform?... Being able to present that information is critical to helping [customers] feel good about their membership and really helps provide value that goes beyond the boring utility of grocery shopping.” This week, Leon and Zoë are joined by Sasha Siddhartha, the Co-Founder and CTO of Thrive Market, a membership-based market that makes high-quality, healthy, and sustainable products available for every budget, lifestyle, and geography. Prior to Thrive Market, Sasha began his career as an engineering leader at Microsoft before founding  a venture-backed fashion technology company. In this episode, Sasha explains Thrive Market’s approach to building mission-driven, highly personalized, customer experiences. Tune in to learn how Thrive Market weaves their key values into every aspect of a scalable business model.