The Silicon Valley Podcast

Jim Toth, Managing Partner at Riverside Acceleration Capital I have been investing in enterprise software companies since 2006, both as an individual and as an institutional investor. I am passionate about software and entrepreneurship and strive every day to be helpful as an investor and partner for growth.   We talk about Why should companies think of raising debt when taking outside capital vs equity? What should one know about Private Equity? Where is the Private Equity world moving towards in the next 5 years? What type of operation partners can a PE group bring to one of their investments?   Connect with Jim Toth https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimtoth/ RAC | Designed for Growth (riverside.ac)

Show Notes Jotham Stein Jotham S. Stein is the principal of the Law Offices of Jotham S. Stein P.C. (www.jotham.com). Mr. Stein has more than twenty-five years of experience representing entrepreneurs, C-Suite executives, board members, venture capitalists, private equity principals, investment bankers as well as employees of companies of all types and sizes. Mr. Stein has negotiated numerous employment agreements, separation agreements, M & A agreements, change in control agreements, stock option agreements, restricted stock agreements, management carve out agreements, non-compete agreements, and much more. Mr. Stein is also a litigator. He has represented individuals and corporate clients in state and federal courts and in multidistrict litigation, before state and federal agencies, and in arbitration, including before JAMS, the American Arbitration Association and FINRA. Mr. Stein has also served as part-time General Counsel of a high-technology Silicon Valley company. Mr. Stein is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Princeton University. He is admitted to practice in California, Illinois, New York, Colorado and the District of Columbia as well as the United States Supreme Court, United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh, Ninth and District of Columbia Circuits and several United States District Courts. He is also a member of multiple bar associations, including the American Bar Association. Mr. Stein’s new book, Negotiate Like a CEO, is an engaging look at how top entrepreneurs and executives protect themselves and how you can too. Mr. Stein is also the author of the professional guide for attorneys: Executive Employment Law: Protecting Executives, Entrepreneurs and Employees (first published by Oxford University Press, and now its ninth edition, published by Mathew Bender/LexisNexis).   We talk about What is better, to get a two-page offer letter or a 50-page offer letter and why? Should negotiations be done face-to-face or with the new world, is zoom, ok? What are the areas of an employment contract that can be negotiated? What are single action and double action triggers in a contract?     Connect with Jothem Stein (3) Jotham S. Stein | LinkedInjothamstein@jotham.com joe@totalexpertinc.com jotham.com  Negotiate Like a CEO – Negotiate Like a CEO, What Every CEO, Entrepreneur, Attorney Should Read! (negotiatelikeaceobook.com)  

Show Notes Joe Welu Fiercely committed to building Total Expert into a world class technology company through incredible people and a relentless focus on innovation and getting better every single day. I have dedicated my life to staying ahead of trends and creating incredible value for our customers as CEO of Total Expert. Areas of Expertise: -Digital transformation in financial services -SaaS/Fintech -Sales and Marketing leadership and strategy -Customer Loyalty -Real Estate and Mortgage Lending   We talk about How did you land your first major customer? Why is it important to define what is “customer success”?  What questions should be asked? How many customers does one need to have to know they have found product market fit for what they are making? How long was your company around before you felt that a distinct business culture had been formed? How can a company go about utilizing their customers data? And much more     Connect with Joe Welu https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-welu-4056726/ joe@totalexpertinc.com TotalExpertInc

Show Notes Mani Mahadevan   Mani is the founder and CEO of Valur which takes the tax optimization and asset protection tools of the ultra-wealthy and makes them accessible to everyone. The United States has the most complex tax system in the world. That complexity hurts most Americans and helps only the few who can afford to hire an army of tax professionals to exploit it. At Valur, they believe that the tax planning tools necessary to grow wealth more efficiently should be available to more than the top 0.01%. To make that happen, we use technology to simplify and streamline those solutions and to make them affordable to all. We talk about What are the main types of strategies right now for tax mitigation and what are the pros and cons of each? How does one plan differently for realized and unrealized gains? What advantage for tax mitigation does the top .1% have that the rest of us do not? What are the options or differences for picking a strategy if it is before a transaction is done vs if it is done after? And much more   Connect with Mani   https://www.linkedin.com/in/mani-mahadevan/  mani@valur.io

Show Notes Juan Escobar Head of Intelligence Solutions   Diffbot  Diffbot is a world-class group of AI engineers building a universal database of structured information, to provide knowledge as a service to all intelligent applications. Whether you are building an app that uses web content, an enterprise business application, or a smart robotic assistant, we've got you covered We talk about How do most people do data research today? How can one ensure quality of data? How quickly could a new data set disrupt a business, or a market? How does one create a data driven culture? How does a company know that they are analyzing the wrong data? And much more Connect with Juan https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetjuan/

It has been an incredible journey.  150 Episodes!!!!   We look back at the last 50 and discuss some of the highlights and key topics that were discussed in these amazing interviews.   About the Speaker:   Shawn Flynn started as a business owner, founding, and growing a successful company in Beijing China before returning to the US to work with companies ranging from fast growing Silicon Valley startups to established overseas public companies. He brings his international experience working with all stages and sectors of businesses to his role as Principal at a premier middle market investment bank with expertise in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial restructuring, and valuation. Shawn holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from UCSD and speaks Mandarin and Spanish (lived abroad for almost 8 years) and he is the host of the award-winning Podcast "The Silicon Valley Podcast" You can connect with Shawn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnpflynn/ Podcast https://link.chtbl.com/TheSiliconValleyPodcast

Show Notes George Parrish George Parrish who is the Head of the Deal Screening Committee at the Angel Group Bay Angels. He is also the Executive Director of Entrepreneur Lab LLC, Headquartered 90 minutes East of SF/Silicon Valley in the Central San Joaquin Valley with a branch launched in Tracy California. Entrepreneur Lab is located and supported by the City of Stockton, the City of Tracy, WorkVine209, the San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the Central Valley Asian Chamber of Commerce.     We talk about How have companies’ pitches changed over time? What is the most common mistake startups miss with their pitch? What surprises international delegations the most when they come to Silicon Valley? How does a background in sales, help when analyzing a company?   And much more   Connect with george.parrish.sales@gmail.com   https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeparrishconsultantsgp/overlay/contact-info/  

Ep 148 Building Communities with Nicholas Adams   Nicholas E. Adams is a national award-winning publicist, strategist, and advisor. He has served as president and ceo of NINICO Communications® since 2011 and champions the motto Power of Partnership®. For more than a decade, the firm has created campaigns, developed messaging, and served as publicist to some of California’s most storied brands and business leaders. Mr. Adams is a member of the Public Relations Society of America and board member of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce and Symphony San Jose. He is an active member of the Silicon Valley Capital Club, Sovereign Order of the Knights of St. John, and Rotary Club of San Jose – the region’s oldest service organization. In 2009, he took the oath of office and was appointed to the San Jose Arts Commission, where he served as cultural ambassador on behalf of Northern California’s largest city for eight years. In 2019, the Silicon Valley Business Journal named Mr. Adams among the 40 most influential people in the region under the age of 40. Mr. Adams has been featured as an industry thought leader in stories by NBC, ABC, The Mercury News, Crunchbase News, VentureBeat, PR Week and the US Chamber of Commerce. Under Mr. Adams’ leadership, both the Silicon Valley and Los Angeles Business Journals have named NINICO Communications® among the top public relations agencies throughout the regions. Hailed a Power Player by Silicon Valley Magazine in 2021, Mr. Adams has been recognized for his professional accomplishments and stewardship of the PR and Ad industry and wider community by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, Association of Marketing Communication Professionals and Public Relations Society of America. In 2022, Mr. Adams cofounded Voyage Capital, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm which invests in diverse entrepreneurs and technical innovators in the FinTech and GreenTech spaces.     We talk about what are the rules of doing business? What is really a company’s brand, is it a logo or name or more? To start a business, a team is so important. How do you know you have the right people on board? What is the red-carpet treatment for PR And much more     Connect with Nicholas Adams https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholaseadams/  NINICO Communications na@ninico.com

  Ivan Linn is a Taiwanese-American entrepreneur and pianist. He is known for his work in the music production of video games in the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series. He is also the music director and chief conductor of the Assassin's Creed Symphony World Tour. Linn is a production executive of Goldstones Studios and the CEO and founder of web3 music platform Wavv. Linn is a member of the National Arts and Sciences Recording Academy and ASCAP.   We talk about How is pitching a startup different or the same as pitching an idea in Hollywood? Does being a childhood star prepare you for a life as an entrepreneur? How do you calculate risk and reward? How has NFTs changed the artist community? And much more     Connect with Ivan Linn  (6) Ivan Linn | LinkedIn Wavv - web3 Music Platform & Services  

Show Notes Elizabeth Xu   Dr. Elizabeth Xu is a passionate global transformative leader and public company board member. She is a C-level executive with 20+ years of experience & a track record of technology, product and business strategy/execution & customer satisfaction success. She is the CEO and co-founder of A2C Leadership Group, an interactive online education and coaching platform. A2C helps companies to develop their top talent, elevates their thinking into a creative win-win mindset, and instills best practices for their daily execution. A2C helps employees build 4-level of innovative win-win solutions for the customers, companies, teams, and shareholders. Her expertise includes formulating global digital transformation strategies in Retail, Food, Education, Finacial Service, and IT Industries, and accelerating innovation through the applications of Cloud, AI, IoT & cybersecurity, and creating new digital business models. She has in-depth software development experience in creating large-scale, mission-critical mobile, SaaS, multi/hybrid clouds, billion-dollar revenue software products. She drove Product Marketing, Product Management, Engineering, Customer Training, Customer Support, Professional Services, and IT organizations in public companies, she also built deep partnerships with customers, successfully met revenue/profit targets She served as the Group CTO at CP Group, a $65 Billion Revenue International Conglamorate, CTO at BMC Software, Head of global Engineering, Product Management, Professional Services, IT and Customer Engagement a few public companies. A Stanford University lecturer, she taught big data, global operation, and leadership classes, authored a textbook and developed course material. She frequently speaks at industry conferences/events. Dr. Xu was the Top 50 US Diversity Leader in 2020, 2017 WITI Hall of Fame winner, 2013 Women of Influence of Silicon Valley, and received 10+ other awards such as Female Technologist of the year, Female Executive of the Year, Coach of the Year. Dr. Xu is an investor and advisor for companies in Enterprise Software, Retail, Telecom, Financial Service, Food, Toy, Robotics, Nanotechnology, Big Data, Analytics, ML, Online Education, Healthcare & Software-defined storage. She is an MIT Advisor for Innovation, Computer Science Advisory Board for the UNR College of Engineering. A passionate community leader, Dr. Xu is the Chairman of the WITI APAC Advisory Board and Be the Change Foundation. She is also a dedicated mentor for students at Peking University, MIT, Stanford & Berkeley Universities. We talk about How does one get promoted fast? What would be examples of calculated risk at one's' job? How does a CEO grow with their company, with the opportunity they come across? What are the extraordinary benefits of the c-suite and boardrooms? How does one go about planning and balancing all aspects of one’ life?   And much more     Connect with Dr. Elizabeth Xu (6) Dr. Elizabeth Xu | LinkedIn http://a2cacademy.org/