The Silicon Valley Insider Show with Keith Koo

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s guest is 11-year-old inventor Carter Waugh, a 2018 innovation award winner who talks about how he started Flip Critts critts.com.  Carter shares his passion for outdoor adventuring and how he got his inspiration to start his shoe company because he was not satisfied with the current shoe design. He also goes into detail about his 3-year journey from concept to product leading up to his Kickstarter campaign which starts on June 9th, 2020. Keith and Carter discuss the importance for startup founders to have the right team of advisors and employees to make a really great product. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/critts/flip-critts In the second half of the show, Keith is joined with Ed Yeh, CTO of Guardian Insight Group to discuss how startups can leverage the best practices that Carter followed to get his company off the ground and emphasize the importance of starting with a concept and prototype which will save you time and money. Keith and Ed also talk about how although we live in uncertain times, there has never been a better time to explore starting your own business due to the low cost of entry into technology. Some of the best-known companies have started off during a recession or depression. 

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s guest is 4-time unicorn angel investor Dan Scheinman. Dan ran corporate development for Cisco Systems before becoming a private investor using his own capital to fund unicorns such as Arista Networks, SentinelOne, CyCognito, and of course, Zoom. In the early part of the show, Dan and Keith reminisce about their Cisco days when Dan was general counsel and then ran Corporate Development (Mergers & Acquisitions, Strategic Alliances, Investments) and Keith was working on M&A Integration and technology deals for what at the time was the most valuable company in the world. Dan also shares what it has been like for Zoom since writing Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom his first “check” to be the most successful IPO of 2019 and how the company is now addressing security concerns related to their rapid growth. Dan also gives the backstory on the question – why didn’t Cisco – Webex build Zoom when Eric was still a senior engineer there? On this week’s Cyber-Tip gives a deeper dive on what “Contact Tracing” is and how it works considering Apple and Google’s announcement that they are partnering to share their contact tracing databases. Later in the show, Dan discusses the 2020 Major League Baseball Season (Dan is a minority owner in the San Francisco Giants) and gives great advice to startups on how to survive and thrive during the pandemic including how to set the right expectations with their potential investors. On the Pivot, Dan talks about being a “Technology Optimist” about the future and what technologies and industries he thinks will grow in a post-pandemic world. Find out why Dan thinks this might actually be the best time to find the right opportunity to invest. Subscribe and Download to “Silicon Valley Insider” to find out more: www.svin.biz

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s guest is Douglas Horn, Chief Architect of Telos a decentralized blockchain network and founder of Goodblock a blockchain development company. Throughout the show Keith and Douglas explain how Telos is an example of a decentralized blockchain network which means that there is no single organization or person that “owns” the blockchain. This is an important distinction because there is growing concern over the term “blockchain” and how the technology is being used since it is known for it’s “immutable” properties. An example of a centralized service would something like Google or Facebook where the company owns the platform and the entire user experience. In a decentralized environment, there is no single control and so the concern over a centralized organization doing things (like censorship) is mitigated. Keith and Douglas also go into detail about how decentralized blockchains are censorship-resistant and how they can be used for secure voting (although both agree that this technology will not be implemented in time for the upcoming USA elections). On this week’s Cyber-Tip, Keith talks about the U.S Treasury’s warning to all banks (via FINCEN) that cybercrime related to the pandemic continues to rise and what banks, organizations and individuals need to do keep safe. On “The Pivot” – Keith and Douglas discuss how blockchain technology can be used to strengthen privacy vs. concerns that the technology can be used to breakdown privacy. Douglas gives several examples including how contract tracing can be done anonymously using Telos.

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s two guests are Ruben Merre, CEO of NGRAVE out of Belgium who discusses how to keep your cryptocurrencies secure and Mayor Lily Mei of Fremont, California who discusses the decision to re-open the Tesla factory. In the first part of the show, Keith and Ruben discuss how there is a resurgence of interest in people learning about cryptocurrency due to concerns over the pandemic and fear of global “money printing”. They go over the concept of centralized vs decentralized platforms and how that is relevant to blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Ruben reviews how to safeguard your digital assets and discusses NGRAVE’s approach to securing these assets such as cryptocurrencies. They also discuss the concept of “true” ownership when it comes to digital identity and digital assets and how you can have 100% certainty of what you truly own. On this week’s Cyber-Tip, Keith talks about a new security flaw affecting Windows, Apple and Linux machines based on Intel’s Thunderbolt architecture. The show ends with a special appearance by Mayor Lily Mei who gives an insight into the decision to re-open Tesla factory and how state, county and city officials worked together with Tesla to come up with a solution and how other companies can follow suit. Subscribe and Download to “Silicon Valley Insider” to find out more: www.svin.biz

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s guest is Jarred Winn, Senior Vice President of Charity at Binance, the world’s largest Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange by volume. Jarred discusses his focus on creating strategies for partnerships and philanthropic campaigns using Binance’s charitable giving platform. At the beginning of the show, Keith and Jarred give a brief review of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, how they function and how to keep digital assets safe. They also discuss the role cryptocurrencies can play in serving charitable giving and philanthropic campaigns and how to measure the impact of those donations.  Keith discusses how many non-profits are assigned independent ratings on their financial accountability to donors (generally 75% and above is considered an “A+” rating. Jarred mentions how of the $4 million dollars in cryptocurrencies that have been processed thus far via Binance, over 99.5% have gone directly for its intended purpose. Jarred gives examples of how global campaigns giving relief in Australia and Africa have performed and how interested organizations and donors can engage to use their platform. On this week’s Cyber-Tip, Keith brings to light a renewed focus by bad actors in emailing phishing campaigns specifically targeting corporations that use platforms like Microsoft Office 365 or Google Enterprise. On this Pivot, Keith and Jarred discuss the future of cryptocurrencies and their potential role in transforming financial accountability. Subscribe and Download to “Silicon Valley Insider” to find out more: www.svin.biz

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s guest is serial entrepreneur Tony Lam. From Cisco to Shark Tank, Tony shares with his story from starting off as an I.T. Analyst at Cisco Systems, to his current project Omni Bev a premium ready-to-serve cold brew coffee. But to really get to know Tony, we must go back to his start at Cisco and how one of his companies made it on to Shark Tank and ended up with an investment from Barbara Corcoran. Tony also about his other businesses and how one of them became the “official” wings of a major sports center. All these experiences set Tony up for his founding role with Omni Bev and how they are bringing premium cold-brew coffee directly to you. Tony is a great example that it’s never too late to re-invent yourself. Given the uncertainty during these times of COVID-19, Keith shares his thoughts that now is a great to re-assess your personal situation and pivot to another career or business. On this week’s Cyber-Tip Keith discusses the announcement that Apple and Google are joining forces to share data related to their contact tracing applications to identify and monitory COVD-19. Keith explains what “contact tracing” is and what the short term and long-term implications are. On this Pivot, Tony Lam shares his top tips for entrepreneurs whether inside or outside of technology.

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo's special is Jeff Sweeney, CEO of US Capital Global a multibillion-dollar international investment bank headquartered in San Francisco. In the first segment, Jeff talks recalls how he got his start contemplating life by sailing in isolation in the South Pacific and how that experience relates to his most recent LinkedIn article “Pent-Up Ambition” in the context of what is happening during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the second segment, Keith and Jeff talk about how his pent-up ambition is not only in the context of making money but also the ambition to help others. This feeling of wanting to “get back to work” and “give back to the community”. In the third segment, Jeff talks about industries that may thrive in a post-pandemic world and some of the portfolio companies that US Capital Global is working with that are trying to solve real-world problems with a community-based solution. On this week’s Cyber-Tip Keith gives more insight into a strange case in which a cryptocurrency hacker returned all of the $25 million dollars of cryptocurrency they had stolen from an exchange. On this Pivot, Jeff gives his view on what does a “post-pandemic” world looks like.

*At the time of recording this episode, the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (SBA-PPP) was just announced. Since the airing of this show, it was also announced that the $349 billion program has already reached its funding limit. There is a discussion that the U.S. Government will authorize additional funding, so we encourage you to listen to this show to understand how to get through the application process. In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo's special guests are Tong Qin, CPA of CFOs to Go and John Chiang, CPA retired CFO and independent financial consultant and advisor. Tong is the former deputy CFO of the Small Business Administration and also a Regional Director for the San Francisco Region. John is a former bank executive as well as the former Mayor of Piedmont, California and the former CFO of Asian Health Services. This entire show is dedicated on how to navigate the SBA-PPP process. In the first segment, Tong and John explain what the SBA-PPP is and how small businesses can utilize this program to obtain much-needed support given the economic impact COVID-19 is having on small businesses. In the next segment, Tong and John discuss how they have successfully filed SBA-PPP applications for their clients and the documentation required for a small business to apply. They give specific actions to take to make sure that your business is in the best position to apply for the SBA-PPP. Immediately following this recording, Tong Qin did a webinar for Fiona Ma, the California State Treasurer on how to apply for the SBA-PPP. Keith, Tong and John end the show with a reminder that even though the initial program may reach its funding limit, it is important to keep abreast of government actions for further stimulus packages.  

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo's special guest is Tim Campos, CEO of Woven and Former CIO of Facebook. In our first segment, Tim discusses with Keith on his career and how he became the CIO of KLA-Tencor to ultimately being the CIO of Facebook during the rapid growth phase of the company. It was during that time that Tim and the Facebook Information Technology (IT) team had to rapidly develop and deploy technology to handle the needs of Facebook. It was also during this time that Tim realized that they needed to develop productivity tools to give the best user experience possible. Later in the show, Tim discusses his new company Woven, which is laser-focused on continuing Tim’s passion for empowering users to be productive. Woven is doing just that by first solving for making calendaring become more than just a scheduling tool. Woven can make calendars like Google, and soon Microsoft, become much more valuable to managing the day to day aspects of each user’s life. It does this by giving the user the ability to tie disparate calendars together like personal, work and school, as well as give rich analytics on how your time is spent. Visit www.woven.com for more information and to try the product. On this week's Cyber-tip, Keith continues to give advice on how to safely using video conferencing technologies. On the Pivot, Tim Campos comes back to discuss the future of work post COVID-19 and how new innovations and solutions for workforce mobility like Woven and Zoom will continue to be developed to meet the new norms of doing business. Subscribe and Download to “Silicon Valley Insider” to find out more: www.svin.biz

On this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo's special guest is Eric Krawitt, SVP and Investment Advisor at Morgan Stanley. Keith and Eric discuss how COVID-19 is affecting the market inside and outside of Silicon Valley. Eric give his insights on the short-term and long-term implications to investors whether they are individuals or business owners. Eric gives practical information on the considerations that each group Eric needs to make. Eric discusses the impact that the shelter in place is having on financial planning. For instance, small businesses are exploring all the options around how to ensure to keep their businesses operating considering potentially decreasing revenue and still trying to pay expenses. Eric also talks about what it will take for the market decline to be considered a recession and what opportunities may arise. On this week’s Cyber-Tip Keith discusses a new term called “Zoombombing” which is when people have their video conferences hacked and gives practical advice on how to keep your meetings safe when using tools like Zoom, Webex and Microsoft Teams. On the Pivot, Eric talks about the future of work and what types of industries will arise to fill the increasing demand for remote meetings that would normally have been face to face.