
"World of DaaS"
deep dive into Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) businesses. World of DaaS is a podcast for data enthusiasts, by data enthusiasts, where Auren Hoffman talks to business and technology leaders about all things data - building it, acquiring it, analyzing it, and everything in between.
Latest episodes

Oct 1, 2021 • 46min
Dean Stoecker (Founder of Alteryx): 20 Year Journey to Successful IPO
Dean Stoecker, co-founder and former CEO of Alteryx, talks with World of DaaS host Auren Hoffman. Alteryx is a $5 billion market cap data analytics automation platform. Alteryx knew that digital transformation would be driven by workers in every functional area of a business, from Sales Ops to FP&A to supply chain, and not just the PhD-trained statisticians. So they built a platform that allowed for code-free and code-friendly approaches to the entire analytics continuum. Auren and Dean explore the rise of the citizen data scientist, how Alteryx defined the analytics space, and how they built a product that supported the entire analytics continuum. They also dive into why Alteryx invested in long-term strategies, including channel partnership and a user community, to slowly yet effectively strengthen their business.World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts

5 snips
Sep 24, 2021 • 59min
Daniel Gross (CEO of Pioneer): Why Energy is the Best Predictor of Talent
Spotting talent is really hard. Identifying A-players can feel impossible. Peter Thiel has one of the best interview questions for identifying talent, “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?” But Daniel Gross disagrees. Daniel believes easygoing questions like “What movies do you like to watch?” elicit more telling responses.Daniel Gross is the CEO of Pioneer, a reimagined version of the startup accelerator focused on identifying, motivating, and enabling the next wave of founders. Daniel previously founded Cue, which was acquired by Apple, and was a partner at Y Combinator. Daniel co-authored with Tyler Cowen the soon-to-be-released book, Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World. Simply put, Daniel is an expert on spotting talent.Auren and Daniel dive into Daniel’s favorite interview questions, how to distinguish between good and great employees, what makes a 10xer, and how to measure productivity. They also explore why the strongest leaders are energetic, enthusiastic, and funny. World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcastsYou can find Auren Hoffman (CEO of SafeGraph) on Twitter at @auren

Sep 17, 2021 • 44min
Tyler Cowen: Identifying Talent and Measuring Organizational Capital
Tyler Cowen, Chair of Economics at George Mason University, talks with World of DaaS host Auren Hoffman. Tyler is the host of the Conversations with Tyler podcast, blogger at Marginal Revolution, and author of several books. Auren and Tyler discuss how the last year drove the end of the Great Stagnation, society’s newfound appreciation for big business, why Tyler thinks economists’ use of data is overrated, how to spot talent, why organizational capital would be one of the most valuable data sources, and so much more. World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcastsYou can find Auren Hoffman (CEO of SafeGraph) on Twitter at @auren

Sep 10, 2021 • 57min
Daniel Yanisse (CEO of Checkr): Building a Fairer Future of Work
Daniel Yanisse, CEO of Checkr, talks with World of DaaS host Auren Hoffman. Checkr is a $4.6 billion market cap dollar company automating background checks. Auren and Daniel discuss the legacy system for running background checks, why it was the perfect market for a startup, how Checkr approached channel partnerships and international expansion, and its recent shift to B2C. They also discuss Checkr’s mission to build a fairer future of work.World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcastsYou can find Auren Hoffman (CEO of SafeGraph) on Twitter at @auren

Sep 2, 2021 • 49min
Sinan Aral: Solving Social Media Market Failures
Sinan Aral, Professor of Management, Marketing, IT and Data Science at MIT, talks with World of DaaS host Auren Hoffman. Sinan is also the director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, founding partner of Manifest Capital, and the author of the book “Hype Machine”. Auren and Sinan discuss why social media networks are optimized to connect users with like-minded people, what creates viral content, and how to solve market failures in social media. They also discuss the future of Wall Street Bets and why it will likely remain part of our investment landscape.World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcastsYou can find Auren Hoffman (CEO of SafeGraph) on Twitter at @auren

Aug 26, 2021 • 44min
Hayden Brown (CEO of Upwork): Owning the Work Marketplace
Hayden Brown, CEO of Upwork, talks with World of DaaS host Auren Hoffman. Upwork is a $6 billion market cap workplace company. Auren and Hayden cover how the COVID-19 pandemic massively accelerated the freelance market, Upwork’s strategy to become the single destination for all work-related needs, and various other examples of successful marketplaces. They also discuss Upwork’s proprietary dataset that provides unique insight into the labor market and how Upwork is working to make more of this information publicly available.World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcastsYou can find Auren Hoffman (CEO of SafeGraph) on Twitter at @auren

Aug 19, 2021 • 43min
Glen Weyl: Reimagining Democracy with Quadratic Funding and Quadratic Voting
Glen Weyl is Microsoft Office of CTO Political Economist & Social Technologist, founder of RadicalXChange, and author of “Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society”.Glen is reimagining democracy with two revolutionary concepts -- quadratic voting and quadratic funding. Auren and Glen cover how quadratic voting and quadratic funding can revitalize collective decision-making, current applications of both concepts, and how they can be used by corporations. They also explore why accessing high-quality data is so hard and what businesses can do to significantly improve their data accuracy.World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcastsYou can find Auren Hoffman (CEO of SafeGraph) on Twitter at @auren

Aug 11, 2021 • 47min
Will Marshall (CEO of Planet): Building a Data Company in Space
Will Marshall, co-founder and CEO of Planet, talks with World of DaaS host Auren Hoffman. Prior to Planet, Will served as a Scientist at NASA/USRA. Planet is a data business that operates hundreds of orbiting satellites that capture images of the entire world daily. Will and Auren cover Planet’s proprietary methods of building a dataset in space, how satellite imagery is used by numerous industries, the benefits of running a data business, Planet’s plan to go public later this year, and more.World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcastsYou can find Auren Hoffman (CEO of SafeGraph) on Twitter at @auren

12 snips
Aug 5, 2021 • 54min
Byrne Hobart: Why Airline Loyalty Programs Are Really Just FinTech Companies
Byrne Hobart, Author of The Diff talks with World of DaaS host Auren Hoffman. The Diff is a top newsletter that covers inflection points in finance and technology. Byrne previously worked in data-driven equity research and online marketing. In 2020, Byrne published an article stating that airline loyalty programs are worth more than the airlines themselves. These programs have been key to the airline industry's survival. Byrne and Auren dive in. They break down the mechanics of airline loyalty programs, reveal how airlines survived the pandemic, share lessons that cryptocurrencies can learn from airline loyalty programs, and more.World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcastsYou can find Auren Hoffman (CEO of SafeGraph) on Twitter at @auren

Jul 29, 2021 • 55min
Susan Athey: Tech Economists, Machine Learning, and Causation
Susan Athey, The Economics of Technology Professor at Stanford's Graduate Business School, talks with World of DaaS host Auren Hoffman. Susan serves as the Founding Director at Stanford's Golub Capital Social Impact Lab, using technology and social science to improve the effectiveness of social sector organizations, and is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Athey was the first Chief Economist at Microsoft. She's also on the Board of Directors of Expedia, Lending Club, Ripple, Rover, Turo, and more. Susan and Auren dive into the role of tech economists, machine learning, and causal inference. World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcastsYou can find Auren Hoffman (CEO of SafeGraph) on Twitter at @auren
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