null This is The Founders' List - audio versions of essays from technology’s most important leaders, selected by the founder community. We’ve recently published a podcast and essay focused on Hamilton Helmer’s 7 Powers book, regarded as a core insight behind the success of companies like Spotify, Netflix, Stripe, and Twilio. For this episode of the Founders’ List, we’ll be sharing notes and personal thoughts on the book titled “Mind the Moat, a 7 Powers Review” by  Flo Crivelo, Founder & CEO of TeamFlow. Read Flo's essay here - https://florentcrivello.com/index.php/2018/07/29/mind-the-moat-a-7-powers-review/

In this episode, James Currier, Jeff Lawson, and Hamilton Helmer delve into the importance of defensibility, the 7 Powers of strategy, and the role of inventiveness. They discuss network economies using Uber as a case study, examine scale economies, and explore the concept of Counter Positioning. They also discuss the challenges for incumbents adapting to new business models, the power of branding, and cornered resources. The episode ends with insights on process power and developing entrepreneurial power. In this special NFX Podcast episode, Jeff Lawson (Co-Founder & CEO at Twilio) interviews Hamilton Helmer to analyze the 7 Powers, getting at the core question: What is it about certain businesses that keeps the force of competition away? Helmer’s framework reveals that you can intentionally craft the conditions for persistent & durable differential returns. 7 Powers is Hamilton’s cognitive guide to building an enduringly great business and breaks fresh ground by constructing a comprehensive strategy toolset that is easy for you to learn, communicate and quickly apply. Hamilton has led over 200 strategy projects with major clients such as Adobe Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Netflix, Raychem, and Spotify. Jeff Lawson is a Co-Founder and CEO at Twilio, a cloud communications platform that adds messaging, voice and video to web and mobile apps. He is a serial inventor with over 15 years of entrepreneurial and product experience. Read the full NFX Essay here - https://www.nfx.com/post/seven-powers/ (0:00) Introduction by James Currier and Importance of Understanding Defensibility (1:27) Jeff Lawson's Skepticism about Strategy and Introduction to the 7 Powers (6:44) Importance of Inventiveness in Strategy and Google Plus's Downfall (9:33) Explanation of Network Economies and Case Study: Uber (13:05) Scale Economies of Uber, Lyft, and Netflix (16:03) Concept and Application of Counter Positioning (21:16) Challenges Incumbents Face When Adapting to New Business Models (23:54) Power of Branding and Differentiation from Brand Awareness (26:10) Discussion on Cornered Resource as a Power (29:08) Introduction and Explanation of Process Power (32:50) How Entrepreneurs Can Develop Power (34:50) Closing Remarks by Jeff Lawson and Hamilton Helmer's Final Thoughts

null This is The Founders' List - audio versions of essays from technology’s most important leaders, selected by the founder community. "We’re on the precipice of a new era of the web. As infinite distractions compete for our attention, companies are learning to master new tactics to stay relevant in users’ minds and lives. The Hook Model is a way of describing a user’s interactions with a product as they pass through four phases: a trigger to begin using the product, an action to satisfy the trigger, a variable reward for the action, and some type of investment that, ultimately, makes the product more valuable to the user. As the user goes through these phases, he builds habits in the process." This essay was written and published by Nir Eyal, best-selling author & professor. Read the full article on Nir's blog here: Read the essay here - https://www.nirandfar.com/how-to-manufacture-desire/

In this episode, Pete Flint, Assaf Wand, and Kristen O'Brien discuss the insurance industry's challenges and innovations. They delve into Wand's learning journey and tactics for idea formation in regulated industries. They also explore Hippo's family-oriented culture, their growth during COVID-19, and the decision to go public via SPAC. The conversation concludes with a look at Hippo's future and their use of data and smart devices to prevent insurance claims. Insurtech is also a space that has become increasingly crowded and more high-profile in recent years. Hippo Insurance uses technology to help homeowners maintain their properties, creating a new standard of care and protection for homeowners. Hippo announced its intention to go public via SPAC in early March of this year that will now give Hippo a valuation of $5B, making it one of the largest insurtechs in the US. Co-Founder & CEO Assaf Wand sits down with NFX Partner Pete Flint to share his Founder story, product mindset, strategy behind the SPAC, and personal frameworks for taking Hippo from idea to IPO. (0:00) Introduction with Kristen O'Brien and Pete Flint (2:03) Challenges and Innovations in the Insurance Industry (10:17) Assaf Wand's Learning Journey in the Insurance Industry (14:08) Tactics and Frameworks for Idea Formation, Validation, and Hiring in a Regulated Industry (24:30) Building a Family-oriented Culture at Hippo (28:32) Navigating Challenges and Growth in the Era of COVID-19 (34:11) Going Public via SPAC: The Rationale Behind Hippo's Decision (43:14) What's in Store for Hippo: Protecting the Joy of Homeownership (48:34) The Core Offering of Hippo: Using Data and Smart Home Devices to Prevent Insurance Claims (49:42) Wrapping up the Conversation with Assaf Wand and Outro

In this episode, James Currier, Austen Allred, and Kristen O'Brien discuss the societal pressures of higher education and the American Dream. They explore Lambda School's role in reshaping education, and the importance of aligning school incentives with student success. The trio compares international education systems, particularly Germany's, and the history and future of online education. They delve into the role of community in education, misunderstood aspects of startup success, and future educational decisions for today's five-year-olds. They wrap up by predicting future job markets. The new American dream is underway. The current US educational industrial complex is not serving young people anymore, and entrepreneurs outside the system are creating new alternatives. Austen Allred, Co-Founder/CEO of Lambda School earned this perspective by dropping out of college, setting his own path, and now building a successful company and movement to change education in our country. Austen sees our educational past, present, and future in ways few others do. In this conversation, James Currier (NFX) and Austen break down traditional and contrarian thinking on how we are educated, challenging what has gone unquestioned for decades: - The Psychology of Traditional College: Why “Normal is a hell of a drug”- Faulty Mechanics: The problem with America’s “Single Model” education system- The New American Dream: How “permissionless learning” unlocks opportunity- & 2 Trends to Watch Read the NFX Essay here - https://www.nfx.com/post/the-new-american-dream/ (0:00) Introduction to the episode and guest, Austin Allred (3:46) The societal pressure of higher education and the American Dream (7:26) The role of Lambda School in reshaping education (11:19) Aligning the incentives of the school with the student's success (14:29) Comparison of international education systems, focusing on Germany (17:54) Online education: Its history, future, and importance of community (23:39) The role of community in education and trends in educational space (25:08) Misunderstood aspects of startup success and the challenges startups face (28:51) Future educational decisions for today's five-year-olds (31:20) Predicting the future job market and wrap-up of the conversation (32:23) Outro by Kristen O'Brien

In this episode, Jeff Bezos and Kristen O'Brien discuss Bezos's vision for Amazon, its value creation for stakeholders, and the company's innovation. They also delve into Amazon's safety improvements and benefits, its initiatives in climate action and renewable energy, and the significance of distinctiveness in business. The episode concludes with a discussion on the CEO transition from Bezos to Andy Jassy. This is The Founders' List - audio versions of essays from technology’s most important leaders, selected by the founder community. In his final letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Thursday laid out a broad vision for the future of the company, committing to extend Amazon’s famous obsession over its customers to the same level of care for its employees. Bezos also took steps to ease shareholders’ fears about what a reimagined focus for the company might mean for Amazon’s future. He reiterated that it “remains Day 1” and highlighted continued growth at Amazon. Read the letter here - https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/2020-letter-to-shareholders (0:00) Introduction by Kristen O'Brien and discussion on Jeff Bezos's vision for Amazon (4:16) Amazon's value creation for employees, customers, and shareholders (7:01) Analysis of Amazon's innovation and employee relationships (11:00) Amazon's steps towards improving work-related safety and employee benefits (14:20) Amazon's initiatives in climate action and renewable energy investments (19:20) Importance of distinctiveness and continuous effort in business, according to Jeff Bezos (23:04) Transitioning the CEO role from Jeff Bezos to Andy Jassy (23:42) End of episode and closing credits

Former Amazon CEO Jeff Wilke discusses the drivers behind Amazon's success, focusing on mechanisms, single-page culture, and single-threaded invention. They also touch on leadership principles, writing culture, and the importance of operational excellence for long-term success.

null This is The Founders' List - audio versions of essays from technology’s most important leaders, selected by the founder community. Amazon's approach to building sustainable long-term value should be a lesson to all companies - not just Internet companies. When Jeff Bezos took Amazon public 24 years ago, he sent this letter to all Shareholders and is still considered a playbook for building a great company - read by NFX. "1997 was indeed an incredible year. We at Amazon.com are grateful to our customers for their business and trust, to each other for our hard work, and to our shareholders for their support and encouragement."

null This is The Founders’ List – audio versions of essays from technology’s most important leaders, selected by the founder community. "For a startup, understanding VCs’ mindsets is often as important as understanding the mindsets of your customers. With no capital most Founders will not win, so you’d better learn the language." VCs speak a different language, one that Founders must learn to be able to raise capital. Understand the psychological drivers and use them to evaluate your counterpart’s state of mind. And repeat the core narratives: we are low risk; we will be huge; others are interested and moving forward. Read the original NFX Essay here - https://www.nfx.com/post/how-vcs-think-investing-decisions/

In this episode, James Currier and Chris Anderson delve into the complexities of regulating social media, discussing the role of likes, extreme content, and the potential impact of nationalization on large companies like Facebook. They also explore the challenges faced by rapidly growing firms like Robinhood and address root algorithmic causes in tech companies. The usual Silicon Valley response to regulation is to offer self-regulation instead — but only tech companies have the skills and speed to fix what they broke, unable to manage the influence over the public sphere they attained almost by accident. Unless the few who know how to actually build these tech networks speak out, it won’t just be technology that suffers - it will be the entire world. Having built, funded, and analyzed “unicorn” social networks for 25 years and former Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine, Chris Anderson and NFX Partner James Currier formulate a solution that resurrects a concept from the golden age of newspapers - the ombudsman. The ombudsman is another important node in the network that has proven itself in the past and is still missing. Listen as Chris and James outline together why these network problems require network solutions, here on the NFX Podcast. (0:00) Introduction and the problem with regulating social media (7:41) The complexities of digital media interfaces and establishing a threshold for content (13:05) The role of likes and extreme content in social media platforms and potential regulation (18:27) The Chinese government's control over online content and American exceptionalism (25:00) Discussion on nationalization of large companies and the potential impact on Facebook (31:21) The argument against corporate social responsibility and examples of corporations focusing on it (35:09) The possibility of breaking up Facebook and its potential consequences (39:25) The regulatory challenges faced by rapidly growing companies like Robinhood and the transition from tearing down to building up in the tech industry (43:45) Addressing root algorithmic causes in tech companies and the potential for an ombudsman committee (46:56) Wrap-up and outro