Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast

Maha is a partner at Canaan Partners, one of Silicon Valley's largest and most successful venture firms.  She spots technology trends early and partners closely with her companies to drive growth and exits. Maha focuses on e-commerce and enterprise / cloud, and was one of the first investors to recognize the potential of social gaming. She represented Canaan as the first institutional investor in The RealReal – which recently went public. Maha is a founding member of All Raise, an organization with the mission to “accelerate the success of female funders and founders”. She is also a trustee for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  Before becoming a venture capitalist, Maha was an executive at Qwest Communications and studied Economics and Sociology at Stanford, and Economics at MIT. In this podcast Maha shares her journey to becoming a venture capitalist.  She discusses the changes she’s seen in the venture industry and what does – and doesn’t – excite her today.  We also talk about the evolving path for women in Silicon Valley, and what an ally of women can do to be helpful. Canaan Partners www.canaan.com All Raise www.allraise.org The RealReal www.threrealreal.com

Esther Wojcicki is a journalist and educator.  She founded and runs the Palo Alto High School Media Arts Center, which engages over 600 students directly in media such as magazines, newspapers, radio, television and photography.  She wrote the book “How to Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results”.  Her qualifications?  Her three daughters, Susan, Anne and Janet are the CEO of Youtube, Founder and CEO of 23 and Me, and a professor of medicine at UCSF. In this podcast, we discuss her path through the male dominated world of journalism, to becoming a teacher and founding the Media Arts Center.  She relates how she raised her children to be particularly independent, and discusses the rise of ‘helicopter parents’ --  parents who sometimes hover over their children even as they go to college.  We also discuss the evolution and state of journalism from typeset newspapers, to the massive changes brought on by the Internet, Facebook, YouTube and Google. How to Raise Successful People https://raisesuccessfulpeople.com Media Arts Center http://www.palymac.org/

It's the time of  year when Silicon Valley decamps to a party in the desert known as Burning Man.  Grown adults, with children and jobs spend multiple weeks preparing, burning, then decompressing. In this replay episode, we take a light-hearted look at Burning Man as seen from Silicon Valley.  We review the history of the event, which began at Ocean Beach in San Francisco.  We also cover a dark period in Burning Man's early history. Michael White is a recovering Silicon Valley attorney.  I'm a venture capitalist.  Neither of has been to Burning Man.  Well, that's not going to stop us.  We watched a movie about Burning Man!   The movie we refer to in this episode is "Spark:  A Burning Man Story" from 2013. www.somethingventured.us      

Alison McCauley is the Best Selling Author of Unblocked: How Blockchain will Change your Business and What to Do About It. Why does blockchain matter? Alison points out that disruption is no longer a moment in time. It's a continual state. How do you understand the new opportunity? Set priorities in a complex and ever-shifting landscape? Prepare for what’s ahead? Alison helps you navigate the human side of digital acceleration. In this episode we discuss the moment Alison came to be blown away by the potential of blockchain, how it’s like the early Internet…and the surprisingly large role of women in this industry. I also conduct a thorough podcast investigation of whether Alison is Satoshi Nakamoto. Don’t miss it! More about Alison McCauley: Alison is founder and CEO of Unblocked Future, a consultancy that helps executives drive adoption at the forefront of emerging tech. She helps companies communicate their vision, resonate with stakeholders, and activate communities for change. She is a keynote speaker who, in addition to spending time in the blockchain rabbit hole, helps teams to educate and drive adoption in their markets at the front edge of innovation in IoT, robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and other developing technologies.. A social scientist by training, she spent her career studying the intersection of human behavior and emerging technology, with 20 years of consulting to technology-first startups and Fortune-500 companies across industries including healthcare, education, telecommunications, energy, retail, finance, hospitality, and manufacturing  @unblockedfuture https://www.alisonmccauley.io www.somethingventured.us 

In honor of Kelly's recent, well-received talk at Jackson Square Ventures, and the ongoing interest in mental health issues in Silicon Valley -- here she is again! ------ Keller Fitzsimmons is the author of Lost in Startuplandia: Wayfinding for the Weary Entrepreneur. She gives lie to the idea that entrepreneurship is a thrilling, lucrative adventure. All is great, of course, until things go horribly wrong. “As crisis after crisis hits, even the most seasoned founder can get disoriented. Whether you're in the throes of business woes or just getting into the game, E. Keller Fitzsimmons has written a field guide outlining the terrain to help you avoid getting Lost in Startuplandia.” Keller is a serial tech entrepreneur, artist, and mother of two. She is the cofounder of Custom Reality Services, a virtual reality production company whose first two projects, Across the Line (2016) and Ashe '68 (2019), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Keller is the recipient of the Silvertip PwC Entrepreneurship Award and Speech Technology's Luminary Award. Her work has been published by Network Computing, InformationWeek, and Inc. An active angel investor, she serves on the technology committee for BELLE USA, a venture fund that invests in women-led startups. Originally trained as a classical archaeologist, Keller holds a master's degree from Harvard University. In this podcast Keller discusses a wide range of topics, including losing her ability to read (before becoming a best selling author). She discusses the surprising prevalance of anxiety, depression and suicide in Silicon Valley. Lost in Startuplandia https://www.lostinstartuplandia.com  Something Ventured www.somethingventured.us    

Adriana is the Founder and CEO of Girls in Tech, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization that empowers women in the tech industry across the globe. Before founding Girls in Tech, Adriana served in executive roles at Ogilvy & Mather, Interpublic Group of Companies, Social Gaming Network (SGN), and SecondMarket. She has been named one of the 20 most influential Latinos in Technology by CNET, among other awards. She is author of the book Tech Boss Lady: How to Startup, Disrupt and Thrive as a Female Founder. In this episode, Adriana charts the influence her immigrant grandparents, and entrepreneurial parents had on her. She shares her early experience with Silicon Valley’s unwelcoming male culture, and how she came to create the global enterprise that is Girls in Tech. She discusses how sexual harassment in Silicon Valley has – and hasn’t – changed. From roller skating to balling up stress like a travel t-shirt – this episode has a bit of everything. Girls in Tech https://girlsintech.org Something Ventured:  something ventured.us

Anne Dwane is co-founder and partner of Village Global, the venture firm backed by an impressive and diverse group of investors that includes: Jeff Bezos, Sara Blakely, Reid Hoffman, Magic Johnson, Anne Wojcicki, Mark Zuckerberg, Diane Green, Judy Estrin, and Ken Chennault. Before becoming a venture capitalist, Anne was a tech company co-founder, a private company CEO, and public company executive. She built Military.com with previous podcast guest Chris Michel, and was CEO of Zinch before it was acquired by Chegg. At Chegg she had P&L responsibility as the company became public, with a value over $1 billion. In this episode, Anne shares her journey from Harvard Business School, to Silicon Valley, and her path to becoming a public company executive to her latest role as a venture capitalist at Village Global.  Village Global www.villageglobal.vc Chegg www.chegg.com Something Ventured www.somethingventured.us  

After attending the University of Illinois, Chris Michel began his career as a Naval Flight Officer, flying aboard P-3 Orion “sub-hunters”.  Today, he is a photographer, chronicling Silicon Valley and the World.  His photography has taken him from the edge of space, to the North and South Poles and everything in between.  Chris’s path from the Navy to photographer was not a straight line, and in this podcast you’ll hear his story.  In this wide-ranging discussion we talk about how Chris made it from the Navy to Harvard business school, where he met his  business partner (and future podcast guest) Anne Dwane.  Also covered are his path to founding two Silicon Valley companies, and his struggle to guide them through difficult times.  Finally, we discuss Chris’s advice on how to think about structuring a career and a life. https://www.christophermichel.com In the Something Ventured podcast, Silicon Valley insider Kent Lindstrom explores the reality behind the headlines, as he sits down with the people who are shaping the way we view the world online...and beyond. https://somethingventured.us  

  Julian Guthrie is a journalist-turned-author, covering such topics as Larry Ellison’s quest for the America’s Cup, and the new age of private space exploration. She gravitates to tales of underdogs and innovation, and her latest book is no exception. “Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took on Silicon Valley's Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime” is the story of four women: Magdalena Yesil, Mary Jane Elmore, Theresia Gouw, and Sonja Hoel Perkins. Each of these rose – against the well-known odds of Silicon Valley – to the top of the game.  Well before “me too” these four women juggled work and family, overcame unequal pay, and faced the sexist attitudes prevalent in male-dominated Silicon Valley. Nevertheless, they rose to rewrite the rules of an entire industry. Each story is amazing on its own. Magdalena Yesil, came from Turkey with $43 to her name, and would go on to help Marc Benioff build Salesforce.  Mary Jane Elmore went from the cornfields of Indiana to Silicon Valley and landed at the storied venture capital firm IVP - where she was one of the first women in the U.S. to make partner at a venture firm. Theresia Gouw, Asian American from a working-class town, ultimately helped venture firm Accel Partners invest in firms like Google, Facebook, Imperva, Forescout, and Trulia.  Sonja Hoel Perkins, a Southerner, became one of the first women investing partners at white-glove Menlo Ventures, and invested in McAfee, Hotmail, Acme Packet, and F5 Networks.  In this wide ranging conversation, Julian shares her experience in writing this book, and previous books including “How to Make a Spaceship,” with a foreword by Richard Branson and an afterword by Stephen Hawking, and “The Billionaire and the Mechanic,” about Larry Ellison. We also discuss the current state of sexism in Silicon Valley, her predictions for the future, and the in-the-works adaptation of her book for television. www.somethingventured.us www.julianguthriesf.com 

 Charles is the founder and Managing Partner of Precursor Ventures, one of Silicon Valley’s hot seed stage venture firms. He was previously at Uncork, the storied seed venture firm founded by Jeff Clavier. Precursor is a classic seed stage venture firm investing in founders they believe in.  Before becoming a venture capitalist, Charles cofounded Bionic Panda Games, and held senior business development roles at Serious Business and Gaia Interactive.  Also – he went to Stanford. Twice. In this episode we discuss a range of issues including what it’s like to be a black VC in a mostly white industry, how he made his way to venture, what it’s like working at Q-Tel, and why he left a hugely successful VC to start his own.   www.uncorkcapital.com www.precursorvc.com www.somethingventured.us