Decoder with Nilay Patel

Latest Episodes:

Recode Decode: 'High Growth Handbook' author Elad Gil Aug 20, 2018

Show notes

Startup advisor and Color Genomics co-founder Elad Gil talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, "High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People." In this episode:00:03:30 - Why Gil stepped down as CEO of Color00:06:00 - Why he wrote "High Growth Handbook"00:09:52 - Is there too much reinvention in tech businesses?00:11:25 - Startup myths and Rachleff's Law00:17:20 - Contrarians are usually wrong!00:23:00 - How to build a board and evolve it as your company grows00:29:14 - The "old-timer" problem00:32:14 - The Sheryl Sandberg effect and when CEOs should step aside00:37:10 - Is innovation dying in Silicon Valley?00:41:05 - Are startups threatened more by the Big 5 or their own founders?00:43:59 - The dangers of Silicon Valley losing its optimism00:52:05 - San Francisco's bad governance

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Recode Decode: Andrew Moore, dean of Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science Aug 18, 2018

Show notes

Andrew Moore, the dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the future of tech education as fields like artificial intelligence and machine learning take center stage. Moore says he's "concerned" that anti-immigrant fervor will deter the next generation of great computer scientists from coming to America, although CMU has not yet seen an impact on its application numbers. He also talks about the often-forgotten importance of electrical and computer engineers, who will develop the sensors that make machine learning advance; how educational programs have been complicit in the lack of diversity in tech; and why he's personally pessimistic that self-driving cars, one of Carnegie Mellon's areas of expertise, will be ready by the early 2020s, as some have predicted.

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Recode Decode: Glassdoor CEO Robert Hohman Aug 15, 2018

Show notes

Robert Hohman, the co-founder and CEO of company-reviewing site Glassdoor, talks about how the company has evolved since its early days, when Hohman wanted to merge employer transparency with the gaming sensibilities of World of Warcraft. He explains why letting employees and ex-employees rate a company's CEO was so successful, and why Glassdoor nixed a planned feature to let them rate their direct managers. Hohman also talks about the rules the company put in place to moderate publicly-shared reviews, including what happens when an employee alleges that a manager has sexually harassed them. Plus: Why there's a strong correlation between employees who have a bad work/life balance and CEOs with high approval ratings.

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Recode Decode: Dr. Jen Gunter, OB/GYN Aug 13, 2018

Show notes

Jen Gunter, an OB/GYN and pain medicine physician, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how celebrity wellness brands have been overtaken by "medical conspiracy theories" and dangerous recommendations — for example, that bras cause breast cancer. After Gunter disputed that claim, made by a writer for Gwyneth Paltrow's company, Goop, it accused her of "being in the pocket of big lingerie." She also talks about the larger problems with finding reliable health information online and how regular people without medical degrees can be smarter skeptics of what their doctors say.

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Recode Decode: Uber Eats boss Jason Droege Aug 08, 2018

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If you enjoy Recode Decode, we think you'd also like the Eater Upsell. Here's a recent episode of the show: Jason Droege, the man in charge of Uber Eats, talks with Eater's Dan Geneen about how the service started, how it interfaces with restaurants, and what he sees as the future of the brand.

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Recode Decode: Sidecar co-founder Sunil Paul Aug 06, 2018

Show notes

Sidecar co-founder Sunil Paul talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his popular guest column for Recode, “The scooter wars will be a bloodbath, and Uber will win.” He elaborates on why that is and shares his thoughts about the broader transportation industry, including self-driving cars, bike-sharing and vertical lift and take-off vehicles like Larry Page’s Kitty Hawk “flying car.” Now primarily an investor, Paul also talks about why Sidecar couldn’t compete with Uber and Lyft — even though it created ride-hailing features that are now popular parts of their products.

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Recode Decode: Grab co-founder Hooi Ling Tan Aug 01, 2018

Show notes

Hooi Ling Tan, the co-founder of southeast Asian ride-hailing company Grab, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher at the 2018 Rise conference in Hong Kong. Tan says Grab is opening up a platform for more services beyond ride-hailing because it wants to address not just transportation needs, but every worry its customers may have, including groceries and payments. She also talks about how the company is working with 27 percent-shareholder Uber and its newest board member, Toyota, which in June invested $1 billion into Grab. Plus: Tan explains why the company doesn't have to worry about diversity.

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Recode Decode: 'General Magic' directors Sarah Kerruish and Matt Maude Jul 30, 2018

Show notes

Sarah Kerruish and Matt Maude talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about their new documentary, "General Magic," which tells the story of a pioneering tech startup that tried and failed to invent a smartphone in the 1990s. Swisher appears in the documentary, which posits that although few people know the name General Magic today, the company’s failure paved the way for the Silicon Valley we know today.

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Recode Decode: 'The Billionaire Raj' author James Crabtree Jul 28, 2018

Show notes

Journalist James Crabtree talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, "The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age." Crabtree says India's development of a super-rich billionaire class has heightened the country's already-intense problem with inequality. He also talks about why its "fantastic entrepreneurial culture" has not been able to foster a Silicon Valley-esque tech hub and how he weighs the positive impact of technologies like the mobile phone against negatives such as the recent spate of lynchings that some have linked to Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp.

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Recode Decode: WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg Jul 25, 2018

Show notes

Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how the blogging platform has evolved in the 13 years since it launched, powering a huge number of websites that included AllThingsD and an earlier version of Recode.net. Mullenweg also talks about WordPress' recent acquisition of a mobile journalism startup, the Atavist; how he manages 750 employees without an official corporate office; and why "every tech company should have an editorial team."

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