Stay ConnectedNon-obvious ideas that move the world. Auren Hoffman hosts leaders across tech, business, markets, and government.
Summation is the permanent home for the relentlessly curious.
Auren is CEO of NQB8, GP at Flex Capital, Chairman of Dialog; former CEO of SafeGraph and LiveRamp (NYSE: RAMP).
Copyright: © 2024 "World of DaaS"
Sam Corcos is the CEO of Levels, an a16z-backed health tech startup. While Levels’ mission is amazing, what really sets the company apart is how Sam runs it: Levels is highly transparent, asynchronous first, and serious about leveraging delegation for maximum productivity.
In this episode of World of DaaS, Sam gives a master class on the art of virtual assistance and delegation. Levels uses VAS to allow team members much greater leverage over their work. Sam himself has four EAs that allow him to get an extra 90-120 hours of work done each week.
Auren and Sam also delve into transparency and building in public, a principle Sam champions as a CEO. Sam discusses the leadership skills that allowed him to build enough trust in his organization to try out experimental management techniques like radical transparency and asynchronous-first communication.
Sam isn’t just an optimizer in his professional life– he’s a hardcore minimalist (he owns just one pair of pants), a digital nomad, and a deeply intentional thinker on matters in his personal life. Sam shares the mathematical formula that led him from single to married in six months, how he thinks about consumerism, and his formula for throwing the perfect salon dinner.
World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.
You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Sam on X at @SamCorcos
Jeff Lawson is the cofounder and CEO of Twilio, a $10 billion public software communications company.
Jeff has an incredible founder story. Prior to Twilio, he co-founded Versity, which he sold for $30 million when he was just 23 years old. He was also the founding CTO of Stubhub and one of the first product managers at AWS. He founded Twilio in 2008.
In this episode, Jeff shares his insights into the API economy, scaling successful businesses, and the future of the SaaS business model. Jeff and Auren reflect on the evolution of SaaS and discuss which areas still have yet to be disrupted.
Jeff dives into Twilio’s fascinating journey, including his takes on raising money in a challenging environment and pitching new technology to investors. He provides a firsthand account of Twilio’s journey from startup to billion dollar public company, including how they built a top tier sales organization. He and Auren also discuss API business models, the challenges of M&A, and breaking down internal silos that hold companies back.
World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.
You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Jeff Lawson on X at @jeffiel.
Spencer Kimball is the founder and CEO of Cockroach Labs, a $5 billion company that makes the CockroachDB database used by Netflix, Nubank, Shipt, and many other leading tech companies. Spencer was building and contributing to major open source projects before he graduated from college.
In this episode of World of DaaS, Spencer and Auren do a deep dive on open source companies: How they make money, what the ecosystem looks like in 2023, and competing with the giants like AWS and Oracle.
Auren and Spencer open with an in-depth history lesson on the software industry and open source’s role in it. Spencer explains how open source and open core companies evolved and how the rise of cloud giants like AWS has changed the industry. They also discuss how belief and optimism affects founders, Spencer’s “hierarchy of success,” and essential advice for first time founders.
World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.
You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Spencer on LinkedIn.
Ben Horowitz is the cofounder and CEO of Andreessen Horowitz, the most influential venture capital firm of the last 20 years. Ben and Andreessen Horowitz (also known as a16z) have invested in some of the biggest companies out there, including AirBnb, Coinbase, Facebook, Instacart, GitHub and Oculus.
Prior to his VC career, Ben founded Opsware/Loudcloud, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. He’s also the author of the bestselling books 'The Hard Thing About Hard Things' and ‘What You Do Is Who You Are.’
In this episode of World of DaaS, Auren and Ben discuss the data moats, AI vs software, and the nuances of the modern VC. Ben starts by exploring whether AI will eat the world like software has, and who the winners and losers of the AI revolution might be.
They also explore one of Ben’s best-known management concepts: wartime to peacetime CEOs, and how every CEO should be thinking about strategy and adaptability during broader tech headwinds. Ben's offers a candid perspective on how to build the right culture and what sets Andreessen Horowitz apart in the venture capital world.
World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.
You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Ben on Twitter at @bhorowitz.
Guillermo Rauch is the founder and CEO of Vercel, a cloud platform that powers some of the biggest names on the internet, like Patreon, Ebay, Netflix and Adobe.
Guillermo has an incredible founder story– he began coding at age 10, dropped out of high school and moved from his native Argentina to San Francisco as a teenager. He’s also the creator of several major open source projects and a dual threat CEO who runs his own solo VC firm, Rauch Capital.
In this episode of World of DaaS, Guillermo and Auren discuss the future of web development, the significance of user experience, and the rise of developer-first companies. They also explore the world of open-source business models and AI's impact on data interactions.
Guillermo also shares his unique personal journey and some thought-provoking insights on health, the immigrant experience and conspiracy theories.
World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.
You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Guillermo on Twitter at @rauchg.
Andrew Ross Sorkin is a financial columnist for the New York Times, a co-anchor of CNBC’s Squawk Box and the founder and editor of DealBook. He’s also the co-creator of the hit-show Billions and the author of the bestselling bookToo Big To Fail, on the 2008 financial crisis.
On this episode of World of DaaS, Auren and Andrew dive into the intersecting realms of technology, finance, and data. Andrew offers non-obvious insights into the 2008 financial crisis, highlighting the nuances of a pivotal moment in history. He also discusses the evolution of the banking system since 2008, and how that crisis compares to the SVB collapse earlier this year.
As the conversation unfolds, Andrew delves into topics such as venture capital in the media industry, AI's role in copyright, changes in M&A driven by private equity, and even touches on intriguing subjects like independent media and conspiracy theories.
World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.
You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Andrew on Twitter @andrewrsorkin or at NYT DealBook.
Peter Thiel is one of the greatest entrepreneurs and investors of his generation. He was the co-founder and CEO of PayPal, the first investor in Facebook, and co-founder of Palantir Technologies. He’s the founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Founders Fund, and the author of Zero to One, one of the best business books of all time.
In this episode, Auren and Peter dive deep on venture capital, scientific stagnation, AI, tech start-ups, and more. Peter shares his compelling theory for why scientific progress has slowed down dramatically in the last decades, and explains how that’s affected start-ups and investing.
Auren and Peter also survey the global economic landscape and discuss why the US and China have outperformed the rest of the world's economies by such a wide margin. Peter breaks down the conclusions from his book The Diversity Myth and explains why “competition is for losers.”
World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.
You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Peter Thiel on Twitter at @peterthiel.
Amjad Masad is the founder and CEO of Replit, an online coding environment.
Amjad and Auren discuss what the rise of AI means for coding, developers, and tech companies. Amjad shares his thoughts on consumer vs creator computer culture, why development hasn’t moved to the cloud faster, and why everyone should be able to call themselves a programmer.
They also discuss Amjad’s experience coming from Jordan to start a company in the US. Amjad shares whether he still thinks Silicon Valley is the best place for startups. They also discuss unique considerations for CEOs that aren’t talked about often: free speech as an executive, assessing expert opinion, and how investing makes you a better CEO.
World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.
You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Amjad Masad on Twitter at @amasad.
Sir Martin Sorrell is the founder of WPP, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, which he ran for over 30 years. He’s currently the executive chairman of S4 Capital, which is a pure play digital advertising company he founded in 2018.
In this episode, Auren and Martin dive into the fascinating intersection of AI in advertising, the economic impact of Brexit, and the ever-evolving landscape of ad revenue at big tech companies.
Martin shares his global outlook for advertising, including the regions he’s most bullish about, and he also outlines how the UK mishandled its economic opportunities with Brexit.
Auren and Martin also dive deep into some technical concerns in the advertising space, including cookie deprecation, ad targeting, and brand building in the social media era.
World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.
You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Martin Sorrell on Twitter at @martinsorrell.
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