The NFX Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The Founders' List: Amazon's 14 Leadership Principles Mar 25, 2021

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This is The Founders' List - audio versions of essays from technology’s most important leaders, selected by the founder community. Amazon has and operates by its own set of leadership principles--a set of principles referred to during company decision-making, problem-solving, simple brainstorming, and even hiring. Here are the 14 leadership principles Amazon workers refer to on a daily basis: - Customer Obsession - Ownership - Invent and Simplify - Are Right, A Lot - Learn and Be Curious - Hire and Develop the Best - Insist on the Highest Standards - Think Big - Bias for Action - Frugality - Earn Trust - Dive Deep - Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit - Deliver Results Read them here - https://www.amazon.jobs/en/principles

The Founders' List: Nokia's CEO 'Burning Platform' Memo Mar 18, 2021

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This is The Founders' List - audio versions of essays from technology’s most important leaders, selected by the founder community. In 2007, Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop (a former Microsoft executive) was planning radical action to revive the company's fortunes on what they will do to stem the loss of market share, notably in the smartphone market, where despite being the biggest player it has been unable to compete with incomers, notably Google's Android and Apple's iOS. "The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we still don't have a product that is close to their experience. Android came on the scene just over 2 years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable."

Gaming Superpowers for Non-Game Founders with Gabi Shalel (Plarium) & Gigi Levy-Weiss Mar 17, 2021

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Gabi Shalel is an amazing games founder - he understands the type of innovation, fast iteration, and quality required to create a successful games company. These things are also very valuable for every founder, every startup. So today, NFX General Partner Gigi Levy-Weiss talks to Gabi about the lessons he's learned from starting, growing, and selling Plarium for $500M that other founders can take and apply to their own startups, including: - Psychology of ultra-fast iterations - People and Hiring - Pivoting - Social in your product - Conversion tactics - much more Read the NFX essay here - https://www.nfx.com/post/gaming-superpowers-plarium

The Founders' List: The Ethereum Whitepaper Mar 11, 2021

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This introductory paper was originally published in 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, before the project's launch in 2015. It's worth noting that Ethereum, like many community-driven, open-source software projects, has evolved since its initial inception. While several years old, they maintain this paper because it continues to serve as a useful reference and an accurate representation of Ethereum and its vision. From humble beginnings, Ethereum has grown into a well-known and widely used platform. The platform has also been responsible for launching hundreds of other cryptocurrencies and decentralized projects in recent years through a new fundraising mechanism called an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Read the full paper here - https://ethereum.org/en/whitepaper/

The Founders' List: Letter to Amazon Employees from Jeff Bezos Mar 09, 2021

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This is The Founders' List - audio versions of essays from technology’s most important leaders, selected by the founder community. Amazon's Jeff Bezos announced in February that he was stepping down as CEO of the e-commerce giant later this year. Bezos said he would transition to the executive chair of the company's board of directors and will focus on "new products and early initiatives. This is the letter he sent to all employees at Amazon. “Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it’s consuming,” Bezos wrote in a letter to employees announcing his role change. “When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else.”

The Founders' List: Berkshire Hathaway 2020 Annual Report from Warren Buffett Mar 09, 2021

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This is The Founders' List - audio versions of essays from technology’s most important leaders, selected by the founder community. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B) held its 2020 annual meeting of shareholders as a livestream-only event originating from its headquarters city of Omaha, Nebraska on May 2. This is the report from 2020 sent to all shareholders. This is the letter he sent to all shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. “The company’s sitting on about $150 billion in cash right now and it has $25 billion of earnings power, and Buffett has not found a lot to do with Berkshire’s earnings the last couple years in terms of buying businesses or stock market investments.”

The Founders' List: Pete Flint on "How to Manage Hypercompetitive Markets" Mar 04, 2021

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This is The Founders' List - audio versions of essays from technology’s most important leaders, selected by the founder community. Inside the war rooms of companies locked in the battle for market leadership is an atmosphere of voracious competition. The stakes are high because whoever emerges on top can shape the future of an entire industry. It takes this competitive spirit to drive true innovation at scale, and the reality is that it’s often very cutthroat. Pete Flint (General Partner at NFX) shares 7 key strategies he has identified to help Founders manage a hypercompetitive market and get ahead, including: - Becoming an expert on pricing - Finding and dominating the most profitable market segments - Everything that can be copied, will be copied - Taking the high road with competitors - Using capital as a competitive weapon - Focusing on being uniquely better, not just on being different - Managing your psychology is key Hypercompetitive markets are tricky to navigate, but understanding the dynamics and having the right approach can make a big difference in outcome. Read the full NFX Essay here - https://www.nfx.com/post/hypercompetitive-markets/

BJ Fogg on Tiny Habits for Startup Founders with James Currier Mar 01, 2021

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BJ Fogg is an American behavior scientist who is currently an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University and a New York Times best-selling author. He is the founder and director of the Behavior Design Lab. BJ Fogg and James Currier talk to uncover how startup Founders can create better systems, both within themselves and within their companies and communities, so they can level up what we’re doing and put more good into the world. They cover topics like behavior design in tech and tech companies, mindset for Founders, examples of companies doing these things well, and tiny habits for Founders to focus on. Pick up BJ Fogg's popular book here - https://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Habits-Changes-Change-Everything/dp/0358003326 Follow BJ on Twitter - https://twitter.com/bjfogg

The Founders' List: The DoorDash Investment Memo from 2014 Feb 25, 2021

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This is The Founders' List - audio versions of essays from technology’s most important leaders, selected by the founder community. In the Summer of 2013, DoorDash had a dream of building a real-time local delivery network for local commerce. This episode is the reading of an internal memo by Sequoia Capital Partner Alfred Lin in 2014 focused on the market and business of DoorDash before their Series A partnership. DoorDash launched in Palo Alto, California in 2013. As of January 2020, it had the largest food delivery market share in the United States. DoorDash held its initial public offering on December 9, 2020.

Good vs. Great Leaders with Carole Robin & James Currier Feb 22, 2021

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Carole has been in the business of helping leaders grow for over 35 years. Before she co-founded and became the Head of Programs of Leaders in Tech, she taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) for 17 years, where she served as the Faculty Director of the Interpersonal Dynamics for High Performance Executives Program and Director of the Arbuckle Leadership Fellows program. Carole is well known for teaching the Interpersonal Dynamics course that most call the "Touchy Feely Class" (the most popular elective course at the GSB for over 45 years). Today NFX General Partner James Currier and Carole sit down and discuss a range of topics centered around startup Founders, relationships, her time teaching at Stanford, and her new book called 'Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends and Colleagues' with David Bradford. In Connect, they show readers how to take their relationships from shallow to exceptional by cultivating authenticity, vulnerability, and honesty, while being willing to ask for and offer help, share a commitment to growth, and deal productively with conflict. "That's why so many founders in the Valley are so exhausted because they're carrying everything. And somehow they've got this idea that unless they come to somebody and say, "Hey, I could use some help here," they're going to appear weak. That's just broken."

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