Podcasts in Seattle
Shows
Spencer Rascoff - Entrepreneur and Tech Executive
Spencer Rascoff is an entrepreneur and tech executive who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso, Recon Food, Queue, and heyLibby, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. Spencer is an active angel investor and is starting new companies through his Los Angeles venture capital firm and startup studio, 75 & Sunny. He is also on the Board of Directors of Varo Bank. In the spring of 2022, Spencer was a Visiting Professor, where he taught Harvard College's first-ever startup class, "Startups from Ideation to Exit," in the fall of 2019, he co-created and co-taught the Harvard Business School course…
SShauna Swerland
SSpencer Rascoff
AI Investing in Seattle with Ascend.vc General Partner Kirby Winfield
In this episode of Shift AI, Kirby Winfield General Partner at Ascend.vc shares his journey from founding multiple successful startups to becoming a leading AI investor and outlines lessons learned, insights on the Seattle startup ecosystem, and his optimistic yet pragmatic views on generative AI and the future of work. Summary of topics covered: Background and early career: Kirby gained experience as an entrepreneur early in his career through founding multiple companies. Transition to Venture capital: Looking for a new challenge, Kirby leveraged his experience operating startups to co-found Ascend and advise other founders. Investment thesis and framework for evaluating…
Investor Spotlight: A Conversation with Madrona's Tim Porter
Hear from Madrona Managing Director Tim Porter as he discusses his path to venture capital by way of mechanical engineering and Microsoft. He shares invaluable insights about what he looks for in a founder, the importance of customer focus, and the high priority he places on integrity. Tim also shares Madrona's core principles, his favorite books for entrepreneurs, and his personal interests outside of work, including his passion for outdoor sports and the nonprofit Global Partnerships. This chat is a must-watch for aspiring entrepreneurs looking for insights into the venture capital world or strategies to capture an investor's eye. (00:00)…
CCoral Garnick
TTim Porter
Navigating the Dynamics of Startup Boards: Managing Disagreements & Effective Governance
In this episode, Madrona Managing Director S. Somasegar and General Counsel Joanna Black discuss the fundamental role of a board in a startup's growth and development. They touch upon the importance of aligning strategic views with board members, managing disagreements, and effective governance to ensure that the organization is run efficiently. The duo offers numerous insights into the intricacies of board structure at different stages of a startup lifecycle, drawing parallels from recent events at OpenAI. The conversation covers the need for transparency, both in sharing good and bad news, and the necessity for a functional board reflecting a functional…
CCoral Garnick Ducken
SS. "Soma" Somasegar
JJoanna Black
What's next for Microsoft and OpenAI; Amazon car sales; disappearing unicorns
This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we assess the outcome of the drama at OpenAI, considering what the removal and ultimate return of its CEO Sam Altman, and everything that happened in between, means for Microsoft. While Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella earned kudos for masterfully navigating the mess, the situation also showed how the company was vulnerable to being blindsided due to OpenAI's convoluted structure. And while for-profit interests are likely to get more influence on OpenAI's reformulated board, it's not yet clear if Microsoft will end up with a seat on that board, leaving the ultimate outcome for Microsoft…
#64 Matt McIlwain – MD Madrona Venture Group on all Things Venture Capital
Nataraj interviewed veteran VC Matt McIlwain of Madrona Venture Group on Startup Project podcast. Matt shared his insights into the state of venture capital and the impacts of AI, drawn from his 20+ years of experience. Some key takeaways: 1. Venture is a "tale of two cities" now - later stage startups are struggling, earlier stage companies embracing AI are thriving 2. Seattle has unmatched talent but lacks local capital - still over-reliant on Silicon Valley VCs 3. Incumbents have the edge currently in leveraging AI due to data, customers, ability to integrate via APIs - but long term, AI-native…
MMatt McIlwain
Karan Mehandru & Anna Baird on Go-To-Market Strategy, and Navigating Sales, Growth, and Leadership
This week, Madrona Managing Director Karan Mehandru hosts Madrona Operating Partner Anna Baird. The operating partner role is a new one for Madrona, and we're excited to have her on the team to advise our founders. Before transitioning to board positions in the last couple of years, Anna was most recently the CRO at Outreach. Before that, she was the COO at Outreach, and before that, she was the CFO at several companies. That trifecta of C-Suite experience gives Anna a unique perspective to help founders navigate any blind spots they may have. Anna and Karan, who is on the…
KKaran Mehandru
AAnna Baird
Jeff Bezos' big move, Convoy's final stop, AI meets VC
What should we make of Jeff Bezos' decision to move his primary residence from Seattle to Miami? That's our first topic on this week's episode. Plus, Convoy's final destination; a new AI feature from Seattle startup Yoodli that helps startup founders hone their pitches; and Amazon tests Bluetooth earplugs for warehouse workers. Related stories and links ‘Seattle, you will always have a piece of my heart’: Jeff Bezos leaving Amazon’s hometown for Miami Jeff Bezos’ move out of Washington state sparks questions about wealth taxes Swimming from Seattle? Jeff Bezos’ big move brings us full circle from the mid-1990s Flexport…
Tigera CEO Ratan Tipirneni On Commercializing Open Source
Madrona Partner Aseem Datar hosts Tigera CEO Ratan Tipirneni. Tigera is in the business of preventing and detecting security breaches in cloud-native applications, and its open-source offering Calico is one of the most widely adopted container networking and security solutions out there. Aseem and Ratan dive into whether or not you should open source, the three business models founders should evaluate when thinking about commercializing an open-source project, how to compete with free, how product-led growth can really kickstart your business compared to traditional go-to-market, and so much more. Words of wisdom from Ratan Tipirneni: You need to be thinking…
AAseem Datar
RRatan Tipirneni
Krish Ramineni
Krish Ramineni is the Co-Founder and CEO of Fireflies.ai, an AI meeting assistant that transcribes, summarizes, and analyzes meetings. Named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, Krish graduated from UPenn. He was one of the youngest Product Managers at Microsoft, leading projects in customer voice and growth. He has guest lectured at Stanford on machine learning and holds patents in workflow automation. Krish is a thought leader in SaaS/AI and an active startup advisor. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
KKrish Ramineni
Chill Work as the Path to Produtivity with Sparktoro CEO Rand Fishkin
In this episode of Shift AI, Rand Fishkin, Co-founder and CEO at SparkToro, shares his experience as a successful entrepreneur and offers insightful perspectives on the current state of generative AI, the challenges faced by VC-backed businesses and the importance of prioritizing the lives of founders and team members. sparktoro.com shitaipodcast.com simplyaugmented.com Connect with Rand Fishkin Twitter LinkedIn Connect with Boaz Ashkenazy Twitter LinkedIn Email: shift@simplyaugmented.com simplyaugmented.com shiftaipodcast.com
RRand Fishkin
What the heck happened at Convoy?
This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we examine the market forces, debt, and other dynamics that put the digital freight marketplace Convoy out of business, bringing one of the Seattle region's top startups to the end of the road. Related coverage: ‘The markets crushed us’: In tearful farewell to employees, Convoy execs reflect on shutdown Convoy collapse: Read CEO’s memo detailing sudden shutdown of Seattle trucking startup Convoy raised $260 million just 18 months ago, at a valuation of $3.8 billion. Its investor list was a who's who of tech moguls and celebrities, including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff…
JJohn Cook
TTodd Bishop
Founded & Funded Investor Spotlight with Maria Gilfoyle
Get to know Madrona Investor Maria Gilfoyle. Learn how she pivoted from wanting to become an artist into venture capital, her design-first mindset focus, what she looks for in founders, and what she enjoys doing outside the office.
CCoral Garnick Ducken
MMaria Gilfoyle
Raquel Barrett
Raquel Barrett is a dynamic entrepreneur and leader known for her expertise in e-commerce, technology, and operations. As one of the co-founders of FUNBOY, a leading leisure and lifestyle brand, Raquel has played a pivotal role in shaping the brand's success. Driven by an innate passion for problem solving and a keen understanding of consumer behavior, Raquel has always been at the forefront of adopting new technology and e-commerce strategies. Before co-founding FUNBOY, she served as the Head of Marketing for a Seattle-based consumer tech startup. Beyond her professional achievements, Raquel is a mom to two young boys, balancing the…
Using AI to read the room with Read.ai CEO David Shim
In this episode of Shift AI, David Shim CEO at read.ai shares his experience as a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and running one of the most exciting Madrona backed AI startups based in Seattle. Below is a summary of the topics covered: Transitioning from a political science major to identifying untapped opportunities in the stock trading market. Acquiring foundational customer service skills in the early stages of a career. The influence of a family of Korean immigrant entrepreneurs on work ethic and problem-solving. The journey of founding and scaling startups like Placed and read.ai in emerging markets. Adapting product focus…
Robots, AI, and the future of labor: 'Way bigger than the steam engine'
Our guest this week is Geordie Rose, co-founder and CEO of Sanctuary AI. The global conversation about robots and the workforce has shifted substantially in recent years, from concern about robots taking jobs to questions about how quickly they can fill gaps in the labor market. One of the ventures at the forefront of this issue is Sanctuary AI. It's a Vancouver, B.C.-based company that has raised more than $100 million Canadian dollars to pursue its vision for labor as a service. Sanctuary makes a 5-foot, 7-inch general-purpose humanoid robot called Phoenix, powered by an advanced AI system called Carbon…
TTodds Bishop
GGeordie Rose
Troop Travel Founders on the Startup Journey and Relationships That Matter
Today, managing director Steve Singh sits down with Troop Travel Co-founders Dennis Vilovic and Leonard Cremer. Madrona invested in Troop and its corporate travel meeting management platform in 2021. These three talk about looking for the right problem to solve, to launch a company, and how you decide if it's the right time. They also discuss when you need to switch from bringing on generalists to bringing on experts, how to identify the right investors to work with, why working closely with customers and potential customers is so important, and so much more. So I'll go ahead and hand it…
SSteve Singh
DDennis Vilovic
LLeonard Cremer
Investor Spotlight with Madrona Managing Director Karan Mehandru
Get to know Madrona Managing Director Karan Mehandru. Learn what drew him to venture capital and working with founders, what he looks for in founders, what he thinks founders should look for in VC partners, and what he enjoys doing outside the office. (00:00:00) Introduction (00:01:00) Madrona Managing Partner Karan Mehandru's background (00:01:33) Why venture capital (00:02:50) Founders: Become the best version of yourself (00:04:58) Understand the person behind titles and roles (00:05:44) What Karan looks for in founders (00:06:52) Visionary founders (00:07:34) The role of grit and intellectual honesty (00:08:50) How Founders should select partners/investors (00:11:36) Biggest changes Karan's…
CCoral Garnick Ducken
KKaran Mehandru
Riding the wave of AI entrepreneurship with Pioneer Square Labs Managing Director TA McCann
In this episode of Shift AI, TA McCann Managing Director at the Pioneer Square Labs shares his experience as a startup founder, how sailing a ship has parralells to running a fast growing business and his take on the implications of AI on our society in the future.
Statsig Founder Vijaye Raji on Product Building, Launching a Startup, and AI
Today, Madrona Managing Director S. Somasegar talks with Statsig founder and CEO Vijaye Raji, who spent 20 years at Microsoft and Facebook before launching Statsig as a way to bring the powerful tools he was used to using inside Facebook to all builders. Statsig experimentation platform and automated AB testing helps companies make product decisions in a data-driven way at scale, which means shipping the right products faster. Vijaye and Soma go way back and take a little trip down memory lane, talking about Microsoft's Small Basic. But then they dive into what it's like transitioning from big tech to…
VVijaye Raji
Gaurav Oberoi
Gaurav Oberoi is the CEO and co-founder of Lexion. He started his career as an engineer at Amazon, before moving on to found and sell two startups (BillMonk, and Precision Polling), and build a $20M+ ARR business from $0 as a VP of Product at SurveyMonkey. Gaurav co-founded Lexion as the first EIR at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. He thrives on building products that customers love, with diverse teams that enjoy working together. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
GGaurav Oberoi
NYSE's Lynn Martin on Capital Markets, IPOs, and the Role AI Is Playing in the Markets
In this week's episode of Founded & Funded, Madrona Managing Director Matt McIlwain hosts NYSE Group President Lynn Martin ahead of our Intelligent Applications Summit on October 10th and 11th. Lynn will be speaking at the Summit, but we thought it would be great to have her on the show to talk more about her background, the NYSE, capital markets, IPOs, and, of course, the role data, AI, and large language models are playing in the markets and in companies broadly! This conversation couldn't come at a better time now that we're seeing a number of tech companies teeing up…
CCoral Gurnick Ducken
MMatt McIlwain
LLynn Martin
Chroma's Jeff Huber on Vector Databases and Getting AI into Production
This week, Vivek Ramaswami talks with Chroma Co-founder and CEO Jeff Huber. Chroma is an open-source vector database, and vector databases have taken the AI world by storm recently, with Chroma quickly emerging as one of the leading offerings in the space. Jeff's background is in machine learning, and for him and his co-founder, starting Chroma was a classic "there has to be a better way moment when it comes to going from demo to production". Vivek and Jeff talk about why on earth we need another database, the new wave of software engineering happening right now, community-led growth, the…
VVivek Ramaswami
JJeff Huber
Shift AI Podcast: Seattle's place at the center of the AI universe, with Madrona's Matt McIlwain
On this week’s GeekWire Podcast, we're featuring an episode of Shift AI, a podcast hosted by Boaz Ashkenazy, CEO of AI solutions provider Simply Augmented, with guest Matt McIlwain of Seattle-based venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group. A thriving tech hub requires access to ideas, people, and experiments that produce collective lessons sooner and with greater fidelity than anywhere else. This is what made the Seattle area the cloud capital of the world. It also positions the region as one of the world’s top centers of excellence for artificial intelligence. That’s one of the insights from Matt McIlwain, managing director…
BBoaz Ashkenazy
MMatt McIlwain
