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.
Listen on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.
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 life.
Listen on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.
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 4
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 4 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.
Charles Hudson is the founder and Managing Partner of Precursor Ventures, one of Silicon Valley’s hot seed stage venture firms. He was previously at Uncork Capital, 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 In-Q-Tel, and why he left a hugely successful VC to start his own.
Listen on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts!
