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    Chris Capossela is the Senior Vice President of the Microsoft Information Worker Product Management Group. Chris is responsible for the worldwide product and business management of the Microsoft Office System of products, which includes desktop applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, server products such as Exchange, and hosted services such as Office Live.

    Chris has been with Microsoft for over 15 years in various of business positions, including two years as a speech writer for Bill Gates.

    In this interview, Chris tells us about his experiences and lessons from Microsoft. Notably, he shares his insight on how Microsoft continues to be innovative, the success and future of Office products, and anecdotes from his work with Bill Gates.

    Chris graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and economics.

    Enjoy the interview!

    - Min Liu


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    Max Ventilla and Rob Spiro are two of four founders of Aardvark, a new social search tool that gets real-time answers from social networks. Max and Rob, along with Nathan Stoll and Damon Horowitz , are carving out the social space with a product that’s a conversation facilitator.

    In this interview, Max and Rob give an overview of social search, explain their approach in building an innovative product in a burgeoning space, and give insight into Aardvark’s user-centric and research-oriented approach to product and company development. They also packed the interview with some great advice for entrepreneurs and new graduates.

    Max, Zoo Director, drives strategy and business development. Prior to Aardvark, Max focused on strategy for Adsense at Google and earlier was VP of Business Development for an enterprise data mining tool. Max holds a BS in Math and Physics and a MBA from Yale.

    Rob, Assistant Curator to Birds, leads all quantitative and qualitative user research initiatives. Previously, Rob co-founded Mifly, a mobile software startup, and Reelblogs, a new media company. Rob holds a BA in History from Yale.

    - Min Liu

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    Alex Wong is the Director of Products at 23andMe, the popular leader in the personal genome space. As the company’s third employee, he has led product development and design for more than two years, taking the idea of a "personal genome service" from concept to reality.

    In this interview, Alex explains how 23andMe is making changes in personalized healthcare and genetic research by putting consumers in the driver’s seat and spearheading consumer-driven research. He also explains how the Personal Genome Test, the "spit kit", works, and gives guidance on how to pursue and create an innovative product.

    Alex brings nine years of technical and entrepreneurial experience from Network Appliance and his own direct-to-consumer digital media software startup. Alex graduated magna cum laude with a combined AB/SM in Computer Science from Harvard University, and has published research in operating systems design.

    For more information about 23andMe and genetics, check out the 23andMe blog, The Spittoon!

    - Min Liu


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    YieldBuild is an online service that maximizes publisher ad revenue through layout, ad network and ad placement optimization. YieldBuild also provides consolidated reporting to help publishers identify, on the basis of statistical data, the best performing ad position layout, color and font style on their webpages.

    Paul Edmondson, YieldBuild's co-founder and CEO, was part of the executive team at MongoMusic, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2000. He help group management positions at MSN Entertainment over product management, quality management, and operations. Paul graduated from California PolyTechnic University

    Ren Chin, VP of Marketing, most recently comes from Storm Ventures and an EIR. Prior to Storm, Ren was an investor at Partech International where he focused on software and internet investments. Ren holds an MBA degree from the Haas School of Business.

    - Tristan & Will


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    Alyssa Rapp is the Founder and CEO of Bottlenotes, an online wine retail business that helps individuals discover and learn about wine. Alyssa started the company while at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she headed the school's 500-person wine club. In this interview, Alyssa gives key insights on starting and running a hybrid online retail business, talks about her personal and entrepreneurial story for Bottlenotes, and gives leads to the most amazing wine regions in the world. Her goal for Bottlenotes, she says, is to create the "Pandora of wine".

    Alyssa earned a B.A. in Political Science and the History of Art from Yale University in 2000 and an M.B.A. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business in 2005. In between her first and second years in business school, she spearheaded the sales and marketing efforts at RO Imports, an importer of boutique New Zealand wines in New York.

    Thanks to Julio, iinnovate emeritus, and Roger for contributing to this interview.

    - Min Liu


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    Morgan Hertzan and Joseph Varet are the founders of LX.TV, a New York-based start-up that produces videos for the Web about high-end entertainment and culture centered around New York and Los Angeles. The company was recently aquired by NBC Universal. LX.TV began distributing its local entertainment content exclusively online and has seen considerable growth since its New York real estate show OpenHouseNYC began airing on NBC's owned-and-operated New York station WNBC in January 2007. Since then, WNBC has also added the New York lifestyle show LX.TV 1st Look to its programming lineup.

    Prior to founding LXTV Joseph was responsible for all aspects of business development and strategic planning for new television and broadband networks at MTV and Morgan served as Executive Producer for new television and broadband networks at MTV, where he oversaw all aspects of creative development and production for MHD, MTV World, MTV Puerto Rico, and MTV's permanent video billboard in Time Square. Morgan previously created, launched, and supervised production of mtvU, which reaches over 7 million students at 700 US colleges and universities.

    Enjoy the podcast!

    - Tristan

  • Sumir Chadha has invested in Indian technology companies for over a decade.

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    Sumir Chadha is a Managing Director with Sequoia Capital India. Formed in 2006, the new entity marks Sequoia’s bold entry into the Indian market and was formed through a merger between Sequoia Capital and WestBridge Capital Partners, the firm Sumir co-founded in 2000.
    Sumir specializes in offshore services, consumer internet and financial services and has been at the forefront of innovation in India for the past 10 years. Sumir’s investments have included SKS Microfinance, Shaadi.com, Guruji and Times Internet. Sumir is also the co-founder and Chairman of the US-India Venture Capital Association and also a Charter Member of The Indus Entrepreneurs.
    Join us in hearing his views on entrepreneurship in India and its impact on technology investment here in Silicon Valley.
    - Anu and Nir

  • Scott Cook is the Founder of Intuit, Inc. and a widely-respected tech veteran for over 25 years.


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    Scott Cook began his career at Procter & Gamble as a product manager and later a consultant at Bain & Company. In 1983, he founded Intuit after hearing his wife complain about paying the household bills. Scott leveraged the power of emerging PC technology to help ease the burdens of personal finance and has since created a company worth over $9 billion.

    While most software companies have difficulty getting just one product right, Intuit has managed to produce a string of successes through great product-market fit. Intuit is now a market dominator in several product categories. Intuit’s Quicken personal finance software holds 70% market share, while QuickBooks, the accounting software for small businesses has an 87% share. Meanwhile, TurboTax, the company’s tax preparation software holds over 80% share and recently set new sales records.

    Scott has been a director of Intuit since its founding and is currently Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board. He also serves on the boards of directors of eBay and Procter & Gamble.

    Enjoy the podcast!

    -Nir

  • Matt Sanchez is CEO of one of Silicon Valley’s hottest new media start-ups, VideoEgg.


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    In 2005, Matt Sanchez and his Yale buddies, David Lerman and Kevin Slack, founded VideoEgg. The company’s original goal was to create a new way to upload video to the web. However, the trio soon went in a new direction when the founders saw the potential to leverage their technology in the advertising world.

    Today, VideoEgg gives brands a new way to reach audiences hooked on viewing online video. The company was the first to develop video overlay ads and has seen interest in the medium skyrocket as more users view content on YouTube and other video sharing sites. VideoEgg has also expanded its product offerings by serving video ads on social networks like Facebook.

    VideoEgg’s clients include more than 200 brands including Ford, NBC, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s. Collectively, these advertisers pay VideoEgg to broadcast over 500 million video messages per month. Sanchez has led the company through $35 million of VC fundraising and in this podcast discusses the venture process as well as the company’s future goals.

    Enjoy the podcast!

    - Nir

  • Kevin Hartz is a successful San Francisco-based investor and the CEO of Eventbrite.


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    Kevin Hartz began his career as a product manager at Silicon Graphics and later co-founded the ConnectGroup, a start-up providing high-speed Internet access to the hotel industry. After Kevin sold ConnectGroup in 1998, he became a well-regarded technology investor and advisor. Kevin joined Outlook Ventures, whose seed investments included Overture and DotBank; both companies have since been acquired by Yahoo!.

    Kevin’s own investments have included some of the valley’s best known success stories including PayPal, Trulia, Friendster and Flixter. He also co-founded two additional tech companies, Xoom, an international money transfer company and Eventbrite, an online event registration company which he currently runs as CEO.

    Enjoy the podcast!

    - Nir

  • John L. Hennessy is the 10th President of Stanford University and a pioneer of computer architecture.


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    John Hennessy started at Stanford as an associate professor in Electrical Engineering in 1977 and assumed Presidency in 2000. A technologist at the core, President Hennessy pioneered a computer assembly language called MIPS in 1981 and started a company, MIPS Computer Systems, in 1984. As Stanford’s 10th president, he oversees the University from various perspectives and sits at the intersection of academics, technology, and the corporate world.

    In this interview, he talks about his role as the President, the early years of running a startup, current issues Stanford University faces, and the future of information technology. He also gives advice to prospective students and budding entrepreneurs.

    He is currently on the boards at Google, Cisco Systems, and Atheros Communications, and has written two foundational books on computer architecture and assembly language.



    - Min Liu

  • Scott Dunlap is a Silicon Valley vetran and founder of the real-world product search service, NearbyNow.


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    NearbyNow is an innovative Los Altos, Calif. based start-up whose mission is to, "enable anyone, anywhere to find the nearest place to buy anything." Founded in 2005, NearbyNow makes the products in 194 shopping malls searchable via any web browser or cell phone. In this episode, Scott shares the strategies he used to grow NearbyNow to over 1 million visitors per month.

    Here’s how the service works: Let’s say a mother-to-be is searching for maternity clothes. She enters her query into her local mall’s website where NearbyNow returns a listing of stores which match her search term. The top listing informs her of a sweater on sale at one of her favorite retailers. To ensure the store has the sweater in her size and desired color, she enters her request and in 10 minutes she receives a confirmation email or text message. With a click, the sweater is placed on hold until she is ready to make the purchase.

    Shopping malls see NearbyNow as a way to stem the tide of online sales which they say reduces visits to their brick and mortar retailers. Scott shares several entrepreneurial insights he gathered from his experience as a product manager at numerous successful start-ups including E.piphany and Loudcloud.

    Enjoy the podcast!

    -Nir

  • Hasso Plattner is the founder of SAP AG, the German enterprise software giant.


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    I had an opportunity to catch up with Hasso Plattner at Stanford’s d.school which he helped to start (its official name is the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford) and we talked about the experience of starting SAP and maintaining the company innovative edge as it grew to tens of thousands of employees worldwide.

    Hasso has some interesting stories on employee engagement (soccer matches!) and on leaving IBM to start SAP. He also talks about what he’d do if he were starting another company today, thoughts on software as a service, and advice to those that have been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug.

    Remember to join the iinnovate fan page on Facebook, and if you are interested in startup jobs and internships please e-mail Julio (Julio [at] iinnovatecast [dot] com).

    Thanks for listening!

    - Julio

  • David Hornik is a venture capitalist, professor, blogger and the founder of The Lobby Conference.


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    David Hornik's blog was the first to be written by a venture capitalist and has been well-read and discussed since its inception. Recently, his long standing interest in media led him to found the ultra-secretive Lobby Conference, which he discusses in this podcast.
    David also discusses two of his other passions: music and law. As a student at Stanford, he studied and taught the impact of technology on music, earning a degree in Computer Music. At Harvard Law School, David focused upon the convergence of technology and the law. Prior to becoming a VC, David was an intellectual property and corporate attorney where he represented high-tech startups in all aspects of their formation, financing and operations. Today, Hornick teaches the topics of law class at the Stanford GSB.
    David has been a successful venture investor at August Capital since 2000. He currently sits on the board of directors of DoneRight, Nomis Solutions, PayCycle, Six Apart, Splunk Technology and VideoEgg. He directed previous investments in Evite (acquired by Ticketmaster) and was a board observer with Tickle Inc. (acquired by Monster) and Actional (aquired by Progress Software).
    - Owen and Nir

  • Barry McCarthy joined Netflix as CFO when few were believed the company could rival the industry leader, Blockbuster. Today, Netflix is the biggest player in the video rental market and just finished its first billion-dollar sales year.


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    Our guest in this podcast is Barry McCarthy, Chief Financial Officer of Netflix. For the past eight years, Barry has been responsible for all of Netflix’s legal and financial affairs. During his tenure at Netflix, Barry has helped the company grow from a few million dollars in sales to Netflix’s first billion dollar year in 2007. He played an integral role in the company’s initial public offering in 2002 and has helped the company become the most highly valued player in the video rental market.

    Barry discusses with Nir the future of content delivery over the Internet and what technologies he sees as opportunities and threats. He also discusses how Netflix stayed nimble and aggressive in the face of powerful competitors. Barry also frankly talks about how he decided to bet on the Netflix business model even when few thought it would work.

    Enjoy the podcast and let us know what you think!

    -Nir

  • John Morgridge is a Silicon Valley legend who led Cisco Systems through its rise from start-up to networking technology giant.


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    John Morgridge was the 34th employee at Cisco Systems when he joined as President and CEO in 1988. Morgridge joined the company despite its notoriously toxic culture and revenue of only $5 million annually. By the time Morgridge concluded his tenure as CEO in 1995, he had grown sales to over $1 billion and 2,250 employees worldwide.
    Morgridge transitioned to Chairman of the Board when John Chambers became CEO. During his term as Chairman, Cisco continued its meteoric rise to become the world leader in networking technology and grew to more than $25 billion in revenues and some 50,000 employees in 77 countries as of 2006. For a brief period in early 2000, at the height of the Internet bubble, Cisco was the most valuable company in the world, with a market cap of $500 billion.
    Morgridge discusses his experiences and lessons learned at Cisco with Min Liu and Nir Eyal during this episode. He shares how he was able to pick the tiny start-up that would became Cisco and discusses the difficulty of having to ask the original founders of the company to step aside. He also discusses the personal sacrifices that he believes an executive must make to succeed.
    Enjoy the interview and let us know what you think!
    - Min Liu and Nir Eyal

  • Greg McAdoo focuses on consumer internet, cleantech and systems investments as a partner at Sequoia Capital.


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    In this interview, Greg speaks with Nir about what it takes to get noticed by a top-tier venture capital firm. Greg himself worked extensively with VCs before actually becoming one after 17 years of engineering and executive level management experience. Prior to joining Sequoia Capital in 2000, Greg served as President and CEO of Sentient Networks which was acquired by Cisco Systems in 1999.

    Greg shares how entrepreneurs can increase their chances of closing a funding round with the right VC firm. He also discusses his involvement in Sequoia’s cleantech practice and shares his top picks for the next growth sectors.

    Greg has led several high-profile investments while at Sequoia including Allegro, which was acquired by Cisco Systems, Isilon Systems, which had its IPO in December, Loopt, PowerFile and RockYou.

    Thanks for listening!
    - Nir

  • Martin Eberhard is the Co-founder and President of Technology at Tesla Motors. Before Tesla, he was the Co-founder of Network Computing Devices and the CEO of NuvoMedia.


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    "What keeps me up at night is the complexity of the problem," Martin reflects upon engineering the Tesla Roadster.

    After founding various successful startups in the computer and internet space, Martin took a departure and co-founded Tesla Motors with Marc Tarpenning. With a passion for cars going back to his childhood, his goal is to create a sleek, high-performance all-electric vehicle.

    The highly anticipated Tesla Roadster will go from 0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds, drive 245mph on one charge, and will be powered by the equivalent of laptop batteries. Owners in the first shipment include Matt Damon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and of course, Martin himself.

    We catch up with Martin at the Tesla Motors headquarters in San Carlos, CA. In this interview, check out what Martin has to say about creating a startup car company, his reflections on risk taking, and the engineering and market challenges in the electric car milieu.

    Check out the Roadster!




    A Roadster prototype at the San Carlos headquarters.

    Thanks to Roger Gill for contributing to this podcast.
    Correction in the video: the Roadster drives 245 miles per charge. Top speed is 125mph.


    - Min Liu and Nir Eyal

  • Vinod Khosla is the founding CEO of Sun Microsystems, formerly a partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, and partner at Khosla Ventures.


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    In this interview Matt and Julio caught up with legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur and “venture assistant” Vinod Khosla. Vinod was a co-founder of Sun Microsystems along with Scott McNealy, Andy Bechtolsheim, and Bill Joy.

    After leaving Sun, Vinod made the shift to Sand Hill Road as a venture capitalist at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers until forming his own firm, Khosla Ventures, in 2004.

    Today, Vinod is well-known for his investments in clean technology. Join us in this interview as Vinod shares early stories from Sun, his views on what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, and his outlook on clean tech investing.

    Check out the video of the full interview below:

    Thanks for listening! - Julio and Matt.

  • Thomas Keller is widely regarded as one of America's finest chefs, and his restaurants French Laundry and Per Se have been named the best restaurants in America.


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    Interviewing Thomas Keller at the French Laundry in Yountville was a rare treat for two food fanatics like ourselves, and the great surprise that Chef de Cuisine Corey Lee whipped up for us in the kitchen post-interview was the icing on the cake.
    Food allusions aside, we hope you enjoy this superb interview with Thomas. In our conversation we talked about his entrepreneurial success, how he picks new members for his team, expanding his personal brand, and, of course, food. Check out this video of Thomas talking about the secret of success behind French Laundry as well as how to select a great team:

    And as a special bonus here's a video of Chef de Cuisine Corey Lee in the kitchen talking about his involvement with French Laundry. Click to hear what Corey's answer to "if you were any food, what would you be?"

    - Owen and Julio