Tim O’Reilly’s recent article, “The fundamental problem with Silicon Valley’s favorite growth strategy,” makes an impassioned argument that the ideas in our book, Blitzscaling, encourage entrepreneurs to behave in ways that are irresponsible or even dangerous in the pursuit of what he characterizes as “runaway growth.” Instead, he argues for the virtues of going slow and…
The Utopian Vision of AI In the late 1800s, in what’s known as the Second Industrial Revolution, multiple major new technologies initiated an era marked by even more rapid transformation than the century that preceded it — especially in the United States. Electrification, railroads, telegraphs, and eventually the automobile all helped unleash unprecedented productivity gains,…
At this point, almost everyone in the startup world agrees that hiring and culture are important. Whenever these topics arise, it’s almost guaranteed that the discussion will touch on how every Google employee had to interview with Larry and Sergey before receiving an offer, how Zappos offers new employees $1,000 to quit to weed out…
I strongly believe in the power and importance of diversity. That’s one of the reasons why Masters of Scale was the first American media program to commit to a 50/50 gender balance for its guests. But a nuance that is often missed is what it’s like being the person who provides that diversity. Sallie Krawchek, my guest…
My old friend Peter Thiel once wrote an essay for the Wall Street Journal, titled “Competition Is for Losers.” Entrepreneurs frequently make the mistake of picking highly competitive markets. I suspect that they fall into this trap because many entrepreneurs come from elite universities where they succeeded by outcompeting a bunch of other smart people…