Companies have many founding moments. Founding moments are the key inflection points when leaders decide to change a path in order to better, or more quickly, realize their mission. We typically only think about the first founding moment, hiring a CEO, or the IPO, when in fact there are many. Today marks a founding moment for…
When I wrote The Alliance with my co-authors Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh, we had a vision of transforming the world of work by helping companies and employees understand how to build stronger, longer, more honest relationships with each other. To help others adopt that vision, we co-founded Allied Talent with Chip Joyce, to guide organizations and managers on how to…
Recently I was talking with the noted surgeon, writer, and public health researcher Atul Gawande about his demanding schedule – and how he tries to manage it for maximum impact. As I described the framework I use to navigate Silicon Valley and all its potential deals and alliances, Atul suggested my approach could help any…
Since our book, “The Alliance”, came out last year, people have asked me to explain the different Tours of Duty. “The Alliance” shows how and why a manager and her employee should structure that employee’s work as a tour of duty—a specific mission that, if achieved, advances the business of the company, and the career…
In today’s highly networked world, a key secret to building startups into massively successful companies is blitzscaling: Rapid, relentless growth that allows you to become the first player to achieve scale and develop a daunting competitive advantage. Blitzscaling has allowed companies like Google and Facebook to grow from garage to global dominance in less than…
Climate change is a global issue that threatens to impact the environmental and economic well-being of people around the planet. To mitigate its long-term impact, we need new, transformative sources of clean, affordable, carbon-free energy production that we can produce at lower costs than today’s dominant energy sources. The innovation required to fuel this transition will only…
Only two percent of high school students who experience suicidal thoughts use telephone crisis hotlines. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want to talk about the issues they face, or won’t seek support. They will, if you extend it in ways that they’re comfortable with. Take an innovative non-profit called Crisis Text Line. CTL is exactly what…
In 2002 at LinkedIn, there were very few of the perks that Silicon Valley is famous for. Our company headquarters was my apartment’s living room. Free lunches? Yes, if there was an extra yogurt in my refrigerator, or if you consider a can of Coke “lunch.” Nap pods, on-site yoga classes, wellness centers, concierge services,…
In Silicon Valley few entrepreneurs and technologists dream of changing the zip code, or even the state. Here, the goal is to change the world, building products that millions of people ultimately decide they can’t live without. Not all of these products are created by for-profit start-ups – think WordPress, Wikipedia, and Bitcoin just for…
Silicon Valley has become a global leader in innovation, technology, and new industry creation. The nearly universal explanation for Silicon Valley’s success: entrepreneurs, venture capital, technical universities, existing technology companies — which all lead to launching great startups. So, the explanation for the creation of massive new industries is this: Silicon Valley is great because…
In the venture capital industry, just picking winners is a losing strategy. The goal is to pick blockbusters, companies that can scale from a team of founders in a garage to a multi-billion-dollar IPO in less than a decade. History has shown that it’s primarily these outlying performers that create returns for venture investors, so…
A roadmap for navigating the transition from human-controlled cars to a better driverless future In the six-plus years that Google has been developing self-driving cars, its test fleet has achieved an impressive safety record: Nearly two million miles* of real-world autonomous driving, eleven minor accidents, only one minor injury, with none of the accidents caused by the self-driving…
At least one global cryptocurrency will achieve mass-market adoption. That cryptocurrency will either be Bitcoin or a derivative inspired by it. The chance that it will be the former is so strong that in 2014 I invested in Bitcoin startups Xapo and Blockstream. And yet, perhaps surprisingly, when one of the very smart people I…