By Evan Epstein
4.9
3636 ratings
The podcast currently has 150 episodes available.
(0:00) Intro.
(1:03) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(1:50) Start of interview.
(2:24) Cedric's origin story.
(4:30) U.S. talent management insights (cultural differences with other countries): current merit.
(6:00) On his management career with HP, Visa, and Syncada from Visa (a joint venture between Visa and U.S. Bank).
(8:13) His transition to Taulia, a venture-backed company, in 2013.
(11:04) On managing board dynamics as CEO and Chair of Taulia as a venture-backed company. *Reference to VC-Backed Board Academy (VCBA) on Oct 29, 2024 at Nasdaq in NYC.
(15:20) The role of the Chair, and challenges of managing a large board, even when the business is thriving. "[It is] important to have a couple of directors that can anchor the entire group in addition to the chairman or the CEO."
(17:32) The exit strategy behind the acquisition of Taulia by SAP in 2022 and the business of Taulia and Supply Chain Management. "[I]t's all about free cash flows and moving liquidity across the economy." "Cultural fit is one of the number one success indicators of an M&A transaction." "I think someone will write a book at some point about this M&A transaction because it has been successful on all fronts." "Taulia is managed independently and autonomously, which is not maybe a standard setup."
(23:28) On transitioning from a VC-backed board to a board of a fully-owned subsidiary of SAP. Going from private to public: "[T]he first advantage is that we don't have to do capital raise anymore if we wanted to invest in some areas. If we need some capital, we have access to a line of credit that SAP can provide." "If I was spending 20% of my time on investors, capital raise, and so forth in the the past. Now I spend 20% with SAP executives, regional presidents, to make sure that we can sell Taulia to as many clients as possible."
(28:56) Decision-making on exit strategies for Taulia (and in general): i.e. IPOs, SPACs, M&A, and PE.
(33:50) The impact of AI in business.
(37:14) On managing geopolitical risks. "Two angles: 1) customers, and 2) compliance, law, and governance."
(40:53) On the current economic landscape. "The number of M&A transactions is actually picking up, especially with companies that have a good bottom line." "I think that the best companies have built agility in their financial architecture to really adjust their business profile based on what the market can cope with."
(44:48) On director education for board members, particularly venture-backed companies. "I would encourage VCs to recommend [not mandate] their [portfolio] CEOs to go through a training about governance, how to manage a board, how to make the board evolve, how to recruit board members, how to interview board members."
(45:39) Books that have greatly influenced his life:
(46:13) His mentors.
(47:37) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives her life by.
(50:15) An unusual habit or absurd thing that he loves: cold plunges.
(53:13) The person he most admires.
Cedric Bru is CEO of Taulia, a fintech provider of working capital management solutions. In March of 2022, Taulia became part of SAP. Before Taulia, Cedric served as Global Head of Sales, Marketing, and Business Development at Syncada from Visa. Cedric has over two decades of experience in financial services and software industries, including positions at Visa and Hewlett-Packard.
You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
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You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:
Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod
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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
(0:00) Intro.
(1:03) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(1:50) Start of interview. *Reference to E137 with Coco Brown (CEO of Athena Alliance).
(2:47) Yvonne's origin story.
(5:49) Her executive career starting with Accenture, and later with VMware, New Relic, and CEO of Airware and Puppet.
(9:03) On her board journey. Distinctions between private and public company service. Plus non-profits.
(17:43) Explaining board composition and dynamics in VC-backed companies.
(23:23) Explaining board composition and dynamics in PE-backed companies. "It's much more straightforward, structured, and contained."
(27:39) On the 'Stay Private vs Go Public' debate and other considerations on private markets.
(34:29) On the AI boom and how to think about it from a board's perspective: "how do you experiment and lean in without committing?"
(39:06) On the increasing relevance of cybersecurity in the age of digitization. "Cyber attacks are like earthquakes in California. They're going to happen."
(42:33) On geopolitics and the boardroom. "How you think about it really depends on what type of company you're in, how big it is, and what you're trying to achieve."
(45:40) How to think about the ESG landscape.
(49:56) Podcasts that she regularly listens to:
(52:03) Her mentors and sponsors.
(54:44) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "Be the change you want to see in the world" by Mahatma Gandhi,
(55:15) An unusual habit or absurd thing that she loves: misting plants.
(56:35) The living person she most admires: MacKenzie Scott.
Yvonne Wassenaar is a seasoned Silicon Valley C-level executive and board member with experience across public, private equity-backed, and venture-backed companies. She currently serves on the boards of Forrester, Rubrik, Arista Networks, JFrog, Alation, Braze, and InfoBlox. She also serves on the boards of Harvey Mudd College and UCLA Anderson's Easton Technology Management Center.
You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:
Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
(0:00) Intro.
(1:15) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(2:02) Start of interview.
(2:49) Javier's origin story.
(4:31) The blurring lines between VC and PE. Cross-over investors, growth equity investors, and other "alternative" financing.
(9:01) On the capital formation cycle. Impact of interest-rates in capital allocation. The VC power law. New VC vehicles.
(16:00) On the rise of cross-over investors ("starting somewhere between 2013 and 2016: rise of strategic capital")
(19:34) On the rise of AI (boom and bubble): 1) algorithmic capability, 2) computing power, and 3) availability of data.
(23:06) The cases of Nvidia and Google. The analogy to the 1990s (investing in infrastructure) and increasing antitrust scrutiny.
(28:43) Explaining role and function of the Small Business Administration (SBA). SBIC, and SBIR & STTR. Industrial Policy and impact of geopolitics (ie. China).
(40:47) On his board journey and role of corporate directors.
(43:36) On "shareholder push and pull": role of institutional investors and "passive" investors. *Reference to E118 with Professor John Coates on The Problem of Twelve.
(50:18) His take on boardroom diversity. *Reference to the Latino Corporate Director Association (LCDA).
(55:06) On his podcast Top of the Game.
(56:30) Books that have greatly influenced his life:
(56:49) His mentors.
(57:42) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives her life by: "Deal with it"
(57:53) An unusual habit or absurd thing that he loves.
(58:11) The living person he most admires.
Javier Saade is Managing Partner of Impact Master Holdings, Venture Partner at Fenway Summer, Operating Partner at Presidio Investors, Chairman of the Board at GP Funding, Inc., Board Member of VCheck and Global Tech Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: GTAC), CNBC Contributor, Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, and host of the podcast Top of the Game.
You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:
Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
(0:00) Intro.
(1:10) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(1:57) Start of interview.
(2:30) Carol's origin story.
(4:34) Evolution of corporate governance in Canada since the late 1980s.
(5:51) The origin and focus of her firm Hansell McLaughlin Advisory Group, based in Canada.
(10:13) On her personal board career and the benefits of lawyers serving on boards.
(14:20) Best practices for board evaluations and distinctions between board education in Canada and the U.S.
(18:57) The rise and influence of large institutional investors in corporate governance.
(22:00) Shareholder activism in Canada.
(24:25) On the state of ESG in Canada.
(30:03) On addressing board diversity.
(37:01) Impact of geopolitics and national security in the boardroom.
(39:45) Impact of AI in the boardroom. "It's top of mind for everybody."
(41:29) Impact of cybersecurity and talent management in the boardroom. Oil and gas directors in boards of banks?
(44:01) Books that have greatly influenced her life: biographies (people that have stood up to authority).
(44:48) Her mentors.
(45:50) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "A man's reach must exceed his grasp, or what's the heaven for?"
(46:29) An unusual habit or absurd thing that she loves.
(47:00) The living person she most admires.
(48:20) The challenge in advising corporate governance: "everyone thinks they're an expert now." Plus, recognition of conflicts of interest.
Carol Hansell is a Senior Partner at Hansell LLP and a member of the Hansell McLaughlin Advisory Group in Canada.
You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:
Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
(0:00) Intro.
(1:20) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(2:07) Start of interview.
(2:58) Oliver's origin story.
(7:00) His experience in private equity with PE-backed boards.
(9:57) About the mission and focus of Nurole, the UK-based board search firm where he serves as CEO.
(12:27) On Nurole's network of 65,000+ board leaders (two parts: free and paid offerings).
(20:16) Demystifying the board search process, four key stages:
(25:19) From a board candidate perspective.
(28:14) On board evaluations.
(32:44) Common characteristics of directors in board placements (they place ~1,000 directors per year).
(33:50) On board culture and values of directors.
(37:00) On specialized directors.
(43:16) Differences between UK and US boards.
(48:35) Other board issues to consider: 1) are boards generating value, and 2) revisiting board education.
(52:48) About his podcast Enter the Boardroom.
(55:15) His favorite episodes: Roger Martin, Baroness Helena Morrissey and Sir Richard Dearlove.
(59:20) Books that have greatly influenced his life:
(01:00:30) His mentors.
(01:02:13) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives his life by.
(01:03:16) An unusual habit or absurd thing that he loves: the Eglu chicken coop.
(01:04:45) The living person he most admires.
Oliver Cummings is the CEO of Nurole, a UK-based board search firm with 65,000+ members globally and about 1,000 board placements per year. He's also the host of the Enter the Boardroom Podcast.
You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:
Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
(0:00) Intro.
(1:05) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(1:52) Start of interview.
(2:28) Thompson's origin story.
(3:42) His startup work at Quizlet (joined a 5 person team) and Stripe (from 2k to 8k employees). Joined Anthropic in early 2023.
(6:25) On China-US relations, and the course he teaches at Vanderbilt Law School: Emerging Technologies, Law, and U.S.-China Competition.
(11:04) On startup incorporations, Delaware, and other thoughts for entrepreneurs. Reference to Stripe Atlas.
(14:18) Unveiling the AI investment landscape. Increase in capital and talent in AI technologies. "Companies at the frontier of building LLMs: Anthropic, OpenAI, Alphabet and Meta."
(19:15) On the international AI landscape. China wanting to overcome its "century of humiliation."
(21:55) Origin story and mission of Anthropic. The eight founders left OpenAI in 2021. Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
(26:14) Anthropic's Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) and Long Term Benefit Trust (LTBT) model.
(29:24) How to think about AI and its paradigm shift for corporate directors.
(31:05) Claude products for consumers and enterprise.
(33:36) On the future of work with impact of AI.
(35:17) San Francisco's evolving role as a global tech hub.
(37:37) Is AI overhyped or underhyped? "The impact of AI will be somewhere between the internet platform shift to the next industrial revolution (...) and if the next internet is kind of the lower bound of the impact AI will have on society and the economy and technology more broadly, then that's a pretty significant impact."
(40:05) On the "stay private vs go public" debate.
(42:48) More thoughts for directors on AI. Prof Ethan Mollick: "The AI you're using today is the worst AI you will ever use."
(43:48) Books that have greatly influenced his life:
(46:42) His mentors. Chris Klein and Dan Crittenbrink (State Department). Chip Blacker (Stanford).
(47:53) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives his life by.
(48:40) An unusual habit or absurd thing that he loves: Antique maps and running everyday.
(50:28) The living person he most admires.
Thompson Paine is the head of business operations at Anthropic, one of the leading AI companies in San Francisco.
You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:
Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
(0:00) Intro
(1:20) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(2:06) Start of interview.
(2:37) Natasha's "origin story."
(6:25) On the risks and opportunities for AI.
(8:39) On the regulatory landscape of AI in the US. Reference to President Biden's Executive Order.
(11:40) On California's regulation of AI (SB 1047).
(15:24) On the international AI regulatory landscape, including the EU AI legislation.
(20:35) On the state of startups and venture capital in Silicon Valley.
(25:34) On the 'stay private or go public' debate.
(28:50) On the increased antitrust scrutiny by the FTC and DOJ, particularly in tech industry.
(30:08) On the increased national security scrutiny via CFIUS reviews. The new geopolitics of dealmaking.
(35:46) On the increased politicization of the boardroom, including ESG and DEI.
(38:32) On boardroom diversity and challenges to SB-826 and AB-979 (California), and Nasdaq's Diversity Rule.
(42:20) Books that have greatly influenced her life:
(42:57) Her mentors.
(43:49) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "Don't Self-Select."
(51:17) An unusual habit or absurd thing that he loves.
(44:17) The living person that she most admires. One of them is Michelle Obama.
Natasha Allen is a partner at Foley & Lardner in Silicon Valley, serving as Co-Chair for Artificial Intelligence, Co-Chair of the Venture Capital Committee, and a member of the Venture Capital, M&A, and Transactions Practices.
You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:
Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
(0:00) Intro
(1:06) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(1:53) Start of interview.
(2:37) Tyler's "origin story."
(4:50) His beginnings at Theranos.
(7:07) On the culture of the Theranos, "the company was extremely secretive and paranoid."
(9:41) On the lack of equity compensation for Theranos employees.
(10:32) On Theranos' board of directors.
(16:50) Some of the prominent investors in Theranos, and lack of due diligence.
(19:24) On Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani fraud convictions, FOMO, and value of credibility from early backers (e.g. Channing Robertson, Don Lucas, George Shultz, etc).
(23:57) How Tyler became a whisteblower at Theranos. His contact with John Carreyrou, at the time a WSJ reporter.
(26:57) On his legal challenges (and high fees) as a whistleblower. George Shultz (his grandfather) would tell him: "I'm 90 years old. I ended the Cold War. I fought in a world war. I've seen a lot of things in my life. I've seldom been wrong. And I know what I'm looking at. And I know I'm right about this."
(30:24) On the SEC's whisteblower program and his personal experience with this process. *Reference to E130 with Mary Inman (his Whistleblower attorney).
(34:58) On the NDA and confidentiality agreements, "fraud is not a trade secret."
(37:56) Why Elizabeth Holmes wanted Theranos to remain private and never go public.
(39:04) Stanford's problematic connection to frauds. See: "What's the Matter with Stanford?"
(42:14) The role of executive and board compensation in startups.
(46:20) Book that he recommends reading: Salt in My Soul by Mallory Smith (2019).
(48:00) His mentors: George Shultz (his grandfather) and J. Leighton Read.
(50:01) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives his life by: "You Get What You Screen For"
(51:17) An unusual habit or absurd thing that he loves.
(52:53) The living person that he most admires: Dr Anthony Fauci.
"I often think back to a famous quote about character, which is, character is what you do when nobody's watching. And I actually think that the opposite is true. I think character is what you do when everyone's watching. And I experienced that."
(53:57) His current endeavors.
Tyler Shultz is a former Theranos employee who became a key whistleblower, exposing the company's fraudulent practices. As the grandson of former Secretary of State George Shultz, who was on Theranos' board, Tyler's decision to speak out carried significant personal and professional risks.
You can find out more about Tyler at his website: https://www.tyler-shultz.com/
You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:
Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
(0:00) Intro.
(1:39) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(2:25) Start of interview. Reference to E21 with Ilya Strebulaev from October 2020.
(4:01) On why he wrote his book The Venture Mindset: for decision makers in large organizations.
(5:37) About the first principle: Home Runs Matter, Strikeouts Don’t. Make small bets vs fear of failure.
(7:23) Two types of innovation: incremental (step by step) vs. disruptive innovation.
(13:32) The unique role that independent directors can play in innovation.
(18:20) On corporate unicorns and intrapreneurs.
(20:11) On errors of omission and building anti-portfolios.
(24:01) Promoting the venture mindset for large companies to be more innovative and become more like Silicon Valley.
(28:29) Red flags in decision-making ("why should I not invest?"), and the example of Theranos. Examples from Shark Tank.
(34:00) On Yuri Milner's investment in Facebook (2009) and investing without taking a board seat (informal controls and indirect influence).
(38:30) Formal vs informal control rights in corporate governance.
(44:13) Stay private vs go public debate. On "quasi-public" companies.
(49:11) On the pressures to go public for VCs and employees, and the evolution of secondary markets.
(52:20) On the principle (#5) to Bet on the Jockey (put people above process).
(53:22) On the principle (#7) to Double Down or Quit (allow flexibility, and phenomenon of escalation of commitment).
Ilya Strebulaev is a Professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is an expert in corporate finance, venture capital and private equity, corporate innovation, innovation ecosystems, and financial decision-making. His recent work has examined the valuation of VC-backed companies, decision making by venture capital and private equity investors, corporate venture capital, and impact of venture capital.
You can follow Ilya on social media at:
Twitter: @IlyaStrebulaev
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyavcandpe/
Venture Mindset Website: https://thevcmindset.com/
You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:
Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
(0:00) Intro.
(1:19) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(2:05) Start of interview.
(2:58) Greg's "origin story."
(5:31) His teaching focus.
(8:04) Discussion on startups and venture capital and the era of AI. Behavioral finance and bubbles.
(11:17) Bubbles in private (VC and PE) and public markets.
(15:12) Staying private vs going public fundamentals.
(20:05) The role of governance and advice from directors to CEOs.
(22:43) On growth of private equity.
(28:00) On the rise and importance of AI. Analogy to electricity. *Reference to Paul David's research.
(29:31) On Elon Musk's compensation litigation and the recent Tesla stockholder comp ratification.
(36:13) On the role of directors. "It's really hard to be a good board member." "[Directors] better darn well get comfortable with asking not only tough questions, but dumb questions."
(40:32) On Texas and Delaware's corporate law competition.
(42:04) On the politicization of the boardroom (i.e. ESG) and geopolitics involving China.
(48:11) Books that he recommends reading: The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I by Pollock and Maitland (1895).
(48:57) His mentors in the area of law.
(50:47) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives his life by.
(51:57) An unusual habit or absurd thing that he loves.
(54:16) About his podcast Unsiloed.
Greg LaBlanc is a Lecturer and Distinguished Teaching Fellow at Berkeley, Stanford, HEC Paris and other prestigious institutions. Greg teaches a wide range of subjects, including finance, strategy, law, innovation, data science, and digital transformation. He is also the host of the podcast Unsiloed.
You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:
Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
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