Greymatter

In today's work world where remote, hybrid, and otherwise distributed teams are the norm, how do businesses ensure their employees are engaged and feel a sense of cohesion with one another? Enter Mystery: is the easy button for team morale. They offer fully-managed virtual team events with essentially infinite variety, hosted by a network of vetted experience partners, from baristas, to rappers, to Dungeons & Dragons masters, to A-list celebrities. Greylock general partner Sarah Guo, who just led the company's Series A funding round, sat down with Mystery CEO and co-founder Shane Kovalsky to discuss how the company is working with organizations to keep employees connected. You can read an essay about the investment here: https://greylock.com/portfolio-news/the-easy-button-for-connection-at-work/

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When it comes to innovation, Twilio CEO and co-founder Jeff Lawson has simple advice: "Build or die." Lawson straddles the line of software developer and CEO, giving him a rare perspective on the common ways the two sides misunderstand each other. It also gave him an early, deep understanding of developers’ needs in a software platform — which has been borne out in Twilio’s success. Lawson joined Greylock general partner Sarah Guo for Iconversations to discuss business trajectory, and what he sees happening in the future of software and the internet.

You can read a transcript of this episode here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/software-with-superpowers/

You can watch the interview on our YouTube channel here:

https://youtu.be/6OEmqCJ2wJk

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Greylock general partner Sarah Guo speaks with Aneel Bhusri, the chairman, co-CEO and co-founder of Workday. This interview is part of Greylock’s “Iconversations" series. Bhusri who is also a former managing partner at Greylock, is known for his laser focus on two things: product vision, and the ability to find and retain great people. He and his Workday day co-founder and co-ceo Dave Duffield actually interviewed the first 500 employees themselves, and they did so with the goal to find the people who embodied the values to guide Workday’s company culture.

You can read a transcript of this interview here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/workday-aneel-bhusri-engineering-values/

You can watch a video from the event on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/bh5MA4Y60h0

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Audio version of Greylock general partner Asheem Chandna's Forbes column, "Want to Win? Create the Right Early GTM Strategy," read by Greylock marketing partner Elisa Schreiber.

Chandna provides guidance to early stage founders in the transition phase where many startups fail: the period after their initial success when they must move to a rigorous go-to-market architecture that enables year-over-year growth. You can read the essay here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/asheem-chandna-gtm-taking-it-to-the-next-level/

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Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman and his Blitzscaling co-author Chris Yeh examine the current development of Web3, focusing on how basic human nature is driving some of the innovation. This discussion was sparked in part by an article by Bloomberg reporter Joshua Brustein, who interviewed Hoffman about his recent essay on his experience as a Web 2.0 entrepreneur and investor. In that essay, Hoffman described the ways the “wild idealism” of the era led to major advances that both positively and negatively impacted the world, and how the “seven deadly sins” of humanity form the basis of many technological pursuits. You can read a transcript of this conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/vices-and-virtues-in-web3/

You can read Joshua's story here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-12/web3-silicon-valley-s-new-obsession-looks-a-lot-like-last-one?sref=ojgukC4T

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Greylock welcomes Mustafa Suleyman as the firm's newest venture partner. Suleyman is known for his pioneering work in the field of artificial intelligence, and joins the firm from Google, where he was Vice President of AI Product Management and AI Policy. Before that he co-founded DeepMind, the world’s leading artificial intelligence company, which was acquired by Google in 2014 for $650M. Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman and Suleyman discuss the current AI landscape, the pivotal advances that have gotten the field to this point, and where they see opportunities for startups.

You can read a transcript of this conversation here: https://greylock.com/firm-news/welcome-mustafa-suleyman/

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On the day of their public market debut, Sonder CEO and founder Francis Davidson talks with Greylock general partner Josh McFarland about the hospitality company's wild journey from a side gig started during college to a modern, tech-enabled, design-forward accommodation platform serving travelers in 35 countries around the world. Davidson recounts the company's swift traction of the first few years, the dark days of early 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic struck and upended travel overnight, and how the company pivoted and redirected its focus in order to emerge stronger than ever. You can read a transcript of this interview here: https://greylock.com/portfolio-news/congrats-sonder/

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In March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced nearly every aspect of life online. Suddenly, everything was happening on Zoom. To the everyday consumer, Zoom might have seemed like an overnight success story. But Zoom CEO and founder Eric Yuan, who was founded the company in 2011 as an enterprise service, said they were able to meet the sudden surge in demand thanks to the company's longstanding, unwavering focus on making virtual human interaction easy and accessible for anyone regardless of location, device, or technical savviness. That consistent customer-centric approach allowed the company to grow 30-fold without compromising quality, and has made Zoom a lasting everyday part of work, school, entertainment, healthcare, and everything else. This interview by Greylock general partner Sarah Guo is part of Greylock's Iconversations speaker series. You can read a transcript of the conversation here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/zoom-eric-yuan-full-screen-ahead/ ‎

You can watch the video from this event here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnsTB8Q5VgnUtQ2Yc32sqgCr_pm77YGZr

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A re-broadcast of Reid Hoffman's discussion with his Blitzscaling co-author Chris Yeh on the pros and cons of two different courses of study: the standard business school MBA, or a degree in philosophy. Hoffman, who holds a philosophy degree from Oxford, shares why he generally views pursuing an MBA as an adverse signal for entrepreneurship. This episode is the second in a two-part series on philosophy and entrepreneurship. You can read an essay from this podcast here:https://greylock.com/greymatter/philosopher-versus-mba/

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A re-broadcast of Reid Hoffman's discussion with his Blitzscaling co-author Chris Yeh on the ways a philosophy degree can impact entrepreneurship. This conversation is the first in a two-part series on the subject. You can read an essay based on this podcast here: https://greylock.com/greymatter/the-philosopher-entrepreneur/

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