Chip Hazard, Co-Founder and General Partner of Flybridge

Chip shares how he became a venture capitalist, including how he convinced Greylock to hire him when they hadn't added anyone to their team in 10 years. He explains what the day-to-day work is like as an investor and even what it's like to be a member of a company's board of directors. Finally, Chip shares how he gained the insights and confidence to advise the countless executives and startup founders he works with.

Chip also gives us a sneak peek into how he makes his investments and what qualities he looks for in a startup founder. We explore how to apply his methodology to finding the next job or choosing the next startup to bet a career on.

⁠⁠https://bit.ly/blind-podcast

Jack Kelly and Rick Chen dive into the growing popularity of ayahuasca, ketamine and other mind-altering substances in the tech industry. We look into why tech CEOs are becoming more outspoken about their drug use and how some telehealth-style startups are cashing in on the craze for psychedelics.

Jack takes an inventory of all the reasons Silicon Valley might find ayahuasca so appealing, including California's general openness and risk-taking culture. Rick wonders if it's all just an escape, as young people increasingly find themselves lost without community, meaning or purpose.

⁠https://bit.ly/blind-podcast

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2024/09/26/why-tech-ceos-are-drawn-to-ayahuasca-and-other-psychedelic-drugs/

https://fortune.com/well/article/psychedelic-leadership-retreat-magic-mushrooms-mdma-ayahuasca/

https://www.wsj.com/business/elon-musk-illegal-drugs-e826a9e1

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/young-american-men-lost-c1d799f7

Jack Kelly and Rick Chen investigate whether recent news reports of tech jobs disappearing are accurate. Rick explains that the tech industry isn't one of the hardest-hit industries by job cuts and casts some doubt into the methodology of how reporters and their sources count jobs and job losses. He also shares how some companies have slowed hiring without enacting hiring freezes.

Jack shares his reporting about the AI industry and why every company wants to say they are hiring AI jobs. He also covers the growing trend of companies outsourcing some jobs to other countries where compensation can be lower than in the U.S. and whether it should be a cause for concern for Americans.

Finally, we examine why job interviews have gotten longer, especially in the tech industry, and how tech roles have changed to become more specialized. Jack and Rick then share advice about how professionals might avoid layoffs by returning to the office or find greater success in the job market by adjusting their expectations.

⁠https://bit.ly/blind-podcast

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2024/09/23/why-the-once-mighty-tech-career-is-no-longer-safe/

https://www.wsj.com/tech/tech-jobs-artificial-intelligence-cce22393

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2024/09/24/american-consumer-confidence-plunges-as-the-job-market-weakens/

Naveen Rao, Vice President of Artificial Intelligence at Databricks

Naveen recalls his journey to become a trained neuroscientist and how his PhD studies at Brown University informed his entrepreneurism in AI. We explore how he convinced venture capitalists to invest in hardware startups when it was out of fashion and why the first AI startup founders were often computational neuroscientists. We also learn how he became a serial entrepreneur after successfully selling multiple AI startups.

Finally, Naveen takes us on a deep dive into how AI has evolved and whether the current interest has any signs of a dot-com era bust.

⁠⁠https://bit.ly/blind-podcast

Jack Kelly and Rick Chen react to the viral social media video of a Waymo driverless car getting stopped and tagged with graffiti in the streets of San Francisco. We look into how it happened, including how driverless cars work and their safety record, and whether the incident might be part of an anti-tech movement and sentiment.

Jack and Rick then talk about how fast they adopted new technology and compare and contrast today's startups and the startups and businesses from the not-so-distant past. We then debate whether tech like driverless cars and the gig economy might cause more layoffs or job losses or if they are a net positive for the world like Silicon Valley suggests they are.

⁠https://bit.ly/blind-podcast

https://www.ktvu.com/news/taggers-target-waymo-autonomous-vehicle

https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2024/cruise-sf-collision-timeline/

Gordon Wintrob, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Newfront

Gordon co-founded Newfront, an insurance-technology startup and brokerage firm last publicly valued at $2.2 billion, but he did not start his career in insurance. We dig into his career from his days in college and how he pivoted from his electrical engineering and computer science studies to investment banking and then to the world of startups.

Gordon credits shadowing for a lot of his success. We explore how he and his co-founder got the idea for Newfront, how they found an insurance broker to let them observe his work and the aha moments along the way. He even shares some of the startup ideas they left behind, how shadowing is still part of Newfront's culture today and a unique part of the startup's job interviews.

https://bit.ly/blind-podcast

Christopher Garzon, Founder and CEO of Data Engineer Academy

Christopher shares his Big Tech insider's perspective on the prospects for the data engineering profession. He reveals how companies like Amazon and Lyft hire data engineers and why they can't seem to get enough, which might make breaking into Big Tech easier than other roles.

We also explore why he started Data Engineer Academy and how it helps professionals, even those without previous data or tech experience, land a job as a data engineer. Christopher walks through the selection process, the curriculum, the white-glove resume, job interview, and job-coaching services, and how his alumni have made it after completing the program.

This episode of "The Blind Ambition with Jack Kelly" is brought to you by Data Engineer Academy.

https://dataengineerinterviews.com/

⁠https://bit.ly/blind-podcast⁠

Jack Kelly and Rick Chen take on Andy Jassy's memo, which, among other things, ends remote work and calls for Amazon to "operate like the world's largest startup." We break down what that means, including Jassy's decision to create a "bureaucracy mailbox" for people to snitch on bureaucratic processes, a companywide reorganization to cut management layers, and a five-day-a-week in-office work schedule beginning January 2025.

Rick explains how CEO and leadership memos are drafted and why Amazon might have feared the memo might leak before it was released. He dissects how Amazon's PR team likely planned the memo's release and why reporters quickly covered the announcement.

Jack and Rick also look into how this might have impacted Amazon's share price and the downstream impacts of Amazon's new management and remote work policies. Jack shares some potential winners and losers in the stock market, and Rick speculates how the job market might react.

https://bit.ly/blind-podcast

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-16/amazon-ceo-wants-workers-in-five-days-a-week-leaner-management

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/ceo-andy-jassy-latest-update-on-amazon-return-to-office-manager-team-ratio

https://www.teamblind.com/post/Amazon-manager-mass-layoff-fNgYBCEA

With Blind Bytes, Jack Kelly and Rick Chen reveal insider tips about professional life, which you can use immediately to level up your career. In this episode, we take on why you didn't get the job despite acing the interview.

Jack explains how interview cycles are set up at most companies and why a hiring manager, recruiter or HR team might take their sweet time with the process and the decision. He also takes us into the minds of the hiring manager and the behind-the-scenes work they might have to do to get approval for a job offer and things like benefits or pay packages. Finally, Jack gives us a script of what to say in the job interview, which might unlock the job offer and make the decision easier for everyone involved.

https://bit.ly/blind-podcast

Christine Tao, Founder and CEO of Sounding Board

Christine's career has been marked by some challenging economic climates. We look into how she persevered and ultimately landed an executive role at a startup. Christine generously shares the step-by-step process of how she identified and seized opportunities, how she developed into a leader along the way, and how her experience might be a good roadmap if you're looking to become a manager or executive.

We also dig into how she got access to a one-on-one executive coach and how it changed her career. Christine explains how executive coaches and why it's a shame that everyone doesn't get one, given how much potential they can unlock. Finally, we learn how her experience led her to start Sounding Board with her actual coach and how the company has built a personalized coaching and leadership program at scale with technology.

Get access to Sounding Board's world-class coaching and mentoring software at www.soundingboardinc.com. Use the promo code BLIND10 to get 10% off one-on-one coaching individual plans. Sounding Board may be reimbursable or covered by your company's leadership and development or training benefit.

https://bit.ly/blind-podcast