Y in the Valley

How do you build an investment community of 1M members, valued at $1.2B, in just 18 months during a pandemic? Leif Abraham, Co-CEO of Public.com, has an answer — and a vision. Launched in 2019, Public.com is both a social media platform and an investing app designed to make the stock market accessible for a new generation of investors. In this episode, Ashish and Leif explore how Public.com is changing the way people engage with the stock market, and why building financial literacy is ultimately a long term investment in public good.

Show Notes:

1:34 - Getting involved with Public.com 

6:37 - Sharing what the first version of Public.com looked like 

8:16 - The power of combining a social networking app with an investing app

9:40 - The challenge of building community on the Public.com platform

12:26 - Acquiring the first 10k users

15:58 - How does financial literacy lead to wealth creation? 

20:10 - Getting new users accustomed to stock market volatility 

22:29 - Designing the team over the course of the pandemic 

31:07 - Building out Public.com during the pandemic

32:32 - The Sprint 

Why do you end up where you’re at? That question fascinates Rene Lacerte, the CEO and founder of Bill.com, the fintech platform currently valued at $10 billion. As a fourth generation entrepreneur, building is literally in his blood. But the journey is his own—his trek through various failures and triumphs has shaped his point of view on the world. In this episode, we dispel the myth of overnight success, unearth the secrets of building rich company culture, and discuss how to build a company at speed and scale.

SHOW NOTES

2:37 - Unpacking how Bill.com puts the back office in the back pocket 

5:55 - Setting up shop in the West Coast

9:10 - Starting PayCycle during the dot com bubble burst

14:42 - The myth of overnight success

19:13 - Launching Bill.com + acquiring the first hundred customers 

21: 50 - The moment Bill.com was no longer just an experiment 

27:11 - Key chapters of Bill.com

31:30 - Building + growing culture at Bill.com

37:20 - Navigating burnout during accelerated growth 

40:26 - The Sprint 

Pete Flint was the CEO and co-founder of Trulia, a service that prioritizes homebuyers and sellers and not real estate agents. He grew Trulia to over 50 million users, culminating in an IPO and merger with Zillow for $3.5 billion. Today, Flint is a general partner at NFX, an entrepreneur-driven seed fun that’s supported some of the most notable names in Silicon Valley: Lyft, DoorDash, Patreon, as well as Flint’s own Trulia. In total, NfX has founded 10 companies with exits of $10B dollars. In this episode, Pete and Ashish discuss Pete’s journey building and scaling Trulia, the one trait successful entrepreneurs share, and Pete’s prediction about the future of remote work. Pete also shares how he builds teams, company culture, and his tips for cultivating working relationships through consistent feedback.

SHOW NOTES

5:50: The original idea behind Trulia 

8:01: How Pete built the first version of Trulia

10:10: The transition from experiment to full-fledged business 

11:20: Pete outlines the major three chapters of Trulia

13:38: How Trulia survived The Recession 

18:13: How to give feedback when team morale is low

19:46: Building the right company culture 

23:20: The path from CEO to investor

26:50: Breaking down NFX

28:55: What remote work could look like in 2021

34:41: The magic of product/market fit

42:50: The Sprint

Tim Chen is the CEO and founder of NerdWallet, a service that un-clutters the world of money and helps people make smart financial decisions. He’s also one of the most humble and prudent founders in Silicon Valley. In this opening episode, Tim and Ashish discuss Tim’s evolution from unhappily working at a hedge fund to launching and scaling NerdWallet to a team of 600 and over $200M in revenue. Tim also shares the often overlooked gift of being a child of immigrants, how to avoid burnout, and building a brand and culture that is future proof.

Show Notes

3:10 - Why consumer trust is the cornerstone of business.

4:55 - How being the child of immigrants is a gift.

8:01 - The moment NerdWallet transitioned from an experiment to a real business.

11:25 - Building and scaling the NerdWallet business

15:35 - Why you need both hubris and humility to launch a business.

17:50 - How you prevent burnout?

22:22 - Building the culture at NerdWallet

24:34 - The hurdles NerdWallet faced that shaped the brand today

26:35 - Tim’s prediction on the future of work

33:01 - The Sprint: Apple vs Google? Strategy or speed? People or process? And more…

Silicon Valley isn't a zip code. It's a mindset.