Mary Kay Henry is the president of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 2 million people in unions across the US and Canada. In this episode of World of DaaS, Auren and Mary Kay discuss the current surge in the labor movement and what it means for American companies and workers. Mary Kay breaks down some recent developments, including Microsoft's agreement with the Communications Workers of America around unions for game developers.   The conversation also delves...

Joe Lonsdale is a co-founder of a number of amazing companies, including Palantir, Addepar and OpenGov, and he’s a cofounder of the University of Austin. He’s also the founder and managing partner of the venture firm 8VC, and he’s invested in some incredible companies, including Oculus, Anduril, Wish and Flexport. In this episode of World of DaaS, Auren and Joe engage in a thought-provoking discussion on optimism and pessimism, technological progress, and reforming society at the most basic...

Sam Lessin is a GP at Slow Ventures, a former Facebook product manager, and the founder of Drop.io and Fin. He’s also the co-host of an excellent podcast on tech called More or Less.  On this episode of World of DaaS, Sam gives a comprehensive breakdown of the state of venture capital. Auren and Sam discuss the “unicorn factory” for building public companies, the influence of megafunds like Tiger Global and Softbank, and the fundamental changes that VC went through in 2018-2022.  Sam also...

Brian Halligan is the co-founder, longtime CEO and now executive chair of Hubspot, a full service platform for marketing, sales and customer service. Hubspot was founded in 2006 and has a market cap of $23B today. Brian coined the term “inbound marketing” and helped give rise to one of the biggest shifts in marketing of the last 20 years.  In this episode of World of DaaS, Brian offers a deep dive into the intricacies of boardroom politics, effective leadership transitions, and the...

This episode is a rebroadcast of Auren’s appearance on the MapScaping Podcast.  In this episode, Auren and MapScaping host Daniel O’Donohue go deep on geospatial data. They start by discussing Placekey– an open entity resolution service for places and addresses. Auren gives a breakdown of the complexities involved with address matching, and what that has to do with the dollar, Unix time, and innovation.  Auren and Daniel also delve into a broader conversation about join keys, data...

Sam Corcos is the CEO of Levels, an a16z-backed health tech startup. While Levels’ mission is amazing, what really sets the company apart is how Sam runs it: Levels is highly transparent, asynchronous first, and serious about leveraging delegation for maximum productivity.  In this episode of World of DaaS, Sam gives a master class on the art of virtual assistance and delegation.  Levels uses VAS to allow team members much greater leverage over their work. Sam himself has four EAs that allow...

Jeff Lawson is the cofounder and CEO of Twilio, a $10 billion public software communications company. Jeff has an incredible founder story. Prior to Twilio, he co-founded Versity, which he sold for $30 million when he was just 23 years old. He was also the founding CTO of Stubhub and one of the first product managers at AWS. He founded Twilio in 2008.  In this episode, Jeff shares his insights into the API economy, scaling successful businesses, and the future of the SaaS business model....

Spencer Kimball is the founder and CEO of Cockroach Labs, a $5 billion company that makes the CockroachDB database used by Netflix, Nubank, Shipt, and many other leading tech companies. Spencer was building and contributing to major open source projects before he graduated from college.  In this episode of World of DaaS, Spencer and Auren do a deep dive on open source companies: How they make money, what the ecosystem looks like in 2023, and competing with the giants like AWS and...

Michael Seibel is a group partner at Y Combinator and the managing director of YC's startup accelerator. He evaluates 1000s of startups a year and sees hundreds go through YC, which means he has better data on startup success than just about anyone in tech. He’s also the cofounder of Twitch.  In this episode, Michael and Auren dive into the startup landscape and the inner workings of Y Combinator. As a partner at YC, Michael sheds light on the top qualities he seeks in applicants, drawing...

Ben Horowitz is the cofounder and CEO of Andreessen Horowitz, the most influential venture capital firm of the last 20 years. Ben and Andreessen Horowitz (also known as a16z) have invested in some of the biggest companies out there, including AirBnb, Coinbase, Facebook, Instacart, GitHub and Oculus.  Prior to his VC career, Ben founded Opsware/Loudcloud, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. He’s also the author of the bestselling books 'The Hard Thing About Hard Things'...

Guillermo Rauch is the founder and CEO of Vercel, a cloud platform that powers some of the biggest names on the internet, like Patreon, Ebay, Netflix and Adobe.   Guillermo has an incredible founder story– he began coding at age 10, dropped out of high school and moved from his native Argentina to San Francisco as a teenager. He’s also the creator of several major open source projects and a dual threat CEO who runs his own solo VC firm, Rauch Capital.  In this episode of World of DaaS,...

Andrew Ross Sorkin is a financial columnist for the New York Times, a co-anchor of CNBC’s Squawk Box and the founder and editor of DealBook. He’s also the co-creator of the hit-show Billions and the author of the bestselling book Too Big To Fail, on the 2008 financial crisis.  On this episode of World of DaaS, Auren and Andrew dive into the intersecting realms of technology, finance, and data. Andrew offers non-obvious insights into the 2008 financial crisis, highlighting the nuances of a...

Peter Thiel is one of the greatest entrepreneurs and investors of his generation. He was the co-founder and CEO of PayPal, the first investor in Facebook, and co-founder of Palantir Technologies. He’s the founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Founders Fund, and the author of Zero to One, one of the best business books of all time. In this episode, Auren and Peter dive deep on venture capital, scientific stagnation, AI, tech start-ups, and more. Peter shares his compelling...

Amjad Masad is the founder and CEO of Replit, an online coding environment.  Amjad and Auren discuss what the rise of AI means for coding, developers, and tech companies. Amjad shares his thoughts on consumer vs creator computer culture, why development hasn’t moved to the cloud faster, and why everyone should be able to call themselves a programmer.  They also discuss Amjad’s experience coming from Jordan to start a company in the US. Amjad shares whether he still thinks Silicon Valley is...

Sir Martin Sorrell is the founder of WPP, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, which he ran for over 30 years. He’s currently the executive chairman of S4 Capital, which is a pure play digital advertising company he founded in 2018.  In this episode, Auren and Martin dive into the fascinating intersection of AI in advertising, the economic impact of Brexit, and the ever-evolving landscape of ad revenue at big tech companies.  Martin shares his global outlook for...

Neil Strauss is a 10x New York Times bestselling author and a renowned journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Esquire.   Neil and host Auren Hoffman delve into the intriguing world of charisma, self-improvement, and relationships. Neil explains how anyone can learn to be more charismatic, and what charisma has to do with group dynamics.    The conversation then shifts to personal transformation and the challenges of breaking recurring patterns. Neil...

Bram Cohen is the creator of BitTorrent, which revolutionized digital entertainment and has been downloaded over two billion times. Today, Bram is the founder and CTO of Chia network, which manages the Chia cryptocurrency. Chia uses a unique proof of space model, in contrast to proof or work or proof of stake models like Bitcoin and Ethereum.  In this episode of World of DaaS, Bram and host Auren Hoffman discuss a wide range of topics related to technology, data science, and...

Bryan Johnson is the founder of the payments processing company Braintree, which sold to Paypal for $800 million in 2012. He’s also the founder of OS Fund, which invests in advancing genomic and biological technology, and Kernel, which is focused on developing brain-machine interfaces. In 2021, he launched Project Blueprint, which aims to slow and reverse the aging process in the human body. He's spent millions of dollars optimizing and tracking his health, becoming the "most measured man in...

Sue Gordon is the former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence. She had a 30+ year career with the CIA, as well as serving as Deputy Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.  Auren and Sue discuss shifting global power dynamics and the nature of modern intelligence in an ever-evolving world. They delve into the realm of cyber defense and Sue gives an overview of the expanding threat landscape that stretches far beyond government borders. They also discuss open...

Ajit Pai is the former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, where he served from 2017 to 2021. He’s currently a partner at Searchlight Capital. Auren and Ajit delve into the intricacies of technology regulation, including the nuances of regulating AI and crypto. Ajit outlines the essential triggers for preemptive intervention, and the many unintended consequences of Section 230 and Europe’s GDPR privacy regulation.  They also discuss the anticompetitive nature of big tech,...

Steven Pinker is a linguist, cognitive scientist, and a professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard. He’s the author of twelve books, including the bestsellers How the Mind Works, Enlightenment Now, and most recently Rationality. Auren and Steven delve into the world of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and intellectual freedom. Steven brings his perspective from cognitive psychology to explain how AI does (and does not) mirror the human brain.  They also explore the...

Erik Torenberg was the first employee at Product Hunt, and the founder and chairman of On Deck. He’s currently a partner at Village Global and the founder of Turpentine podcast network.   Erik and Auren discuss the startup founder mindset and what it takes to be successful in tech. Erik shares the career strategies and frameworks that have allowed him to found multiple companies and a venture capital firm.  They also discuss unconventional financial arrangements that could allow more people...

Jesse is the founder and CEO of Gateway X, a venture studio focused on DTC brands. Previously, he was the co-founder and CEO of Ampush, a digital marketing firm which he bootstrapped to an eight figure exit. Jesse and Auren break down some of the nuances of digital marketing and discuss the state of marketing on the major tech platforms today. They also discuss Red Ventures, “the most impressive company you’ve never heard of.”  Jesse is an expert on DTC companies and shares his insights...

Immad Akhund is the CEO of Mercury, a bank for startups. He’s also a multi-time founder and a Dual Threat CEO with over 300+ angel investments.  Auren and Immad discuss the collapse of SVB and how Mercury handled an influx of over $2 billion in deposits. Immad explains some lesser-known structural aspects of the banking system that affect the product and customer experience.  Auren and Immad also talk about crowdfunding a startup, how much focus founders need to succeed, and why Dual...

HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud was the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Intelligence Directorate for 24 years. He also served as the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the UK, Ireland, and the United States, and he’s the author of The Afghanistan File.  Auren and Prince Turki discuss the complex history of Afghanistan and Middle East geopolitics. Prince Turki shares his thoughts on the mistakes made by the U.S. in Afghanistan, the consequences of negotiating with the Taliban, and how the U.S....