Messages

1

Startup / Renee James President, Intel

« on: August 08, 2017, 07:18:39 PM »

James is the No. 2 executive at Intel and seems to be everywhere these days, mainly thanks to her audacious goal to hit "full representation" of women and minorities at Intel by 2020 and have its workforce mimic actual demographics, which would mean a male-female ratio closer to 50-50. Intel has always rated high as a place for women in tech, but James is taking it further, and Intel is investing $300 million to reach its goal.

James, who has been described as "bullheaded, impatient, and very smart" by former Intel CEO Andy Grove, could be starting a model that might be duplicated by other tech companies in Silicon Valley, where women and minorities have historically been underrepresented.

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Startup / Chris Wanstrath and PJ Hyett Cofounders, Github

« on: August 08, 2017, 07:12:02 PM »

CEO Chris Wanstrath is a self-taught coder who dropped out of college to pursue a career in software development. An active profile on GitHub — his software-development tool that allows users to collaborate — has become a popular destination for Valley programmers to work and get hired.

In mid-June, Bloomberg Business reported that GitHub was raising a $200 million round at a valuation of about $2 billion. GitHub has not put out a statement, but rumors suggest that the round is being led by Andreessen Horowitz, the same firm that led GitHub's first funding round back in 2012 when it raised $100 million.

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Startup / Susan Wojcicki CEO, YouTube

« on: August 08, 2017, 07:10:04 PM »

When Susan Wojcicki, a longstanding Googler and ad executive, was picked to run YouTube in early 2014, she had her work cut out for her. Her main job was to help YouTube monetize its audience more effectively. Part of that included finding ways for YouTube to promote its home-grown stars like Bethany Mota and the Epic Rap Battles duo and attract more high-quality and deep-pocketed advertisers to the service.

To help build out YouTube's tech offerings, Wojcicki has made a number of internal "hires." She also confirmed onstage at Re/code’s Code/Mobile conference in October that YouTube would explore the launch of an ad-free subscription service.

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Startup / Marissa Mayer CEO, Yahoo

« on: August 08, 2017, 07:07:53 PM »

In September, Alibaba went public. Investors in Yahoo expected Alibaba's public value to send Yahoo’s stock soaring. But after Alibaba's debut, Yahoo's stock crashed.

Months later, Yahoo unveiled a plan to spin off its remaining 15% stake in Alibaba, tax-free, into a public, independent investment company called SpinCo. Yahoo shareholders would receive shares "distributed pro rata," which means they'd own shares in two companies.

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Startup / Reed Hastings Cofounder, CEO, Netflix

« on: August 08, 2017, 07:06:24 PM »

Netflix has been crushing the online-streaming-video category. The company raised a $1.5 billion round of debt financing in February to produce more original content. Wall Street also can’t get enough of it: When news broke in May that Netflix may be entering China, its stock jumped to an all-time high. A month later, its stock broke a new record.

Netflix has even partnered with Marriott Hotels so you can watch movies and TV shows from the Netflix app while on vacation. The company recently launched a new website design.

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Startup / Ellen Pao CEO, Reddit

« on: August 08, 2017, 07:04:21 PM »

Ellen Pao is the interim CEO of Reddit, and she's taking a stand against gender discrimination in the workplace. Previously a partner at venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Pao sued for $16 million in lost wages and future earnings, claiming her gender was a major factor in her not being promoted to general or senior partner, and that it played a significant role in her termination.

Pao lost the case on all counts, but she filed to appeal and is still in debate with Kleiner Perkins over legal costs. Her highly publicized trial brought important issues of gender and diversity in Silicon Valley to the surface, sparking much-needed discussion of the issues.

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Startup / Anthony Noto CFO, Twitter

« on: August 08, 2017, 07:02:58 PM »

Anthony Noto, a former Goldman Sachs banker, led Twitter’s IPO. In July 2014, he became Twitter’s CFO. When he arrived at Twitter, his annual salary was $250,000, and he received $64 million in Twitter stock (1.5 million shares), with the option to buy 5,000 more.

Noto has had a couple stumbles as CFO. In November he tweeted what was supposed to be a direct message about acquiring a company. He deleted it. In February, his Twitter account was hacked. Now that CEO Dick Costolo has decided to step down, Noto is on track to be one of the most powerful people at the company, although most insiders don't think he'll be picked as the next CEO.

8

Startup / Chris Sacca Founder, Lowercase Capital

« on: August 08, 2017, 07:02:00 PM »

Chris Sacca, the founder of Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Lowercase Capital, became a billionaire from his early investment in Uber this year as Uber's valuation shot up to a rumored $50 billion. He owns 4% of the company.

In addition, Sacca was vocal about a number of things. He told Bloomberg TV’s Emily Chang that Carl Icahn's recent investment in Lyft was a "big mistake." Sacca also talked about the crazy amount of VC money in Silicon Valley today. "I think there are naive investors with no discipline, throwing out term sheets at nine figures right now, with no diligence," Sacca said. And he wrote an impassioned 8,000 word critique of Twitter, where he was also an early investor; a couple weeks later, the company announced CEO Dick Costolo was stepping down, replaced by interim CEO Jack Dorsey.

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Startup / Larry Page --> Cofounder, Google

« on: August 08, 2017, 07:00:56 PM »

When Page took over as Google's CEO, he wanted to reinvigorate the company's vision. Today the company continues to dominate search, makes a ton of money with ads, and is leading a number of other innovative projects, including Google Glass. In the past year, Google generated nearly $18 billion in profits — money that Page will be able to use to forward his grand visions for granting internet access to the world.

Page also appointed senior vice president of product Sundar Pichai to becoming the "second most important person in the company," leaving Page free to make his grand visions a reality.

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Startup / Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp -->Cofounders, Pinterest

« on: August 08, 2017, 06:59:43 PM »

Pinterest, an online scrap-booking site that lets users organize photo pins onto different boards, is now worth $11 billion after raising a $367 million round of funding in March, followed by another $186 million in May. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity Investments, and Bessemer Venture Partners.

The site continues to grow and adapt its business model, most recently releasing new options for advertisers. Instead of just choosing to pay for views or clicks on promoted pins, advertisers can choose to pay with a cost-per-engagement model or cost-per-action model. Pinterest just lost its head of partnerships however, Joanne Bradford. The rumor is Pinterest wasn't generating as much revenue as it should have.

11

Startup / Mark Zuckerberg --Cofounder/CEO, Facebook

« on: August 08, 2017, 06:57:54 PM »

Facebook has been quietly busy under its leader and CEO. This year, Facebook acquired a video startup called QuickFire, which could let it take on Siri. Facebook received criticism for Internet.org, the company’s initiative to provide free internet access around the world, despite making changes to address net-neutrality concerns.

At Facebook’s annual F8 developers' conference, David Marcus, who was hired from PayPal to head up messaging products at Facebook, made big announcements regarding the Facebook Messenger app — expansion into e-commerce and mobile payments inside the app. And Zuckerberg has been talking up Internet.org, his plan to bring cheap Internet access to millions of people in developing countries, every chance he gets.

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Startup / Elon Musk --> CEO/CTO, SpaceX; CEO, Tesla Motors; chairman, SolarCity

« on: August 08, 2017, 06:56:32 PM »

Elon Musk has been busy. Last summer he announced he would be building a SolarCity plant in Buffalo, New York. The facility will be "one of the single largest solar panel production plants in the world," Musk said.

In addition, Musk announced he’d be building a five-mile-long Hyperloop track in Texas, designed for companies and students to test his design for a super-fast transportation system that will move people at 500 miles per hour in little "pods." Another Hyperloop track is set to be built starting in 2016, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

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Startup / Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin -->Cofounders, Lynda.com

« on: August 08, 2017, 06:55:38 PM »

In April, online-learning website Lynda sold to LinkedIn. The deal, a $1.5 billion cash-stock blend, closed in Q1. Most of Lynda's employees joined LinkedIn following the acquisition, which lets LinkedIn's 350 million users access the platform for skill building and education, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said.

Founded in 1995 by Lynda Weinman and her husband, Bruce Heavin, Lynda.com lets users learn business, technology, software, and creative skills through videos. People can access Lynda on their own, and corporations and schools can purchase subscriptions.

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Startup / Sundar Pichai --> CEO of Google

« on: August 08, 2017, 06:53:41 PM »

In October, Sundar Pichai was promoted by Google CEO Larry Page as the company's new senior VP of products. It's a big promotion for Pichai, who's now in charge of Google's core products, including search, maps, research, Google+, Android, Chrome, infrastructure, commerce, ads, and Google Apps. Before, he was head of Android and Chrome.

Since being promoted, Pichai has spearheaded the announcement of Android M, the new-generation version of Android, Google Photos, an app for Apple iOS and Android that offers automatic image sorting and unlimited photo storage, offline Google Maps, and more.

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Startup / Travis Kalanick -->CEO/cofounder, Uber

« on: August 08, 2017, 06:48:33 PM »

Uber, which turned five this year, is the most valuable private tech company in the world. The ride-hailing company, which has raised $5.9 billion at a $41 billion valuation, could soon be worth as much as $50 billion with a new cash infusion.

Uber operates in 311 cities and 58 countries. While the company is working to overcome regulatory hurdles, Uber has its sights set on plans bigger than just chauffeured transportation. The company has rolled out features like UberEATS and UberRush to test out logistics and delivery services. In May, Uber poached 40 Carnegie Mellon robotics researchers for its own Pittsburgh-based labs. Presumably, this will allow Uber to create self-driving cars.