Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast

Producer, Director, Writer and all-around Hollywood guy Mike Stutz has figured out how to hack the media. His protest group — The Useful Idiots — has figured out a unique way to get their message across, as only a group of creative types could. The Useful Idiots includes TV, film, theater, dance, and other creative people with a common cause. In this episode learn how Mike and his colleagues get t...

Jonathan Abrams is CEO of Nuzzel, co-founder of Founders Den, and founder of Socializr.  He sits on the board of Girls in Tech, and has invested in over 50 startups.  But before all that...he founded Friendster.  Recently, Gimlet Media's "Startup" podcast covered Friendster.  Here Jonathan shares his thoughts on how THAT podcast went.  

Jonathan Abrams is a busy guy.  He has two kids.  He co-founded The Founders Den, an entrepreneurial center in San Francisco,  He founded, built and sold Sociializr.  He's invested in nearly 50 startups, many of which have grown enormously, some beyond a billion dollars in valuation.  He founded Nuzzel, and is currently its CEO.  Nuzzel has become the largest aggregator of business, media and tech...

Marcus Dantus is CEO of Startup Mexico.  Startups, entrepreneurs, venture capital -- it's all happening and growing in Mexico.  Marcus discusses the unique opportunities and challenges facing entrepreneurs and investors in Mexico.  He also provides the point of view of Mexicans on the election of Donald Trump, and Mexico's path forward. -- In the Something Venture podcast, Silicon Valley insider K...

Sharon Goldstein is Executive-in-Resience at XSeed Capital (xseedcap.com), and recently CMO of Shiphawk and Pixlee.  She also sits on the board of Hebrew Free Loan of San Francisco, which she discusses.  She walks us through her path from Industrial Engineering at Georgia Tech through Northwestern University to becoming a Silicon Valley EIR.  We also spend time discussing women in Silicon Valley,...

Victor Echevarria (OK, YOU try pronouncing it) made the bold leap from Harvard Business School to Silicon Valley.  As founder of Frenting and team member at TaskRabbit, he was early to the sharing economy.  Victor explains the differences in the success factors behind sharing economy companies that disappeared and those that are now successful like AirBnB, Uber and Lyft.  Victor transitioned into...

Carter Cohen is the future.  In 1991 Douglas Copeland published the book "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture", and we've worked our way down the alphabet ever since.  In this podcast, Kent discusses technology -- and the future -- from the perspective of a 17-year old on his way to college.  Is Snapchat the future?  Or Facebook messenger?  Listen to learn this, and more.  Oh, and you'l...

In this second part of Kent's conversation with Neil Cohen, the discussion continues about which marketing trends everyone should keep an eye on for 2017.  Personalization, video, Snapchatting and more.  Neil Cohen is a sales strategy and marketing consultant, Lecturer at San Francisco State University, advisor to Startup Chile and Parallel18. And -- San Francisco Giants Fan. -- In the Something V...

In honor of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's visit to the US, we talk to Lylan Masterman about Canada Venture Capital and Startups.  Lylan is an investor with White Star Capital which invests across the Atlantic.  Canadian tech -- turns out it's a much bigger topic than one might imagine.  After a botched podcast opening (he did work at aQuantive and went to Kellogg, not so much Merrill Ly...

Neil Cohen is one of our most engaging energetic guests.  Here is his take on marketing trends for 2017 across several categories, his take on branding masters like Red Bull and more.  Neil is a marketing veteran, professor at San Francisco State.  And a San Francisco Giants fan.     -- In the Something Ventured podcast, Silicon Valley insider Kent Lindstrom explores the reality behind the Silicon...

Antonio Garcia Martinez, best-selling author of Chaos Monkeys (his New York times bestselling Facebook tell-all). If you haven't heard Antonio yet, enjoy his take on Silicon Valley, politics, Libertarianism -- and more. -- In the Something Ventured podcast, Silicon Valley insider Kent Lindstrom explores the reality behind the Silicon Valley headlines as he sits down with the people who are shaping...

Best selling author (Chaos Monkeys) Antonio Garcia Martinez is back.  If you haven't had the pleasure yet, you are in for something special.  After discussing his book the first time around, we realized he is one of the most thoughtful, original and provocative thinkers on the topic of politics.  In particular, his take on the relationship of Silicon Valley, and it's wealth, to politics -- is fasc...

Welcome back -- to fan favorite Mike Stutz part 2.  Mike Stutz is a Television Producer, movie director (Don't Change the Subject) just to name a few talents  Here is part 2 of his insightful take on the interaction of television, fake news, and TV's changing role in politics.  Also mentioned are US presidents named Jackson. -- In the Something Ventured podcast, Silicon Valley insider Kent Lindstr...

Mike Stutz  is a reality TV show producer.  Credits include "Shinesty" on MTV; "Loaded" on CNBC, and "Santa Sent me to the ER" on TLC.  He is also producer, writer and director of the feature film "Don't Change the Subject".  In this episode, Mike returns to talk about reality TV, politics....and Andrew Jackson/Johnson.   -- In the Something Ventured podcast, Silicon Valley insider Kent Lindstrom...

Sarah Marie is an entrepreneur, executive and co-founder of Spec.fm podcast network and its CEO.  After a break last week for the US election (spoiler alert, it did not go as expected) we return to more positive territory.  Sarah continues her conversation about the path to Silicon Valley (which in her case did not involve Harvard or Stanford), the struggle to build a path in Silicon Valley, and t...

Something Ventured Election Special with Joe Garofoli, Senior Political writer for the SF chronicle.  We cover the national election -- why everyone missed the rise of Trump, and what people are feeling in Pittsburgh.  Also covered are California ballot measures (marijuana legalization in particular).  We finish with a discussion of Bay Area measures, and San Francisco housing in particular.

Sarah Marie is co-founder and CEO of the fast-growing podcast network Spec Network (Spec.fm).  Sarah's entrepreneurial journey brought her to Silicon Valley from Minnesota, and involved an early stint at a bakery.  This is not your "Stanford/Facebook/XYZ VC" -- it's far more interesting.   Spec Network has become a leading design and developer podcast network, with podcasts such as "Design Details...

Chaos Monkeys' author Antonio Garcia-Martinez -- part 2 of 2.  In which he discusses Y-combinator, the inner workings of Facebook and much more.  Particularly interesting -- what happened when some (but not all) people at Facebook realized they were rich?     The book Chaos Monkeys (on iTunes here  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/chaos-monkeys/id1071356667?mt=11 )  was recently described by Andre...

Antonio Garcia-Martinez' "Chaos Monkeys" (Harper) was an instant New York Times bestseller.  Andrew Ross Sorkin in the New York Times said  "Incisive -- the most fun business book I've read this year.  Clearly there will be people who hate this book -- which is probably one of the things that make it such a great read". In this episode, Antonio covers a range of Silicon Valley topics - including s...

We pre-empt podcasts planned with Antonio Garcia Martinez and Sarah Marie of Spec Network, because Donald Trump made us.  (don't worry -- we'll get to Antonio and Sarah Marie shortly)  Without repeating the things Mr. Trump said about sexual assault and sexual harassment -- we're reminded that sexism, in all of its forms, is wrong.  In this previously aired, but always timely podcast, Rachel Fairb...

Donald Trump would hate this podcast.  The story of an immigrant from China.  Ben Cheung built an AI company (pay attention, Westworld fans).  He discussed it in a previous podcast, when we talked about the struggle of the entrepreneur.  Just a few months after that, Microsoft came calling and bought his company.  Ben discusses the process of being approached and negotiating with Microsoft after M...

In this replay, we revisit our interview with Benjamin Cheung, the entrepreneur behind Genee.  This provides a glimpse of the entrepreneur at work -- a fascinating exploration now that we know the outcome:  He eventually sells his company to Microsoft!   -- In the Something Ventured Podcast, Silicon Valley insider Kent Lindstrom explores the reality behind the Silicon Valley headlines as he sits d...

Every year Silicon Valley marches off to the desert for several days of....well, probably NSFW activity.  For those who remain -- Silicon Valley becomes a place where parking is easy, and there is a seat at the bar.   In this podcast, Kent and Michael White discuss the history of  Burning Man.   -- In the Something Ventured podcast, Silicon Valley insider Kent Lindstrom explores the reality behind...

Part 2 of Kent's conversation with Peter Berger -- CEO of Contact IQ and former Director of Strategic Development at Tagged.  Peter is also the organizer of the Silicon Valley Semantic Technology Group.   -- In the Something Ventured podcast, Silicon Valley insider Kent Lindstrom explores the reality behind the Silicon Valley headlines as he sits down with the people who are shaping the way we vie...

Peter Berger is the CEO of Contact IQ.  He's an entrepreneur who was formerly the Director of Strategic Development at Tagged.  He is the Organizer of the Silicon Valley Semantic Technology Group, which has over 1000 members.  His path to being CEO of Contact IQ -- well, it probably wasn't what you imagine, and it's certainly more interesting.  In this discussion we cover a range of issues in Sili...