Summation with Auren Hoffman

George Fraser is the co-founder and CEO of Fivetran, the category-leading data integration platform that does over $300M in revenues. In this episode of World of DaaS, George and Auren discuss:  The Databricks/Snowflake “war” Building a data stack for AI workloads Evidence based decision making for tech companies Parallels between neuroscience and artificial intelligence Looking for more tech, dat...

DJ Patil served as the first U.S. Chief Data Scientist under President Obama. He's currently a GP at GreatPoint Ventures, on the Board of Devoted Health, and co-chairs the taskforce on GenAi for the Pentagon. In this episode of World of DaaS, DJ and Auren discuss:  AI's impact on data science Healthcare data transformation Innovation, bureaucracy and efficiency in National Security The b...

Alex Lieberman is the co-founder of Morning Brew , a business newsletter with over 4 million subscribers. Alex founded Morning Brew in his dorm room and sold a majority stake to Business Insider for $75 million in 2020. In this episode, Alex and Auren discuss:  Why B2B marketing is broken The future of influencer marketing Finding purpose after the exit Generation media consumption Looking for mor...

Evan Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Altana, a global supply chain management platform. Altana is one of the newest freight tech unicorns out there– they recently raised $200mm in a Series C round that valued the company at over a billion dollars.  In this episode, Evan and Auren discuss:  Why "Globalization 2.0" is replacing free trade How Russia's economy defied sanctions expec...

Arup Banerjee is the co-founder and CEO of Windfall , a data company that estimates the net worth of every American.  In this episode of World of DaaS, Arup and Auren discuss:  Why accurate wealth data is so difficult to come by The best indicators of high net worth Common misconceptions about wealth distribution Building data co-ops Looking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to w...

Sam Parr is the co-host of My First Million podcast and the founder of Hampton , a community of entrepreneurs and founders.  Sam previously founded The Hustle , a business and tech newsletter that was acquired by HubSpot for reportedly $27 million in 2021.  In this episode of World of DaaS, Sam and Auren discuss:  Branding strategies for tech founders Deciding when to sell your business Building c...

Tomas Pueyo is the author of the Uncharted Territories blog, where he analyzes global trends in technology, politics, and economics. Tomas gained international recognition in 2020 for his data-driven analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic, with his articles reaching over 40 million views and being translated into more than 40 languages.  In this episode of World of DaaS, Tomas and Auren discuss: Why ge...

Eric Glyman is the co-founder and CEO of Ramp, a financial operations platform. Ramp is one of the fastest growing startups in history, reaching $100M ARR in just three years. Prior to Ramp, Eric co-founded Paribus, a consumer finance app acquired by Capital One in 2016. In this episode of World of DaaS, Auren and Eric discuss:  Corporate spending trends Leveraging price intelligence data Ramp’s ‘...

Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic and founder of WordPress on the ongoing trademark dispute between WordPress and WP Engine, a hosting company owned by private equity firm Silver Lake. Matt Socials: Twitter: https://x.com/photomatt LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattm/  Host Auren Hoffman Socials: Twitter: https://twitter.com/auren Substack: https://substack.com/@auren

Ben Casnocha is a cofounder and partner at Village Global, an early-stage venture capital firm backed by tech luminaries including Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg. He was also chief of staff to Reid Hoffman and co-authored two best selling books with him, “The Alliance” and “The Startup of You.”  In this episode of World of DaaS, Ben and Auren discuss:  Approaching your career as a sta...

Matt Clifford is the co-founder and chair of Entrepreneur First , a global talent investor that has helped create over 500 companies worth more than $10 billion. He’s also the founding chair of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, the UK’s answer to DARPA.  In this episode of World of DaaS, Matt and Auren discuss:  Investing in talent Traits of successful founders The UK’s advanced research...

Daniel Pink is the author of seven bestselling books on business, work, and human behavior, including Drive and To Sell Is Human . His TED Talk on the science of motivation has been viewed more than 20 million times. His most recent book is The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward .  In this episode of World of DaaS, Daniel and Auren discuss:  Changing sales strategies for data a...

Michael Walrath is the chairman and CEO of Yext, a publicly traded digital presence platform. Prior to Yext, Michael cofounded Right Media, the first at-scale digital ad exchange, which was acquired by Yahoo in 2007.  In this episode, Michael and Auren discuss:  Software vendor consolidation Changing attitudes around growth vs profitability  New dynamics of VC funding Running board meetings as a C...

Bjorn Lomborg is the president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and has authored several bestselling books including "The Skeptical Environmentalist", "False Alarm" and recently “Best Things First.”     In this episode of World of DaaS, Bjorn and Auren discuss: The most efficient policies to save lives Evaluating charitable ROI  The real costs of climate change mitigation Swe...

Alex Wirth is the cofounder and CEO of Quorum, a public affairs software platform.  In this episode of World of DaaS, Alex and Auren discuss:  How AI is affecting lawmaking  The evolution of modern lobbying Predicting policy outcomes statistically  Building govtech companies Looking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and f...

Bryan is a professor of economics at George Mason University. He’s also the author of a number of bestselling books, including The Case Against Education , The Myth of the Rational Voter , and recently Build Baby Build .     In this episode of World of DaaS, Bryan and Auren discuss:  Education signaling and ROI The myth of involved parenting Immigration & diaspora theory Social science data ac...

Oleg Rogynskyy is the founder and CEO of People.ai, an ai-powered revenue intelligence platform. He’s also an advisor to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. In this episode of World of DaaS, Oleg and Auren discuss:  How AI will transform the sales process Sales automation and APIs Maximizing data value and differentiation Geopolitical implications of the Ukraine war Looking for more...

Alex Tabarrok is a professor of economics at George Mason University and the co-author of Marginal Revolution, one of the most popular and long-running blogs on the internet.     In this episode of World of DaaS, Alex and Auren discuss:  The decline of American dynamism Challenges to innovation Crime and bail reform Preparing for the next pandemic Looking for more tech, data and venture capital in...

Or Lenchner is the CEO of Bright Data, a leading web data collection company.   In this episode of World of DaaS, Auren and Or discuss: Web data freedom and ethics Bright Data's legal battle with Meta  Data pricing strategies The Israeli tech scene  Looking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and follow us on X @worldo...

Adam is the co-founder & CEO of Daffy , a fintech platform for charitable giving. Prior to Daffy, Adam was CEO of Wealthfront, VP of Product & Growth at Dropbox and VP of Product Management at LinkedIn.   In this episode of World of DaaS, Auren and Adam discuss:  Trends that will dominate fintech in 2030 Financial giants & disruptors Tax strategies and donor advised funds Most common p...

Jason Bordoff is an expert on geopolitics, energy security and the clean energy transition. He is the Founding Director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and he also held senior roles in the Obama administration, including on the National Economic Council, and the National Security Council.  In this episode of World of DaaS,...

Chris is the co-founder and CEO of Substack. Prior to Substack, he co founded the messaging service Kik.  In this episode of World of DaaS, Chris and Auren discuss: Attention, quality, and gatekeepers in media The state of freedom of speech  Building an audience AI as a creative tool Looking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to WorldofDaaS.com for our podcast, newsletter and even...

Robert Cialdini is a world renowned psychologist and author. His seminal work, "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion," published in 1984, is a classic in the field. He taught marketing, business and psychology at Stanford and he is the Regents' Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University. In this episode of World of DaaS, Robert and Auren discuss: T...

Ben Miller is the co-founder and CEO of Fundrise, an online investment platform that gives retail investors access to private assets like real estate and venture capital. Fundrise has invested over $7B in real estate and has 385,000+ investors on its platform. In this episode, Auren and Ben discuss: Real estate data adoption Public/private market convergence “Soft” SEC regulations on retail invest...

Harley Finkelstein is the President of Shopify ($SHOP), a leading ecommerce platform valued at over $80 billion. Shopify powers over 2 million ecommerce stores in 175 countries.  On this episode, Harley and Auren discuss:   Entrepreneurial renaissance & record business creation Nonobvious brand success stories Shopify's ecosystem and partnerships playbook Canadian entrepreneurship and amb...