The Blind Ambition with Jack Kelly

In this episode of the Blind Ambition Podcast, we welcome May Mobility’s CEO and cofounder Edwin Olson and chief people officer Tom Tang. May Mobility is an autonomous vehicle technology company focused on working with cities to make transit more sustainable and beautiful with shared mobility. Ed and Tom share how they are hiring the best talent to help execute their mission and their methodical a...

David Cohen is the cofounder and CEO of Techstars, a global startup accelerator and venture capital firm. In this episode of the Blind Ambition podcast, David gives us an inside look of how his firm supports and mentors tech founders and has the willingness to bet early on. He emphasizes that successful investments often seem counterintuitive at first. David notes that there are rarely "aha" momen...

Norm Ashkenas, a financial services veteran with over 30 years of experience, transitioned from traditional investment banking to the financial technology sector, becoming Robinhood's Chief Compliance Officer  In this episode, Norm discusses what it was like making the jump and the importance of candidates evaluating potential employers during interviews. He emphasizes how diverse backgrounds lend...

Dave Lu is a seasoned Silicon Valley technology professional who transitioned from being a successful entrepreneur, Emmy Award-winning producer to a venture capitalist. He established Hyphen Capital, an investment firm dedicated to supporting and empowering Asian American founders by providing early-stage funding and access to a robust professional network.  In this episode, Dave shares his person...

Dale Bendler served in Force Recon and is a former CIA paramilitary officer for the United States.  In this episode, Dale reflects on how his study abroad through Rutgers University was a litmus test for a career in intelligence, and walks us through his journey in the CIA. He addresses the recent drone sightings in NJ and other parts of the world, and how Americans deserve more transparency.  He...

Becky Frankiewicz is the Chief Commercial Officer, President North America at ManpowerGroup, a global leader in staffing and recruitment. In this episode, Becky discusses the overwhelming nature of the Gen-Z experience, highlighting their increased susceptibility to workplace stress stemming from feelings of disconnection. She delves into the underlying reasons for this generation's sense of frust...

Daniel Chait is the cofounder and CEO of Greenhouse, a cloud-based hiring software.  In this episode, Daniel delves into the current state of the job market, describing it as the most challenging he's ever encountered, despite misleading headline figures that paint a rosier picture.  He offers insights on how employers can improve their hiring practices to benefit job seekers from the start of the...

In this episode, we are joined by three tech recruiting heavyweights from the banking, fintech and startup sectors to discuss the 2024 tech job market.  They highlight the growing prevalence of contract  roles, which can be just as lucrative as full-time positions, if not more. They give insights into what financial services firms are the best for tech professionals looking to pivot into banking,...

Jeff Schwartz is the VP of Insights and Impact at Gloat, an AI talent marketplace platform. What’s happening today in the white-collar job market is as slow as it’s ever going to be, according to Jeff. We’re going to see disruption and substantial change in optimizing the current processes and redesigning the work with superjobs and superteams. The job you are doing today will not exist in the sam...

Company holiday parties are an extension of the workplace, and it’s important to maintain a professional image when enjoying the festivities. These events can be a minefield of potential missteps that could have lasting consequences on your career and workplace relationships. It's easy to get caught up in the moment and overindulge, potentially landing you in hot water. Here's how to maintain your...

A recent survey has unveiled a startling disconnect between young people’s perception of financial success and their economic reality. The study revealed that Gen-Z believe an annual salary of $587,797 and a net worth of $9.47 million are necessary to achieve financial success.  In this episode, we talk about why this generation has such a high benchmark for financial success and why it may be unr...

There is an ongoing debate about whether or not you should bring your authentic self to work. Critics say that you should check all that at the door, leaving behind your personal politics, social causes and sob stories.  In this episode, we discuss the extent to which we should allow people to be their authentic selves in the workplace. Do you allow the rockstar jerk to continue to be a jerk if he...

Aaron Terrazas is an economist who has worked for the U.S. Treasury, Zillow and was most recently, the chief economist at Glassdoor. He spent his career providing research, analysis and commentary on today’s evolving workplace and fast-changing labor market.  Aaron discusses how there are two different job markets concurrently happening, and delves into the undercurrent beneath the headline number...

Phil Willburn leads the People Analytics division at Workday, a platform serving human resources and finance needs with over 70 million users and handling 800 billion transactions annually.  The current job market for white-collar workers is highly competitive, with job applications being submitted at a rate four times higher than the number of job openings. This disparity highlights the challenge...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) called for a breakup of Google , divesting its Chrome browser and potentially Anthe droid operating system. This move comes after a federal judge ruled in August that Google illegally monopolized the online search and advertising markets. The DOJ argues that forcing Google to sell Chrome would eliminate its dominance. Things will be changing quickly in 2025!

Robert Israch is the President of Tipalti, a global finance automation platform, who has over 20 years of leadership experience. During Rob’s tenure, Tipalti has experienced 50x growth, while helping the company receive a valuation of over $8.3 billion. The company has appeared on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and Inc. 5000 lists for the last five years running. In this episode, Rob talks about...

Kiranbir Sodhia is a Senior Engineering Manager, leading teams developing machine learning frameworks for Google and the open-source community. He has over 15 years of experience working in AI, AR, gaming, mobile app and semiconductor industries at companies like Microsoft, Apple and Garmin International. Notably, at Microsoft he led development teams in Azure, Xbox and HoloLens. Kiranbir has alwa...

Mark McCaffrey is the CFO of GoDaddy. McCaffrey joined the company in 2021 after a long and successful career at PwC—a decision that was swiftly made within 24 hours of a conversation with the company's CEO. He was drawn to GoDaddy's passion for its customers and its underdog mentality, as well as the opportunity to contribute to the company's transformation from a domain business. In this episode...

Although we are having an American Presidential election, it looks like people from other countries can bet on the outcome of who wins the US Presidency. For example, a French trader known only as "Théo" has made headlines for placing a massive $30 million bet on Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election through the cryptocurrency prediction market platform Polymarket. If successful, his...

Jack Kelly and Rick Chen react to Home Depot's policy requiring all corporate employees to work eight hours at one of its retail stores every quarter. Rick discusses the practicality and what it'd be like to have senior executives, remote workers or people who don't have any day-to-day understanding of retail policy or frontline experience working. Jack compares the policy to an episode of "Underc...

Chip Hazard, Co-Founder and General Partner of Flybridge Chip shares how he became a venture capitalist, including how he convinced Greylock to hire him when they hadn't added anyone to their team in 10 years. He explains what the day-to-day work is like as an investor and even what it's like to be a member of a company's board of directors. Finally, Chip shares how he gained the insights and conf...

Jack Kelly and Rick Chen dive into the growing popularity of ayahuasca, ketamine and other mind-altering substances in the tech industry. We look into why tech CEOs are becoming more outspoken about their drug use and how some telehealth-style startups are cashing in on the craze for psychedelics. Jack takes an inventory of all the reasons Silicon Valley might find ayahuasca so appealing, includin...

Jack Kelly and Rick Chen investigate whether recent news reports of tech jobs disappearing are accurate. Rick explains that the tech industry isn't one of the hardest-hit industries by job cuts and casts some doubt into the methodology of how reporters and their sources count jobs and job losses. He also shares how some companies have slowed hiring without enacting hiring freezes. Jack shares his...

Naveen Rao, Vice President of Artificial Intelligence at Databricks Naveen recalls his journey to become a trained neuroscientist and how his PhD studies at Brown University informed his entrepreneurism in AI. We explore how he convinced venture capitalists to invest in hardware startups when it was out of fashion and why the first AI startup founders were often computational neuroscientists. We a...

Jack Kelly and Rick Chen react to the viral social media video of a Waymo driverless car getting stopped and tagged with graffiti in the streets of San Francisco. We look into how it happened, including how driverless cars work and their safety record, and whether the incident might be part of an anti-tech movement and sentiment. Jack and Rick then talk about how fast they adopted new technology a...