The Blind Ambition with Jack Kelly

Christine Park, Chief People Officer at Pantheon Christine has seen it all as a long-time HR executive and expert. She walks us through when HR wasn't even called HR and even breaks down why recent trends like the Great Resignation or quiet quitting aren't really new ideas. Finally, she explains how HR gets a bad rap as the "DMV" or "PIP lady" and what the future of HR might entail. https://teambl...

Wayne Hu, Managing Director, Early Stage Venture at SignalFire It seems like everyone is a venture capitalist these days. Wayne outlines what it really takes to be a venture capitalist. He breaks down the VC career path from entry-level to becoming a prolific investor, what his day-to-day is like, and the business model behind investing with other people's money. https://teamblind.onelink.me/6Ubn/...

Christine Spang, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Nylas Christine and her cofounders had to pivot before Nylas became what it is today. She explains how she knew the early idea wouldn't work, what it was like saying goodbye to a cofounder, and how her role as CTO changed over time. Finally, Christine outlines how to level up your career fast at a startup. https://bit.ly/blindpodcast

Zach Nunn, Founder and CEO at Living Corporate Zach thinks corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are a scam. He explains why most programs become nothing more than PR-driven memos or mandatory employee training. Finally, we tackle why some of the best-resourced companies, such as Google, Meta and PwC, haven't made an impactful change in the workplace just yet, despite spending million...

Jonathan Heiliger, Founder and General Partner at Vertex Ventures If you've read "The Hard Things About Hard Things," you're already familiar with Jonathan and his work. We ask the prolific B2B operator and investor how to pick startups and industries in a down market. He explains how to look at public comparables, determine whether you're a profit center or a cost center, and why the cloud may be...

Sean Kim, President and Chief Product Officer at Kajabi Sean explains what he learned from his failures as the head of product at TikTok and Amazon. He breaks down how to get recruited as an executive and what most product leaders at Amazon had in common. (Hint: It's not an MBA or coding.) Finally, he shares his foolproof method for becoming a product manager or owner. https://blindap.onelink.me/t...

Joe Gillespie, Former Head of Technical Recruiting at Robinhood Joe reveals everything you want to know about technical recruiting from his time at Robinhood. He explains how recruiters find engineers, how to think about boosting your total compensation or job level, and why people get lowballed or down-leveled.  https://blindap.onelink.me/ttCg/ftpus17i

Shailesh Kumar, Senior Vice President of Engineering at ClickUp Shailesh helps us learn why so many productivity apps have such high valuations. He shares why he thinks acquisitions and exits are inevitable and how to tell the winners from the losers in the space. Finally, he reveals what it takes to get a job at ClickUp. https://blindap.onelink.me/ttCg/25shx0sv

Gillian French, Expert in Residence - Employee Experience at Workvivo Gillian answers all of our questions about layoffs, from who makes the decision, how companies decide who to lay off, and even what they're like from the chief people officer's perspective. She also reveals the different strategies companies can take to cut costs and why layoffs and rescinded job offers might be one of the worst...

Christoph Fleischmann, Founder and CEO at Arthur Technologies Christoph founded his metaverse startup to create a mixed reality for enterprise. He breaks down how he got started working on augmented and virtual reality and admits that the early days of building and fundraising involved a lot of inelegant brute force. Finally, Christoph shares the mental biases everyone should watch out for, especi...

Matt McLarty, Global Field CTO & Vice President of the Digital Transformation Office A globally recognized expert in APIs, Matt has seen it all in the tech industry. He explains the secret to a long-lasting career in tech, why you shouldn't get caught up with specific languages or technology, and why the best tech jobs might be outside the tech industry. https://blindap.onelink.me/ttCg/d2qia9c...

Ravi Swaminathan, Founder and CEO at TaskHuman Ravi has been programming since he was seven years old. While coding had always come naturally, he doesn't do much of it anymore. We explore his pivots from programmer to project management, product marketing and corporate strategy before settling on being a CEO. https://blindap.onelink.me/ttCg/1zhwur04

Morgan Teachworth, Vice President, Engineering and Supply Chain at Cisco Meraki Morgan outlines how to advance your career in tech. He explains how moving to a tech hub early in your career could pay off and why hybrid work isn't so bad. Plus, Morgan, an early engineer at both NVIDIA and Meraki, shares how to pick a company to bet your career on. (Hint: It's not always the pre-IPO unicorn.) https:...

Gianna Scorsone, General Manager and Head of North America at Aircall Gianna starts from the first principles, and her top rule might go against everything we know about Silicon Valley culture. She shares her best tips, including how to sell yourself in the interview, what it really means to be authentic at work, and what people get wrong about competition. https://blindap.onelink.me/ttCg/8buc7blo

Lewis Tuff, Vice President, Engineering at Blockchain.com Lewis presents the future of Web3 and outlines how anyone can become a cryptocurrency engineer or Web3 technologist. He also walks through the latest at the $14-billion crypto unicorn, including upcoming features and products, plus his interview and hiring process. https://blindap.onelink.me/ttCg/5f1uzgkp

Nick Bushak, Chief Technology Officer and President at Gem Nick explains that being a CTO is really all about recruiting and retaining tech talent. He breaks down everything from managing a new team in a new country, insider tips to attract the first engineering hires, and how company culture changes after an acquisition. https://blindap.onelink.me/ttCg/gd91j9u0

Radhika Malik, Principal at Dell Technologies Capital Radhika lets us into the world of corporate venture capital. She explains how to look beyond the hype in AI, why starting an enterprise startup may be the best thing you can do, and what it takes to get an investment from Dell Technologies Capital. https://blindap.onelink.me/ttCg/bhp05pp8

Conrad Irwin, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Superhuman Conrad dispels myths about startup life by giving us a walkthrough of the real day-to-day as a startup founder and CTO. He explains why it took more than two years to launch Superhuman, how startups should tackle hiring, and what it's like to know that the buck stops with you. https://blindap.onelink.me/ttCg/qgieaq5h

Amit Matani, CEO at AngelList Talent Amit reflects on being one of Apple's first featured iPhone apps, experiencing two startup acquisitions, and whether tech salaries can continue to grow. He also shares his hot takes on whether hybrid work will last and whether you should raise venture capital for your startup idea. https://blindap.onelink.me/ttCg/b39wxd28

Rod Barlow, Chief Technology Officer at Sidecar Health Rod thinks a career as an engineer or technologist is like a jungle gym. It’s why he says it’s important to make career pivots and place big bets on yourself and others. He also outlines the importance of having a growth mindset and gives a roadmap to engineering leadership. As a bonus, Rod even explains how much coding a tech lead or engineer...

Dan Westgarth, Chief Operating Officer at Deel Dan shares how remote and international hiring is changing work. He walks through how hiring differs in each country, why you might want to get paid in a different currency or crypto, and how remote work has changed employee benefits. Finally, he also gives Blind a sneak peek into the interview panel and company culture at Deel. https://blindap.onelin...

Maryanne Caughey, Chief People Officer at Notion Maryanne explains how the company’s values actually work in practice, including an engineering rotation program that sends technologists abroad and management that tells you to go on vacation if you haven’t used your PTO. She also shared an in-depth look into the entire hiring process, including their three-part decision process, how they expanded i...

Fredrick "Flee" Lee, Chief Security Officer at Gusto Flee explains how the road to becoming a chief security officer is like a sine wave, what it was like working at a startup in Oklahoma during the Dot-Com boom, and why he credits his time at a big bank to his becoming a Silicon Valley executive. He also dives into how he knows when to move to another job, how to face fears at work, and why he wi...