The IO Podcast: Investor + Operator

How do you become the best of the best—the top performer in your field? Dr. Julie Gurner, an acclaimed executive coach and once likened to Billions’ Wendy Rhoades by The Wall Street Journal, shares her insights on what it takes to excel at the highest level. In this episode, Dr. Gurner joins hosts Sterling Snow and Tyler Hogge to explore the mindsets, strategies, and leadership styles that empower people to perform at their peak.Episode Highlights:00:00 Meet Dr. Julie Gurner and her unique approach to executive performance05:47 The fine line between "good crazy" and "bad crazy" in high achievers08:44 Rule-bending: When it drives success and when it derails progress15:16 How confidence and aggression play into leadership styles18:56 Evolving roles: Adapting leadership from a startup’s early days to maturity24:18 The power of vulnerability: Why CEOs should own their weaknesses to build balanced teams27:43 Helping others lean into their unique strengths for maximum impact33:17 Identifying "great" talent vs. "good" talent: What sets true excellence apart40:23 The importance of positive self-talk and why leaders should never downplay themselves47:01 Reframing failure: How top performers see setbacks as learning, not defining momentsWhether you're a startup founder, entrepreneur, or aspiring leader, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways to help you break through personal and professional barriers. Dr. Gurner’s guidance is invaluable for anyone striving to reach the top in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment.Follow Dr. Gurner Here: X: https://x.com/drgurnerNewsletter: drgurner.substack.comWeb: drgurner.com

"Joining a company as early as possible, right after achieving product-market fit, offers the greatest career advantage." – Jack AltmanJack Altman epitomizes the true "Investor-Operator." As the co-founder and former CEO of the multi-billion-dollar startup Lattice, and now a full-time investor with his $150 million venture fund, Alt Capital, Jack has successfully navigated both sides of the entrepreneurial journey. It’s clear he excels in every aspect, and we were thrilled to have him on the show.In this episode, we delve into Jack’s career trajectory, from his early days in tech to how he gained the insight to launch Lattice. Jack shares the invaluable lessons he’s learned from building and scaling Lattice to a Series F company, and how those experiences have shaped his approach to investing.Here’s a breakdown of what we covered:1:20 – How Jack got into tech and landed at a fast-growing startup5:30 – Joining an early-stage company vs. starting your own: which provides better learning?11:30 – The launch of Lattice and pivoting to achieve product-market fit (PMF)14:14 – How to recognize when you’ve found PMF19:20 – Best practices for scaling companies: “If your product won’t be used 10 years from now, you’ll never build a lasting, valuable SaaS business.”21:15 – Jack’s early fundraising mistakes and what he’d do differently24:30 – The top three traits every founder needs30:15 – Transitioning to investing: "My hobby is other startups"39:20 – How being a founder prepares you to be an investor42:40 – How to become a Level 6 investor (Link to Tweet)46:20 – Why point solutions won’t cut it—compound startups will generate the biggest returns51:45 – Investing in AI and the rise of ‘killer apps’58:54 – Investment strategies: should you aim to create returns by incubating or seed funding?1:04:00 – Recap with Tyler & SterlingFor more on Alt Capital, visit altcap.com.Check out Jack’s hierarchy of investors on X (formerly Twitter).Discover more insights from Investor-Operators on the IO Podcast:YouTube: @IO-PodcastX: @IO__podcastTikTok: @io_podcast

In this episode, Tyler Hogge & Sterling Snow sit down with David George, General Partner at a16z, where he leads the growth investing practice. Since joining in 2019, David has been at the forefront of investments in companies like Coinbase, Databricks, Figma, Robinhood and Instacart. Prior to a16z, David was at General Atlantic, where he invested in iconic brands like Airbnb, Opendoor, Slack, Crowdstrike, and Uber. David shares his unique insights into growth investing and his predictions for the future.Chapters: 01:15 David's Path to Venture 05:30 What Makes Andreessen Horowitz Different 10:30 What He Looks For When Making Growth Investments21:15 Focus On Inputs Not Outputs29:30 How They Source Investments35:10 "On TAM, Ignore the Research Reports". Here's What To Look For Instead44:30 What It Takes To Go Public: The Three Things A Company Needs48:56 Where AI Is Going And How He's Investing1:01:23 Episode Takeaways Connect With David & a16zhttps://x.com/DavidGeorge83https://a16z.com/growth/

Current Investor and Divvy's Former CRO Sterling Snow is jumping back into an operating role, this time as CEO of Redo, a fast growing customer experience platform. Sterling shares how Redo's founder Taylor Brown approached him to take on the job and how together they're building a company everyone in Utah can root for.Chapters:01:03 Why The Investor Operator Podcast Was Started03:45 How Sterling Started Talking With The Founding Team At Redo05:12 Why Redo May Be The Next Divvy09:41 What Is Redo & How It's Going16:30 Why You Should Join Redo 23:30 Join An Excellent Startup For Faster Career Growth

How far would you travel for a good conversation? For hosts Tyler Hogge and Sterling Snow it was a no brainer to fly 2000 miles to talk with Kaz Nejatian, the COO of Shopify in their Toronto HQ. Kaz is a fascinating mind in tech and an unconventional thinker shaping the the product culture of Shopify. He shares his story of growing up in Iran, experiencing the Iran-Iraq war, and eventually immigrating to Canada at age 12. In Canada, Kaz gets even deeper into his fascination with computers and goes onto found a YC company, run a product line at Meta and now acts as the COO and Product Evangelist at multi-billion dollar company Shopify. Tyler and Sterling find out why Shopify employees have no meetings, how big tech companies are doing product wrong, and why Shopify's unique culture will create a 100 year company that just keeps getting bigger. Chapters: 01:50 - Kaz's Childhood in Iran and Fleeing to Canada06:49 - Hot Takes on Current Protests on College Campuses 07:55 - Early Exposure To Computers and Path To Tech11:17 - The Best Product Managers Are Weird People13:30 - "I Cannot Take An Average Person And Train Them To Be A PM" 21:25 - How Shopify Is Different Than Other Big Companies31:00 - How Kaz Killed Meetings At Shopify37:30 - Write Code And Talk To Users, Do That Over And Over Again43:39 - Why Getting Married Will Be Your Best Career Accelerant50:00 - Wrap Up questions57:25 - Tyler & Sterling's Recap_________________________Connect With Kazhttps://x.com/canadakazKaz@shopify.com Connect With Tyler & Sterlinghttps://x.com/thoggehttps://x.com/sterlingmsnowFollow The I/O Podcast (New Episodes Monthly) https://x.com/IO__podcasthttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCayuY0VO95kQTUXJvh9T0oQhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-investor-operator-io-podcast/id1678642609https://open.spotify.com/show/0J92LTLgpHe8C0CzEaCBDG

When Blake Murray came up with the idea of Divvy, it was because he had a problem: he couldn’t get real-time data on the financial health of his business. So in 2016, Blake set out to find a solution and realized there was none. Blake spent the next several years building what would become one of the fastest-growing startups in history—a platform combining expense management software and a corporate card to help businesses of all sizes manage their finances.Blake, along with Tyler and Sterling—Divvy’s SVP and CRO—break down why this startup was such a remarkable success: a world-class team, a world-class product and a performance culture that pushed Divvy and it’s people to the top.  Chapters: 01:38 - How Blake Knew Divvy Would Be A Big Idea07:17 - The Insight: No Real-Time Financial Information For Businesses09:20 - The Idea: Blake Lands A 7-Figure Deal With Only A Deck14:15 - Sell, Design, Build: How Divvy Built First Then Sold To Solve GTM24:30 - Hire Like-Minded People Instead of People Who’ve Done It (Culture vs Acumen)37:00 - ’Nobody’s Coming, It’s Up To Us’. How To Do More With Less42:27 - Founder Advice: Have A Short Memory 43:45 - Founder Advice: Build A Performance Culture 49:52 - Work-Life Balance Myth: Big Sacrifices Are Required for Asymmetric Upside59:00 - Investor Advice: Founders Want Investors Who Will Be Loyal To Them1:04:45 - Tyler and Sterling’s Recap_________________________Connect With Blakehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-murray-79655665https://x.com/blakemurConnect With Tyler & Sterlinghttps://x.com/thoggehttps://x.com/sterlingmsnowFollow The I/O Podcast (New Episodes Monthly) https://x.com/IO__podcasthttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCayuY0VO95kQTUXJvh9T0oQhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-investor-operator-io-podcast/id1678642609https://open.spotify.com/show/0J92LTLgpHe8C0CzEaCBDG

Scott Sandell, Executive Chairman and Chief Investment Officer at NEA is truly one of the great venture capitalists of our generation. With nearly three decades at NEA he leads the field with a track record of dozens of successful investments including unicorns like Salesforce, Plaid, Workday, Robinhood, Cloudflare and Tableau. How has he done it? Scott shares his investment philosophy influenced by other greats like Dick Kramlich and John Doerr: understand an individual's life story, decision-making process, and future goals as key in making successful investment choices. Chapters: 00:02:17 What Are The Characteristics Of Unicorn Founders? 00:10:16 "I Look For Passion-Driven Missionaries"00:16:05 Building Tableau's Success: Lessons in Slow, Purposeful Growth00:27:13 Make Your Investors Your Partners. Navigating Board Relationships00:40:55 The Era of Decreasing LP Commitments00:52:39 Tyler and Sterlings RecapConnect with Scott and NEATwitter: https://twitter.com/scottdsandellYT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTU3mQDqk3QyB4WeDQwZ1YQConnect with IO Pod Twitter: https://twitter.com/IO__podcastTiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@io_podcastYT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCayuY0VO95kQTUXJvh9T0oQWebsite: https://www.investoroperator.io/This episode of the IO Podcast is brought to you by Pelion Venture Partnershttps://pelionvp.com/

There may be no better pair of fintech investors than Better Tomorrow Ventures Jake Gibson and Sheel Mohnot. After successful exits in the industry -- Jake as the co-founder of NerdWallet, one of the OG consumer fintech companies, and Sheel with FeeFighter and Innovative Auctions, Jake and Sheel saw a gap in the market and started a fund to help fintech companies at the earliest stages. And they've already had some big wins, counting Ramp and Unit as Portcos. Jake and Sheel joined us on the pod to tell us how they built their previous companies and talked to the future of fintech and the the trends they're seeing across the industry. We cover the pandemic-induced surge in fintech interest and how their big bet is on embeddable fintech, where financial services are seamlessly integrated into non-financial platforms. Chapters: 00:00:35 Tyler & Sterling's Intro00:07:05 Starting NerdWallet during the 2008 Financial Crisis00:12:34 How Jake Gamed Google SEO To Grow NerdWallet00:19:08 How Better Tomorrow Ventures Started00:24:17 Early Support from Andreessen Horowitz for Fund00:30:08 Fintech Investment Opportunities During The Pandemic00:37:38 Embedded Fintech Is The Future00:45:52 The Durbin Amendment & Changing Bank Profit Pools 00:55:47 Jake And Sheel's Nominees for Best Operators & Investors Connect with Jake And Sheel Twitter (Sheel): https://twitter.com/pitdesiTwitter (Jake): https://twitter.com/iamjakestreamWebsite: https://www.btv.vc/Learn More About The Minthttps://www.themint.vc/Connect with IO Pod Twitter: https://twitter.com/IO__podcastTiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@io_podcastYT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCayuY0VO95kQTUXJvh9T0oQWebsite: https://www.investoroperator.io/This episode of the IO Podcast is brought to you by Pelion Venture Partnershttps://pelionvp.com/#StartupLife #StartupMentality

Immad Akhund had the idea for Mercury years before they started. In fact, he'd launched 3 other startups and been through YCombinator twice before even starting initial validation on what would become the beloved neobank of startups everywhere. And opinions were mixed. Immad himself recognized the need for a simpler and more efficient banking service while while operating Heyzap his previous company. But when he shared the concept with other startups, not everyone grasped its potential.Today, Mercury dominates in the neobank industry. Immad walks hosts Tyler Hogge and Sterling Snow through the early days of Mercury, shares advice on how to operate and his strategies on investing. Chapters: 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:56 Immad's Entrepreneurial Journey - Previous Companies & Learnings00:08:27 What Does Mercury Do? 00:11:24 How He Launched Mercury 00:14:35 The Neo Bank Industry and Launch Timing 00:21:50 The SVB Fallout & How That Led To Big Growth For Mercury 00:32:50 Operating Advice: The Six-Year Vesting Plan00:43:35 Immad's Hot Takes & Predictions: AI Is a Hype Cycle 00:57:17 Rapid Fire & Wrap-upThings to Check Out: Immad's Memo - How to Not Be A Bottleneck as a CEO Immad's Podcast - Curiosity PodcastImmad's Advice on Operating - @immad on X___________________This episode of the IO Podcast is brought to you by PelionConnect on XFollow on TiktokHear Other Episodes on Our Website

Andreessen Horowitz General Partner Alex Rampell may be the most true version of an investor-operator. Alex's first entrepreneurial endeavor started as a child when he built and sold shareware out of his parent's house. Eventually he added more businesses to his portfolio before launching the payment platform TrialPay after college and eventually Affirm. Today, Alex invests in some of the largest companies at Andreessen Horowitz and he shares with Tyler and Sterling what he looks for in entrepreneurs and shares tactical advice from his days building. Chapters: (00:03:00) How Alex Started His First Company in Middle School(00:14:46) Investing in People: The Key to Startup Success(00:18:33) Building Relationships for Business Success(00:21:23) The Advantage of Naivete in Entrepreneurship(00:26:41) Interconnected Attributes for Building a Successful Business(00:28:44) Building a Strong Entrepreneurial Framework(00:36:04) Mitigating Risk of Overdependence on Initial Customers(00:42:20) The Battle for Market Dominance(00:46:05) The Crucial Role of Distribution for Startups(00:57:17) The Challenge of Convincing Buyers(01:00:38) Leveraging fear to drive successful acquisitions

Geoff Lewis is a titan in the VC world as both the lead investor and founder of Bedrock Capital, the firm backing some of the world best-known tech companies. Geoff joins Tyler and Sterling on the podcast to share his insights on venture capital and what it takes to consistently make money for LPs. Geoff discusses the unique decision to raise Bedrock's fund size in a time when other funds are downsizing, the importance of assessing founders and their unique qualities, and the challenges and rewards of starting a venture capital firm. He also shares his thoughts on the future of social media, the venture capital industry, and the power of authenticity in building strong partnerships. Chapters00:04:10 - Why Bedrock Is Upsizing Their Fund Structure.00:06:54 - How Geoff Assesses Entrepreneurs and Raises Capital.00:10:10 - Building Relationships Brings Smart Investments00:14:13 - Achieving Work-Life Integration For Entrepreneurs.00:17:49 - Why The Best Founders Are Authentic00:21:29 - Different Investment Styles in VC00:26:44 - When To Double Down00:38:04 - The OpenAI Situation 00:40:37 - Geoff's Hot Takes 00:57:08 - Rapid Fire and Wrap-up We think you'll love this conversation. Don't miss hearing from one of the industry's top investors and operators.

How did this small town farm kid go on to lead the revenue orgs for Silicon Valley's biggest companies? Mark Cranney credits his success to the lessons he learned growing up: work hard and run things efficiently. Mark shares the playbook he's used to build billions in pipeline through his career as an executive, sales leader and most famously as a partner at Andreessen Horowitz. If you're a founder, there's no better person to learn from than Mark. Chapters00:37 Introducing Mark Cranney04:45 Find Sales Leaders Who Can Perform07:03 What To Look For In Potential Hires13:03 Find Courageous People To Join Your Team17:07 The Sales Playbook - Are You Running It Or Can You Put It Together? 22:51 Putting Together The Revenue Org At SignalFx25:15 How Mark Uses Company Bootcamps To Build Cohesion31:47 Getting Everyone To Buy Into the Vision37:25 Common Mistakes First Time Founders Make With Their Sales Org48:27 Wrap up and TakeawaysRead 'Hard Thing About Hard Things'Connect With MarkFollow us on XFind Highlights from the show on TikTokCheck out our website Brought to you by Pelion Venture Partners

This isn't Henry Ward's first shot at entrepreneurship. In fact, the first company he founded failed. But Henry says the things he learned were pivotal for starting Carta, a multi-billion dollar company that's a darling of the venture world. CEO of Co-founder Henry Ward sits down with Tyler & Sterling and recounts his journey to entrepreneurship and shares critical advice for other builders who are in the game -- from establishing a strong company culture to the how of developing stronger insights.Chapters:00:00 Intro01:45 Henry's path to Carta06:21 Developing Insights: "There's A Lot of Stuff You Discover A Long The Way" 08:20 The Best Founders Fill A Need For Customers They Didn't Know They Had 12:48 Finding Product Market Fit at Carta16:30 Fundraising Strategy: "The Pitch Matters, But Not As Much As Finding Someone Who Cares About The Problem" 19:03 How To Attract The Right Type of Employees To Your Startup28:32 Establishing Strong Culture At Your Company 40:22 What are some "Henryisms"?42:40 Advice to Current Founders47:50 Tyler & Sterling's Takeaways Connect with Henry:Medium: https://henrysward.medium.com/LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hewardX: https://twitter.com/henryswardMore on Henry & Carta: Henry Ward is the CEO and co-founder of Carta. The company is trusted by more than 30,000 companies, over 5,000 investment funds, and half a million employees for cap table management, compensation management, liquidity venture capital solutions, and more.

President and CEO of YCombinator Garry Tan sits down with Tyler & Sterling and recounts his time as an early hire at Palantir, starting his company Posterous and becoming an investor of dozens of well-known startups. The companies Garry has worked with are worth a combined $226 billion.Garry gives valuable advice on cofounder dynamics, doing your inner work, and startup strategies for both Investors & Operators.Chapters:00:00 Intro05:55 Garry's $200 Million Mistake13:00 Why Posterous Stopped Growing14:30 Why You Should Pay Attention To The Competition 21:10 A Healthy Cofounder Relationship Means Having Conflict 29:38 Adverse Childhood Experiences & Why You Should Heal Them32:45 A 'B' is an 'F' in Startups37:07 Users Lie To You Until They Are Paying For Something43:40 Culture Radiates From The Founder49:30 Startups Fail Because They Build Something People Don't Want54:30 Why SF Is The Best Place to Find PMF1:03:45 Tyler & Sterling's Takeaways Connect with Garry:YT: https://www.youtube.com/@GarryTanLI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrytanX: https://twitter.com/garrytanMore on Garry: Current President and CEO of YC, Garry was a partner at Y Combinator from 2011 to 2015, where he built key parts of the YC experience for founders including Bookface and the Demo Day website. Garry is the co-founder of Initialized Capital and Posterous (YC S08), a blog platform acquired by Twitter, and prior to that, he was an early designer and engineering manager at Palantir (NYSE:PLTR), where he designed the company logo. Garry holds a BS in Computer Systems Engineering from Stanford.

If there was a Mount Rushmore of Investors, Keith Rabois would definitely be on it.Over his decades long career as both an investor and operator, Keith has had a hand in Silicon Valley unicorns like Square, Paypal, Airbnb and Youtube. In fact, he's aiming to be the 'Michael Jordan' of the investment world. Now, as a co-founder of Opendoor and Partner at Founders Fund Keith sits down with Tyler and Sterling and shares what he looks for in companies he invests in, what attributes a founder must have, why Elon Musk is wrong and takeaways from his career. Timestamps00:01:07 - Keith’s Investments & Becoming the Michael Jordan of VC00:04:36 - Finding Your Strengths as an Investor or Operator00:13:10 - The Traits & Characteristics of Successful Founders00:18:25 - Launching OpenDoor and the role of storytelling in successful companies00:24:41 - What Makes Founders Fund Unique00:30:25 - How They Select Partners and Investments at Founders Fund00:34:12 - Build A Ideologically Diverse Team For Success00:41:00 - Common Bad Advice Given To Founders00:53:08 - Live a Purposeful and Deliberate LifeDon't miss this episode - be sure to comment and subscribe

The IO podcast with Sterling and Tyler features Andy Rachleff, the founder of Benchmark Capital and unicorn startup Wealthfront, and explores the intersection between investing and operating. Ratcliffe believes that finding product-market fit and being ambidextrous in finding new opportunities while optimizing existing ones is more important than being paranoid in either role. He also discusses the importance of learning from success and putting entrepreneurs first. Venture capitalist Bill Gurley emphasizes the importance of product market fit and finding an inflection point in technology to identify a non-consensus market that is desperate for a product. Rachleff admires investors Howard Marks, John Dora, and John Valentine, and considers Reed Hastings as an exemplary operator who makes asymmetric bets. The success of running a company or making investments is determined by the magnitude of success when you are right, and great CEOs must be like venture capitalists in adding businesses to their portfolio and betting the company through major development initiatives and acquisitions with a high chance of failure.Timestamps[00:00:00] Interview with Investor Operator Andy Rachleff[00:01:40] Investing vs. Operating Skills[00:03:32] Product Market Fit and the Art of Being Ambidextrous[00:05:41] From VC to Entrepreneur: How Wealthfront Was Born[00:09:41] Making Money & Taking Leaps of Faith in Non-Consensus Ventures[00:12:37] The History and Success of Benchmark's Equal Partnership Model[00:16:41] Insight on Product Market Fit with Andy Keen[00:19:03] Spotting Inflection Points: Technology Entrepreneurship and Venture Capitalism[00:20:22] Product Market Fit and the Thesis of Everything Going Wrong[00:22:51] Key Trait of Successful Entrepreneurs: Deep Understanding of Technology[00:27:07] Finding Desperate Customers for Startup Success[00:28:41] Why Great CEOs Layer New Businesses to Succeed[00:33:04] Best Startup for Asymmetric Bets Today?