Continuing on from part one of my conversation with Bob Kavner, I am so excited to share with you this second and final installment of our insightful and educational discussion. As mentioned in the previous episode, Bob is a former CFO and multimedia chief at ‘AT&T’, as well as a prominent figure within other game-changing tech and multimedia startups such as ‘Pandora’, ‘Earthlink', Ticketmaster’ and many more. 

Today, we dive into the fascinating story of how AT&T sold the rights to control the cellular & wireless revolution and had to buy it back by acquiring McCaw cellular in one of the largest acquisitions in US history at the time, how Bob approached making such a huge life decision when stepping down from his position at ‘AT&T’, why being exposed to entrepreneurs within the tech and media industry influenced him during the course of developing his own creative endeavors, as well as how the unique concept of ‘traumatizing’ has been utilized across businesses. Bob also shares the inspiration he has gained from his experiences with a variety of luminaries he’s worked with over the years, including Bill Gates, Bill Gross, Michael Ovitz, Sky Dayton, and Andy Grove, just to name a few. 

To hear more, tune in to Episode 8 of What Didn’t Kill You!

Some Questions I Ask:

• Could you talk a bit about your experience working on projections and analytics surrounding wireless opportunities while you were at ‘AT&T’ (1:09 ) 
• What was your biggest learning lesson throughout the transition period before you bought ‘McCaw Network’? (6:28 )
• During your tenure at ‘Earthlink’ and ‘Pandora’, did you and your team feel that the torrential growth you’d been predicting was on its way? (9:44 )
• How did you approach making such a huge career move when deciding to leave ‘AT&T’ and produce your own operation? (11:20 )
• What was it about the opportunity to move into the creative arts, that was so appealing to you? (18:00 )
• Did your exposure to entrepreneurs within the tech field inform your decision on wanting to break away from working in large corporations? (26:24 )
• Could you talk a bit about what ‘Idealab’ is & The process that you and Bill Gross have undergone while incubating so many companies (30:32 )
• What role does failure play in the process of iteration? (34:06 )
• Are there ways you apply the process of ‘self traumatizing’ to your personal life or within the businesses that you’re involved with? (37:15 )
• Are there specific things that you look for in order to make sure your organizations are consistently checking on what they can improve on? (38:58 )

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• How Bob’s relationship with Silicon Valley influenced the trajectory of his team and their involvement in the cellular industry (5:05 )
• Bob’s experience investing in ‘General Magic’ & How that venture relates to timing in business (8:22 )
• Bob’s experience mentoring Sky Dayton (10:08 )
• Bob’s retelling of his meeting with Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold & How the initial investment between ‘Microsoft’ and ‘AT&T’ affected him (11:48 )
• The story of how ‘AT&T’ initially attracted Bob to the business (20:38 )
• Bob’s involvement in the ‘Universal Studios’ deal during the nineties & How his partnership with Bill Gross on ‘Idealab’ came to be (23:06 )
• The concept of ‘traumatization’ within a company & Why it’s so important (28:26 )

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