Wharton Tech Toks

Join Daniel Berkovits, the VP of Strategy of Via, to talk about how Via is digitizing the historically analog world of public transit to improve the experience of riders around the world.

For those interested in the intersection of tech and entertainment, join Steph Kim in this exciting one-hour episode as she dives into YouTube creator empowerment with Monica Khan (EVP, Creator Team) and Tyler L. Woods (Director Creator Experience Strategy & Programs) of Spotter, named one of TIME100's Most Influential Companies in 2023. In addition to providing top creators — from MrBeast to Airrack — with upfront capital, Spotter offers support through innovative AI tools, community, insights, and more. Monica and Tyler share their favorite creator success stories and offer advice for breaking into the industry.

Join Steph Kim as she chats with Camille Van Horne, Instacart's Director of Product Management, as they discuss the evolution and expansion of Instacart's services, including the launch of Instacart Platform. She shares insights on how Instacart is adapting to changing consumer behavior and the demand for convenience and personalization in grocery retail. They also discuss Instacart's approach to AI and the importance of long-term thinking and emotional intelligence in the product management role.

In this episode, we are joined by the VP and Head of Corporate Development at LinkedIn, Benjamin Orthlieb. We explore what corporate development entails at LinkedIn, build vs. buy decisions, and themes in the future of work that Ben is personally excited by.

In this episode, we're joined by Mike Collett, founder and managing partner of Promus Ventures, a VC firm focused on deep tech. We explore the evolving world of robotics, discussing everything from robotics-as-a-service to AI integration. Mike shares insights from his over two decades in venture capital on how robotics is transforming industries and impacting investors. Tune in to gain a unique perspective on where the technology is headed and how it's reshaping our world.

In today’s episode we are joined by Elisha Jacobs, Senior Associate at RedBlue Capital. Elisha helps unpack the complexities of venture capital within the mobility sector. Discover the future of transportation through investments in groundbreaking technologies and models that could redefine how we move goods and people around the globe. For anyone interested in the mobility sector, this episode serves as a great overview of the sector.

“We think about ways where we can combine human insight together with ML models that are able to think about the world around them and really expand the scope of what humans can do.”

In this episode, Emma is joined by Vijay Karunamurthy, Field CTO at Scale AI, a company at the heart of the AI revolution. This episode focuses on the integral processes of AI testing and evaluation, highlighting the importance of ethical frameworks in the development of AI.

Vijay shares examples from his work, illustrating the practical applications of these processes in ensuring AI technologies are both effective and responsible. A great listen for those interested in the intersection of AI, ethics, and practical applications!

"The biggest mistake we can make is saying space is only separate industry. Space crosses absolutely everything we do nowadays."

In this episode we are joined by Melissa Quinn, General Manager of Seradata, a Slingshot Aerospace company. We discuss the pivotal role of data in ensuring space safety, sustainability, and the vital collaboration across global space markets. Melissa also sheds light on the emerging challenges and opportunities within the space insurance sector, the integration of AI in space data management, and the pressing need for diverse talents in this rapidly evolving industry.

"Today it's become easier to build a product and harder to get distribution and awareness... think distribution much more than your product."

In this episode, Cynthia and Sophie interview Sean Regan, former Global Head of Product Marketing at Atlassian and serial entrepreneur, for a deep dive into the growth story of Atlassian and insights into how to 10x a product. Sean also provides valuable advice about career development and navigating the AI landscape, as well as his bets on the changes that this new wave of technological innovation is going to bring to the world.

In this episode, join ⁠Stephanie Kim⁠ as she chats with ⁠Laura (Gentile) Danforth⁠, Director of Global Partnerships at ⁠Discord⁠. They discuss the evolving role of developers in the Discord ecosystem, exciting new developer monetization opportunities, the integration of AI in Discord apps, and more. Laura also provides insights into her dynamic career that spans across roles in finance, product, strategy, and partnerships, and offers advice for those looking to break into the tech industry.

“My two biggest competitors are the two wealthiest people on the planet. And capital is a giant tool and a giant weapon, especially in the space industry.”

In this episode Emma Robinson sits down with Peter Beck, the CEO of Rocket Lab, who shares how the company is facing off against the giants and the decision to go public.  We also discuss Rocket Lab's unique approach to vertical integration, making it a one-stop-shop for building, launching, and even operating spacecraft.

This episode also offers a glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of competing in the space race, underscored by the reality that success hinges on avoiding that “one tiny error” that could lead to disaster. Learn about the passion, the pressure, and the precision needed to succeed in space, straight from the heart of one of its most ambitious players.

In this Valentine’s Day special, Zoë sits down with current Wharton students Annie Xu and Chloë Ahle. After hearing both friends and therapy clients discuss the challenges of dating, Annie used her experience in social work to start Pairfect. Chloë joined the team, using her experience as a logistics officer to support the development of the purpose-driven platform. Tune in to learn more about combining the scalability of technology with the personalization of a matchmaking service.

In the latest episode of Wharton Tech Toks, join Steph Kim as she speaks with Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera. They discuss the launch and reception of Coursera’s generative AI-powered Coach, his contrarian thoughts on the value of bite-sized content, his very first job, his advice on life itself, and more.

“We want clients to use our service in whatever way that’s best for you, your needs, your unique exposure to styling. In the longer term, we want to build a better way to shop that will change the retail paradigm and to become the blueprint for the industry to follow. ”

Join Spandana Bhattacharya and Cynthia Zhou on Wharton Tech Toks as they talk to Janiece Okpobiri, Director of Product and Growth at Stitch Fix. At Stitch Fix, Janiece focuses on client onboarding and loyalty. Prior to Stitch Fix, Janiece was a senior PM on the Customer and Loyalty team at Abercrombie & Fitch and also held roles at Hilton.

Listen in to learn more about Janiece’s product management philosophy, her perspective on how to build customer loyalty in retail, and her insights on how to build a successful career in product management.

In this episode, Leon Zhang and Steph Kim interview John Nack, Principal Product Manager at Adobe, about the future of AI in creative experiences. They discuss the use cases for generative AI across Adobe, AI ethics, and his vision on the future of AI. With over 20 years of experience in PM at Adobe and Google, John reflects on the role of PM and shares insights about his career journey.

"To maintain your position as a market leader in the tech space means that you have to constantly innovate...you can't rest on your laurels. So we have to constantly push the envelope in what we do in this space.

What we've been doing is really being a tech partner for educators and school systems... we have many educators in our app and many schools want that help. They want to understand what can they do with all these AI [tools] and it's changing every day... so [we're] pairing [up] with schools to help them deploy AI safely in the classroom and evolve their coursework, homework, and assessment... and we're very glad to be the partner in all this."

Join Sophie Wang for an interview with Dr. Minh Tran, Vice President of Operations at Goodnotes, as they delve into the transformative journey of this beloved note-taking app. Minh reveals how Goodnotes is turning its visionary ideas into reality, empowering students, professionals, and educators alike with innovative AI tools and a dedication to serving as a thought leader in the field. Minh also offers invaluable advice on navigating the entrepreneurial landscape, drawing from his own rich career path.

“It ends up being about: is this truly a venture investable business? You need to be in a massive market and have the ability to scale quickly…the company should grow with speed and accelerate.” 

Join Manasi Patwa in her conversation with Arjun Arora, Founder and Managing Partner at Format One, where he advises transformational companies on their growth strategies through hands-on and impactful collaboration. Prior to starting FormatOne, Arjun was a Partner at 500 Startups, where he invested in technology companies at the pre-seed and seed stages. 

In this interview, Manasi and Arjun discuss valuable tips for founders at the earliest stages of their journeys, common challenges faced by entrepreneurs and ways to address them, and what tech investors look for as differentiators of success.

"We don't always need an AI person [to] come up with a new transformer-like model, but we do need people who have a good intuition on understanding where these models do well and where these models can fail."

In this episode, Cynthia and Leon interviewed Dr. Kanu Gulati, partner at Khosla Ventures. Kanu started her career as a research scientist at Intel, was a founding engineer at a number of early start-ups, and has since been investing at the forefront of AI/ML applications, robotics and hardware acceleration. In this episode, we talked about how Khosla Ventures became one of the earliest backers of OpenAI, Kanu's investment thesis in AI and Robotics, and what traits she looks for in founders.

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, an investor, or just intrigued by the rapid advancements in AI, tune into this episode to learn more!

“On the sustainability side, [we’re] helping our members understand the benefits and positive impact they’re having… How much are they able to reduce their carbon footprint? How much waste is diverted from landfills by shopping from our platform?... Being able to present that information is critical to helping [customers] feel good about their membership and really helps provide value that goes beyond the boring utility of grocery shopping.”

This week, Leon and Zoë are joined by Sasha Siddhartha, the Co-Founder and CTO of Thrive Market, a membership-based market that makes high-quality, healthy, and sustainable products available for every budget, lifestyle, and geography. Prior to Thrive Market, Sasha began his career as an engineering leader at Microsoft before founding  a venture-backed fashion technology company. In this episode, Sasha explains Thrive Market’s approach to building mission-driven, highly personalized, customer experiences. Tune in to learn how Thrive Market weaves their key values into every aspect of a scalable business model.

“It’s alot of reacting to the situation, but we don’t run these companies. I think that as a minority investor you have to have the mentality that you backed a set of entrepreneurs to do it, and you have to coach them and support them as best as you can, but you can’t run the company.”

In today’s episode, Cynthia and Zoë welcome Wharton alumni Charles Birnbaum to the podcast. After beginning his career on Wall Street, Charles moved into the venture capital space. As a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, he invests in early stage fintech, consumer and education companies including Alloy and Brightwheel. Listen in to learn more about Charles’s experience breaking into venture capital, major industry trends, and advice for investor-founder relationship management.

“Space Traffic Management is not just about avoiding collisions, it’s about ensuring the sustainability of space for future generations.”

In this podcast episode, Emma Robinson converses with Araz Feyzi, co-founder and CTO of Kahan Space. They discuss the critical issue of space traffic coordination, highlighting Kahan's pioneering Pathfinder platform for automated space traffic management. Feyzi delves into the challenges of avoiding orbital debris and satellite collisions, emphasizing the importance of data sharing and international cooperation in space sustainability.

The episode also explores Feyzi's journey from a non-space background to a key player in the industry, offering insights into the broader potential and challenges of the rapidly evolving space sector.

"When you go out to raise...you have to think about if you have a story to tell...think like an investor. Why are you the best person to solve this?"

Join Manasi Patwa and Cynthia Zhou as they chat with Vivien Ho, Partner at Pear VC (Wharton '21). Listen to dive into the world of early-stage investing, tips for founders and entrepreneurs, and insights on the tech sphere as it stands today.

Learn in this episode from Muhammad Shahzad, CFO of Relativity Space. With a valuation of over $4B, Relativity is one of the few companies positioned to challenge SpaceX.

"Our long-term goal, and as audacious as those sounds, is to create humanity's industrial base on Mars."

Emma Robinson and Shahzad delve into financial strategy and risk in a capital intensive industry with some of the longest time horizons, Relativity’s unique position, and his journey from Wharton to leading the financial helm of a groundbreaking space venture.

“We were the last ones in the market by years… and yet our investors have an unrealized IRR that is significantly better than anyone else’s”

Join Emma Robinson as she dives into conversation with Gabe Dominocielo, co-founder and president of Umbra Space. Discover how Umbra's innovative technology is reshaping our view from space, offering unprecedented clarity and detail. Learn about their unique business strategy that prioritizes quality and affordability, setting a new standard in the industry and democratizing access to earth imagery.

"To be a great investor, you need to be deeply curious...you need to be great at operating in ambiguity. Show your ability to drive to an outcome. And it's very important to have that empathy or EQ."

Join Manasi Patwa and Cynthia Zhou in a conversation with Meera Clark, Principal at Redpoint Ventures. Listen to learn about Meera's remarkable career journey in the investing world, her view on key drivers in the tech-enabled sustainability and wellness sectors, and advice to founders and investors hoping to make an impact.

“How do we use data more and more intelligently to be able to understand who do we market to, how do we market to them, [and] what’s the story that we tell each of them in a different way to be really relevant?”

This week, Leon and Zoë are joined by Jessica Gilmartin, Wharton alum and Chief Marketing Officer at Calendly. With experience across large companies and startups, Jessica is an expert in her field. In this episode, she discusses the critical questions her team at Calendly is asking and how data informs their decision making. Listen in to learn more about finding a balance between creativity and analytics while developing marketing strategies.

Ever wondered about the science behind your favorite tunes or podcasts?

John us as we talk to Marion Boeri, Associate Director, Thought Leadership Research at Spotify and Josh McDermott, Associate Professor at MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Marion and Josh share insights on how audio shapes our experiences and emotions and how that relates to business strategy. Discover the intricate relationship between sound and human behavior in this compelling conversation.

“[Soon] we won't be talking about questions like, do you have to be an engineer or be super technically strong to have a meaningful impact in the space world?”

Join us in talking to the new CEO of Space Tango, Sita Sonty, for the first official episode of our series on the space industry. This series is geared towards proving space is a diverse industry not only for those with technical backgrounds. Sita's leap from diplomat to space industry CEO exemplifies that space innovation isn't just for engineers. Tune in for an enriching dialogue on navigating life's transitions with audacity and professional courage.

Plus, explore with us the exciting frontiers of on-orbit pharmaceuticals and the future of printing organs in zero-gravity. Listen in on this compelling conversation that's sure to elevate your view of what's possible in the final frontier.

"What I think is important in venture capital is to understand where the analogy is the same and where the analogy is different."

"[There is this] opportunity to use technology to help people have more authentic human interactions online ... to create novel forms of human interaction that try to connect people more closely."

Join ⁠Cynthia Zhou as she interviews Brett Martin, Managing Partner for Charge Ventures, a new york based pre-seed/seed stage venture fund. Brett is also a serial entrepreneur, having previously co-founded 2 startups and is now the co-founder and President of Kumospace, a startup focused on building the best virtual office and events software.

Together they delve into the world of pre-seed investing and serial entrepreneurship, covering a wide range of topics like lessons in entrepreneurship, strategies for identifying genuine potential in early-stage businesses as a pre-seed investor, and the evolving landscape of remote work.

“We will see strength in a few players that will ultimately prove out this technology and in consumer and urban environments specifically… some of these other semi-controlled environments are already ripe for disruption by autonomous technologies.”

Join ⁠Leon Zhang⁠ and Javier Torres as they interview Scott Walbrun, Principal at BMW i Ventures. Together they explore broad trends in the future of mobility space such as autonomous vehicles and electrification as well as current sentiment in the investment landscape. Scott also goes deep into investments like Fox Robotics (warehouse automation) and Lilac (lithium extraction technology).

“There’s a fundamental lack of data and information at every level. Even the government doesn’t have access to reliable, real time information, especially in the used home space… you just kind of had to ask some friends and try to guesstimate what [prices] would be like.”

Join Leon Zhang and Javier Torres in a conversation with Brynne McNulty Rojas, the first and only female founder and CEO of a LatAm unicorn, on how she built Habi. Brynne shares her journey of identifying a market gap and founding her innovative proptech company, including the inception, team building, and nuances of scaling across diverse Latin American cultures compared to the U.S. Listen in for her insights on emerging trends in proptech as well as her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

“The hardest problem in education is the problem of transfer. ChatGPT gives us the ability to practice transfer in other ways… we start to be able to approach problems in different ways that build expertise or intuition faster.”

Join Leon Zhang and Jordan Baker in a conversation with Christian Terwiesch, Professor at Wharton and chair of the Operations, Information, and Decisions department and Ethan Mollick, Associate Professor at Wharton. Together they explore the impact of ChatGPT in educational settings: how it can help students accelerate learning, but also situations where intuition is lost by “faking it”. Ethan and Christian also touch upon how the AI tool’s ability to increase variability makes it powerful, current flaws in the model, and how students can use ChatGPT to come up with and vet entrepreneurial ideas.

“[The hardest part of procurement at Zoox] is trying to convince [the major automotive companies] to give us their engineering resources on the promise that, one day, we are going to change their industry.”

Join Emma Robinson and Leon Zhang in a conversation with Kit Cutler, Director of Procurement and Strategic Partnerships. Together they explore the challenges of building a supply chain for a company that is not only pioneering self-driving technology but is also reimagining the car itself. Kit discusses how he got major automotive companies to invest their time and resources in designing new car systems for a promising, albeit early-stage startup. Kit also sheds light on other aspects of procurement and draws comparisons to his previous role at Apple.

“We saw a lot of our event creators, who were just doing real-life events, start to do more online events. So we very quickly pivoted to give them all the tools to do online events. Now we are seeing hybrid events, event creators who might be sitting in New York and used to just do a small, local event with 20-25 attendees every week, are now suddenly doing that in a hybrid format, where they still get 20-25 attendees in New York but they have 10-15 folks from London or 5-10 from Mexico City attending those events. I think that’s been good, our creators suddenly have realized they have a global footprint and they can choose to operate and the most successful ones do that pretty effectively”

Join Spandana Bhattacharya and Javier Torres on Wharton Tech Toks as they talk to Vivek Sagi, Chief Technology Officer at Eventbrite. Listen in to learn more about Eventbrite’s innovative approach to event creation, how they are using machine learning to improve the creator and user experience, what headwinds and tailwinds the company is facing, and the launch of Eventbrite’s ad business. Vivek also sheds light on his career journey starting from enterprise software, RetailMeNot, to becoming an entrepreneur, to Amazon, and to his current role as CTO of Eventbrite. 

“9 out of 10 people that use our platform tell us that they come to get inspired. The majority of our users want to shop. So you have this wonderful intersection of inspiration and commerce on the platform. The magic of go-to-market strategy happens at the intersection of our advertising partners adding value to our users, who, in turn, help us fulfill our mission of bringing everyone the inspiration to go create the life they love.” 

Join Spandana Bhattacharya and Javier Torres on Wharton Tech Toks as they talk to Bill Watkins, Chief Revenue Officer at Pinterest. Listen in to learn more about Pinterest’s full-funnel advertising solution backed by computer vision technologies and commitment to driving value for advertisers and users in automated ways. Bill also sheds light on his career journey starting from Yahoo to joining Pinterest as one of the first 200 employees and helping Pinterest IPO.

“When I was ten or twelve, I thought wouldn't it be great if I found myself participating in the birth of a technology at that right time when that technology is being born. Drone technology for me is this. It is extremely challenging but fascinating to participate in the birth of a new industry.”

While the delivery by drone of pizza to your high-rise window may still be far off, listen in while Andreas talks about the challenges that drone delivery is solving today. The episode covers how Matternet has been able to find its niche delivering time-critical medical products and how Matternet is thinking about expanding in the future. 

Andreas also shares advice for entrepreneurs especially in learning how to build and scale a hardware startup.

“Someone who leads large teams needs to spend a material amount of time and energy to understand what the world of AI, machine learning and natural language processing mean because it’s a muscle you need to have…  If you are a student, you need to think about not only how AI helps you but how you influence where AI is going.”

Join Spandana Bhattacharya and Javier Torres on Wharton Tech Toks as they talk to Sam Allen, EVP and Global Chief Operating Officer for Tableau at Salesforce. Sam is in his 8th year at Salesforce, with previous roles as EVP, COO for Salesforce.org, SVP, COO of Global Marketing and VP, Corporate Development and Head of M&A Integration. Listen in to learn more about Tableau’s mission, how Tableau is integrating AI, Sam’s views on responsible AI and his leadership advice for young professionals and entrepreneurs in tech. 

“We want clients to use our service in whatever way that’s best for you, your needs, your unique exposure to styling. In the longer term, we want to build a better way to shop that will change the retail paradigm and to become the blueprint for the industry to follow. ”

Join Spandana Bhattacharya and Cynthia Zhou on Wharton Tech Toks as they talk to Janiece Okpobiri, Director of Product and Growth at Stitch Fix. At Stitch Fix, Janiece focuses on client onboarding and loyalty. Prior to Stitch Fix, Janiece was a senior PM on the Customer and Loyalty team at Abercrombie & Fitch and also held roles at Hilton.

Listen in to learn more about Janiece’s product management philosophy, her perspective on how to build customer loyalty in retail, and her insights on how to build a successful career in product management.

Join Spandana Bhattacharya and Emma Robinson as they talk to Sandeep Lodha, an entrepreneur and the current CEO of Gaana, India's largest commercial music streaming service. Sandeep shares more about his entrepreneurial journey starting and scaling Weddingz.in, and learnings he brought over to Gaana. Considering expanding your musical horizons? Tune in to learn about the unique aspects of the Indian market, and how Gaana successfully competes with global streaming giants, while balancing growth with profitability.

Join Spandana Bhattacharya and Leon Zhang as they talk to Professor Gad Allon, an expert on operations management and award-winning professor renowned for the highly popular course "Scaling Operations: Linking Strategy and Execution" at The Wharton School. Listen in to get tips on how to scale start-ups in challenging macro environments, when robots will become mainstream, what's causing airline disruptions, and how the nature of employment will change over the next generation.