This is Your Life in Silicon Valley

Crypto is having its moment (again) in 2021. But why does it matter to the average person, what is it, and how will it affect your life? We spend time talking to Matt Taylor - the Head of Growth at Solana (one of the hottest crypto projects on the planet right now) to discuss these subjects and more. 

 LISTENER NOTE  - we apologize for audio choppiness during this episode - nevertheless there is a ton of good content in here if you ...

Eilot Brown is a Wall Street Journal Reporter who covers startups and venture capital. For the past year, much of his focus has been on completing his book on WeWork. We interviewed Eliot pre-pandemic, and invited him back for our first in-person interview in over 16 months. It was epic. 

We talked to Eliot about the book and the (possible?) resurgence of WeWork because of the pandemic/hybrid work in general. We dig into more of the...

Sarah Frier is a technology journalist for Bloomberg News, and an author. Her book - 'No Filter' - released late last year highlighted the 'insider story' of Instagram. We spoke to Frier about the book, about social media in general, and covered a number of other topics for this wide-ranging interview. 

The episode was recorded late last year, around the time of the California wildfires and near the actual release date of the book. ...

SPECIAL EDITION: We recorded several conversations with people from around the world at the start of the pandemic. They were originally released as part of a separate podcast called 'Distanced', but we are releasing those conversations as part of 'This is Your Life in Silicon Valley' over the next few weeks. Sumit Shah is a Doctor at Stanford, where he treats cancer patients. Sumit is atop his field and is highly concerned about th...

SPECIAL EDITION: We recorded several conversations with people from around the world at the start of the pandemic. They were originally released as part of a separate podcast called 'Distanced', but we are releasing those conversations as part of 'This is Your Life in Silicon Valley' over the next few weeks. Rohan Rangaraj is a Miami-based investment professional. Rohan started his career at Cascade Investments LLC, which is an inv...

SPECIAL EDITION: We recorded several conversations with people from around the world at the start of the pandemic. They were originally released as part of a separate podcast called 'Distanced', but we are releasing those conversations as part of 'This is Your Life in Silicon Valley' over the next few weeks. Americans are just getting used to life in quarantine during the age of the Coronavirus. But China has an 8-week head start. ...

SPECIAL EDITION: We recorded several conversations with people from around the world at the start of the pandemic. They were originally released as part of a separate podcast called 'Distanced', but we are releasing those conversations as part of 'This is Your Life in Silicon Valley' over the next few weeks. Ryan Panchadsaram was Deputy CTO at the Obama White House, where he helped launch Healthcare.gov. He has an opinion or two on...

The pandemic has closed schools and massively affected the way we think of traditional education. How will future generations be affected by the sudden change in how we learn? We asked the CEO of Primer, Ryan Delk about this and more. 

Many parents are struggling with how to cope with the sudden changes surrounding the pandemic. Kids are at home all the time, and most public school districts in the state of CA (and many other states...

Jessica Alter is the Founder/CEO of Tech For Campaigns. She was also one fo the first guests we hosted on 'This is Your Life in Silicon Valley'. A lot has changed in the three years since we interviewed Jessica - the organization she built grew massively. We ask Jessica why democrats are still way behind on technology, and why we should be worried about state elections. 

We ask Jessica about why Democrats are perceived to be tech-sa...

Rishi Kumar is a successful technology executive turned politician. Kumar has been in the local political scene for a long time now and is running for Congress. We ask Kumar about what he wants to bring from Silicon Valley to DC. Is Silicon Valley ultimately the template the rest of the country will emulate? 

We ask Kumar about Saratoga, CA where he has been a city council member. We talk about the pressures high school students fac...

'Indian Matchmaking' has captured the attention of America. It's one of the top-ten most popular shows on Netflix in the month of July. How did 'Indian Matchmaking' turn into such a cultural phenomenon? We talked to Srinivas Rao - one of the shows 'contestants' about the show and what it tell us about Indian culture. 

Srinivas recounts his days in the Bay Area at Cal Berkeley, and reminisces about his connections with one of our sho...

Charles Hudson is a Silicon Valley-based investor. He is part of a small percentage of Black Managing Partners of Venture funds here in the Bay Area. In this incredibly insightful interview, we talk to Charles about investing in Underrepresented Founders, Media, and his take on the fate of social media. 

We talk to Charles about his career in the Valley, which he has seen through multiple boom and bust cycles (from his time at Excit...

Kobie Fuller is a General Partner at Upfront Ventures in Los Angeles. He also started Valence Community - a Los Angeles-based online professional network for Black talent. Kobie might have the *actual* answers as to how to fix tech's long standing diversity problem. 

Kobie talks about his journey into Venture Capital and his perspectives and feelings on San Francisco. We get into a good discussion about LA vs. San Francisco as a tec...

Dave Pell is the Founder of NextDraft - one of the most popular newsletters on the Internet. He also has an opinion or two on tech, politics, and the current state of our country. We deep-dive with Dave on numerous subjects, including BLM, the state of media, and what we can be optimistic about at the moment. 

We recorded this interview shortly after the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing protests. Dave talks about the protests ...

Semil Shah is the Founder of Haystack - an early-stage venture fund. He's also one of Silicon Valley's most interesting personalities - he's been a chef, a media maven, and just about everything in-between. In a wide-ranging interview, we ask Semil about the future of media and the future of tech. 

We talk about quarantine life with Semil, and what he enjoys cooking most while sheltered in place (and what it's like to be sheltered i...

Amelia Lin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Saga. She's a career technologist and is solving a very timely problem during the age of COVID - how - during a time we can't interact with our loved ones - can we share and preserve their memories? 

We talk to Amelia about her journey through the tech world, including her experience in online education (which has obviously seen an enormous boom in the past few months). We ask whether it's rea...

Dawoon Kang is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Coffee Meets Bagel. She knows a thing or two about building a successful business, and finding love during the age of COVID. So how have relationships changed as a result of the pandemic? We dig into this and much more during this Zoom-edition of the podcast. 

We learn more about the origins of Coffee Meets Bagel, which is one of the most successful dating apps on the planet. We learn how ...

Jenn Takahashi is a San Francisco-based PR and Comms professional. She also started a viral social media account entitled 'Best of Next Door'. We talk to Jenn about how she started Best of Next Door, the future of online dating, and much much more. 

Jenn starts off the interview talking a bit about dating during the pandemic. We ask what the future may hold for interpersonal relationships post COVID, and what it's like going on a 'Z...

Gina Fromer is the CEO of the Children's Council of San Francisco. She is also a 6th generation San Franciscan. She has seen a lot of change over the years to the city and its surrounding environment. What keeps her 'addicted' to San Francisco, and what is the *true* cost of living here these days? We talk about that and more in today's episode of TISLISV. 

Gina talks about her childhood in San Francisco and some of the adversity sh...