Invest Like The Best
Episode 316 How Stunning Founders Operate
Invest Like The Best

Episode 316: How Stunning Founders Operate

Invest Like The Best

Episode 316

How Stunning Founders Operate

Dan Rose is the chairman of Coatue Ventures. We cover the story behind Amazon’s Kindle, the relationship between innovation and constraints, and how he would build a Frankenstein of effective leadership styles.

This episode is brought to you by:

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[00:03:27] - [First question] - The story behind Amazon’s Kindle and the lessons it taught him

[00:09:19] - Amazon’s philosophy of working backwards and the most creative solutions he and his team had to come up inside of that framework 

[00:13:04] - What he did to convince publishers to get on board with his vision 

[00:16:02] - His overall experience of the relationship between innovation and constraints

[00:18:43] - Thoughts about the fine line between genius and nutcase 

[00:22:02] - What the key points of his theory on partnerships would be 

[00:24:28] - When advising portfolio companies becomes relevant 

[00:26:09] - The dark arts of building companies that could be adopted by partnerships 

[00:28:40] - Why he thinks the best technology companies drive strategy through product 

[00:29:24] - What unites the communication layer between great leaders communicating a vision well

[00:32:23] - Resolving micro management while also giving skilled talent their own space

[00:36:07] - Where Javier Olivan fits into his ideal executive team 

[00:36:57] - What about growth requires its own expertise 

[00:37:35] - What makes Dave Schneider an ideal sales leader

[00:39:08] - The most stressful period of time while working at Facebook

[00:42:51] - General thoughts on great versus good business models in tech 

[00:45:36] - Topics where Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg would disagree the most 

[00:47:13] - Defining the platonic ideal of a great investor approaching corporate enterprises 

[00:50:25] - Overview of the investing environment we’re in today from coast to coast

[00:53:45] - Other questions he loves and thoughts on Bezos asking people if they felt they were lucky or not 

[00:55:07] - What made Sheryl Sandberg so successful; Lean In

[01:00:35] - Why he started his career at Life Mastery selling personal growth seminars 

[01:05:47] - What will define the next generation of leaders 

[01:07:59] - A product he would build if he could that doesn’t exist yet

[01:08:59] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him 

How Stunning Founders Operate

Introduction

Patrick
My guest today is Dan Rose. Dan is the Chairman of Coatue Ventures and has one of the most interesting collections of experiences of anyone I've talked to. He spent 20 years at Amazon and Facebook in their early days, working closely with Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sheryl Sandberg. He's had a front-row seat to the defining products and founders of our era, and his lessons from those experiences do not disappoint. Please enjoy this great discussion with Dan Rose.

The Story Behind Amazon's Kindle

Patrick
Dan, we have a total embarrassment of riches of stuff to talk about, given you've just been at the center of so many interesting business stories in the last 25 years. I really didn't even know where to begin, but I have to pick a product, which is Amazon's Kindle, mostly because I've spent some large chunk of my life as a user of it.

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