Grit

Kleiner Perkins
Grit

Grit explores what it takes to create, build, and scale world-class organizations. It features weekly episodes highlighting the leaders who are pushing their companies to make a difference. This series is hosted by Joubin Mirzadegan, go to market operating partner at Kleiner Perkins, a venture capital firm investing in history-making founders.

  1. Family, Focus, and 350M Users: Inside Zoom with Eric Yuan

    JUN 9

    Family, Focus, and 350M Users: Inside Zoom with Eric Yuan

    Eric Yuan turned a simple belief into Zoom, the platform that kept the world moving through a once-in-a-century shutdown and redefined modern work.  On this episode of Grit, the Zoom CEO shares why velocity beats size, how a family-first ethos powered his leadership during COVID, and why the coming wave of AI dwarfs the original internet boom.  He details how he’s refreshing Zoom’s culture for 7,500 people, opting for virtual deal calls over in person meetings, settling into life as an empty-nester, and keeping Zoom nimble enough to outpace Big Tech and the next wave of AI startups. Guest: Eric S. Yuan, Founder & CEO of Zoom Chapters:  00:00 Trailer 00:44 Introduction 01:47 Walking with swagger 03:48 Extremely exciting moment 10:05 Classic innovators’ dilemma 12:59 Laser-focused bandwidth 17:56 Family first: lead by example 22:09 Everybody was doing their road shows 25:34 The entire world was dependent 28:04 Community care 31:57 Valuation and a co-founder 35:17 A lot of unhappy days 39:25 Building Zoom for consumers 46:57 Holograms? 52:01 Home 53:23 Huge competition, high velocity 1:00:33 Where companies get wrong 1:04:52 Giving back 1:13:12 Who Zoom is hiring 1:13:24 What “grit” means to Eric 1:14:24 Outro Mentioned in this episode: Webex by Cisco, Glean, Apple, HP, Netscape, Yahoo, Brian Armstrong, Emilie Choi, Coinbase, New Limit, Elon Musk, Windy Hill, Magic Leap, Rony Abovitz, Jony Ive, OpenAI ChatGPT, Bill McDermott, ServiceNow, Carl Eschenbach Links: Connect with Eric XLinkedInConnect with Joubin XLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    1h 15m
  2. Bret Taylor’s Journey Leading Salesforce, Sierra & OpenAI

    JUN 2

    Bret Taylor’s Journey Leading Salesforce, Sierra & OpenAI

    Over the past two decades, Bret Taylor has quietly helped shape the arc of Silicon Valley. From co-creating Google Maps to steering Facebook, Salesforce, and OpenAI, he’s been behind some of the most consequential products in tech. Now, with his new company Sierra, he’s starting from zero—again. In this conversation, Bret opens up about how founders navigate identity, why the best ideas often come from everyday friction, and how staying relentlessly focused can unlock real momentum in AI. Guest: Bret Taylor, Co-Founder of Sierra Chapters:00:00 Trailer00:49 Introduction01:57 Saving OpenAI09:15 Overwhelming yet capable of a lot13:36 Father and founder16:49 History is written by the victors22:13 How you price matters35:58 Stickiest piece of software49:48 The first realtime social network55:34 Facebook CTO who rewrote Google Maps1:02:10 Least known, most impressive1:11:39 The best way to predict the future1:16:22 Most personally passionate1:21:22 Currency of reputation1:27:17 Away from work1:28:35 Who Sierra is hiring1:28:58 What “grit” means to Bret1:29:18 Outro Mentioned in this episode: Google Maps, Salesforce, OpenAI ChatGPT, Meta Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Google, Marissa Mayer, Excite, MSN, AltaVista, Amazon, Harvey, Airbnb, Coinbase, Apple, John Doerr, Cursor, Codeium Windsurf, Perplexity, xAI, Kleenex, Amazon Web Services (AWS), FriendFeed, Tumblr, Kevin Gibbs, Google Maps, Yelp, Trulia, iOS App Store, Blackberry, Facebook Messenger, Marvel Avengers, Slack, Quip, Leonardo da Vinci, Clay Bavor, Microsoft, Eric Schmidt, Alan Kay, Brian Armstrong, Brian Chesky, Shopify, SiriusXM, Patrick Collison Links: Connect with Bret Taylor XLinkedInConnect with Joubin XLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    1h 30m
  3. Inside Aurora’s Push to Make Autonomous Trucking Real | Chris Urmson

    MAY 26

    Inside Aurora’s Push to Make Autonomous Trucking Real | Chris Urmson

    Chris Urmson has spent the last 20 years pushing the limits of autonomous driving—first at Carnegie Mellon’s DARPA Grand Challenge team, then as co-founder of Google’s self-driving car project, now Waymo. On this week’s episode, the Aurora CEO retraces that journey—from building robot cars in the desert to leading a public company pioneering driverless trucking. He shares why autonomy was always a matter of when, not if, how he handled a high-profile departure from Waymo, and what it takes to build at the intersection of deep tech, safety, and infrastructure. Now eight years into Aurora, Urmson says the future he’s been chasing is finally within reach. Guest: Chris Urmson, Co-Founder & CEO of Aurora Chapters: 00:00 Trailer00:43 Introduction01:59 FSD: are we there? 14:31 The competition, a million dollar check from LA to LV22:50 Dream like an amateur, execute like a pro32:30 Operate with integrity42:49 The future is here, unevenly distributed49:36 Underestimated decisions, minimizing regrets1:03:55 Retaining value1:16:45 Integrating self-driving1:28:20 Lifer1:29:25 Who Aurora is hiring1:29:53 What “grit” means to Chris1:30:15 Outro Mentioned in this episode: Waymo, Google, Rivian, Dmitri Dolgov, Uber, Tesla, The DARPA Grand Challenge, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, United States Department of Defense, Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, FedEx, Werner Enterprises, Hirschbach, Schneider Electric, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Sebastian Thrun, Batman, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Anthony Levandowski, Donald Trump, Apple iPhone, Airbnb, Blackmore, Stripe, Titan, Ford, Volkswagen, RJ Scaringe, Peterbilt Motors Company, The Volvo Group, Continental AG, Dara Khosrowshahi Links:Connect with Chris Urmson XLinkedInConnect with Joubin XLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    1h 31m
  4. From Scaling Cisco to Seeding AI: John T. Chambers on Speed, Strategy, and Reinvention

    MAY 19

    From Scaling Cisco to Seeding AI: John T. Chambers on Speed, Strategy, and Reinvention

    John Chambers led Cisco through the rise of the internet—transforming it into the world’s most valuable company at its peak. On this week’s Grit, the former Cisco CEO unpacks how he scaled the business from $70M to $50B+, pioneered M&A as a growth strategy with 180 acquisitions, and built what many called the best sales force in tech. Now leading his own venture firm, Chambers shares how he’s backing the next generation of AI-native startups. Guest: John T. Chambers, Former Cisco Executive Chairman & CEO, JC2 Ventures Founder & CEO Chapters:  00:00 Trailer 00:45 Introduction 01:45 Track record, relationships, trust 13:21 Acquisitions every year 17:32 Product-focused 24:40 Family, dyslexia, and without shame 30:46 Wang Laboratories 35:59 Ready being CEO 40:17 Reinventing your business 50:08 Numbers don’t lie 54:09 Sales calls and making mistakes 56:20 Adapting leadership style 1:06:32 Best leadership year ever 1:13:35 A busy, exhausting schedule 1:22:07 Candid with me 1:25:21 What “grit” means to John 1:26:43 Outro Mentioned in this episode: John Doerr, OpenAI, Wang Laboratories, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple Inc., Meta Platforms, FMC Corporation, DuPont de Nemours, Inc., John Mortgage, Don Valentine, Sequoia Capital, Alcatel Mobile, Lucent Technologies, Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc., Rick Justice, Pankage Patel, Larry Carter, CNBC, Jim Cramer, George Kurtz, CrowdStrike, Randy Pond, Rebecca Jacoby, Mel Selcher Links: Connect with John XLinkedInConnect with Joubin XLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    1h 27m
4.9
out of 5
186 Ratings

About

Grit explores what it takes to create, build, and scale world-class organizations. It features weekly episodes highlighting the leaders who are pushing their companies to make a difference. This series is hosted by Joubin Mirzadegan, go to market operating partner at Kleiner Perkins, a venture capital firm investing in history-making founders.

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