Rebuilding Front for the AI Era | CEO Dan O’Connell

Turning down a $3B offer from Facebook is a bold move for any young CEO.Evan Spiegel shares how Snap’s early dream was to stay independent and give its community an authentic voice, a bet that proved right.He also explains why they are now doubling down on AR glasses and why the anxiety around AI deserves far more attention from tech leaders.Guest: Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc. and Bing Gordon, Advisor at Kleiner Perkins​Connect with Evan SpiegelX:https://x.com/evanspiegel?lang=enLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-spiegel/​Connect with Bing GordonX: https://x.com/bingfish LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/binggordon/Connect with JoubinX: https://x.com/JoubinmirLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/Email: [email protected]​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins:https://www.kleinerperkins.com/ 

What does it take to go from advising founders to becoming one?On this week’s special Reverse Grit episode, we flip the script and put our Grit podcast host Joubin Mirzadegan in the guest seat.Joubin recently founded Roadrunner, where he is now co-founder & CEO. Roadrunner is building an AI‑native CPQ to modernize the quote‑to‑cash stack, drawing on years of conversations he’s had with enterprise revenue leaders.Stepping into the host role, Mamoon Hamid joins Joubin to talk about his transition from sales leader to founder, how Roadrunner came together, and why it became our first incubation since Glean.Roadrunner is hiring! Check them out: https://www.roadrunner.ai/Guest: Joubin Mirzadegan, Partner, Kleiner Perkins​Connect with MamoonXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: [email protected]​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

Fifteen years in, it can still feel like “we’re just getting started.”Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder of Cloudflare, returns to Grit with Joubin Mirzadegan to share how Cloudflare secures the internet for millions, with a vision built to last generations.She also shares why staying close to reality and to customers becomes harder as success compounds, and how Cloudflare is helping content creators regain control in an AI driven internet.Guest: Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder and President of CloudflareConnect with Michelle ZatlynXLinkedIn​Connect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: [email protected]​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

Screens have pulled families apart. Brynn Putnam set out to bring them back together with Board, the world’s ‘first face-to-face game console.’On Grit, she tells Joubin Mirzadegan how every venture she’s built, including Mirror, started as a personal need, and how her true edge is the ability to strip an idea down to what actually matters.Guest: Brynn Putnam, founder and CEO of BoardConnect with Brynn PutnamXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: [email protected]​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

How do companies like Salesforce and Dell scale intelligence across every cloud?Aidan Gomez, co-founder and CEO of Cohere, explains how they’re building AI that works across all enterprise systems and deploys anywhere, giving companies true flexibility and security.He joins Joubin Mirzadegan for a wide-ranging conversation on why synthetic data went from dismissed to indispensable, and how the race among AI labs is really unfolding.Guest: Aidan Gomez, co-founder and CEO of CohereConnect with Aidan: XLinkedInConnect with Joubin: XLinkedInEmail: [email protected] more about Kleiner Perkins

The hardest company to build is the one you start after you’ve already succeeded.After scaling Yext into a platform powering millions of businesses, Howard Lerman chose to start over with Roam, the “Office of the Future,” where humans and AI work side by side from anywhere.On Grit, he joins Joubin Mirzadegan to talk about the solitude of leadership and what happens when you stop building for Wall Street.Guest: Howard Lerman, co-founder and former CEO of Yext, and founder and CEO of Roam​Connect with Howard LermanXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: [email protected]​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

The hardest part of transformation is knowing what to let go of.Dan O’Connell, now leading Front as CEO and formerly on the board at Dialpad, joins Joubin Mirzadegan to explore the delicate balance between legacy and innovation as he leads a decade old company through the AI revolution.He also reflects on why courage and control can coexist in leadership, and what it means to “make decisions that give you energy.”Guest: Dan O’Connell, CEO of Front​Connect with Dan O’ConnellXLinkedIn​Connect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: [email protected]​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

Before AI became a buzzword, a few true believers were already building.Since early 2022, Mati Staniszewski and his team at ElevenLabs have been among them, working to create voices that “actually represent emotions.”He shares with Joubin Mirzadegan how voice AI is transforming diverse fields, from delivering personalized healthcare for different age groups to amplifying creativity in filmmaking.Guest: Mati Staniszewski, co-founder and CEO of ElevenLabsConnect with Mati StaniszewskiXLinkedIn​Connect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: [email protected]​​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

What’s product-market fit like when you give people the power to do what they never thought was possible?On this rerun of Grit from April 2024, Victor Riparbelli, co-founder and CEO of Synthesia, shares how his platform gave billions a new way to create video without cameras, and explores a future where video and audio replace text as the primary way to share knowledge and content.Guests: Victor Riparbelli, CEO and co-founder of Synthesia and Josh Coyne, Partner at Kleiner PerkinsConnect with Victor RiparbelliX: https://x.com/vriparbelliLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victorriparbelli/​Connect with Josh CoyneX: https://x.com/josh_coyneLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuacoyne/​Connect with JoubinX: https://x.com/JoubinmirLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/Email: [email protected]​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins:https://www.kleinerperkins.com/

Make your product irresistible, and everything else will follow.That’s the philosophy of Grant Lee, co-founder and CEO of Gamma, an AI design platform with an 'anti-PowerPoint approach', used by over 50M people.This week on Grit, he also shares why enduring businesses aren’t one person shows, and how their deliberate hiring process shapes and strengthens company culture.Connect with Grant LeeXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: [email protected] more about Kleiner Perkins