Greymatter offers perspectives and stories from some of the world’s top technology entrepreneurs and business leaders. The featured company builders share personal and insightful lessons while shedding light on common, relatable challenges in the entrepreneurial journey.
Greylock presents
Greymatter.
Lessons and insights from the biggest names in technology, business, and beyond.
Notable guests
Brian Chesky
CEO & Co-Founder of Airbnb
Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky joined Greylock partner Reid Hoffman on Greylock's Iconversations speaker series to talk about how he guided Airbnb from an 80% loss within the first two months of the pandemic to a record-breaking IPO by the end of 2020; why Silicon Valley needs to redefine how it measures growth; how Chesky’s design background informs Airbnb’s business strategy; and, ultimately, the importance of putting people first.
Sam Altman
CEO of OpenAI
OpenAI is moving the needle forward by creating AI tools that will help realize human ideas and elevate daily workflows. CEO Sam Altman speaks with Greylock partner Reid Hoffman about the potential of large language models, the extended capabilities of new applications, and the role of AI in the technological revolution. Altman envisions a future with artificial intelligence as the basis for advancements across all industries.
Sarah Friar
CEO of Nextdoor
Nextdoor is willing to take some risks on its mission to build the neighborhood network. CEO Sarah Friar shared how Nextdoor has deployed tools that may impact growth, but are ultimately, "the right thing to do in order to build communities." Sarah joined Greylock general partner and Nextdoor board member David Sze on Greylock's Iconversations speaker series to discuss how the company strives to reflect the communities of the world.
Harley Finkelstein
President of Shopify
President of Shopify Harley Finkelstein discusses the evolution of e-commerce with Greylock partner Mike Duboe on Greylock's Iconversations series. During the conversation, Finkelstein talks about his personal journey as an entrepreneur, his interest in empowering other entrepreneurs, and the economic impact on the industry. He also shares his predictions for the future of retail and lays out how Shopify fits into that landscape.
Mellody Hobson
Co-CEO of Ariel Investments
Ariel Investments President and co-CEO Mellody Hobson, who was recently named the chair of the board of Starbucks Corporation, joins Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman. Hobson, who is the first black woman to chair a Fortune 500 board, shares highlights from her career as an investor, board member, financial educator and philanthropist, and discusses the fundamental changes necessary to diversify corporate America.
James Manyika
SVP of Technology & Society, Google
Google's first-ever SVP of Technology and Society James Manyika joins Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman for a discussion on the various ways technology impacts business, global economies, culture, and humankind. Manyika is a renowned expert in artificial intelligence, robotics, and globalization, and has been a highly-sought out advisor to many of the world's top tech companies. He spent nearly 30 years as an advisor at McKinsey Global and has held numerous board and consulting roles across academia, nonprofits, and government.
Featured Episodes
As the field of artificial intelligence moves forward, applications have graduated from buzzword-laden projects to fully developed tools impacting a wide range of industries. Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman interviews OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The AI research and deployment company’s primary mission is to develop and promote AI technology that benefits humanity. Founded in 2015, the company has most recently been noted for its generative transformer model GPT – 3, which uses deep learning to produce human-like text, and its image-creation platform DALL-E.
Greylock general partner Saam Motamedi interviews David Luan, who is the co-founder of ML research and product lab Adept, and Percy Liang, who is the associate professor of computer science and statistics at Stanford. In this conversation, they discuss the major developments in working with large scale language models.
Greylock investor Seth Rosenberg outlines a roadmap for implementing crypto technology for mainstream banking. The advantages of DeFi lending over traditional lending can help create a more functional financial system, one that is fast, inclusive and safe for everyone. With $25 billion of DeFi lending value locked in EVM chains, the potential for accessible banking lies in an open financial system.
The “talent investor” Entrepreneur First was created with a mission to connect founders no matter where they are in the world, and recruits and backs them at the very earliest stages. By focusing on connecting individuals rather than defined teams, they’ve gained a unique perspective into what makes good ideas, and how the right co-founder dynamics can bring it into reality. Now, they’ve gathered some of their main insights into a book: “How to be a Founder: How Entrepreneurs Identify, Fund, and Launch Their Best Ideas.” Bentinck and Clifford join Greylock general partner Reid Hoffman to discuss the book and their vision for the future of entrepreneurship.