Panic with Friends - Howard Lindzon
393 episodes - English - Latest episode: 9 months ago - ★★★★★ - 38 ratingsHello, I’m Howard. I’ve been a financial industry entrepreneur and investor for over 20 years. I am a General Partner at Social Leverage - we invest in seed stage software companies. I was a co-founder of Stocktwits and a seed investor in Robinhood and Etoro. On this podcast, you will hear interviews with great entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists, traders, and friends about their companies, their track records, and their new fave ideas and trends. This includes best ideas, worst investments, biggest failure, daily habits, and recommended reading. I know your time is precious, so I promise to keep it simple and on point.
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Episodes
Alex Danco of Shopify on Biotech, E-commerce, Fintech, and the Joys of Parenting (EP.174)
November 04, 2021 04:01 - 49 minutesWe’ve got Alex in the house for Round 2. He’s one of my favorite reads, one of my favorite thinkers; and works for one of my favorite companies: Shopify. (Well, maybe second only to Netflix) Alex has some real in-depth experience because of his time at Social Capital, he reads endlessly, thinks about fintech, and obviously understands e-commerce. We cover all that, discuss the joys of parenting, and round out with his really big passion around biotech. Guest - Alex Danco of Shopify Money ho...
David Sacks of Craft Ventures on the Future of Social-Audio, Jewish Mothers, and a Thousand Unicorns (EP.173)
October 28, 2021 04:01 - 1 hourThis week’s episode features a new friend, David Sacks. Maybe you’ve heard of PayPal? David was their first COO. He’s been in the room with Elon, Peter, and Max. David’s the founder of Yammer, turned around Zenefits as interim CEO, and founded Craft Ventures. Add investments in Facebook, Uber, Space X, Palantir, Airbnb and Houzz. He’s also co-host of the All-In Podcast. But today he’s here to talk about the future. And it’s so bright, we’re gonna have to wear shades! Guest - David Sacks, Co-...
Charlie Bilello of Compound Capital Advisors on Zero Rates, Stealth Bears, and Delta Waves (EP.172)
October 21, 2021 04:01 - 1 hourCharlie Bilello is a veteran of the show and is back to talk markets, markets, markets. I like to catch up on the markets once a quarter – I could talk about the markets every day, but we’ve got a lot of stuff going on. And we love having Charlie on because he’s always prepared. We discuss zero percent rates and why the Fed is buying mortgages, the stealth bear market, and the delta wave impact on micro trends. So, come fly the friendly skies with me… Investing is easy! Guest - Charlie Bilell...
Rob Petrozzo of Rally on Classic Cars, Dinosaur Bones, and Crypto Punks (EP.171)
October 14, 2021 04:01 - 53 minutesToday’s guest is Rob Petrozzo. He’s the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Rally. I’m a seed investor in Rally through Social Leverage going way back, and Rob knows his topic so well. He's a marketing culture person. I’m not saying you can’t learn this stuff, but it really just oozes out of his skin. Collectibles are 'right now'; and it's just opened up to the masses. It feels like it's on a rocketship about to take off. There's big money looking for the best in class and finding their w...
Nick Adler of The Unified, on Crypto, Collectibles, Culture, Community, and More (EP.170)
October 07, 2021 04:01 - 44 minutesOn today’s episode I’m hanging out with my new friend, Nick Adler. I’m not sure the best way to describe him - he’s a lawyer, entertainment wiz, and works with the one and only Snoop Dogg himself. They’ve gone on a massive run together, and we get into crypto and NFTs and collectibles and digital. There’s so much movement, there’s so much happening, and celebrity culture is at the center of it. It’s a blank canvas if you’re willing to be adventurous and take chances. Nick also has his own Pod...
Garry Tan of Initialized Capital on Crazy Cap Tables, Crypto and Finding Balance in a World of Endless Opportunities (EP.169)
September 30, 2021 04:01 - 55 minutesToday we're excited to have Garry Tan from Initialized Capital. His resume is bananas. Garry is a Stanford grad, a Y Combinator alum, and a seed investor in Coinbase. We cover his early days with Posterous, cutting his teeth at Y Combinator, founding Initialized Capital, and his media moves on YouTube. Get an inside seat on what makes a great entrepreneur, founder, and investor. Garry's a big fan of the show, and it's safe to say he'll become a regular. Guest - Garry Tan, Co-Founder and Mana...
Greg Bettinelli of Upfront Ventures on 'Walking Tall', Large Secondary Markets, and Innovation (EP.168)
September 23, 2021 04:01 - 1 hourOn this episode we discuss how the movie Let it Ride is the original speculation meme - long before Wall Street Bets was cool. We talk about why Greg’s panicked about fires. And of course, we talk markets – finding those markets where the secondary market can be bigger than the primary market. How this is all leading to the fractionalizing of shares; and the eventual need for a regulatory framework. We close with the figurative fires of how much is happening around consumer and business behav...
Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt and Weekend Fund on Starting, Building, and Investing (EP.167)
September 16, 2021 04:01 - 55 minutesIn this episode we cover the early days building Product Hunt in the Tenderloin district, Ryan's move to Miami, and raising money naked in the age of Zoom. After a stint at a video game company in Eugene, Ryan found his way to San Francisco where he worked at a startup called Playhaven. He spent three and a half years building a network, relationships, and blogging. He was curious about discovering great products and wrote a newsletter, which led to Product Hunt. Once he sold Product Hunt to ...
John Street Capital on the Markets, Retail Investing, Regulation and Why He’s Bullish on Crypto (EP.165)
September 02, 2021 04:01 - 1 hourOn this week’s episode, we brought back a very special guest and probably one of the top 5 smartest people I know — John Street Capital. While he remains anonymous on the internet, he’s a good friend of the podcast. What makes John Street so unique is his deep understanding of everything from infrastructure, tech, banking, corporate development, VCs, trading, and more. John Street spends most of his time producing some incredibly thoughtful content on Medium. If you listen to John Street, I p...
Ram Parameswaran of Octahedron Capital on China, No-Brainer Investments, and the Markets (EP.164)
August 26, 2021 04:01 - 1 hourRam Parameswaran has been dominating growth and “crossover” investing for years. He’s got an incredible mind and is a fantastic sharer of ideas, trends, themes, and insights. I’ve had Ram on the podcast in the past to discuss his background and investing thesis. So I figured it was about time to bring him back on to talk about the future, markets, and more. Ram’s firm Octahedron Capital is a crossover fund that invests in the internet economy. But before striking out on his own to start his o...
Julie VerHage-Greenberg of Fintech Today on the Future of Media, Fintech, and Trading (EP.163)
August 19, 2021 04:01 - 53 minutesIf anyone knows fintech — it’s Julie VerHage-Greenberg. She was one of Bloomberg’s first fintech reporters and even covered Robinhood from before it was a billion dollar company. Since her time at Bloomberg, Julie has gone on to build her own media and newsletter company. Fintech Today is a community and media/content company focused on the fintech startup ecosystem for investors, entrepreneurs and operators in the space. On top of her founder duties, Julie is also an angel investor, startup ...
Raoul Pal of Real Vision on Blockchain, Asset Allocation, and Harnessing the Power of Your Community (EP.162)
August 12, 2021 04:01 - 56 minutesRaoul Pal leads Real Vision as co-founder and CEO. I’m a big fan and investor in Real Vision — a company with the goal of democratizing the very best of financial intelligence through media and video. Raoul has a history of managing hedge funds, and he was also one of a relatively small number of investors to predict the mortgage crisis of 2008–2009. Basically — he knows his stuff. I’ve also had Raoul on as a past Panic with Friends guest, and I loved getting his insights on the markets and c...
Yoni Assia of eToro on Dogecoin, the Rise of Retail Investors, and the Future of Crypto (EP.161)
August 05, 2021 04:01 - 53 minutesI brought back Yoni Assia for another guest appearance on Panic with Friends. He is a good friend of mine who's been in the crypto space for a while now. Recently, I even got to catch up with him in Miami, which you can read about on my blog. I first met Yoni back in 2010. He was one of the first people to talk to me about Bitcoin, and I was immediately sold on the brokerage he was starting, eToro. Back then, I was telling all the venture capitalists I knew eToro was like “Zynga, but for men....
JC Parets of All Star Charts on the Bull Market, Risk Management, and Why You Can’t Teach Away Crazy (EP.160)
July 29, 2021 04:01 - 55 minutesJC Parets is a good friend of mine who I first met back when I started Stocktwits, and he’s back for his second Panic with Friends episode. As the founder of All Star Charts, JC lives and breathes all things charts. If there’s a chart in front of him, you can bet he’ll have a strong opinion about it. His company All Star Charts is a technical analysis publication for everyone from hedge funds, to financial advisors, to individual investors. I was more than happy to bring JC back on to get his...
Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX on Futures, the Global Scale of Crypto and More (EP.159)
July 22, 2021 04:01 - 1 hourFor this week’s episode, we’re chatting with Sam Bankman-Fried. He’s a 29-year-old vegan living in Hong Kong. Oh, and he’s also a crypto billionaire with a huge cult following of fans around the world. Sam is the founder of two impressive companies: Alameda and FTX. His claim to fame came after capitalizing on the South Korean crypto kimchi premium (not the fermented food) and building FTX. Founded just a few years ago in 2017, FTX is one of the fastest growing digital asset exchanges in the ...
Michael Sonnenshein of Grayscale Investments on Why Crypto is Here to Stay (EP.158)
July 15, 2021 04:01 - 47 minutesOn this week’s episode we brought on Michael Sonnenshein. He is the CEO of Grayscale Investments, a company that entered the world of crypto back in its earliest days. Starting as an account executive in 2014, Michael worked his way up under the guidance of Grayscale founder Barry Silbert and recently took the reins as their CEO earlier this year. He is an impressive, driven, and smart guy with formidable experience. Grayscale Investments is a big player in the crypto space, with the largest ...
Ben Hunt of Epsilon Theory on Inflation, Financial Raccoons, and Crypto’s “The Empire Strikes Back” Era (EP.157)
July 08, 2021 04:01 - 52 minutesBen Hunt is back for his third Panic with Friends appearance. Ben is co-founder and writer for Epsilon Theory, a newsletter and website that examines markets through game theory and history. He is is a great writer, investor, and an activist for people to stop being dumb (my words, not his). Ben wants you to invest with your head on straight, which is something I am a strong supporter of. He has helped navigate us through the ups and downs of the crypto space in his past appearances, and this...
Vinny Lingham of Civic on What’s Next for Crypto Following the Epic Crash (EP.156)
July 01, 2021 04:01 - 47 minutesIn this week’s episode, I brought on Vinny Lingham – an entrepreneur, founder, prolific crypto investor, and decentralization pied piper. Vinny is an old friend who I first met back at a fintech conference in Ireland. We quickly hit it off after a round of golf and idea pitching. He has been in the crypto space since the beginning and has even been called a crypto ‘oracle’ due to his accurate bitcoin predictions. I figured he would be the perfect person to catch up with and get a point of vie...
Jeff Richards of GGV Capital on Why He’s Bullish on Fintech and the Post-COVID Rebound (EP.155)
June 24, 2021 04:01 - 52 minutesFor this week’s episode, I brought on my friend Jeff Richards for his third Panic with Friends appearance. In case you can’t tell, I never get tired of talking to him. Jeff is a great friend and an even greater thinker. And he just keeps picking winners. Jeff is managing partner at GGV Capital, a $9 billion global venture firm. He focuses mainly on enterprise, cloud, and marketplace investments. It’s been great having him on the podcast during different stages of the pandemic to get his thoug...
Justin Reis of WatchBox on How Tech is Revitalizing the Already Timeless Luxury Watch Market (EP.154)
June 17, 2021 04:01 - 47 minutesThis episode we’re talking about a subject near and dear to my heart: watches. Watches continue to be a timeless investment piece synonymous with value. And as someone who has collected over 50 watches, I was super excited to bring on Justin Reis of WatchBox to learn more about the growing tech-enabled luxury commerce market. WatchBox is the world’s leading platform for the buying, selling, and trading of pre-owned luxury watches, with offices in the U.S., Hong Kong, Switzerland, Singapore, a...
Jim Lanzone, CEO of Tinder, on the Internet’s Battle for Attention (EP.153)
June 10, 2021 04:01 - 48 minutesJim Lanzone is somewhat of a legend in the internet industry. He’s racked up over 20 years of experience in the space, with former CEO titles at companies like Ask.com (formerly Ask Jeeves), Clicker Media (which he founded) and CBS Interactive (where he was my boss for a brief moment). Currently, he is the CEO of the popular online dating and networking app, Tinder. It was great to have someone like Jim on to not only offer his insights on all things media, streaming, and the internet – but a...
Charlie Bilello of Compound Capital Advisors on Inflation and Irrational Exuberance (EP.152)
June 03, 2021 04:01 - 47 minutesMy good friend Charlie Bilello is back for his second episode of Panic with Friends. He originally came on way back for episode two of our show and offered insights on the markets during peak COVID panic. If you go back and listen, you’ll see Charlie actually got a lot right. So now I figured it would be a good time to check back in with him as we make our way out of the COVID panic. Charlie has over a decade of experience as an analyst, lawyer, CPA, and overall nerd about the markets and mon...
Dan McMurtrie of Tyro Partners on Information Overload and Behavioral Investing (EP.151)
May 27, 2021 04:01 - 54 minutesDan McMurtie is a 28-year-old founder, portfolio manager, and Twitter legend more commonly known to his nearly 60,000 followers as @SuperMugatu. He’s an insanely funny, original and inspiring guy who knows a lot about social media, maintaining an audience and the behavioral side of investing. Dan’s New York-based hedge fund, Tyro Partners LLC, focuses on trends and supply chains driving technology, healthcare, industrial, and consumer markets. In this episode, we cover a lot of topics: Dan’s ...
Kyle Samani of Multicoin Capital on the future of Crypto (EP.150)
May 20, 2021 04:01 - 1 hourHappy 150th episode of Panic with Friends! Thank you all for putting up with me 150 episodes; here’s to the next 150. For this episode, we are continuing to dive into crypto – a topic I’ve been fascinated by and discussing on the podcast for a while now. I’ve been astounded by the traction crypto has gotten, and there’s no better person to help give some context to what’s going on in this growing space than Kyle Samani. Kyle is co-founder and managing partner at Multicoin Capital, a firm that...
Nithin Kamath of Zerodha on India’s Growing Market Opportunities (EP.149)
May 13, 2021 04:01 - 48 minutesNot only are we on the heels of our 150th episode, but we’re bringing in a new face (or rather voice) to join Knut and me in hosting Panic with Friends – Nikita Arora. Nikita is a fellow Canadian working at Social Leverage in a Principal role helping us as we raise fund four and grow our firm. In this episode of Panic, entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of Zerodha Nithin Kamath calls in and joins us all the way from Bengaluru, india. Nithin spent over a decade trading the markets for a living sin...
Katherine Rosa, Social Leverage’s SPAC (SLAC) Board Member & former JP Morgan Global Head of Alternative Investments, on Navigating Risk in the Growing World of Alternative Investments (EP.148)
May 06, 2021 04:01 - 49 minutesIn this episode I had the pleasure of bringing on Katherine Rosa, a great investor, advisor and friend. Katherine is the former Global Head of Alternative Investments at JP Morgan and a current Board Member for Social Leverage’s SPAC. She has been in the banking world for quite some time, starting out at JP Morgan as a product specialist in the early 90s. So it’s great to have someone who is as knowledgeable and experienced as Katherine not only a part of our Social Leverage team, but also as...
Gregg Spiridellis of HiHo, StoryBots and JibJab, on the Old and New Internet (EP.147)
April 29, 2021 04:01 - 49 minutesGregg is a super talented and creative entrepreneur, founder and storyteller. A former Goldman Sachs analyst, Gregg had a career shift and now works at the intersection of all things art, tech, and entertainment. Gregg is the co-creator, former CEO, writer and producer of Netflix’s StoryBots and co-founder and former CEO of JibJab, which was founded in 1999 and became somewhat of a legend in the history of the Internet. Now, Gregg is creating the Internet’s next best thing: HiHo. Gregg is HiH...
Brad Feld of Foundry Group on Decentralization in a Post-COVID World (EP.146)
April 22, 2021 04:01 - 56 minutesI had the joy of having my great friend Brad Feld join me for his FOURTH appearance on Panic With Friends. Brad is Boulder-based early-stage investor, entrepreneur, writer, and speaker. More specifically, he is managing director of Foundry Group, founder of Techstars, and writer for the Startup Revolution series and his blog Feld Thoughts. Brad has also been a mentor and supporter of mine, investing in my previous company Wallstrip as well as Stocktwits. With over 30 years of experience in th...
Daniel Cohen of Cohen and Company on the Past, Present, and Future of the SPAC Craze (EP.145)
April 15, 2021 04:01 - 47 minutesIf you want to learn about SPACs, look to Daniel Cohen. He has been with the SPAC phenomenon since the beginning and has been a major player in really innovating this space. He even inspired me to launch Social Leverage’s SPAC. In this episode, Daniel helps give some context into how the SPAC craze got to where it is today. Daniel is the Chairman of Cohen & Company and Managing Member of FinTech Masala, two SPAC powerhouses focused on Insurance and FinTech SPACs, president and CEO at FTAC Her...
Jens Hilgers of BITKRAFT Ventures on the Future of Gaming and ESports (EP.144)
April 08, 2021 04:01 - 34 minutesJens Hilgers is a Berlin-based serial gaming entrepreneur. He’s been investing at the center of tech, gaming and esports since the late ‘90s – so he has seen esports journeys to the mainstream and sees where it’s going. Over the years, Jens has racked up a laundry list of titles, including co-founder and former CEO of ESL, co-founder and Chairman of G2 Esports and co-founder and former CEO of Bayes. Most notably, he is the founding general partner of the global early- and mid-stage gaming-foc...
Jason Hirschhorn (Part 2) of REDEF on the Future of New Media and the Creator Economy (EP.143)
April 01, 2021 04:01 - 48 minutesI was excited about having Jason Hirschorn on as last week’s ‘Panic’ guest and am even more excited to bring him back on for round two! I have not met another person who is not just passionate about the media, but is eager and willing to share that knowledge with others. In part one, we covered Jason’s long history at MTV, Slingbox, News Corp and MySpace. In this episode, Jason and I talk about the future of media, the fall of cable, the creator economy, NFTs, newsletters, social media stream...
Jason Hirschhorn (Part 1) of REDEF on Digital Content Creation and Other Media Trends (EP.142)
March 25, 2021 04:01 - 57 minutesIt’s always fun when we can take a break from talking about investing and veer toward other topics, especially when the person we’re talking to is such a legend in the field. So as a media geek, I was excited (and dare I say giddy) to have media extraordinaire Jason Hirschhorn on this episode. Jason has been around the media for a long time, holding previous presidential titles at MTV and MySpace. He’s also sat on some impressive directors and advisory boards, including MGM, Sundance Institut...
Jamie Wise of BUZZ Holdings on Measuring Social Sentiment (EP.141)
March 18, 2021 04:01 - 43 minutesOn this week’s episode, I got the chance to talk with Jamie Wise, a fellow Canadian and the brains behind the hottest ETF on the markets right now. The VanEck Vectors Social Sentiment ETF, trading under $BUZZ, garnered a lot of buzz (pun intended) when it started trading on March 4 thanks in-part to backing from influential Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy. What’s exciting about the BUZZ ETF is that it uses AI to analyze investor sentiment across over 15 million online posts a month. The ...
Sam Jones of OOOOO on His Radical Social Commerce App and the Business of Live Streaming (EP.140)
March 11, 2021 05:01 - 47 minutesThis week’s Panic guest, Sam Jones, called in all the way from Oxford to chat with me. Sam is a good friend, unbelievable entrepreneur, and co-founder of the social commerce app “OOOOO.” I was lucky enough to be a small investor in the company. To put it simply, OOOOO is basically “Only Fans” meets commerce – enabling live entertainment commerce. While Sam started “OOOOO” only about a year ago, it has seen impressive growth and success. The work Sam is doing is fascinating and he thoughtfully...
Jason Wild of JW Asset Management on Why You Should Invest in the Cannabis Industry (EP.139)
March 04, 2021 05:01 - 41 minutesThis episode is a continuation of my quest to learn more about the growing trend toward investing in the cannabis industry. A former podcast guest and industry expert CB1 Capital’s Todd Harrison actually helped me connect with the guest of this week’s episode – Jason Wild. Jason is a former pharmacist turned cannabis investor extraordinaire. He is Chairman of the Board at the Canada-listed cannabis company TerrAscend and President of JW Asset Management. Currently, 70% of his over $2 billion ...
Jason Gardner of Marqeta, Inc. on Making It as a Fintech Entrepreneur (EP.138)
February 25, 2021 05:01 - 38 minutesI had the pleasure of chatting with fintech entrepreneur – and more importantly fellow ASU alum – Jason Gardner on this episode of Panic with Friends. Jason and I were originally introduced through our mutual friend and former Panic guest Ryan Gilbert. While it was fun to reminisce about our time at ASU on this episode, it was even more fun to talk about fintech and Jason’s insights on this booming sector. Jason is at the center of all things fintech. His unicorn company Marqeta, Inc. is “the...
Shopify President Harley Finkelstein on the Future of E-Commerce and Positioning Shopify as the Go-To Platform for Entrepreneurs (EP.137)
February 18, 2021 05:01 - 49 minutesI’ll jump on any opportunity to bring a fellow Jewish Canadian who shares my love of startups and tech on as a podcast guest. So after sliding into Shopify president Harley Finkelstein’s Twitter DMs and a couple calls later, I got to do just that. Harley’s hustle, spirit and overall success story perfectly embody Shopify’s mission. At only 35 years old, Harley is leading a company that has collectively driven more than $40 billion worth of sales and holds the title of “second largest check-ou...
Joanne Wilson of Gotham Gal on How She’s Investing in New York’s Next Big Industries (EP.136)
February 11, 2021 05:01 - 47 minutesJoanne Wilson is a powerhouse. She’s a prolific investor, mom and wife and a champion of female entrepreneurs – not to mention a tough cookie who knows New York better than anyone I know. When she’s not crushing it in the investing world, you can find this self-described “insatiable foodie” cooking over on her Instagram. I met Joanne about 14 years ago when she and her husband/previous Panic guest Fred Wilson invested in my company at the time WallStrip. Joanne’s investing portfolio has grown...
Zach Weinberg of Operator Partners on the Future of Healthcare and BioTech (EP.135)
February 04, 2021 05:01 - 51 minutesI’ve listened to a lot of impressive people on this podcast, but Zach Weinberg truly blew me away. Zach’s made some incredibly smart investing moves in his life, and he’s only 34 years old. He is a grade-A hustler, habitual entrepreneur and prolific angel investor. Zach and his business partner Nat Turner sold their second start-up venture, an advertising technology company called Invite Media, to Google for $81 million in 2010. After taking a turn toward a foray in the healthcare sector, the...
Former GoDaddy CEO Scott Wagner on the Domain Industry and Digital Real Estate (EP.134)
January 28, 2021 05:01 - 43 minutesIn this episode, I chatted with the former CEO of what I deem as one of the most important real estate companies in the world – GoDaddy. That’s right, I’m talking about digital real estate. And who better to talk about this with than former GoDaddy CEO Scott Wagner. Wagner was President and COO of the company for over 4 years before serving as CEO from 2018-2019. With his years of experience in the domain industry comes a font of knowledge and insights he was kind enough to share with us on t...
Bloomberg’s Ted Merz on Financial Journalism and Information Dissemination in the Age of Social Media (EP.133)
January 21, 2021 05:01 - 51 minutesI always love getting to interview people who typically ask the questions. And this episode with guest Ted Merz is no exception. Ted has spent 30 years at Bloomberg, first as a journalist and later overseeing application and product building. Now, he works as their Global Head of News Product. Ted was there at the early days of Bloomberg when financial journalism was at its infancy. It was fascinating getting his perspective on this sector and how it has changed and grown over the years. In t...
Douglas Boneparth of Bone Fide Wealth on How He’s Making Money for (and from) Millennials (EP.132)
January 14, 2021 05:01 - 54 minutesIf our last guest Tiffany Zhong was the Gen Z whisper, then Douglas Boneparth might just be the Millennial version. And he has the titles to prove it, including the newly named millennial voice of CNBC’s Digital Financial Advisor Council. After spending well over a decade in the financial planning industry, Douglas noticed a gap – a Buzzfeed reading, avocado toast eating, Slack using gap. Millennials weren’t getting the same level of thoughtful time and advice as other older players in financ...
Tiffany Zhong, Gen Z Whisperer and Zebra IQ CEO, on the 5 Cs: Creators, Community, Content, Commerce and Culture (EP.131)
January 07, 2021 05:01 - 50 minutesOK boomers, we’re kicking off our first episode of 2021 with Gen Z whisper and Zebra IQ CEO Tiffany Zhong. I’m a big fan of Zebra’s annual Gen Z report and I recommend all my listeners take a look at it too. It’s important to stay in touch with audiences and perspectives other than those similar to you (something Tiffany talks about in this episode). Tiffany’s company Zebra IQ helps brands create communities to understand Gen-Z and Millennial consumers by offering real-time feedback. They’ve ...
Rajat Bhargava of Jump Cloud On the Future of Cloud Companies and His Journey as an Entrepreneur (EP.130)
December 31, 2020 05:01 - 37 minutesRajat has been an entrepreneur for a while now. He started his first company in college with the help of angel investor (and mutual friend/previous Panic guest) Brad Feld. The pair have now launched around eight companies together. Rajat mainly builds and invests in software companies, with his latest venture being Jump Cloud – a cybersecurity startup building a next-generation cloud directory platform. One of the things I love about Rajat’s company is that they foresaw remote work being the ...
Romeo Power’s Lionel Selwood and RMG’s Robert Mancini On the Booming Electric Vehicle Sector (EP.129)
December 28, 2020 05:01 - 38 minutesWell, it finally happened. I bought a Tesla. I fancy myself a trend follower, but I think this is the latest I’ve entered a trend. But this is about more than getting a self-driving car that I can nap in. There has been no hotter sector than that of electric vehicles. And lucky for my listeners, I brought on not one, but two experts – Lionel Selwood and Robert (Bob) Mancini – to talk about this booming sector and the SPAC taking it to another level. Lionel’s energy tech company, which special...
A Special 2020 Year in Review with Stocktwits’ Riley Rosenberger and Thomas Tranfo (EP.128)
December 25, 2020 05:01 - 42 minutesA year ago on my blog, I asked: “Could 2020 be as good as 2019?” From where I’m standing now, that’s going to be a different answer depending on who you ask. So, I called on two pretty cool kids over at Stocktwits to put something together and help us all make some sense as to what exactly happened this infamous year. That’s right, this isn’t just any episode of Panic – it’s a Stocktwits and Panic with Friends pandemic special! In this episode, Stocktwits’ Riley Roseberger and Tommy Tranfo br...
Epsilon Theory Co-Founder and Author Ben Hunt on Finding Your Pack and the ‘Platform’ Narrative (EP.127)
December 21, 2020 05:01 - 43 minutesI’ve had Ben Hunt on the podcast before, but I felt it was time to bring him back on to get his insights on the financial, cultural and political state of our country as of late. When I’m not talking his ear off, Ben is busy writing nonstop for Epsilon Theory, a newsletter and website that examines markets through the lenses of game theory and history. It’s a treat to have smart, thoughtful people like Ben on the podcast. He isn’t trying to spin a narrative, but genuinely wants to inform othe...
Christie Marchese of Storyspaces On the New Theaters and the Future of Gathering for Movies (EP.126)
December 17, 2020 05:01 - 38 minutesIf you have missed going to the movie theater as much as I have during the pandemic, then this is the episode for you. I brought on Christie Marchese in this episode to talk about how her company Storyspaces is helping keep the spirit of the movie-going experience alive. As the founder of Storyspaces, she works to organize both virtual and in-person movie events with new and critically acclaimed films (basically the COVID-world answer to not getting to go to movie theaters). As founder and CE...
Ram Parameswaran of Octahedron Capital On Why Investing should be Simple, Not Easy (EP.125)
December 14, 2020 05:01 - 55 minutesI had the pleasure of having Octahedron Capital founder Ram Parameswaran on this episode of Panic. His firm Octahedron is a crossover fund that invests in the internet economy. Previously, Ram was a partner at the multi-billion dollar firm Altimeter Capital, focusing on public and private tech investments. He also has some big names in his past investments, including a pre-IPO Uber, Google and TikTok parent Bytedance. Ram has been inside the beast and is now applying it to his own markets. He...
Rick Heitzmann of FirstMark Capital Joins Me to Discuss Public & Private Markets, VC Investing and the Anti-Portfolio (EP.124)
December 10, 2020 05:01 - 50 minutesIf anyone can stay calm in the face of panic, it’s Rick. He founded his VC firm FirstMark Capital, which focuses on consumer technologies, during the 2008 recession. Twelve years later, I think it’s fair to say Rick is doing pretty well. He’s invested in a variety of industries, ranging from commerce to gaming to data services to media and sports. His investments include big names like Pinterest, Airbnb, DraftKings and Discord. Rick’s a kind and generous guy who I can always count on to give ...