So there’s crypto as a computing platform, which is how we talk about it a lot internally, but then there’s also the sort of socio-political, perhaps anarchist thread of crypto, and I think the historical example of that was mostly gold. Sonal: And I would add one thing, that I’ve learned from editing written text. And if people do talk about private, or previous conversations, you have to call it, and you have to bring it forward to make it relevant to everybody. Leadership is not just about management, but about passion, a bit of humor, and resilience. Anish: I actually think that those products are fascinating. Matt: So structure is something I spend a lot of time thinking about. So one I learned about over the last few years is called ROSCAs, Rotating Savings and Credit Associations, which are these offline communities, mostly immigrant communities, that are managed by an individual. Matt: Most people think, you know, if I can get the beginning down, then it’ll all follow. But I think that’s another category where when you just stick within one bucket, within the transactional side, it’s really hard to layer social into that. If it gets unruly, your biggest friend is paraphrasing. Is it decision making? And if you don’t have vocal stamina, you’re gonna be in trouble: Your voice is gonna trail off, you’re gonna start speaking fast. . And the reason is, because I’m a shepherd for the audience; energy, which goes to the point about feeling; and light, because I want people to feel enlightened — which I know sounds really mushy-gushy but, those are literally the three words that really ground that I’m collaborating with the audience: It’s not this oppositional, adversarial, dynamic. Another lens is it broadens the solution space a founder can operate within, because now you’re not just on the transactional level or you’re not just on the emotional and cognitive level. Lauren: Are there companies right now that you see making strides in that direction? In terms of sources, so, many of us put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do it right. And then you start another one. Do you not think that that is becoming less so? And you just have to be flexible and say okay, that’s what this is going to be about, or that’s how we’re going to make this conversation move forward. And so I don’t want any rehearsal. The one I always joke about, but works really well: Start at 100 and count backwards by some difficult number. Prosper started out as a much more social product, then became more of a peer-to-peer lending platform. The first is that there’s a very small number of people who are super excited about budgeting and trying every budgeting app, which is why when a lot of these products launch, they get great growth in their first 18 to 24 months. Lauren: Why are they making that transition? This podcast is produced by Andreessen Horowitz (aka “a16z”), a Silicon… Matt: So first and foremost, there’re two different types of types of ground rules: There are behavioral ground rules, that’s what you do, how you act; and then there are content- specific ground rules, what’s acceptable to say and what’s not. What themes do you want to get across as part of this communication? It features industry experts, business leaders, and … So I got rid of “I like” and the next one was, “got it”. I spend a lot of my life helping people become more comfortable and confident speaking; I’ve written a book Speaking Up without Freaking Out on the topic — and it’s something that I think is so critical, because I know we miss valuable input, voices, and ideas because people are just too afraid to share them. But the proof point of actually investing in something versus just frequenting something is very different. And so then you can look at these things and say, “Oh here’s this crazy emergent behavior that’s happening. Related Stories. Across the spectrum you see sharing on social of financial stuff going up. for even. And that’s what we strive for in our nonverbal presence: You follow some foundational principles, and then you adapt them to who you are and your experience. Anish: I think if you just look at the most narrow lens, from a core business perspective— stickiness, cross-sell, acquisition—all of these things that are super hard problems for most fintech companies become dramatically easier if there’s a strong social layer. And it’s — the kind ofs, sort ofs, I thinks creeps into everybody’s language — I hear it more and more across everybody I work with. ‎The a16z Podcast discusses tech and culture trends, news, and the future – especially as ‘software eats the world’. So I think that’s another version where this idea of social plus fintech is taking off. by Chris Dixon. D’Arcy: I think social and finance is like the holy grail, right? And as you note, one of the ways to do that is to record yourself and hear yourself. And I think that’s been a really successful strategy for them. You’d link your credit card and every time you swiped it, it tweeted. That’s very provocative. Sonal: It is not easy, and it’s something that I also constantly learn and evolve…. So when you’re in that little box — whatever the tool is you’re using, we’re all in our little Hollywood Squares-, Brady-Bunch boxes — you want to pull your scapula, your shoulder blades down, away from your neck. Lauren: Right. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Anish: Fair. And, I think that’s a great way to look at it, is: you have a destination; your job is to get there; there are multiple paths to get you there — as a moderator you have to decide, do we take the most direct route, are we going to take some more scenic routes to get there; but you’re really driving towards that goal. And then again, broader than your shoulder — we want to avoid any gestures that are in front of our chest for too long, because it makes you look tight and nervous. So that linking/ bridging/ connecting matters, a lot. So I’d like systematically try to work on not saying them. And, I hope this is a helpful resource. And then you have a transactional layer, which is whatever your actual financial transaction is. So, in all those tricky situations, again, pre-work matters; anything you can do to set yourself up for success: Talking to people in advance, so you set their expectations; giving some ground rules for what you expect. I like that as an analogy for planning interactions: Having some structure, some tools, some idea of content, direction, etc. One of the interesting and challenging things about like social plus fintech is that so much of it is driven by norms. I was just checking Instagram right now, and there’s 675,000 posts for #debtfreejourney. Lauren: And that’s driven by historical changes, that’s driven by the financial crisis. Many of us are worried about a potential negative future outcome. Another way to think about it is: when you’re building something in social plus finance you have an interaction layer and you have a transaction layer. Coronavirus Resources & Readings. People can come in with declarative statements that can be seen as, as offensive and really make people defensive. This podcast is produced by Andreessen Horowitz (aka “a16z”), a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. If I were to say, “Sonal, I kind of think we should do this” versus “we should do this”, it just sounds very different. And the interaction layer is built around the emotional and cognitive pieces—that is content creation, that is messaging, that is all these social things that we see pop up—they appeal to these cognitive and emotional levers. Stream a16z Podcast: All About Microservices by a16z from desktop or your mobile device. And now we’re seeing the next generation, not just in fintech, but in consumer products that think more about the cognitive and emotional. So, you need to think about that up front. I like endings that express gratitude, and then, have a quick wrap up. And you get to pick the level of relevance here — it could be to the individual you’re talking to, could be a group, could be a company, it could be society in general. The a16z Podcast discusses tech and culture trends, news, and the future -- especially as ‘software eats the world’. D’Arcy: I think the thing you will likely see is that social plus fintech products will actually come much more from the consumer side of things. And certainly there’re times that you have to drive the conversation to a particular point; but a lot of the time, we can just see what happens organically and move with it, within the structure and confines of what we’re talking about. So I really see it as addressing a different consumer need than Schwab is addressing, and it’s really not threatened as much by players like Schwab. And, similarly, you want to know if there’s like a lake that you don’t want to drive into by accident like, hey we may want to avoid that traffic jam. But you’re right, there’s a functional aspect of hedging against things that may go badly wrong in the future, and then there’s the cognitive-emotional and sociopolitical, to your point, Lauren. Because money is so private, people are less likely to send invites to each other and bootstrap a social product in the way that you would bootstrap other social products. And that’s how we actually start to see this achieve scale. Moderate. D’Arcy: Crypto’s fascinating because it’s a subculture that has a totally different relationship with transparency and anonymity and all of these different dimensions. Matt: Yah it gives you the opportunity to reassert your control in the politest way possible. Lauren: Can you give me some examples of particular products in which you’ve seen this magic happen? Taking deep breaths to help calm yourself down has been known for millennia. You look at like Wealthfront. And it’s funny, because my three words are: “energy, light, and shepherd”. And then “the now what” is the next step, what comes next? The content speaks only as of the date indicated. And this structure really helps do that. Anish: It is interesting, you know, if you think about crypto. I think the biggest opportunity comes from finding the emergent behavior within niche groups at the social level, at the community level, and then figuring out how fintech or a transaction layers into or on top of that. Lessons from the PC Video Game Industry. In this episode of the a16z Podcast, Matt Abrahams — lecturer at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (where he also has a podcast, “Think Fast Talk Smart”); principal and co-founder of Bold Echo (a company that helps people with presentation and communication skills); and author of Speaking Up Without Freaking Out — shares frameworks and best practices, in conversation with Sonal Chokshi. I really think the ability to paraphrase is THE most essential tool a facilitator needs to have in his or her back pocket. Matt: It does! So I think at least in the early days, they’ve had a lot of success combining the two. So on the one hand, you actually have a piece of equity, a share in something that is theoretically valuable because it’s a hard asset that has value. There might be power dynamics at play: It may be the case that somebody is acting the way they’re acting, because they have additional information that they can’t share. The magic in social plus finance happens when the transactional piece and the interactive piece are mutually reinforcing. However: I had one person a few years ago say, “Oh I love being a naive questioner.” And I’m like, Oh, no no no no; you’re not a naive questioner, because that is also bad; like, don’t make that mistake. Sign up to the a16z newsletter to learn about the tech trends reshaping our world and the people behind them. And I don’t mean moderate in life, like “everything in moderation”; I mean it in the sense of moderating when you’re speaking — whether managing or participating in a meeting, presenting a talk, speaking on a panel or live discussion, even doing a podcast, and more. Original audio files can be found on Producing the transcripts subreddit during the original release period of the podcast are based on the Serial Podcast produced by This American Life and WBEZ There are also more offline examples than we’re all typically aware of. Send in a picture, get a list of objects in that picture; send in a sentence, and get the emotional tilt of that sentence, or get the sentence back in another language. Is it that I’m feeling soo intensely evaluated? And, having just key topics that you want to address can work very well for many people. That was SO useful. Sonal: So, what’s the difference then between sort of planned meetings — like presentations and panels — versus spontaneous, more organic sessions. And it’s SO tempting to look at notes or to look at the faces on the screen, but you need to look at the *camera* so that people feel like you’re connecting TO them, talking TO them, and including them. And I know this is a piece of advice that you probably also have given. You’re probably not going to get your money back and there’s no liquidity. My students are afraid that they’re not going to get a good grade. So taking a deep breath before; working on your vocal stamina (way in advance of ever doing a communication event); and monitoring and managing your gesture rate can all help you breathe more evenly and less rapidly. The a16z Podcast discusses tech and culture trends, news, and the future – especially as ‘software eats the world’. Lauren: So you’re saying there are these subgroups, little niche categories, but it’s difficult to build a business around them until they reach that tipping point. That way you can support your voice — and therefore your ideas — as you speak. Multiple episodes are … There are a bunch of pockets. a16z Podcast: Online Learning and the Ed Tech Debate. But from an emotional/cognitive side it can be really, really rewarding. Past performance is not indicative of future results. 00:33:19 - The rise of developers -- as buyers, as influencers, as a creative class -- is a direct result of "software eating the world", and of key shifts in … The goal of the game, of course, is to only spend money on things that make you feel good, which is kind of interesting. by Sonal Chokshi, Martin Casado, and Peter Levine. SoFi, which is really in the business of refinancing mispriced student debt, built this whole community of HENRYs—High Earning Not Rich Yet. Other times (what I recommend people do) is take a picture of people you know, or maybe even a pet you own, and put it right behind the camera — we as humans are wired to look at living things, so put a picture right behind it — and that will help you remember to look and connect to it. So I actually think we’re pretty far ahead right now. The conversation touches on themes from David’s recent talk on products that adopt developer tools, like the command palette and keyboard shortcuts, to improve usability, and Rahul’s talk on how to … I actually cut people off when we do this, in the first five minutes, where I’m like “No no no no no — save that for the actual discussion. So I am a huge fan — a huge fan — of structure. Is it a prep call? Sonal: This goes to me to how I think about prep docs, ‘cuz while I don’t stockpile questions in advance, I do have like a quick-list of topics that I want to make sure to hit. Like, I’m going to have a panic attack or something. Bedste Podcasts Anbefalet af os. There’s research that shows it activates areas of our brain regarding self-awareness, that we typically don’t have active when we’re communicating — and it drains cognitive resources. So, when you’re in the box: Pull those shoulder blades down, broaden the shoulders, hold your head straight; really important. What’s your goal — and to me a goal is very specific, a goal is about *information, *emotion, and *action: *What do you want people to know; *how do you want them to feel; *what do you want them to do? And this is really relevant to communities: like, let’s say you have a club; or, a group of people in the workplace, a team, a department, a meeting, a project — that idea of connecting, I agree, is critical. So, we are in a position now where nonverbal presence — both in vocalics, what you do with your voice and what you do with your face etc. And I just remembered in this conversation, like oh my god, I think I got that from you, when you were helping me prep for a live panel years ago. This podcast — a hallway style conversation between Ali Ghodsi, CEO and founder of Databricks, and a16z general partner Martin Casado — explores the evolution of data architectures, including some quick history, where they’re going, and a surprising use case for streaming data, as well as Ali’s take on how he’d architect the picks and shovels that handle … You see it on Twitter, you see it on Facebook, you see it in blogs. If you feel that the thing that is most important is to convey those feelings, as part of the interactions you’re facilitating, then the question and challenge for you becomes, what do you do in preparation of the participants — during the interaction and even after — to really bring those emotions, those feelings to life? Just at a very high level like, you know you’ve done sessions with me and some of the team on how to manage like at a live event — if you have someone on your panel who’s kind of going in a different tangent; or, you have a spontaneous questioner who comes up and kind of throws a different vibe into the dynamic. And for most of our lives, we really haven’t thought about that. Some concrete things that people can just do out the door, right away. And you can bridge and link back through questioning, “How does that link to our goal”; you can do it directly by saying, “That links to our goal in these ways”; or you can ask somebody else, you could say “Okay Sonal, now how do you think that helps us achieve the goal that we’re striving for?”. They did a ton of parties and events and made it feel special to be a SoFi member. Sonal: Oh you’re absolutely right. D’Arcy: I think another category that has not worked super well is products that are designed to be social, but only transactional. But it’s happening inch by inch and category by category. And so the question I have for you along these lines, is — we’ve talked already about how to deal with like navigating tricky panelists, navigating tricky audience members — what have if actually want to proactively, offensively engage a tricky conversation, socially, oftentimes with strangers. Matt: Right and the key word you said there is “connect” — and that’s really what a good facilitator and moderator does; it’s all about connecting. Then, yes, we’re sharing more of our lives in general. And I would much prefer that you start with something provocative, intriguing, interesting — and then say who you are and what you’re going to cover. Sonal: Great. For people who are more comfortable, more extroverted, it might be better to have less of those guidewires. And it’s not just because it’s a pain to keep a budget, it’s because it’s mostly bad news. Three of the core functions are bragging, complaining, and rubbernecking. Now everybody has to find what’s comfortable to them; you know I always give the analogy, we could ask every one of your listeners to show how they swing a baseball bat, a tennis racquet, a golf club — how they look for each person is going to be slightly different because of their build, their experience, their injuries. A16z is one of the most popular podcasts about technology. What information do I want at the beginning? Multiple episodes are released every … And I don’t mean that in only a mushy-gushy way like “Oh I want people to feel good.” But I want people to come out of a conversation feeling smarter, and feeling empowered, or more knowledgeable, or that anything is possible, or that they can find a way that’s relevant to them. There’s been a ton of talk about how Robinhood is doomed because others have cut fees and adopted their business model. And that’s very different than when you are actually in the role of moderating. They feel bad about it, they feel like it reflects poorly on them. And god, as an podcast editor, what’s really fascinating to me is how most of the time, people are off in their cadence, like it’s misaligned. So the other key thing that I’ve noticed in these kinds of dynamics when you have parasocial and social mixed — you know strangers and familiars — is intent matters. 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