The Big Interview

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Art by Matt Vascellaro.
The Big Interview

Salesforce’s Developer Strategy: Target the Non-Coders

By Steve Nellis · May 3, 2016 10:01am PDT
Salesforce.com’s new platform chief, Adam Seligman, has a novel idea. He wants to turn 100 million business analysts and digital marketing executives into “developers” who’ll use Salesforce’s app-building tools.The technology he’s pitching is called Lightning, a part of Salesforce’s Force.com service.... Salesforce.com’s new platform chief, Adam Seligman, has a novel idea. He wants to turn 100...
AppNexus CEO Brian O"Kelley. Photo by AP.
The Big Interview

AppNexus Tries to Bite at Google’s Heels

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 31, 2016 7:02am PDT
In the nine years since he founded ad-tech firm AppNexus, CEO Brian O’Kelley has established a reputation for blustery public pronouncements against the power wielded by digital ad-selling giants like Google. But until recently AppNexus didn’t have the weaponry in the form of digital ad selling software systems to be competitive with... In the nine years since he founded ad-tech firm AppNexus, CEO Brian O’Kelley has...
Wang Xiang. Art by Matt Vascellaro.
The Big Interview

Xiaomi’s New IP Guy

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 29, 2016 7:01am PDT
BEIJING—There’s no shortage of questions hanging over Xiaomi, one of the most highly valued—and in my opinion, one of the most ambitious—private companies on the planet. After vaulting to a leading position in the Chinese smartphone market, can it maintain its momentum as the country’s growth slows? Can it make... BEIJING—There’s no shortage of questions hanging over Xiaomi, one of the most highly...
Marc Maron, left, and Brendan McDonald. Photo by Sarah Cain.
Marc Maron on Media, Louis C.K. and Podcasting’s Future
By Tom Dotan · Mar 10, 2016 7:00am PST · 2 comments
Marc Maron, left, and Brendan McDonald. Photo by Sarah Cain.
The Big Interview

Marc Maron on Media, Louis C.K. and Podcasting’s Future

By Tom Dotan · Mar 10, 2016 7:00am PST · 2 comments
Like a Silicon Valley startup, comedian Marc Maron built his WTF podcast in the garage of his Highland Park, Calif. home. But unlike startups that have moved from scrappy beginnings into shinier digs, that garage is where he’s remained.What has scaled in the show’s six years, though, is the audience and the business model. Mr. Maron,... Like a Silicon Valley startup, comedian Marc Maron built his WTF podcast in the garage of his...
InsideSales CEO Dave Elkington. Photo by InsideSales.
The Big Interview

The Science of the Cold Call

By Steve Nellis · Mar 3, 2016 10:02am PST
When Dave Elkington started InsideSales.com in 2004, he broke one of the cardinal rules of then-nascent cloud sales software. To persuade businesses to put their precious customer records in remote servers, pioneers like Salesforce.com had promised to never, ever look at the data. InsideSales took the opposite approach, saying it wanted not just... When Dave Elkington started InsideSales.com in 2004, he broke one of the cardinal rules of...
Scott Guthrie. Photo by Steve Nellis.
The Big Interview

The Secret of Microsoft’s Cloud Turnaround

By Steve Nellis · Feb 23, 2016 7:01am PST · 2 comments
When Scott Guthrie used to attend Windows developer conferences, he sometimes found it hard to move around. Clad in his signature red polo shirt, the Microsoft executive was often trailed by developers wanting a word. He’s even been followed into the bathroom by eager coders. In other words, his work on tools used by independent software... When Scott Guthrie used to attend Windows developer conferences, he sometimes found it hard to...
Ted Livingston, Kik’s co-founder and CEO. Art by Matt Vascellaro.
The Big Interview

Kik and the Coming Bot ‘Gold Rush’

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 10, 2016 10:30am PST · 5 comments
Eighteen months ago, teen-centric messaging app Kik partnered with companies like Vans and Comedy Central so that they could pay to blast out promotions about products or videos. It was Kik’s early foray into bots, as brands could ask questions or send canned responses depending on what keywords people used in messages.The idea flopped,... Eighteen months ago, teen-centric messaging app Kik partnered with companies like Vans and Comedy...
Chartbeat CEO Tony Haile. Photo by AP.
How Banner Ads Can Work
By Tom Dotan · Jan 21, 2016 11:43am PST · 2 comments
Chartbeat CEO Tony Haile. Photo by AP.
The Big Interview

How Banner Ads Can Work

By Tom Dotan · Jan 21, 2016 11:43am PST · 2 comments
Chartbeat CEO Tony Haile sees the current plight of banner advertising in literally apocalyptic terms. This type of advertising is under assault by what he describes as the four horseman of the apocalypse. There’s Famine: viewability, where sometimes half of a site’s inventory can be unusable because it never gets seen. Pestilence:... Chartbeat CEO Tony Haile sees the current plight of banner advertising in literally apocalyptic...
NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson. Photo by NetSuite.
The Big Interview

NetSuite’s Day in Spotlight is Coming

By Steve Nellis · Jan 12, 2016 8:02pm PST · 6 comments
NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson has an audacious argument to explain why his cloud software company is one-seventh the size of Salesforce in market capitalization—$6.7 billion to $48 billion—despite the two companies having launched around the same time in the late 1990s. In a nutshell, Salesforce took the easier route to building a cloud... NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson has an audacious argument to explain why his cloud software company is...
McKesson Ventures managing partner Tom Rodgers. Photo by McKesson.
The Big Interview

A Health Care Giant’s Plan to Outlast Venture Capital

By Steve Nellis · Jan 5, 2016 11:51am PST · 1 comment
To date, there hasn’t been a huge string of hits from Silicon Valley’s top venture firms in digital health. That’s partly because the typical venture capitalist has a five to 10 year investing time horizon. But getting new technology adopted in places like hospitals requires thousands upon thousands of employees to change their... To date, there hasn’t been a huge string of hits from Silicon Valley’s top venture...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
The Big Interview

AOL’s Armstrong Plans a Busy 2016

By Martin Peers · Dec 29, 2015 7:01am PST
You might think AOL chief Tim Armstrong would take a breath after what’s been a frenetic year. AOL became part of Verizon, struck a big ad deal with Microsoft and bought mobile ad firm Millennial Media. Yet Mr. Armstrong, who stayed on to continue running AOL as well as overseeing Verizon’s digital media services business,... You might think AOL chief Tim Armstrong would take a breath after what’s been a frenetic...
Chris Altchek, left, and Jake Horowitz, right. Art by Matt Vascellaro.
Is Mic for Real?
By Tom Dotan · Nov 25, 2015 7:00am PST
Chris Altchek, left, and Jake Horowitz, right. Art by Matt Vascellaro.
The Big Interview

Is Mic for Real?

By Tom Dotan · Nov 25, 2015 7:00am PST
In the ever-growing crowd of news sites trying to win over young audiences, Mic thinks it can stand out with an appealingly simple premise: focus on college educated readers and present them only with serious news.The packaging of the site—with big graphics and catchy headlines—may look familiar to competitors like Fusion, Mashable... In the ever-growing crowd of news sites trying to win over young audiences, Mic thinks it can...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
The Big Interview

How Motorola Plans to Survive

By Amir Efrati · Oct 5, 2015 7:06am PDT
The Great Android Smartphone War is taking its toll on everyone. Rick Osterloh, the chief of Motorola Mobility, now part of Lenovo, hopes to carve out a niche in part by focusing on hardware advancements that he says the market badly needs.“The form factor hasn’t changed in a while so that has got to change,” he says. Phones,... The Great Android Smartphone War is taking its toll on everyone. Rick Osterloh, the chief of...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
The Big Interview

Okta Goes Head to Head with Microsoft

By Steve Nellis · Sep 30, 2015 7:06am PDT
You might think that with heavyweights like Microsoft, Salesforce and VMware gunning for its business, a startup like Okta would be playing defense. Instead CEO Todd McKinnon says his main concern is maintaining the IT security company’s ample gross margins and spending discipline.Okta (pronounced “ahk-tuh”) helps big companies... You might think that with heavyweights like Microsoft, Salesforce and VMware gunning for its...
EU Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli. Art by Matt Vascellaro, based on a photo by AP.
The Big Interview

EU’s Privacy Monitor Visits U.S. Tech “In Peace”

By Reed Albergotti · Sep 23, 2015 7:08am PDT · 1 comment
After meetings in Silicon Valley last week, the European Union official responsible for monitoring what it sees as the privacy threat posed by new technologies declared that he had encountered “illuminated people and bad guys.”Giovanni Buttarelli, the European Union’s Data Protection Supervisor, was in town as part of his... After meetings in Silicon Valley last week, the European Union official responsible for...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
Slack’s Enterprise Playbook
By Steve Nellis · Aug 24, 2015 7:06am PDT
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
The Big Interview

Slack’s Enterprise Playbook

By Steve Nellis · Aug 24, 2015 7:06am PDT
Slack’s strategy for expanding in the business market is simple: focus on tiny firms.“My favorite customer is the five person graphic design team in Omaha that pulls out the credit card and then never contacts us,” said Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield in an interview with The Information. “There are hundreds of thousands of... Slack’s strategy for expanding in the business market is simple: focus on tiny firms....
Photo by Amir Efrati. Art by Matt Vascellaro.
The Big Interview

Pinterest’s Revenue Man Tries to Bring Ad Plan into Focus

By Amir Efrati · Aug 5, 2015 11:03am PDT
Every work day, Tim Kendall, Pinterest’s head of monetization, dons a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Focus.” He started wearing it at the beginning of last year when he was still the company’s “head of product”—a misnomer, given that CEO Ben Silbermann effectively ran product—and wanted to inspire colleagues and himself. He said he’d continue... Every work day, Tim Kendall, Pinterest’s head of monetization, dons a T-shirt emblazoned with the...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
The Big Interview

Sebastian Thrun’s Big Business Model Shift

By Steve Nellis · Jul 29, 2015 10:47am PDT · 2 comments
Over the past few years, investors have dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into online education, and now companies like Coursera, Udemy and edX are searching for profitable long-term business models. That’s led Udacity founder Sebastian Thrun to abandon his initial approach of charging for videos and to instead charge for degrees in... Over the past few years, investors have dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into online...