2020-06

Chief Mentor of Next-Gen Leaders, Jason Ma

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s special guest is Chief Mentor of Next-Gen Leaders, Jason Ma. As the founder and CEO of ThreeEQ, and acclaimed author of “Young Leaders 3.0”, Jason is a globally recognized coach and mentor of Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z clients, including C-suite executives and high-potential candidates in their careers and academic life.
Since 2014, Jason has served as Silicon Valley’s leading member of the Business 20 (B20) Future of Work and Education Taskforce. Through the G20 Presidencies in Australia, Turkey, China, Germany, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia in 2020, Jason is one of only a few hundred notable business leaders worldwide handpicked to be B20 members. As the G20’s business advisory council, the B20 is the official voice of the private sector and recommends policies to the G20 Heads of State and governments, representing the global business community across all G20 economies. (The G20 represents over 80% of the global nominal GDP of nearly US$90 trillion and ⅔ of the worldwide population of 7.8 billion people.) 
It is Jason’s diverse background and in-depth know-how in (tech) business, education, and mentoring on a global stage that gives him a unique perspective on how to mentor and coach his clients in navigating and succeeding at next levels in the “New Normal”. Throughout the show, Jason shares his deep insights into what is on the mind of leaders and the tools that they need to develop to be an effective business leader, academic, or student. You definitely don’t want to miss Jason’s facts and figures.
(On this week’s Cyber-Tip, Keith emphasizes the importance of staying vigilant when you are engaging in Telehealth. Cyber attacks continue to increase and Telehealth is a major target for nefarious groups. Keith also discusses how law enforcement agencies in particular are being subjected to many more attacks due to current events.)
In “The Pivot”, Jason gives a “call to action” on how to raise your and your children’s “delta” early on and achieve more in life. He enlightens us on what college admissions “myopia” means and that even many alumni from and students at Ivy League and other top schools still have not reached their full potential. He gives great advice on how to adapt, win, and grow in an atmosphere of persistent “hyper-competition”.
 

Navigating the Digital New Normal

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s special guest is Guillermo Diaz, CEO of Kloudspot and former CIO of Cisco Systems, Inc.
In the first part of the show, Keith and Guillermo reminisce about their time working closely together at Cisco Systems and the lessons the learned in leadership throughout their careers and how that has shaped the work they do to empower underserved communities. Guillermo has dedicated much of his life to mentoring through organizations like HITEC an organization dedicated to building up future technology leaders. Keith shares about his volunteer work leading industry relationships for the California Governor’s Cyber Taskforce on Workforce Development and Education and IT IACA to address the shortage of skilled technology talent by creating apprenticeships.
Guillermo tells his story of growing up in very humble beginnings in Pueblo, CO, and joining the Navy which led to his career in technology and ultimately being the top IT executive for at one of the world’s most elite technology companies to being the CEO of Kloudspot.
Kloudspot is a Situational Awareness Platform that provides actionable insights to enable compelling digital experiences and safety measures for employees and customers. You can check out their website and how to begin navigating The Digital New Normal.
https://kloudspot.com
On the Pivot, Guillermo the “Digital New Normal” and how the future of work will look and how technologies like Kloudspot will continue to help companies and their constituents improve their environment and their surroundings.
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Safer Crypto with Miko Matsumura

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s special guest is Miko Matsumura, General Partner of Gumi Ventures and founder of U.S. based virtual currency exchange Evercoin.
Miko shares how his passion for open-source software began as a Java evangelist for SUN Microsystem and how that passion led to Miko to embrace the decentralized world of Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem as they are fundamentally built on top of open-source standards so that he is now widely known as a blockchain and cryptocurrency evangelist.
Miko and Keith also discuss how blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption has still not yet hit the mainstream and that is in part due to the fear, uncertainty, and doubt associated with many stories related to safety and security of these digital assets. Miko started a website called www.safercrypto.org to address this need and gives brief descriptions of some of the tools available for people to keep themselves safe.
Miko and Keith also discuss the economic effects of “money-printing” and why people consider cryptocurrency as a hedge.
On this week’s Cyber-Tip, Keith gives a warning on the rise of phishing based cyber-attacks under cover of “contact tracing”.

Flip Critts Kickstarter & Prototyping with Guardian Insight Group

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s guest is 11-year-old inventor Carter Waugh, a 2018 innovation award winner who talks about how he started Flip Critts critts.com. 
Carter shares his passion for outdoor adventuring and how he got his inspiration to start his shoe company because he was not satisfied with the current shoe design. He also goes into detail about his 3-year journey from concept to product leading up to his Kickstarter campaign which starts on June 9th, 2020. Keith and Carter discuss the importance for startup founders to have the right team of advisors and employees to make a really great product.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/critts/flip-critts
In the second half of the show, Keith is joined with Ed Yeh, CTO of Guardian Insight Group to discuss how startups can leverage the best practices that Carter followed to get his company off the ground and emphasize the importance of starting with a concept and prototype which will save you time and money. Keith and Ed also talk about how although we live in uncertain times, there has never been a better time to explore starting your own business due to the low cost of entry into technology. Some of the best-known companies have started off during a recession or depression. 

Startup Survival Advice from Zoom’s First Investor

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s guest is 4-time unicorn angel investor Dan Scheinman. Dan ran corporate development for Cisco Systems before becoming a private investor using his own capital to fund unicorns such as Arista Networks, SentinelOne, CyCognito, and of course, Zoom.
In the early part of the show, Dan and Keith reminisce about their Cisco days when Dan was general counsel and then ran Corporate Development (Mergers & Acquisitions, Strategic Alliances, Investments) and Keith was working on M&A Integration and technology deals for what at the time was the most valuable company in the world.
Dan also shares what it has been like for Zoom since writing Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom his first “check” to be the most successful IPO of 2019 and how the company is now addressing security concerns related to their rapid growth. Dan also gives the backstory on the question – why didn’t Cisco – Webex build Zoom when Eric was still a senior engineer there?
On this week’s Cyber-Tip gives a deeper dive on what “Contact Tracing” is and how it works considering Apple and Google’s announcement that they are partnering to share their contact tracing databases.
Later in the show, Dan discusses the 2020 Major League Baseball Season (Dan is a minority owner in the San Francisco Giants) and gives great advice to startups on how to survive and thrive during the pandemic including how to set the right expectations with their potential investors.
On the Pivot, Dan talks about being a “Technology Optimist” about the future and what technologies and industries he thinks will grow in a post-pandemic world. Find out why Dan thinks this might actually be the best time to find the right opportunity to invest.
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