The Silicon Valley Insider Show with Keith Koo

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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How Blockchain can be used for Censorship Resistance and Voting Rights

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s guest is Douglas Horn, Chief Architect of Telos a decentralized blockchain network and founder of Goodblock a blockchain development company.
Throughout the show Keith and Douglas explain how Telos is an example of a decentralized blockchain network which means that there is no single organization or person that “owns” the blockchain. This is an important distinction because there is growing concern over the term “blockchain” and how the technology is being used since it is known for it’s “immutable” properties. An example of a centralized service would something like Google or Facebook where the company owns the platform and the entire user experience. In a decentralized environment, there is no single control and so the concern over a centralized organization doing things (like censorship) is mitigated. Keith and Douglas also go into detail about how decentralized blockchains are censorship-resistant and how they can be used for secure voting (although both agree that this technology will not beimplemented in time for the upcoming USA elections).
On this week’s Cyber-Tip, Keith talks about the U.S Treasury’s warning to all banks (via FINCEN) that cybercrime related to the pandemic continues to rise and what banks, organizations and individuals need to do keep safe.
On “The Pivot” – Keith and Douglas discuss how blockchain technology can be used to strengthen privacy vs. concerns that the technology can be used to breakdown privacy. Douglas gives several examples including how contract tracing can be done anonymously using Telos.

Securing Your Digital Assets and the Tesla Factory Re-opening

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s two guests are Ruben Merre, CEO of NGRAVE out of Belgium who discusses how to keep your cryptocurrencies secure and Mayor Lily Mei of Fremont, California who discusses the decision to re-open the Tesla factory.
In the first part of the show, Keith and Ruben discuss how there is a resurgence of interest in people learning about cryptocurrency due to concerns over the pandemic and fear of global “money printing”. They go over the concept of centralized vs decentralized platforms and how that is relevant to blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Ruben reviews how to safeguard your digital assets and discusses NGRAVE’s approach to securing these assets such as cryptocurrencies. They also discuss the concept of “true” ownership when it comes to digital identity and digital assets and how you can have 100% certainty of what you truly own.
On this week’s Cyber-Tip, Keith talks about a new security flaw affecting Windows, Apple and Linux machines based on Intel’s Thunderbolt architecture.
The show ends with a special appearance by Mayor Lily Mei who gives an insight into the decision to re-open Tesla factory and how state, county and city officials worked together with Tesla to come up with a solution and how other companies can follow suit.
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Using Binance to Measure Your Donation’s Impact

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s guest is Jarred Winn, Senior Vice President of Charity at Binance, the world’s largest Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange by volume. Jarred discusses his focus on creating strategies for partnerships and philanthropic campaigns using Binance’s charitable giving platform.
At the beginning of the show, Keith and Jarred give a brief review of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, how they function and how to keep digital assets safe. They also discuss the role cryptocurrencies can play in serving charitable giving and philanthropic campaigns and how to measure the impact of those donations. 
Keith discusses how many non-profits are assigned independent ratings on their financial accountability to donors (generally 75% and above is considered an “A+” rating. Jarred mentions how of the $4 million dollars in cryptocurrencies that have been processed thus far via Binance, over 99.5% have gone directly for its intended purpose. Jarred gives examples of how global campaigns giving relief in Australia and Africa have performed and how interested organizations and donors can engage to use their platform.
On this week’s Cyber-Tip, Keith brings to light a renewed focus by bad actors in emailing phishing campaigns specifically targeting corporations that use platforms like Microsoft Office 365 or Google Enterprise.
On this Pivot, Keith and Jarred discuss the future of cryptocurrencies and their potential role in transforming financial accountability.
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Re-Invent Yourself

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo’s guest is serial entrepreneur Tony Lam. From Cisco to Shark Tank, Tony shares with his story from starting off as an I.T. Analyst at Cisco Systems, to his current project Omni Bev a premium ready-to-serve cold brew coffee.
But to really get to know Tony, we must go back to his start at Cisco and how one of his companies made it on to Shark Tank and ended up with an investment from Barbara Corcoran. Tony also about his other businesses and how one of them became the “official” wings of a major sports center. All these experiences set Tony up for his founding role with Omni Bev and how they are bringing premium cold-brew coffee directly to you.
Tony is a great example that it’s never too late to re-invent yourself. Given the uncertainty during these times of COVID-19, Keith shares his thoughts that now is a great to re-assess your personal situation and pivot to another career or business.
On this week’s Cyber-Tip Keith discusses the announcement that Apple and Google are joining forces to share data related to their contact tracing applications to identify and monitory COVD-19. Keith explains what “contact tracing” is and what the short term and long-term implications are.
On this Pivot, Tony Lam shares his top tips for entrepreneurs whether inside or outside of technology.

Pent-Up Ambition

In this episode of Silicon Valley Insider, Keith Koo's special is Jeff Sweeney, CEO of US Capital Global a multibillion-dollar international investment bank headquartered in San Francisco.
In the first segment, Jeff talks recalls how he got his start contemplating life by sailing in isolation in the South Pacific and how that experience relates to his most recent LinkedIn article “Pent-Up Ambition” in the context of what is happening during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the second segment, Keith and Jeff talk about how his pent-up ambition is not only in the context of making money but also the ambition to help others. This feeling of wanting to “get back to work” and “give back to the community”.
In the third segment, Jeff talks about industries that may thrive in a post-pandemic world and some of the portfolio companies that US Capital Global is working with that are trying to solve real-world problems with a community-based solution.
On this week’s Cyber-Tip Keith gives more insight into a strange case in which a cryptocurrency hacker returned all of the $25 million dollars of cryptocurrency they had stolen from an exchange.
On this Pivot, Jeff gives his view on what does a “post-pandemic” world looks like.