[on Uber’s Early Organizational Structure] “Uber always thought about it as a twin-turbine plane: maybe for a short period of time, you could operate on one engine. But if you want to operate at full efficiency, you need both engines working in tandem and working effectively together.” Brian Tolkin, (@briantolkin)
We’re super excited to be joined by Brian Tolkin, one of Uber’s first ~100 employees who built their “Product Ops” organization and then went on to lead Product Management for UberPOOL and all shared rides on the platform. We dive into the nitty gritty of how Uber built their “twin turbine” engine of decentralized real-world Ops and centralized Tech Product, and how the organization evolved as it scaled. We also cover Brian’s new role at OpenDoor and the tight ops + product coupling they’re building now in real estate.
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Links from the Show:
Stanford Venture Capital Club
Ben Evans: The End of the Beginning (video)
Lyft IPO (Acquired)
Pre-Meeting Narrative Example
OpenDoor.com
Kindergarten Ventures’ Vanta investment, and building a new Strategy for Venture (with Thomas McGannon)
Reinsurance, Climate + Kindergarten Ventures (with Nat Manning)
The 2022 State of Crypto + Web3 with Solana's Austin Federa
Dissecting ProfitWell's Acquisition (with Patrick Campbell)
David Interviewed on "Unlimited Partners"
Travel for the Creator Economy
Reverse Interview: Ben and David at Vanta
Composer (with CEO Benjamin Rollert)
TradFi vs. Crypto, Explaining BNPL, and What's Next in Fintech (with Bain Capital Ventures' Christina Melas-Kyriazi)
Ben and David on "Capital Allocators"
10-K Diver: Building a Top Fintwit Account and Teaching Finance Principles to Everyone (Pseudonymously!)
NZS Capital Part II: What’s Going on in Today’s Markets? (Plus more Semiconductors!)
Race Capital, Crypto Investing, and FTX + Solana’s Early Days
Italic & a New Era of Online Retail
2021 Recap: Acquired x Not Boring x The Generalist
Mission-Driven Founders, Global Investing, and Canva (with Wesley Chan)
Blue Origin and the 2021 Space Landscape (with Rob Meyerson)
Ben and David on "This Week in Startups" Holiday Special
Joseph Gordon-Levitt: A Fireside Chat
Update on Dad Life, MacBook Pros, and Acquired Video
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