Ep. 11
What fascinates Ahna the data storyteller?

How good are you at turning dry data into compelling stories? How diverse is your data - and your team - to begin with? In our latest episode, Bobby has a fascinating conversation with Ahna Girshick – researcher, creator, former innovator at Ancestry, and collaborator with Philip Glass and Bjork. Ahna's unique background paves the way for a deep dive on topics like data storytelling, perceptual biases, ethics in AI, and how COVID drove a more honest dialogue about racial disparities in machine learning. Have a listen. We think the lessons learned can inspire startups, in particular, to handle data in new ways.

Ep. 09
What fascinates Google?

On this episode, Bobby talks with Chanchal Chatterjee who leads a team as a Machine Learning Specialist at Google. This is a great episode for anyone that wants to get a primer on how machine learning is being used, particularly in the Financial Services industry. We cover a lot of different use cases for for Machine Learning in Financial Services including Fraud, Risk and for those that want to really deep dive into ML, model explainability. Google is clearly a thought leader in really applying ML to problems, and this episode covers a lot of Google’s tools in that world, including TensorFlow and covering newer ideas like Auto ML.

Ep. 07
What fascinates Netflix?

On this episode, Bobby talks with Chris Saint- Amant who leads one of the UI Engineering Teams at Netflix. Given Netflix’s tremendous influence on the topic of company culture (Google “Netflix culture deck” for more details), we spend some time digging into that and comparing how culture was encoded at some of the start-ups Chris worked at, as well as during his time at mega brands like Disney and now Netflix. It’s also worth mentioning that Chris, like a lot of successful people I know, did not have a cookie cutter approach to his career. It was far more fascinating than most. As a special easter egg, see if you can spot the Netflix show poster behind the pic of Chris and I. Stick around until the end, and find out what instrument he played on his Nirvana cover band.

Ep. 05
What fascinates WeWork?

On this episode, I talk to Randy Shoup, the VP of Engineering at WeWork. We recorded this episode in WeWork’s new digs in Salesforce tower in San Francisco. In a random coincidence, when I was a kid, other than computers, I had a keen interest in world history, and it turns out Randy and I shared that in common. We cover topics like the fall of the Berlin Wall, and also talk a little bit about the history of Silicon Valley which is always an inspiring refresher course. Randy’s worked at some of the most celebrated companies over the past few decades including Oracle, eBay, Google, Stitch Fix and now WeWork. He discusses the engineering cultures across those companies and what he learned and liked from them. As an interesting trivia point, stick around until the end, and find out what what Randy and Roger Federer have in common.

Ep. 03
What fascinates Invision?

On this episode, I talk to Bjorn Freeman-Benson. Bjorn was most recently the CTO of InVision, which aside from being a breakout hit product, also uses a completely distributed model for it’s 800+ employees. Prior to Invision, Bjorn was the SVP of Engineering at New Relic, where he grew the engineering organization from 3 to 300 engineers through the IPO. Bjorn also spent time at both Microsoft and Amazon, and it’s interesting to hear his take on the engineering cultures at both. Enjoy!

Ep. 01
What fascinates Cloudera?

Recorded at Cloudera's headquarters, here's a fascinating take on a variety of Engineering Leadership topics including: The difference between a VP of Engineering & a CTO; How to measure a VP of Engineering; and an alternative strategy to recruiting engineers in Silicon Valley. Amr is insightful, engaging and entertaining all at once. Listen and you'll see what I mean.