Greg Gretsch: On Founder and Investor Trends from Silicon Valley.

(0:00) Intro.(1:17) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.(2:03) Start of interview.(3:08) Greg's "origin story." (6:53) From the University of Georgia to Apple in Cuppertino.(10:50) The start of his entrepreneurial journey in 1992 with his first company.(13:03) The boom and bust cyclical nature of Silicon Valley. "[M]y father used to say that the stock market has predicted nine of the last three recessions. And, you know, I think in Silicon Valley, the investor and entrepreneurial class has predicted nine of the last three technology waves."(17:24) His first foray with startup boards. The role and influence of Don Lucas, and Bob Frick (former CFO of BoA), on his board.(21:49) On the shifting power dynamics in founder-investor relationships (ascendance of "founder ethos").(29:02) On the differences between private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC). "Control investors"(31:29) His experience as a director of public companies: Responsys, acquired by Oracle (2013), and Upwork (IPO in 2018).(34:57) On equity comp (stock options and RSUs)  in tech companies. *Reference to BG2 podcast episode.(47:35) IPOs, private markets and secondary markets. *You can check out my newsletter #52 on this topic.(54:24) On his investment in Cornershop (acquired by Uber) and Latin America market.(1:00:58) On AI as the next technology platform shift.(1:03:50)  Books that have greatly influenced his life: Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller,  by Ron Chernow (1998)Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (2011)Black Boy, by Richard Wright (1945)(1:05:36) His mentors.(1:07:00) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives her life by: "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."(1:07:47) An unusual habit or absurd thing that he loves.(1:08:28) The living person he most admires.Greg Gretsch is a Founding Partner and Managing Director of Jackson Square Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm that invests in software businesses. You can follow Evan on social media at:X: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License