Giant Ideas

After more than 50 episodes interviewing founders, investors and leaders, Giant co-founders Tommy Stadlen and Cameron McLain turn the mic on themselves to ask what the best entrepreneurs have in common. From resilience, storytelling, obsession and self-awareness, to the power of control. They speak about: Cameron's four founder traits, and why three out of four is the barWhy Tommy added control to his list (and what Alex Ferguson has to do with it)Producing under fire vs simply enduringThe c...

Today, we're joined by Steve Case, the co-founder of AOL, to talk about what the first internet boom can tell us about this one. Steve started AOL in 1985, when 3% of people were online. He took it public in 1992 as the first internet company to list, and now runs Revolution, the firm behind Rise of the Rest and more than 200 investments across 100 American cities. Cameron McLain talks to Steve about why AOL raised just $10 million over seven years (while today's AI companies are seede...

Today, we're joined by Eric Ries, the author of The Lean Startup and the founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange. Eric wrote the book that taught a generation of founders how to build under uncertainty, and he has spent the years since trying to fix what happens to those companies once they grow. His new book, Incorruptible, is about a double mystery: why successful companies so often get ruined, and why a handful avoid that fate. Tommy Stadlen and Cameron McLain talk to Eric about why he t...

Today, we're back with Michael Moritz, the Sequoia investor who backed Google, Yahoo and PayPal, to talk about his family and his latest book. Moritz has written a memoir, Ausländer, out in the US this month. It began with papers found when they cleared out their mother's house in Wales, and grew into an account of how his grandparents were murdered and how his father got out during the Nazi Regime. We talk to him about what he found in the archives, why he thinks a stable society is a much m...

Today, we're joined by Michael Moritz, the former chairman of Sequoia Capital, one of the most successful venture capitalists of all time. Michael Moritz is a venture capitalist and philanthropist renowned for backing early tech giants like Google, PayPal, and YouTube during his 38-year career, first as Partner then Chairman of the firm. Cameron McLain and Tommy Stadlen talk to Michael about why he thinks the first 16 years of a founder's life tell you more than you can find anywhere is...