Épisodes

  • Palo Alto Networks’ Nikesh Arora: Why Context Switching is a CEO’s Most Critical Superpower

    Palo Alto Networks’ Nikesh Arora: Why Context Switching is a CEO’s Most Critical Superpower
    Jan 8 2026
    Nikesh Arora is one of the most fascinating CEOs in tech. He didn’t come up through cybersecurity. He wasn’t a founder. And when he took over Palo Alto Networks, he openly admits he didn’t know what cybersecurity even meant. Today, under his leadership, Palo Alto has become one of the most successful platform companies in enterprise software. In this episode, Nikesh and I go deep on what it actually means to be a modern CEO. We talk about why founders should sometimes not listen to customers, why most M&A fails, and how Palo Alto built a multi-platform business by betting big (and early) on second acts. Nikesh breaks down his very unconventional approach to acquisitions, where founders run the acquiring company’s teams, not the other way around. He explains how platform companies are built one decisive product insight at a time, why “more features” is often a trap, and how great CEOs balance product obsession with go-to-market reality. We also spend time on leadership psychology: imposter syndrome, conviction, risk appetite, and how to project confidence while you’re still figuring things out, and how to remain physically and emotionally healthy while you do it. If you’re a founder, an operator, or an aspiring CEO thinking about second acts, platforms, or scaling yourself along with your company, this episode is a masterclass.
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    1 h et 5 min
  • Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon: What Startup Founders Get Wrong About the CEO Job

    Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon: What Startup Founders Get Wrong About the CEO Job
    Dec 18 2025
    David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, says that no easy decisions reach the CEO’s desk - only “51/49” decisions. When I was leading HubSpot, I described the job as “choosing between two shitty options.” David discusses some of the tough calls he’s had to make in the CEO seat, including the difficult decision to wind down Goldman's consumer banking ambitions. His perspective coming from a 156-year old banking giant is a little different than the common Silicon Valley wisdom. Hear why he thinks experience is vastly underrated in Silicon Valley, why "smart enough" matters more than being the smartest person in the room, and why serendipity and timing play bigger roles in being a great CEO than people realize. David reflects on mentorship from Lloyd Blankfein and Hank Paulson and how he thinks apprenticeship culture will evolve with AI. There are some great, unexpected lessons here for founders who are scaling, confronting the messy reality of building enduring companies.
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    57 min
  • Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi’s Grown-Up CEO Playbook

    Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi’s Grown-Up CEO Playbook
    Nov 20 2025
    When Intuit was born, the world ran on DOS. Forty years later it is a $180 billion powerhouse serving millions of small businesses, and Sasan Goodarzi has led its evolution from boxed software to an AI-driven platform. I’ve always admired Intuit’s track record with SMBs. I even had the chance to shadow one of its former CEOs, the legendary Brad Smith.In this episode, Sasan and I talk about what it takes to reinvent a legacy company, what he learned shadowing Amazon’s Andy Jassy, and why curiosity and grit matter more than raw talent. We talk about how to run a grown-up company without losing speed, from the mechanisms Intuit uses to challenge its own assumptions to the ways he stays close to customers through “follow-me-homes.” Sasan also shares his approach to winning in the SMB market, building effective channel partnerships, and creating second acts that actually succeed. He even tells the story of how Intuit was four years late to SaaS and still managed to come out stronger. Sasan shows that if you love the customer problem and keep disrupting yourself, you can stay young even after 40 years in business.
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    49 min
  • Long Strange Trip hosted by Brian Halligan

    Long Strange Trip hosted by Brian Halligan
    Nov 11 2025
    Brian Halligan–Sequoia partner and co-founder and longtime CEO of HubSpot—is on a quest to uncover the new rules of CEO-ing from the best CEOs in the world, from hypergrowth AI-native startups like Lovable and ElevenLabs to scaleup juggernauts like Robinhood and Rippling, to 150-year-old behemoths like Goldman Sachs.Watch at: https://www.youtube.com/sequoiacapital
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    1 min
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