Game On: Debating Tesla, Buying The Elder Scrolls, Cheat Codes to the Startup Game, Coupa & MongoDB CEOs + More
Apple suited up last week with an iPad and watch launch; this week it was time for two more giants worth more than $1 trillion to take the field. This is the time of year when the biggest players flex their muscles with product unveils and acquisitions to set up the holiday season.
So, the theme of the week? Game on. Tesla, the leader in electric vehicles and electric founders, held a "Battery Day" stacked with patents and promises of technologies that could keep the company in pole position. Will it work? Meanwhile Microsoft snapped up free agent ZeniMax, maker of games like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout and Doom; I talked to Games chief Phil Spencer about the move. Amazon updated its roster of consumer devices like Echo, Ring and Fire TV; David Limp, the SVP in charge, explained the strategy. Software company CEOs Dev Ittycheria of MongoDB and Rob Bernshteyn of Coupa updated me on their business playbooks and shared personal perspectives. And from the archives: Before his company was acquired by VMware, Abe Ankumah told me why the right balance of people on his founding team was key to winning.
The Battery Game: On the Other Hand
Is Tesla overhyped? Right after the company's Battery Day, I tackled both sides of the question in the latest installment of On the Other Hand, on CNBC's Squawk Box:
The Game of Games: Microsoft and Amazon
I guess those billions were burning a hole in Microsoft's pocket. The company didn't get to buy TikTok, but instead it forked over $7.5 billion in cash for a pretty sweet video game collection. EVP Gaming Phil Spencer joined Squawk Alley to tell me why:
... and Amazon staged its big fall Devices and Services launch, including streaming gaming service, Luna. I talked to SVP David Limp about all the new offerings:
The Earnings Game: Stitch Fix
Stitch Fix founder and CEO Katrina Lake gave investors an update on the business this week as part of the company's earnings report; shares sold off when the company reported an unexpected accounting charge. (The company's operating results beat expectations, and the stock's still higher than 12 months ago.) When I interviewed her for Fortt Knox the day of company's IPO at the Nasdaq, she told me she wants to set an example:
The Confidence Game: Dev Ittycheria, MongoDB CEO
Even people who seem to have it made can get wracked by self-doubt. How to overcome it? Dev Ittycheria is CEO of MongoDB, a growing next-gen database company. He co-founded two startups before that: Applica went public; BladeLogic got acquired. But things haven't always been rosy. Raising funding for Applica was hard, and 20 years ago the newly public company got crushed in the dot-com bust. One moment Ittycheria was a mutli-millionaire on paper, the next he was wiped out. In a Fortt Knox conversation, he told me how he recovered:
Got an hour to kill? Here's our full Fortt Knox 1:1 ....
The Hiring Game: Rob Bernshteyn, Coupa CEO
Even if you're growing quickly, you have to grow carefully. During this week's Fortt Knox conversation with Coupa CEO Rob Bernshteyn about his new book, Smarter Together, participant Randy Ksar asked about hiring. Bernshteyn said the company still plans expansion quarter by quarter, based on how the business is doing:
Our full conversation:
The Startup as a Team Sport: Abe Ankumah, Nyansa Co-founder and CEO
Start with the right people. Nyansa is part of VMware now, but when Abe Ankumah and his two co-founders started the company the first thing they had to get right was each other. In this conversation from the Fortt Knox archive, he explains why it matters.
I'm looking forward to speaking with PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada Tuesday, 9/29 in a Fortt Knox 1:1, fresh off of the acquisition of Rundeck. Click below to RSVP:
I'll also have Gusto CEO Josh Reeves on Wednesday, 9/30 ...
and LivePerson CEO Rob LoCascio on Friday, 10/2.
On a personal note, just hours ago I started a very different LinkedIn page for Fortt Media, which will have Christian content focused on cultural understanding. If that's interesting to you please check it out, follow and share: