This is Your Life in Silicon Valley show

This is Your Life in Silicon Valley

Summary: Do you love HBO's Silicon Valley? Do you like reading about the latest technology trends? Then you'll love this show. Think of us as the real world/explain-it-how-it-is podcast for anyone with a Silicon Valley fetish. The Bay Area, San Francisco, and California in general are undergoing massive political and social change. We tackle issues like homelessness, the housing crisis, dating in the age of technology, startups, and other things you care about. How will it affect your life? It doesn't matter whether you live in New York, Texas, Arkansas, Bulgaria or Latvia - you will find something applicable to your day-to-day life from this show. And love it, or hate it the Silicon Valley/The Bay Area/California are the center of the technology universe right now. Insiders, and Valley apologists liken the Silicon Valley to Rome during the Renaissance. Others are more skeptical of the people in the Valley and their intentions. We examine life in the Valley by interviewing some of its most prominent insiders - both apologists and skeptics. We discuss the cultural quirks of living here, what to legitimately fear, what to feel excited about, and what is just plain weird. (Image credit: Irina Blok, Producer: Max Savage (noisysavage.com).

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Podcasts:

 What the Hell Happened at WeWork? (Guest: Eliot Brown, Wall Street Journal) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:51:48

When you look back on the decade in tech, one of the biggest stories will be the rise and fall of WeWork. And while the company is still around, it has shed around $40B in valuation in the past few months. At the forefront of the story is the mercurial Founder of WeWork - Adam Neumann. And a Wall Street Journal Reporter named Eliot Brown - who broke some of the now-infamous stories about the company. Today, we hosted Eliot as a guest on This is Your Life in Silicon Valley.

 Don't Pay Your Water Bill? Pay the Consequences. (Guest: Tiffani Bell, The Human Utility) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:40:06

Tiffani Bell is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur working on a not-for-profit funded by Y Combinator. Tiffani's mission? Help people pay their water bills. The consequences are direr, and the stakes are much higher than you'd think.

 If You're So Amazing, Why Are You Still Single? (Guest: Amanda Bradford, Founder/CEO of The League) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:55:03

We hosted our second live show in San Francisco featuring Amanda Bradford - the Founder/CEO of The League. We asked Amanda about why online dating is broken, what she thinks of all the major dating websites, and how The League's approach differs. We invite audience members to share crazy online dating stories at the end of this episode - it's a must-listen.

 Silicon Valley Does Not Care About Female Founders (Guest: Lisa Fetterman, Founder/CEO, Nomiku) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:36:32

Lisa Fetterman is here to tell it like it is. She's a gifted entrepreneur and inventor, and she cannot understand why Silicon Valley doesn't care about female founders. This is a must-listen edition of the show featuring some great insight on how to fix the diversity problem in tech.

 Are Smartphones Actually That Bad For You? (Guest: Tim Kendall, CEO of Moment, Former President of Pinterest) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:40:00

Tim Kendall is a Silicon Valley OG. Tim ran monetization at Facebook, and later became Head of Product At Pinterest (and eventually President). Tim is responsible for thinking through products that impact our lives on a daily basis. His latest mission is to get people to use their smartphones less through an app called Moment.

 Will it Take a Natural Disaster for People to Like Silicon Valley Again? (Guest: Susan MacTavish Best) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:34:16

Susan MacTavish Best is a San Francisco cultural icon. Originally from Scotland and Canada, MacTavish worked in the PR business and got to know some of technology's top executives since the 90s. MacTavish now splits time between San Francisco, New York and London, and has a starkly unique perspective on how life in the Bay Area has changed in recent decades.

 Do You Prefer Starbucks, Blue Bottle, or Philz? (Guests: Philz Coffee CEO Jacob Jaber, Techcrunch Reporter Kate Clark) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:39:13

Special episode alert! Techcrunch reporter Kate Clark sent a tweet out about how she hates Philz Coffee. We decided to bring her on the show with Philz CEO Jacob Jaber to convince her otherwise. Hilarity ensued.

 Is Homelessness Easier To Solve Than We Think? (Guest: Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:42:36

The podcast is growing. So we decided to take it to the next level by hosting our first ever live event - in San Francisco - where we hosted Oakland's charismatic mayor Libby Schaaf. We were nervous that we'd screw up somehow and forget to hit the 'record' button, but thankfully the conversation is intact. Mayor Schaaf is a great, great interview - for longtime listeners - or first-time listeners - this episode is a great place to start on our podcast. We cover a lot of ground - including homelessness, the 2020 Presidential Race, Sports, and more.

 Can Theater Survive in the Age of Instagram? (Guests: Pam MacKinnon and Andy Donald, American Conservatory Theater) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:29:01

Pam MacKinnon is a Tony Award-winning Director. She's spent decades atop the theater world, directing shows on and off-Broadway. Andy Donald is a west-coast native but has spent recent years on the East Coast as an artistic director. Both are now part of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco (as Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director respectively). But what is it like running a high profile theater in the technology epicenter of the universe?

 Should You Tweet About Your Meditation Retreat to Myanmar? (Guest: Jessica Powell, Author, Former Head of Communications at Google) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:38:42

Jessica Powell ran communications at Google. She's now a bestselling author. We asked Jessica - who has seen her fair share of PR crises over the years - how she would handle communications issues facing some of the top tech companies in the world. You might be surprised where she stands on various issues plaguing some of technology's top players.

 Do you Really Need to be 'Passionate' to Start a Company? (Guest, Christina Stembel, Founder of Farmgirl Flowers) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:29:53

Christina Stembel is from a small town in Indiana. She's now the CEO and Founder of Farmgirl Flowers - a popular flower company that gained notoriety as part of the 'Instagram generation' of brands. But Christina's story isn't very typical of Silicon Valley - she completely debunks typical Founder mythology.

 Which Company is Causing the Most Harm to San Francisco? (Guest, Dennis Herrera, City Attorney - San Francisco) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:30:23

Dennis Herrera is the elected City Attorney of San Francisco. He's also a straight shooter. In this can't-miss episode, we talk to Dennis about which company is the most harmful to San Francisco (we get a surprisingly candid answer). We also ask him about the growing divide between tech and government.

 Why Does Uber Get Such Bad Press? (Guest: Mike Isaac, Technology Reporter, New York Times) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:39:09

Mike Isaac is in charge of covering Uber for the New York Times. He’s covered the company extensively for the past several years and is publishing what will be considered the definitive book on the company. He’s also hilarious on Twitter.

 Who Should Run Facebook? (Guest: Kara Swisher, Journalist, Co-Founder of Recode, New York Times Contributor) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:42:01

Kara Swisher needs no introduction. She is one of the top business journalists and covers technology for various outlets. More recently, Swisher became a contributor for the New York Times Opinion section - and she has a lot to say about Facebook.

 Did Steve Jobs Really Get Turned Away at Flour + Water (Guest: David White, CEO of Ne Timeas Restaurant Group - owners of Flour + Water)? | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:26:59

David White is a San Francisco legend. He is the CEO of Ne Timeas Restaurant Group, which owns Flour + Water, Central Kitchen and Trick Dog. He also has a knack for telling it how it is. In the latest episode of 'This is Your Life in Silicon Valley', we sat down with David to ask him about the restaurant industry in San Francisco, social media, and... did Steve Jobs really get turned away at Flour + Water?

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