Episodes

  • The Expert Network Behind Handshake AI’s Model Training w/ Garrett Lord & Mamoon Hamid
    Jul 21 2025

    Guests: Garrett Lord, co-founder and CEO of Handshake; and Mamoon Hamid, partner at Kleiner Perkins.

    Handshake set out to democratize career opportunity. In the process, it unlocked something more: a high-trust expert network built on verified talent and earned trust.

    This week on Grit, Garrett Lord shares how what began as a platform for student job seekers is now partnering with leading labs, enabling experts to train real-world AI systems. He explains how owning verified domain talent has become their core strategic edge, bypassing middlemen and turning a decade of trust into lasting advantage.

    Connect with Garrett Lord

    • X
    • LinkedIn


    Connect with Joubin

    • X
    • LinkedIn
    • Email


    Connect with Mamoon

    • X
    • LinkedIn


    Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 2 mins
  • How Plaid Turned a Failed $5.3B Deal with Visa into Momentum | Zach Perret (Plaid)
    Jul 14 2025

    Zach Perret saw a fintech explosion coming—and built the rails before it arrived.

    On this week’s Grit, the Plaid co-founder and CEO retraces his path from building tools for developers to linking the world’s largest banks, and how a failed $5.3B acquisition by Visa became a launchpad.

    He unpacks the pressure of operating in a tightly regulated industry, why rebuilding trust after the deal collapse was harder than expected, and how Plaid is navigating the shift from startup to staple—while staying obsessed with the end user.

    Links:

    Connect with Zach

    • X
    • LinkedIn

    Connect with Joubin

    • X
    • LinkedIn
    • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com


    Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Episode 250: AI Special Featuring Sierra, Harvey, Windsurf & More
    Jul 7 2025

    Six leaders from across tech — from SaaS and semis to law and logistics — come together for our 250th episode milestone in this very special AI recap, where we unpack how new advances are transforming the way industries function, and how work gets done.

    Featuring:

    • Bret Taylor (Sierra Co-founder)
    • Winston Weinberg (Harvey Co-founder and CEO)
    • Matt Murphy (Marvell Technology Chairman and CEO)
    • Yamini Rangan (HubSpot CEO)
    • Chris Urmson (Aurora CEO)
    • Varun Mohan (Windsurf Co-founder and CEO)

    Connect with Joubin:

    - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/
    - X: https://x.com/Joubinmir

    Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

    Learn more about Kleiner Perkins: https://www.kleinerperkins.com

    Show More Show Less
    54 mins
  • How Imprint Is Reinventing Credit Cards for Modern Brands | Daragh Murphy
    Jun 30 2025

    Daragh Murphy is giving brands their own credit-card platform—no legacy bank required.

    On this week’s Grit, the Imprint co-founder and CEO traces the leap from being a junior lawyer to closing nine-figure card deals.


    He breaks down the hidden economics of credit-card loyalty, the discipline of treating capital “like the last dollar,” and how AI will slash risk-and-support costs.

    Guest: Daragh Murphy, CEO & Co-Founder of Imprint

    Chapters:
    00:00 Trailer
    00:48 Introduction
    01:30 Actualizing the dream
    08:37 Imprint
    11:37 Partnerships are massive
    16:48 Understand the market
    18:42 “Get more, spend more” tradeoffs
    23:57 Fishing in the wrong ponds
    31:32 Can’t skip work
    32:43 Exciting and scary
    34:56 Pride and ownership
    46:50 The way you spend your day
    50:20 New technologies
    54:51 Who Imprint is hiring
    54:59 What “grit” means to Daragh
    55:34 Outro

    Mentioned in this episode: Figma, Rippling, H-E-B Grocery Company, LP, Barclays US, IBM, Coinbase, Charlie Munger, Instagram, Hamptons, Google, Nick Huber, Ribbit, Ireland, WeWork, Adam Kim, Amazon, Shopify, Tobias Lütke, Duolingo, Parker Conrad

    Links:
    Connect with Daragh

    • LinkedIn

    Connect with Joubin

    • X
    • LinkedIn
    • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com


    Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    Show More Show Less
    56 mins
  • GitLab’s CEO on Why the Next Great Developer Might Not Write Code | Bill Staples
    Jun 23 2025

    Bill Staples has spent 30 years redefining how the world writes, ships, and secures code.

    On this week’s Grit, the GitLab CEO shares what it takes to lead a public, all-remote DevSecOps company trusted by more than half of the Fortune 100.

    He breaks down the discipline of managing energy instead of hours, why weekly operating cadences beat quarterly plans, and how AI will 10× software engineers by auto-debugging code and closing security gaps.

    Guest: Bill Staples, CEO of GitLab

    Chapters:

    00:00 Trailer

    00:42 Introduction

    02:34 True joy in life

    08:16 Winning teams

    13:53 When the energy isn’t there

    18:00 Super ambitious

    21:01 It’s not just technology

    29:27 Elevating quality and standard

    41:36 Lifelong collaborator

    51:22 Competent intelligence

    54:22 Structuring goals and time

    1:03:59 Who GitLab is hiring

    1:04:17 What “grit” means to Bill

    1:04:54 Outro


    Links:
    Connect with Bill

    • LinkedIn

    Connect with Joubin

    • X
    • LinkedIn
    • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com


    Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Stord’s Plan to Take on Amazon’s Logistics Advantage | Sean Henry
    Jun 16 2025

    What does it take to build the logistics backbone for the next generation of commerce?


    Sean Henry, founder and CEO of Stord, joins Kleiner Perkins partner Ilya Fushman and Grit host Joubin Mirzadegan to talk about scaling a national fulfillment network that now moves 50 million packages a year and reaches 15% of U.S. households.


    They explore how Stored is using AI to connect warehouses, middle-mile routes, and delivery promises into one smart system. The goal: to give every brand an Amazon Prime-like advantage.


    Guest: Sean Henry, Co-Founder & CEO of Stord


    Links:

    Connect with Sean Henry

    • X
    • LinkedIn

    Connect with Joubin

    • X
    • LinkedIn
    • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com


    Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    Show More Show Less
    58 mins
  • Family, Focus, and 350M Users: Inside Zoom with Eric Yuan
    Jun 9 2025

    Eric Yuan turned a simple belief into Zoom, the platform that kept the world moving through a once-in-a-century shutdown and redefined modern work.

    On this episode of Grit, the Zoom CEO shares why velocity beats size, how a family-first ethos powered his leadership during COVID, and why the coming wave of AI dwarfs the original internet boom.

    He details how he’s refreshing Zoom’s culture for 7,500 people, opting for virtual deal calls over in person meetings, settling into life as an empty-nester, and keeping Zoom nimble enough to outpace Big Tech and the next wave of AI startups.


    Guest: Eric S. Yuan, Founder & CEO of Zoom

    Chapters:

    00:00 Trailer

    00:44 Introduction

    01:47 Walking with swagger

    03:48 Extremely exciting moment

    10:05 Classic innovators’ dilemma

    12:59 Laser-focused bandwidth

    17:56 Family first: lead by example

    22:09 Everybody was doing their road shows

    25:34 The entire world was dependent

    28:04 Community care

    31:57 Valuation and a co-founder

    35:17 A lot of unhappy days

    39:25 Building Zoom for consumers

    46:57 Holograms?

    52:01 Home

    53:23 Huge competition, high velocity

    1:00:33 Where companies get wrong

    1:04:52 Giving back

    1:13:12 Who Zoom is hiring

    1:13:24 What “grit” means to Eric

    1:14:24 Outro


    Mentioned in this episode: Webex by Cisco, Glean, Apple, HP, Netscape, Yahoo, Brian Armstrong, Emilie Choi, Coinbase, New Limit, Elon Musk, Windy Hill, Magic Leap, Rony Abovitz, Jony Ive, OpenAI ChatGPT, Bill McDermott, ServiceNow, Carl Eschenbach


    Links:

    Connect with Eric

    • X
    • LinkedIn

    Connect with Joubin

    • X
    • LinkedIn
    • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com


    Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 15 mins
  • Bret Taylor’s Journey Leading Salesforce, Sierra & OpenAI
    Jun 2 2025

    Over the past two decades, Bret Taylor has quietly helped shape the arc of Silicon Valley.

    From co-creating Google Maps to steering Facebook, Salesforce, and OpenAI, he’s been behind some of the most consequential products in tech. Now, with his new company Sierra, he’s starting from zero—again.


    In this conversation, Bret opens up about how founders navigate identity, why the best ideas often come from everyday friction, and how staying relentlessly focused can unlock real momentum in AI.


    Guest: Bret Taylor, Co-Founder of Sierra

    Chapters:
    00:00 Trailer
    00:49 Introduction
    01:57 Saving OpenAI
    09:15 Overwhelming yet capable of a lot
    13:36 Father and founder
    16:49 History is written by the victors
    22:13 How you price matters
    35:58 Stickiest piece of software
    49:48 The first realtime social network
    55:34 Facebook CTO who rewrote Google Maps
    1:02:10 Least known, most impressive
    1:11:39 The best way to predict the future
    1:16:22 Most personally passionate
    1:21:22 Currency of reputation
    1:27:17 Away from work
    1:28:35 Who Sierra is hiring
    1:28:58 What “grit” means to Bret
    1:29:18 Outro

    Mentioned in this episode: Google Maps, Salesforce, OpenAI ChatGPT, Meta Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Google, Marissa Mayer, Excite, MSN, AltaVista, Amazon, Harvey, Airbnb, Coinbase, Apple, John Doerr, Cursor, Codeium Windsurf, Perplexity, xAI, Kleenex, Amazon Web Services (AWS), FriendFeed, Tumblr, Kevin Gibbs, Google Maps, Yelp, Trulia, iOS App Store, Blackberry, Facebook Messenger, Marvel Avengers, Slack, Quip, Leonardo da Vinci, Clay Bavor, Microsoft, Eric Schmidt, Alan Kay, Brian Armstrong, Brian Chesky, Shopify, SiriusXM, Patrick Collison


    Links:

    Connect with Bret Taylor

    • X
    • LinkedIn

    Connect with Joubin

    • X
    • LinkedIn
    • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com


    Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 30 mins