Mark Anderson is the CEO at Alteryx. In a conversation with Annie, Mark talks about his humble beginnings in retail sales that helped him break into the tech world. He shares stories about working with Jeff Bezos and Amazon in the ‘90s, and how learning from John Chambers at Cisco informs his current leadership style. Prior to his role as CEO at Alteryx, Mark was President of Palo Alto Networks, where he and the team grew the company from pre-IPO in 2012 to become one of the largest security companies in the world.

---

"I used to think that asking for help was a sign of weakness… And it wasn't until I noticed people that I respected asking for help and getting the sensation of joy when you provide help or guidance to others that I realized it was really a sign of strength, and that freed me up to be greedy when it came to asking for help.” - Mark Anderson

---

Episode Timestamps:

*(01:46) - Mark’s background and beginning in sales

*(06:59) - Breaking into the world of tech

*(09:31) - Key relationships from building connections

*(12:22) - Working at Cisco at $600 BN valuation

*(19:48) - Working with Jeff Bezos in the ‘90s

*(23:32) - Leveraging relationships to overcome obstacles

*(30:20) - Working at Alteryx

*(35:01) - Final thoughts

---

Sponsor:

Who Got Me Here is brought to you by Connect The Dots, mapping professional relationships so you can find the strongest connections to the people and companies you want to reach. Visit ctd.ai to learn more.

---

Links:

• Connect with Mark Anderson
• Connect with Annie Riley
• Learn more about Connect The Dots
• www.caspianstudios.com

Jeff Epstein is an Operating Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, a global firm with $4 billion under management that invests in early-stage and hyper-growth startups, partnering closely with entrepreneurs to build durable businesses including innovative companies like Pinterest, Twilio, Box, LinkedIn, Shopify, Yelp, and Skype. Formerly, Jeff was the executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Oracle, one of the world’s largest and most profitable technology companies, with a market value of over $200 billion. Prior to joining Oracle, Jeff served as the CFO at several public and private companies, including DoubleClick (acquired by Google), King World Productions (acquired by CBS), and Nielsen’s Media Measurement and Information Group. Jeff co-teaches the Lean Launchpad class at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Engineering and the CFO Leadership class at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He holds an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar, and a BA from Yale College. In this conversation with Annie Riley, Jeff talks about how he was able to make over 10,000 introductions throughout his career, his experience co-teaching the Lean Launchpad at Stanford, and the path he took to become CFO, leaving us with advice for those aspiring to do the same.

---

"The great thing about this whole idea of relationships and introductions is, it's not all or nothing, it's easy to start in a small way. No matter how much experience you have or whatever you're doing when you meet with someone, you say, just ask how can I be helpful? And if they say, 'gee, I would love to meet this person', or 'I'd love to look, do this, or learn about that', think about is there someone you know who would make an introduction, would be helpful, and then double opt-in. So, don't immediately introduce them, just email your friend and say, 'I've met person X, Y, Z, I think they're really interesting, here's why I think you might want to meet them'. Do that five or ten times, and see what happens. And if you end up with 10 no's then, you know, maybe you're not thinking about it right, or maybe you don't have the right relationships. But it wouldn't surprise me if you have five or six 'yeses' and one or two people say, 'wow, thank you so much for making that connection'." - Jeff Epstein

---

Episode Timestamps:

*(02:42) - Jeff’s expansive network of 10,000+ connections

*(09:03) - Exploring his background in relationship building

*(15:56) - Co-teaching Lean Launchpad at Stanford School of Engineering

*(22:47) - The biggest networking mistakes to avoid

*(27:58) - Jeff’s path to CFO and advice for those aspiring

*(34:40) - Idols throughout his career

*(39:12) - Final thoughts

---

Sponsor:

Who Got Me Here is brought to you by Connect The Dots, mapping professional relationships so you can find the strongest connections to the people and companies you want to reach. Visit ctd.ai to learn more.

---

Links:

• Connect with Jeff Epstein
• Connect with Annie Riley
• Learn more about Connect The Dots
• www.caspianstudios.com

Magdalena Yesil was the first investor and founding board member at Salesforce, a company that now has a $200 billion market cap. She is the Founder of Broadway Angles and serves on the SoFi, Smartsheet, and Zuora board. In a conversation with Annie, Magdalena shares her experience breaking into Silicon Valley, including stories about how Steve Jobs and Marc Benioff shaped her career. She describes how persistence and resilience let you take bold steps forward.

---

“The piece that a lot of people miss is that if you are going to go get advocates and you are asking them to basically be putting their own necks on the line for you, then you need to think, ‘what will I do for them?’ Life is always a two-way street. ‘If you are advocating for me, how do I return the favor?’” - Magdalena Yesil

---

Episode Timestamps:

*(01:19) - Magdalena’s career success with networking

*(13:58) - Attending Stanford and breaking into Silicon Valley

*(20:46) - Experience working with Apple’s Steve Jobs

*(26:57) - First investor and founding board member at Salesforce

*(33:29) - Magdalena’s approach to advocates and networking

*(37:48) - How to overcome obstacles and earn acceptance

*(44:58) - Final thoughts

---

Sponsor:

Who Got Me Here is brought to you by Connect The Dots, mapping professional relationships so you can find the strongest connections to the people and companies you want to reach. Visit ctd.ai to learn more.

---

Links:

• Connect with Magdalena Yesil
• Connect with Annie Riley
• Learn more about Connect The Dots
• www.caspianstudios.com