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Topic: New markets

Waging a $1.4 trillion food fight

Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness

What’s the difference between an activist brand and an active brand? Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness says that acting on your values defines a business — from climate change to Roe v. Wade. To unleash the next wave of growth for plant-based meat purveyor Impossible, McGuiness is rethinking how the whole category presents itself, taking aim at what he calls “safe and lame” approaches, partnering with the likes of Billie Eilish, and targeting the $1.4 trillion global meat industry.

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From ‘delusion’ to criminal justice revolution

Ameelio’s Zo Orchingwa

When a tech nonprofit competes against a $2 billion incumbent dominating the market, its odds are slim. But Zo Orchingwa took that bet, founding Ameelio, believing that access to communication and education for the incarcerated is needed for their future success. Ameelio is on a quest to partner with every prison district in the country until one day, it scales enough to be redundant.

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Solar energy’s time to shine

Sunrun’s Mary Powell

While gasoline prices soar, solar company Sunrun is poised to usher in a customer-led revolution of distributed energy technologies. Sunrun’s CEO Mary Powell combats a “no and slow” culture to transform more homes into virtual energy plants by preaching optimism and scorning bureaucracy. She’s moving with urgency to create a cleaner and more cost-effective future as fast as possible.

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Podcast: Episode 109: Must Listen

The Refounder Mindset, part 2

Ford Motor Company’s Bill Ford

Massive change isn’t something you can brute-force — you need to ignite buy-in, again and again, up and down your organization. Because even if your changes will make things more fun, more interesting, and more profitable, you’re going to face defiance and inertia until you clue everyone in. That’s what Bill Ford learned while working to remake Ford Motor Company as an environmental powerhouse — against surprising internal and even national-level resistance.

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Invest in first principles

Betterment’s Sarah Levy

It may appear off-brand for Betterment, a digital investment adviser, to acquire a cryptocurrency investing platform. But as CEO Sarah Levy says, Betterment approached this volatile space with long-term thinking. Levy, who became CEO in the midst of the pandemic, offers perspective on how new digital finance platforms are shifting the norms of the industry.

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Tapping a new generation of consumers

Drone Racing League’s Rachel Jacobson

The Drone Racing League has built a fanbase previously untapped by pro sports. President Rachel Jacobson, formerly an NBA executive, calls their fans “techsetters” – young, enthusiastic, techy fans who are “invested in what the future looks like.” It’s a demographic that loves the league’s positioning that intersects sports, entertainment, and technology. As Rachel says, companies that aren’t planning for future demographics of consumers will “age out really quickly.”

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Podcast: Episode 102: Must Listen

Don’t predict the future. Create it.

Net-a-Porter & Imaginary Ventures’ Natalie Massenet

Throughout her career, Natalie Massenet has proved her ability to spot – and act on – a trend. Natalie and Reid share tactics about how to deliver the future to consumers, manage pushback, and navigate uncharted territory.

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Podcast: Episode 101: Must Listen

Always be recruiting

Kayak’s Paul English

Paul English, co-founder of travel search platform Kayak, guides us through five critical lessons for the hiring journey. As you’ll hear, English is passionate and relentless about the subject of recruiting – and the scale of the stakes.

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You should be running toward AI

Google & Schmidt Futures’ Eric Schmidt

Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, breaks down his insights on artificial intelligence. The co-author of “The Age of AI: And Our Human Future,” alongside Dr. Henry Kissinger and MIT’s Daniel Huttenlocher, says we’re entering an unknown era – one that requires vigilance. His advice to business: You need to be running as fast as you can toward AI applications. If your competitor gets there first, you’ll be in trouble. AI, he says, will change business, society, humanity itself.

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How to scale tech responsibly

Neeva’s Sridhar Ramaswamy

To compete against bigger players, you need an edge. Sridhar Ramaswamy, who led Google’s huge ad business, is now going head-to head against his former employer with an ad-free subscription-based search engine called Neeva. Ramaswamy offers lessons on growth, monopolistic threats, and why challenging even great companies is necessary right now.

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When to build the company before the product

Aurora’s Chris Urmson

Creating a truly self-driving car is a complex and interlocking problem. As the founder of the autonomous driving company Aurora, Chris Urmson, says: “Given the scale of the problem, the complexity and breadth of it, we had to build the company almost ahead of the product.” He is determined to transform transportation – a goal that requires a great amount of energy and investment upfront.

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