David Kang

Last year, I lived in SF and flew to LA weekly to attend MBA classes at UCLA. I flew back and forth at least 20 times. I am not a morning person by any means, but this required me to have a routine of waking up at 5:00AM on Sunday, Ubering to SFO to catch the earliest flight that would get me to LA before my classes started at 8:00. I would attend class all day Sunday, work remotely Mondays, attend more classes Monday night and then fly back Tuesday morning just in time to get to the office before standup. I am proud to say that I did not miss a single flight or a single class during this period. Last month, I officially graduated from UCLA Anderson. I wore my graduation cap and gown and lived through an event I had been dreaming about for the past 3 years. Now the big question: was it worth all the flights, tuition costs, and time spent studying? Yes, it was absolutely worth it. And here’s a story that encapsulates why. On one my MBA trips, we had a few executives from the Executive MBA program join us on the trip. One of the executives had immigrated to the US over 20 years ago and was nearly a billionaire. He snuck a few of us Chinese speaking MBA students out for a dinner and afterwards we all grabbed beers by the beach. Towards the end of the dinner he told us that we were no different than him. He pointed at each one of us and told us that we could all become successful too as long we just went for it. I’ve heard similar words from guest speakers, but the informal setting of having a mentor tell us this to our faces while enjoying beers near the beach in a foreign country really made me believe that I could do it. To sum up my MBA experience, being able to learn valuable life lessons from classmates, professors, and guest speakers made me confident that I could pursue whatever I put my mind towards. This is the true value of the MBA in my opinion. So what’s next? Before entering UCLA, my goal was to start my own startup and be a "real" founder. I can proudly say that my dream is starting to become a reality. I will be posting more news about this in the future, but my cofounders and I just raised an angel round and are now working full time on a new startup with a mission that we all care deeply about. #mba #uclaanderson #startup #graduation

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A great post. Another key element of successful post-crisis transformation is self-awareness & corporate humility as evident in the problem statements. Without this change cannot even begin. #crisis #transformation

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Susan Wojcicki passed away this morning after fighting a two year battle with non-small-cell lung cancer. I had the very good fortune of working with her closely during my 14 year tenure at Google. I also had the privilege fighting many battles at Google with her to build and launch some of the most consequential products in tech. In a startup full of ambitious, bull-in-the-china-shop engineers, Susan had a quiet elegance to her that both tamed the craziness and inspired teams to push themselves to do things that they thought were impossible at the start. She helped launch AdSense, then became CEO of YouTube and quieted the infighting on the team. Along the way, she inspired so many teams to build so many amazing features on the Google Ads system that it still remains likely the most lucrative invention in the history of the internet. Most importantly, Susan could spot talent and was willing to nurture crazy misfits under her wing. My first year at Google was terrible and I was horribly ineffective. I was immature, had a bull-in-the-china-shop, get-out-of-my-way attitude which, in a company full of geniuses and highly experienced people who knew way more than me, was not welcome. The early managers I worked with deemed me unmanagable, and unbeknownst to me I was on a path to exit the company. Susan took me under her wing (likely as a last resort manager) and quietly whispered to me, "you have immense potential, but you need to find ways to help others understand your potential and the promise of your ideas." She paired me up with Gokul Rajaram and put us on the AdSense launch team. AdSense launched, I calmed down, and with Susan's coaching I was able to help start and launch Google Analytics, Google Voice, among many other highly visible products at Google that helped to define my career. Her quiet elegance set an example that made me wiser, more effective, and most importantly, taught me that the highest calling in life was to serve and enable others rather than just looking out for myself. Susan's ability to spot talent was unrivaled. She also helped nurture the careers and enable the success of many future tech luminaries. In additional to Gokul Rajaram (who is one the wisest product coaches and investors I know), Susan helped jumpstart the careers of Shuman Ghosemajumder (Shape Security and Reken co-founder), future Google CEO Sundar Pichai, founder and investor Josh McFarland and many others. Susan passed away at 56. She accomplished more in her career than much of Silicon Valley combined, while happily married to Dennis Troper and raised five children. In addition to her wonderful family she leaves behind a legacy of products that the world now can't live without, and an alumni of product luminaries and well-known founders that continue her legacy today. I will miss her, as will the many she helped to nuture.

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Christina Farr authored the excellent article (with helpful contributions from Nathaniel Lacktman) on the potential impact of California's proposed law (California AB 3129) banning the MSO-Friendly PC business model for healthcare organizations. The description of the law as a "blunt instrument" is apt and the article is a useful read here: https://lnkd.in/gsDDqGNn The primary concern prompting regulators to pursue such drastic laws is that investor-funded healthcare businesses are driving healthcare costs up and reducing patient care quality. Blanket bans like the proposed law throw the baby out with the bathwater--a very concerning move given the size of California and the tech presence involved with healthcare in the state. I encourage investor-funded healthcare providers to evaluate meaningful strategies to combat this growing perception, sadly abetted by some notorious bad apples. In my work, we have helped organizations adopt the Value-Based Enterprise structure to both align the incentives of management and clinicians with #ValueBasedCare goals and build a governance structure suited to demonstrating progress in controlling costs and increasing medical care quality. There are a lot of great resources to reduce the time and capital investment needed to adopt this business model. We recently participated in a podcast with attorneys from Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough addressing just this topic. I will link to it in the comments if you are interested in learning more. #digitalhealth, #valuebasedenterprise, #healthcareinnovation

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Waymo's Fully Self Driving (FSD) technology has just got better. Watching it in downtown San Francisco changes your perception 'Vehicle-Ownership'. FYI - Waymo is a Full-Self Driving (FSD) ride-hailing app. Think Uber, with no actual driver (just cameras and intelligent vision). 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝? 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 notable advancements from Waymo highlight a transformative shift: their service now facilitates 50,000 weekly paid trips across three major cities. This marks the beginning of a broader expansion, with Tesla and BYD poised to accelerate the widespread rollout of fully self-driving (FSD) vehicles within the next 18-36 months. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 The traditional model of car ownership is ripe for disruption. Today, personal vehicles are significantly underutilized, sitting idle 90-95% of the time on driveways and agrages. However, the integration of FSD technologies presents an unprecedented opportunity. Imagine your car not just as a mode of transportation but as an asset earning for you, similar to how Airbnb revolutionized home sharing. This shift could turn every vehicle owner into a potential entrepreneur, maximizing the utility and profitability of their automotive investments. Enhancing Safety and Supporting Sustainability 𝐄𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞  Beyond economic benefits, the rise of FSD is set to enhance road safety . Waymo's recent results showed 72% fewer incidents across SF and Phoenix. - Human Benchmark: 21.2 Incidents per Million Miles (IPMM) - Waymo FSD: 8.8 IPMM (58% Lower with a 95% Confidence Interval) Link in Comments to Research Paper: https://waymo.com/safety/ Waymo has accumulated to date 10 million experience since 2015, en-route to become the world’s most experienced driver (by mileage) in next 24 months 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 Y𝐨𝐮𝐫 B𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 As business leaders and consumers, understanding and adapting to these changes is crucial. The future of urban mobility for passenger cars, commercial vehicles will influence how we plan our future revenue models, spend on R&D and technology risk management. #FSD #Waymo #AutonomousVehicles #UrbanMobility #FutureOfTransport #Tesla #BYD #InnovationInTransport

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Summary: The article discusses tech mogul Vinod Khosla and his recent success as a prominent investor. Khosla's main focus is on AI and its potential impact on various industries. He also addresses concerns regarding AI regulation and competition with Chinese AI. Key takeaways: Khosla's recent $50 million investment in OpenAI has garnered attention and success. He is passionate about the potential for AI to disrupt and improve various industries. Khosla's focus on AI regulation and concerns about Chinese AI competition. Counter arguments: Some may argue that Khosla's intense focus on AI may overshadow other important areas of technology. Critics may question the sustainability of AI in certain industries and its potential negative effects on job displacement. #ai #artificialintelligence #tech #venturecapital #vc #startups

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In the aftermath of the March 2024 failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, and the acquisition of First Republic by J.P. Morgan in May, I've become increasingly intrigued with proxy statement disclosures regarding compensation metrics and risk. As a board director, it's essential to examine how compensation is helping organizations move forward positively to create stakeholder value. JPMorgan's compensation packages, for example, incorporate profit metrics such as managed revenue, pre-tax income, net income, and ROTCE in addition to risk metrics like a capital ratio hurdle. The disclosure that the JPM Compensation Management Development Committee meets annually with the Risk Committee to review compensation also caught my eye! Essential Compensation Questions Board Directors Can Ask Senior Executives 1. How does the firm integrate risk, controls and conduct considerations into key HR practices including performance development, compensation and promotion? 2. Are compensation features and elements designed to discourage imprudent risk-taking (e.g., multi-year vesting, claw backs, prohibition on hedging, etc. ? 3. What critical regulatory updates have impacted or may impact HR practices in the future? Board Self Evaluation Question How often is the Compensation Committee meeting with the Risk, and or Audit Committee? #riskmanagement #incentives #governance #oversight #lessonslearned

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Interesting piece from Marc Andreessen on how startups are not getting the regulatory support they need to sustain America's technological leadership. "Regulatory agencies have been green lit to use brute force investigations, prosecutions, intimidation, and threats to hobble new industries, such as Blockchain. Regulatory agencies are being green lit in real time to do the same to Artificial Intelligence." While many investors themselves (both in the US and Europe) are worried how AI will change our lives, our jobs and social interactions, the top VC opinion leader thinks regulation is already too restrictive. #techstartups #techleadership #strategicgrowth

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Starting a company? Don't create a company worth $1.3B and get $0 when you sell. You need to understand this math... liquidation preferences, debt, dilution, performance, exit structure. Need help starting, growing, or exiting? Contact Us! @Red Summit Board Services & Advisory We help leaders summit their most difficult challenges. #privateequity #venturecapital #angelinvestors

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This is a great list, and a good example of fractal complexity inherent in seemingly "solved" problems. But: most frameworks handle the majority of these out of the box for you — except for SSO / SAML, which should probably not be a pre-launch concern. More broadly: software is about making decisions and trade-offs with varying degrees of confidence. Sometimes those decisions are very clearly "build vs. buy"-shaped; sometimes they're more esoteric. You owe it to yourself as an engineer and operator to make those kinds of decisions not because you think "well, this is what everyone says you gotta do", but because you've weighed the pros and cons and come to a conclusion, even if you don't know everything about the problem space.

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Hiring the right sales, marketing, and CX leaders is incredibly challenging, especially for early-stage startups. Check out our ElevenX Talent's Janine O'Neill (she/her) and Dan Hurwitz discuss all things GtM hiring in this awesome podcast. Some great wisdom nuggets in this one. Watch the full episode, now live at howtounfuckyourstartup.com

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With the progress of Waymo and the Tesla event yesterday, something I wrote about in 2021 could become true as soon as 2027. In some industries (like ride sharing), marketplaces are just an intermediary step to aggregate independent suppliers. Ultimately, companies will figure out how to provide the service themselves at scale, and we'll have a few very large "super-suppliers". But in other industries (like e-commerce) where the consumer values creativity, consolidated suppliers won't be able to provide all of the new and interesting things that customers want, and we'll still need independent suppliers. Those industries will stay in marketplace mode much longer.

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it is true that your entire team being in one office yields to increased productivity from an existing team BUT it's also true that restricting hiring with location reduces future productivity due to limited talent pool of future hires needed for growth... throw in higher costs and you've got a real choice dilemma that ultimately comes down to what type of business and team you want to have we've been completely decentralized at Upward Insights by design since before it was the norm

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Private equity's new playbook: From financial engineering to operational excellence A recent Bloomberg article caught my eye. It highlights a significant shift in PE strategy. The era of quick flips and multiple expansion is fading. Why? Simple economics. With rates up and deals scarce, PE firms can't rely on financial wizardry. They're dusting off an old strategy: actually running companies they buy. PE giants are making moves. Goldman brought on Honeywell's ex-CEO. Blackstone nabbed Walmart's AI guru. These aren't PR moves - they're survival tactics. The focus? Tangible results. Wider margins. Higher cash flow. Long-term plans over short-term tricks. Data shows operational improvements now add nearly twice the value of multiple expansion. It's not a nice-to-have - it's essential. Why? Economic headwinds. High rates, inflation, scarce exits. Holding periods are stretching 3+ years longer. That's a lot of time to justify fees. PE firms are pivoting hard. In-house ops teams, tech focus, especially AI. Some are even positioning as "industrial conglomerates". My take? This shift separates true value creators from financial engineers. Expect a performance shakeout. Firms improving profitability through operations will thrive. Others may struggle. Winners? PE shops with operational expertise. Losers? Pure financial players relying on leverage and multiple arbitrage. For LPs, new questions arise. "How do you create value?" isn't just about deal sourcing anymore. Your thoughts? Is "old-school" management good for PE and portfolio companies? How will this shift impact M&A? (Article link in comments) #PrivateEquity #ValueCreation #MarketTrends

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When I spent the summer in San Francisco, I was shocked to find myself in a culture where many people dismissed artists. There's a real status divide between technical and non-technical people in SF, with artists especially being overlooked. Everyone in SF knows tech is powerful, but too many people in SF underestimate the power art holds in society too. Ironically, understanding that would help them build better technology. Because rapid AI progress means taste has never been more important to make your products stand out. Few understand this because of legacy startup advice which I believe doesn't hold true (or as true) today. For example, Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn once said "If you aren't embarrassed by the first version of your product, you shipped too late." But LinkedIn was founded in 2002. And things have really changed in the last 2 decades. Consumers have never been more unforgiving. As a result, the bar for aesthetics and design in technology has never been higher. As I build out the AI teddy bears I've been working on, I constantly remind myself that functionality is just a start, and making people truly feel something is the goal. I want to build technology that people hold like art. Steve Jobs is a phenomenal example of someone who did just that (which I believe was a large contributor to Apple's success). “It is in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough—it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.” The value of great taste increases as progress in AI increases. And artists will soon have the spotlight in San Francisco too.

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Y Combinator has released a new Request for Startups. Today, I went through the list and picked out the ideas I think are the most promising — plus one of my own. 1. New Defense Technology. Group Partner Jared Friedman wants startups to build defense tech and replace the old, slow contractors that dominate the business. 2. A Way to End Cancer. YC’s Surbhi Sarna notes that MRI’s can now detect a cancer the size of a millimeter. But they also surface a lot of false positives. If we had better AI systems to tell a tumor from normal tissue, we could get more use out of these MRI’s and catch more cancers early. 3. Foundational Models for Biological Systems. Over 90 percent of drug candidates fail to make it to FDA approval. Imagine the time and money we spend on this! If we could model the human body in a computer and test on silicon, drug development would be dramatically cheaper and faster. My Request for a Startup: A Derivatives Clearinghouse $715 trillion — that’s the notional value of all outstanding over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives in the world today. It’s a number I cannot even contemplate. Believe it or not, these massive financial contracts are mostly recorded in spreadsheets! We need software to manage and track these massive transactions. Which Request for a Startup was your favorite? More below, including what type of weapons startups should produce... #startups #venturecapital https://lnkd.in/eFGbJrSC

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Having a Cars and Capital event tomorrow in Southern California with Oren Klaff. If you want to join message me. https://lnkd.in/gDQ4D39u Oren Klaff Bridger Pennington #InvestorEvent #FamilyOffice #InvestmentOpportunity #CarlsbadEvent #PrivateEquity #WealthManagement #InvestmentConference #CapitalRaising #NetworkingEvent #IndustryLeaders #FinancialGrowth #InvestorsMeetup #WealthBuilding #BusinessGrowth #InvestmentForum

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Values. Root your change in values and the behaviors you want will spring forth. "For leaders stepping into turnaround situations: notice how both CEOs balance urgency with patience, heritage with change, and clarity with complexity." urgency heritage clarity

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