WEBVTT - Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - November 26th, 2021 (Podcast) 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:05.440 This is Bloomberg Business Week Inside from the reporters and 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:09.200 editors who bring you America's most trusted business magazine, plus 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:13.200 global business, finance and tech news As it happened, Sloomberg 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:16.759 Business Week with Carol Messier and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:21.319 Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Hi, everyone, Welcome to the weekend 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.599 edition of Bloomberg Business Week. A special holiday program this week, 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:26.599 as we look back on our recent visit to the 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.760 Stamford Graduate School of Business, it of course topped Bloomberg 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.440 Business Week's list of America's top B schools for the 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:37.199 academic year, Stanford taking the number one slot. It's a 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.880 repeat winner, scoring highest overall along eighty four us NBA 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:45.480 programs and compensation Networking in Entrepreneurship, Dartmouth's Tech School coming 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.560 in second, Harvard Frank third. Over the next two hours, 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.639 we'll hear from some prominent alumni who got their MBA's 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:55.680 at Stanford, including TPG executive chairman and founding partner Jim 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.800 Coulter and the former and longtime CEO of a b NBEV, 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.320 Carlos Brito. Also speak with some key members of the 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.040 academic staff that are helping to shape the next generation 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.760 of business leaders and dig a bit deeper into the 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:10.399 criteria that make this NBA program the very best America 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:12.319 has to offer. Let's begin with the man at the 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:15.120 helm of the institution, the Dean of the Stanford Graduate 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:17.880 School of Business, Jonathan Levin. It's just a wonderful thing 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:21.640 for the school. I think it mostly because it just 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:24.479 puts a spotlight on what we do here. And I've 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.120 been at the GSP now for five years, and I 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:29.320 think if there's one thing that I have learned in 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.720 that five years, it's about the value that gets created 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:37.039 in a place like this where we're have these academic 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.560 faculty who are doing great scholarship, and that was exemplified 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:42.840 when one of our faculty members, hedo in Beans, won 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:46.559 the Nobel Prize in Economics. And these amazing business leaders 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:49.080 who come in and meet with our students, and the 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:51.680 activity that just places place on this campus, and having 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:53.720 you here is a great way for you to see 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:55.280 all of that and what goes on here at the 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:59.640 g s B. I'm looking around campus right now, is 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:01.360 are we in the midst of a global pandemic? I 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:03.840 don't actually know. I mean it seems like things are 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:05.680 pretty much back to normal here, So give us an 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:08.760 update about how the pandemic has affected academics and and 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:13.120 really how you're pushing through it in Yeah, so we 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:15.600 it's wonderful to have our students back on campus. And 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:19.040 I think one thing that we have learned from the pandemic. 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.800 We've learned a lot about technology and opportunities to deliver 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:26.359 education technology, but we've also learned about the incredible value 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:31.080 of a residential education, residential NBA education, and how much 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.960 of the value that's gets created here actually for research 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:39.840 and scholarship, faculty interacting, and for education just comes from 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:43.400 having people together in a physical environment and the serendipitous 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:45.919 interactions that take place on the campus. You know, Dean Leven, 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.000 we had kind of a real world life experience of 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:51.280 learning how a vaccine was made in the last year 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:53.920 and a half, so many different real world experiments we 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.680 lived through them. I do wonder about the experiment of 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.400 hybrid education or virtual education. I think some thought, wow, 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:04.280 we can do it. Others said no way. I don't know. 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:06.720 We've we've lived through it. You lived through it. Does 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:10.200 it work? I think we learned a huge amount during COVID. 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.280 We moved the school online over a weekend, and the 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:17.120 faculty and our staff and the students people dove into 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:21.680 virtual education and doing it remotely on Zoom. And I 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:24.200 think it went way better than anyone had any right 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.720 to expect. Incredibly proud of the way. That is great, 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:35.119 But what you lose is the unplanned encounters, the unexpected meetings, 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:37.520 the chance things out. Just to give you an example, 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:40.000 one of the stories that he to Women's Are Nobel 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.080 Prize winner told was that he came up with the 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:46.200 ideas that won him the Nobel Prize talking to one 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:50.560 of his colleagues in a laundromat. And you don't have 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.280 that on Zoom. And what we're creating here in this 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:57.280 physical environment is lots of laundromat meetings, lots of meetings 0:03:57.280 --> 0:03:59.520 where students bump into other students and they come with 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:01.520 an idea for a career or a company, or maybe 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:03.720 they bump into some from the School of Engineering, or 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.240 a faculty member runs into another factor number a student 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:08.960 and that's where the next Nobel Price comes from. And 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:11.840 it's so good to have everyone back on campus so 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.760 we can have more wondermats. Does it become a tougher 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:16.960 sell at any point in the near future, at any 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:21.320 point during your tenure, in terms of convincing people that 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.160 the education is worth the cost. After all, more than 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:26.520 one point six trillion dollars in outstanding student loan debt 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:30.719 for Americans. I think this is a really transformative and 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:34.440 important time for business generally. And you think about the 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:39.040 forces that are shaping business today. Very rapid advances in technology, 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:45.920 major changes in global economics, concern about social equity, about 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:50.159 climate change, these are these are big challenges for business 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:54.080 and big challenges for educating business leaders. And where could 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:58.159 you better learn and get prepared to tackle those big 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:00.160 challenges in the world and in business. Then by coming 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.560 to a class like Stanford, where you will get to 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:06.880 meet other people and get exposed to the technology that's 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:09.200 going to change the world and to the ideas of 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:11.800 social science ideas, and be with a set of peers 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:14.520 who can help you assimilate them and prepare you for 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.480 your career. I'm not worried at all about the value 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.040 of NBA programs. Hey, One of the value of coming 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:22.600 to school like Stanford is diversity of thought and diversity 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.320 of people from different backgrounds. From all around the world, minorities, 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.560 you know, obviously, men, women, people just of all kinds 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.400 of genders. Um, what I'm curious is there was a 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:35.799 diversity component to the rankings this time. Most schools didn't 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:39.120 do well, and even top schools like yourself, you know 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:42.400 has we're ranked a little bit lower when it comes 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:44.800 to diversity ranking. So how do you square that? And 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:48.320 how do you teach a population of students that are diverse, 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:50.080 and yet they're going to go out in the work 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.640 world and they're going to be met with employers who 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:56.680 aren't very diverse. How do you deal with that? Look, 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:05.039 education is fundamental about encountering difference different people, different ideas, 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.840 different cultures, and the way that you create a great 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.640 educational experience. And I think the way many companies are 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.600 now trying to create a great workplace in productive environment 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:17.960 is to bring in a broader range of people and 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:20.800 then to create an environment where everyone can be at 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:22.760 their best and you get the most out of different 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:25.359 people's perspectives. But they're not doing very fast. So I 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.919 think when we and I think about what we're doing here, 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:31.840 first of all, we're thinking about that aspect of diversity, 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.200 diversity of ideas and diversity of people. It's a long 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:39.920 term investment to add more diversity to institutions like Stanford, 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:42.039 but we also have to approach it with urgency, and 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.679 that's the way we're going at it. That was Jonathan Levin, 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.280 the dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, coming 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:49.600 up the Stanford b School product making waves in the 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:53.440 world of venture capital. G two venture partner and Celo 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.400 Valerie Shan. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. This is Bloomberg. 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:08.919 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:13.880 Quick Takes Tim Stenovik from Bloomberg Radio. So the Bloward 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.080 Business Week ranking of the best business school starts with 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.920 the premise that the best judges of MBA programs are 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:23.240 graduating students, recent alumni, and the companies that recruit MBA's. 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.840 The magazine staff passed through nearly twenty thousand surveys to 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:30.280 find out whether top institutions are really offering what millennial 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:33.920 students need, especially in the midst of the COVID nineteen pandemic. Now, 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:36.120 part of what makes a great NBA program is the 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.080 ability for recent grads to leverage what they've learned and 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:41.880 tap into their schools networks and to really understand what 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.920 businesses value most in recruits as they enter the workforce 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.440 or advance in their own careers. Our next guest is 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:50.640 adamant that her alma mater did just that. Valerie Shan 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:54.320 is a partner and the CEO at G two Venture Partners. 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:59.440 She oversees all operational aspects of the firm, including fundraising, recruiting, administration, 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.559 impact reporting, legal compliance, and marketing. Just got a pretty 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.520 cool background to tam. Prior to attending Stanford Business School, 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.559 Valerie was an analyst over at Kleiner Perkins one billion 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.320 dollar Green Growth Fund, where she helped the team found 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.400 G two. She was also a management consultant at McKenzie 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:16.760 and Company, and despite boasting a resume that stacks up 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.600 against many Silicon Valley heavyweights, she does still hope to 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:22.200 do more at Stanford's Business School. My goal is actually 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:24.800 to come back as a professor one day. So hopefully 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.280 that's really and that's something we heard about earlier in 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.280 our conversation with one of the professors. So tell us 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:32.160 about your time here and how it really set you 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.040 up for what you're doing now. Yeah, So the most 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.800 spectacular two and a half years was spent here. I 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.800 think what's really amazing about Stanford is you're constantly having 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.520 great people paraded in front of you in the classroom 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:47.160 speaker series, your classmates alum, and they've just done the 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:50.440 most extraordinary things, and they're so transparent and honest about 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:52.520 how they got to where they are today. And they 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:54.600 almost always say, you know, I was just sitting there 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:56.959 in your seat. I was actually skiing all the time. 0:08:57.440 --> 0:08:59.120 It makes me really feel like the people that are 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:01.680 changing the world were just like us, and therefore there's 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:04.240 no reason that we, as students stay can't be changing 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:06.360 the world in the very near future. And I think 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.240 that sort of just confidence that the GSP gives you 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:11.040 is what carries a lot of us through the rest 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:13.040 of our careers. I can't help but make the connection 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.480 geographically where we are to the career that you're in 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.040 now in venture capital and I wonder to what extent 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.199 you were exupposed to venture capitalists being here in Silicon 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.680 Valley during your time at Stanford. I took a number 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.560 of classes here thinking about entrepreneurship. I think what I 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.520 learned a lot at Stanford was actually how entrepreneurs think. 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:31.760 I didn't have that experience going in. I worked in 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:35.079 venture capital, but almost all with people who came from 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:37.680 banking or consulting, not from people who were on the ground. 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.320 And then the classes at the GSP you hear about 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:44.200 what founders go through, actually, how founders think about venture capitalists, 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.320 and the things that often venture capitalists do that founders 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.160 don't like to the other side of the coin exactly. 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:50.840 That was a perspective that I don't think I would 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.040 have gotten otherwise from my job. Well, how do you 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.040 carry that over then to what you were doing now 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:57.720 as you make investments in entrepreneurs and companies. I think 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.000 that I just always think about my classmates who are 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.760 going through the entrepreneurial journey themselves, and hearing about their 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.160 day to day struggles, and thinking about how we can 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.280 be sort of less annoying venture capitalists, whether that's just 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:10.440 making sure that you're responding to the emails in a 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.320 timely manner, understanding which portions of our term street we 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:16.240 should be careful about, because some term that we're just 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:18.199 throwing in there is actually going to cause a lot 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:21.120 of heartache to the entrepreneur. Also, just thinking about you know, 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.599 our reporting requirements and whether that's going to be a 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.000 struggle and all the little things that we can be 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.960 helping with because the entrepreneurs are likely struggling with that. 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:32.240 When the companies that come to you for funding or 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:34.600 when you actually interact with these companies when they do 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:37.960 come to you, give us a characterization of them, like 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.480 what excites you, what what makes you want to say, Yeah, 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:43.559 that's something that we want to bet on, we want 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:45.960 to bet our LP's money on. Yeah. So the fund 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.160 I work at you to venture partners, we invest in 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:52.000 what we think of as the sustainable digitization of traditional industries. 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:58.480 So and sort of say what exactly, like, yeah, there's 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:00.559 a lot of words. Basically, we look at anything that's 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.440 heavy asset, real economy based. So if there's something in 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:05.240 that sector that you can drop on your foot and 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:09.720 hurt yourself, that's something we do. Transportation, logistics, energy, anything 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:13.560 that we think can substantially impact the pathway of emissions 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:17.200 and environmental sustainability moving forward. And what we want to 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:20.760 invest in is businesses that can change those sectors in 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:24.360 sustainable ways, and businesses that can get really big and 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.880 that have customers that love them. So that doesn't necessarily 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.160 mean we're trying to count you know, like you're reducing 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:32.600 this amount of carbon today, and we're going to invest 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:34.680 in the greatest carbon emissions. We're going to invest in 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:37.720 something that works, that people love, that makes our lives better, 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:40.440 and it's also better for the environment, and as that 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:42.920 grows bigger, our impact will get bigger as well. I 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:47.719 love talking with venture capitalists, whether it's early angel or 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:50.440 moving it along, because I think you guys are seeing 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:52.160 some of the stuff that's being thrown about that we 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:55.160 are maybe going to be talking about, as you know, 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:57.920 part of our everyday life in five years or ten years. 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.520 What would you say that might be you look at 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:02.000 some of the investments you're making, or some of the 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.560 investments that are put before you, that might be something 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:07.280 that nobody's really talking about that we probably should be 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.240 watching closely. One space that we're really excited about now 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.760 is digitizing warehouses and logistics. I think it's a movement 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.200 that people were thinking about a bit before COVID, but 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.160 now has really been accelerated really not digitally yet, So 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:21.880 there's certain problems that are very difficult. For example, if 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:24.440 you think about an Amazon warehouse there's still so many 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.120 people working there and jobs that are often you know, 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.760 not that exciting, a little bit dangerous, a lot of 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:33.040 probability that you're going to hurt yourself, and some specific 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.520 problems such as just getting a robotic arm to pick 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.120 up an item, a specific small item and put it 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:41.360 in another specific bin are surprisingly difficult, especially if you 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:44.080 need a percent accuracy and you need to be doing 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.480 it for all sorts of different shapes and objects. But 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:48.959 as we can figure that out and then figure out scanning, 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:52.000 figure out last mile transit, so all the goods and 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:54.719 services that we're ordering can get to people's homes, and then, 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:56.680 by the way, when we return them, we want to 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:59.560 make sure those return items are actually sent somewhere where 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:01.320 that you can be used as opposed to just going 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.600 directly their landfill, so that whole logistics supply chain we 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:06.600 think about a lot, and we think there's a ton 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.280 of potential to reduce waste there. Do you ever hear 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:12.320 from founders in the area that there's concerned that there's 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:14.839 crowding out from some of the largest tech companies around. 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:17.680 I mean, there's several multi trillion dollars trillion dollar tech 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:21.160 companies that have the resources to develop a lot of 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:23.760 this stuff from within or or develop their own technology 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:25.360 when they see a startup working on it. You work 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:30.520 for one of them, Google, think Facebook. Well, I think 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:32.960 there's a couple of things. There's one is it is 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:35.640 true that the big technology companies are thinking about a 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:37.600 lot of these problems, but they can't do it all right, 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:39.800 just the number of different things we could be working on, 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.120 there's space for a lot of the startups. And then 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.120 I also think the big tech companies are a great 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:47.319 exit for a lot of these founders. So there's multiple paths. 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:49.199 Now you can get fully to the point where you're 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:51.199 going to I P O or maybe Amazon wants to 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.320 buy you, maybe Google wants to buy you. Lots of 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:55.880 potential paths. All right, Gotta ask you, because we have 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:59.240 done the stories at Bloomberg about women in Silicon Valley, 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:01.040 what's been your EXPERI ar in so far as a 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:04.360 woman working in venture capital it's still largely male dominated. 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:07.000 I've got a tremendous experience. I work with great people. 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:09.560 I've never felt discriminator and never felt that there's been 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:13.160 any sort of issue, but it exists, right. I haven't 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:15.640 found that any discrimination that exists. I think the problem 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:18.600 is just how you think about your family, because do 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:20.320 you want to, you know, go at it all the 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:21.720 way and do you want to have a stay at 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:23.840 home spouse or do you want to really make the 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:26.280 dual income family work. I think that's the biggest struggle 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.160 for men or for women as opposed to any specific 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.600 sort of discrimination against me as a woman. That was 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:34.920 Valerie Shan partner and the CEO at G two Venture 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:37.720 Partners still ahead. On the special holiday edition of Bloomberg 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.200 Business Week, we'll speak with an executive from a company 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:42.160 that's been in the news a lot lately, and not 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.600 all that news tim safe to say has been good. 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:48.480 We're talking about Peloton Interactive. It's at a volatile few weeks, 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.480 from a disappointed quarterly earnings report earlier this month to 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:54.880 an unexpected one billion dollar share sale the week before Thanksgiving. 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:57.080 Do you have any charge of relaying difficult messages to 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.680 investors and customers alike? Explains her process. We check in 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:04.600 with Peloton's Chief marketing and Communications officer, Dr Troceedar. This 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:12.520 is Bloomberg broadcasting from the financial capital of the world, 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.080 Bloomberg eleven Rio in New York to Washington, d C. 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:20.960 Bloomberg to Boston, Bloomberg one of six, one does San Francisco, 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:24.520 Bloomberg nine sixty to the country Sirius XM Chamber one 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:28.280 ninety and around the globe the Bloomberg Business and Bloomberg 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:32.480 Radio dot Com. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:36.840 Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stenovan on Bloomberg Radio. 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:40.880 One of the reasons a Stanford Graduate School of Business 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.120 is back on top of the Bloomberg Business Week b 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:46.240 School rankings is because it prepares its students for the 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:49.600 corporate world's most difficult challenges. That's based on the surveys. 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.120 One company that we talk a lot about on Bloomberg 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:54.200 and of course our audience is very familiar with this 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:57.200 Peloton Interactive Carol, you have a Peloton I do, indeed, 0:15:57.400 --> 0:15:59.600 and to say the firm has become accustomed to volatility 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.760 would be an understatement. Earlier this month, Peloton shares jumped 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.360 after one billion dollar stock offering through the interest of 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:08.680 major investors. This is a sign that Wall Street is 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:11.320 ready to look past a grim forecast. Earlier this month, 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.120 it was a big bump up that share price increase 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:17.720 mark the biggest one day gain since May, and shares 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:20.680 a Peloton had to decline about forty five percent since 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:23.720 the company slash that annual revenue forecast by up to 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:27.360 a billion That happened on November four. Company also lowered 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:30.680 its projections for subscribers and profit margins at the time, 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:32.960 really renewing some concerns at the end of the pandemic 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.720 would bring a prolonged slump, but definitely a different view 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:38.640 from Wall Street after it did that one billion dollar 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:41.120 stock offering. Oh last month. Before all of this news, 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:43.480 we caught up with Stanford Business School alum of the 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:48.440 class of derritrue Cedar. She's Peloton's chief marketing communications officer. 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:50.640 She said to help the firm navigate a really dark 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:53.240 period earlier this year. Most notably it was back in 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:56.240 the spring when the Peloton tread Plus treadmill was recalled 0:16:56.240 --> 0:17:00.160 following dozens of reporting injuries, including a child's death. It's 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.360 been a really tough time and Or is sensitive to 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:04.879 all of that, and she's also in wavering about the 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:08.080 company's message of providing better access to fitness for people 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:10.719 around the world. She spoke with us about her journey 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.440 from customer to the company c suite. Our goal has 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.199 always been to make sure that many more people have 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.600 access to fitness, and so communicating that has to do 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:24.600 with making sure people see that Peloton is for people 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:27.160 like them, and so we've been doing that by telling 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:31.000 the real stories of our real members and and having 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:34.760 people see, Wow, if Peloton really worked for that person, 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:36.720 I can I can see that it will work for 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:40.080 me too. If that mom can finally find you know, 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:43.080 twenty minutes in her day to invest in her physical health, 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:45.879 in her mental health, in our overall well being, oh, 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:47.960 that might be able to work for me too. And 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:51.040 so I think that what's been really powerful about what 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:53.399 we've been able to do is really communicate that. And 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.640 then recently we lower the price of our original much 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:59.520 loved bike, right, we lowered our price by four hundred 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:02.720 dollars and so Peloton is now accessible but thirty nine 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:05.600 dollars a month. So that again is another step and 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.919 another action that we've taken to make sure that people 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:13.000 really see that Peloton is something that they can bring 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.719 into their lives and immediately start using to improve their 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.600 physical health and their mental health. Full transparency. I've got 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:20.399 a Peloton so I just want to put it out there. 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.159 You guys have also moved aggressively to digital, which lowers 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:25.640 the price point for a lot of people. When you're 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.800 trying to widen the brand, widen the access, tell us 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.240 as a marketing officer who's looking to really create strategies 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:35.080 to broaden out the base of Peloton, how do you 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:38.080 do it with the backdrop of the problems with the treadmill? 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:40.080 Plus we know that that is still an overhang on 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:42.200 the company. How do you do it as the world 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:45.359 reopens that we're at Stanford outside with people, you know, 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:50.080 Jim's are reopening, and there's increased competition for the fitness 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:53.439 world of pieces of equipment in your home. How do 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:55.200 you do it with all of that? Well, I think, 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:59.639 you know, before the pandemic, people were using Peloton, And 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:04.000 I think what's been really amazing is the continued engagement 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:07.520 with our member base because our our content team continues 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:11.640 to put out really really great classes, a wide variety 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:13.960 of classes. You are trying to widen the base and 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:17.439 reach customers. When you've got a product that's had, you know, 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:20.520 the bad press and the problems like the treadmill, how 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:23.320 do you kind of deal with that. Investors have certainly 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.800 noticed the stock is pulled back about so far. You 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:29.800 are in charge of communicating. I'm assuming even investors have 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:31.679 got to be listening with you. So how do you 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:34.239 kind of get beyond that? How do you how do 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:36.800 you how does that make your job more difficulty? You know, 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.400 are to start Peloton is improving the lives of our members. 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:42.640 That's what we focus on, right, That's what we get 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:45.960 up every day excited about. That's what That's what keeps 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:49.960 us motivated. And I think continuing to show the myriad 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:52.119 of ways that we are doing that, and so I 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:55.159 think continuing to tell those stories that continue to show 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:57.919 how we're tangibly addressing these things. Those are some of 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:01.240 the concrete ways, Um, that we are continuing to push 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:03.879 the business on the brand forward. Of course, like every 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:06.720 business we've dealt, we've delta down Barram's share of challenges. 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.440 That's Peloton Chief Marketing and Communications officer, and of course 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:14.800 Stanford Graduate School of Business alum Daratroceder joining us remotely 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:17.280 during that broadcast and Tim, her team and the entire 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.880