The Pomp Podcast
#382: Alex Konrad on The Best Stories In Tech
- Alex Konrad's background in tech journalism: grew up in New York, studied archaeology and history at Harvard, pivoted to storytelling, and joined Forbes in 2012 where he covers venture capital, cloud, and enterprise software.
- The Midas List process: data-driven ranking of VCs by individual returns over the previous five years, focused on exits and highly valued companies to avoid rewarding hype over genuine success.
- Dustin Moskovitz and Asana: built a successful work-management company with deliberate guardrails on growth (no more than doubling headcount annually, no Wednesday meetings, weekly reflection periods) that contrasts with typical startup culture.
- Canva's global success: despite being based in Australia and targeting small businesses, the company achieved multi-billion-dollar valuation by prioritizing user onboarding speed, freemium model, and visual design trends on social media.
- Masayoshi Son and SoftBank's Vision Fund: met the founder in March 2020 just before COVID lockdowns; Son believes in winner-take-all markets and long-term strategy (30-year plans), remaining unperturbed by criticism despite WeWork and Uber portfolio setbacks.
- Chris Sacca as legendary angel investor: built wealth by concentrating positions in early-stage companies (Uber, Twitter), buying out co-investors, and leveraging his network from Google and South by Southwest events.