Chile, Entrepreneurs, Endeavor, and Global Lessons with Reid Hoffman and Wences Casares
Silicon Valley can frequently be too provincial in its views of entrepreneurship, strategy, and markets, and can benefit from learning about a broader view of entrepreneurship where the strategies of Blitzscaling can be applied outside of Silicon Valley and China.
In their first podcast, Reid Hoffman and entrepreneur Wences Casares talked about the ability of entrepreneurs in Argentina to see global markets that Silicon Valley entrepreneurs might miss. And for their second conversation, they turn to the topic of how blitzscaling works when you’re not in Silicon Valley or China.
Among the interesting new techniques that Wences and Xapo are using to build a global business is his approach to creating and growing a completely distributed company (Xapo has 275 employees scattered across 62 different countries). While this poses some coordination challenges, it also allows him to recruit the best talent from anywhere in the world.
On the podcast, Reid and Wences discuss some of the learnings and tools Wences found to help him make remote work at Xapo more effective. You’ll hear why he thinks working in an office is like living with your parents, while working remotely is like living on your own for the first time. Wences aalso explains how he uses always-on Zoom videoconferencing to implement a virtual “open door” policy that generates serendipitous meetings between employees on different continents, and why hiring employees without ever seeing their face or hearing their voice is actually a competitive advantage.
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