{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Grit","title":"#150 CEO Box, Aaron Levie w/ Mamoon Hamid: Open For Business","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/00ad92c3\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3758,"description":"Guest: Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, and Mamoon Hamid, partner at Kleiner Perkins\nWhen he was a newly minted venture capitalist at USVP, Mamoon Hamid got a tip that he should meet a young entrepreneur named Aaron Levie, and fought for the right to invest in his cloud storage startup, Box. For years after that initial investment, the two men say, Box’s fate was precarious: “We could have died any day,” Mamoon says, and Aaron recalled several times he had to be talked “down from a ledge.” Today, they tell us how Box established itself as “open for business” — a concept Mamoon hounded Aaron with in the early years — and grew into success.\nIn this episode, Aaron, Mamoon, and Joubin discuss Box socks, authenticity at work, Josh Stein, living in the office, over-diligence, Google Platypus, the 2008 crash, nostalgia, everything is personal, the ten-person test, burnout, Dan Levin, ChatGPT, Parker Conrad, and Silicon Valley as “technology town.” \nIn this episode, we cover:\n“Make mom proud, unless she’s evil” (01:59)\nHow Mamoon and Aaron met (04:38)\nMamoon’s first investment in Box (11:15) \nPausing the term sheet (16:08)\n“We could have died any day” (19:01)\nWhat is company-building? (23:23)\nOpen For Business (25:27)\nGetting to cash flow positive (27:52) \nSlow growth with no burn vs. fast growth, high burn (31:15)\nTough feedback (34:31)\nOvercoming challenges around the Box IPO (36:31) \nGrowing as CEO (38:35) \nThe Apple Vision Pro and AI (44:15)\nInvesting in cutting-edge companies (49:15)\nUsing AI to re-juice growth (51:48)\nHow Aaron educates himself (54:22)\nBusiness as a sport (57:14)\nWho Box is hiring and what “grit” means to Aaron (01:00:44)\nLinks:\nConnect with AaronTwitter\nLinkedIn\nConnect with MamoonTwitter\nLinkedIn\nConnect with JoubinTwitter\nLinkedIn\nEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com \nLearn more about Kleiner Perkins\nThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/jCea5f44KBONhOsyLyht9nXUrj2YBNfA6fc-kgyfWTM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/Lzk3NzAvMTY2Nzg2/MjQyOC1hcnR3b3Jr/LmpwZw.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}