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Change is happening exponentially around us, and the successful companies and leaders of today and tomorrow must embrace open innovation to help shape our future. Reinventing the Future by HP Tech Ventures talks to start-up founders and entrepreneurs defining tomorrow’s world and experiences to inspire you to tap into your inner innovator.
About HP Tech Ventures
As the venture capital arm of HP Inc., HP Tech Ventures fosters an ecosystem of innovation and reinvention by pursuing strategic investments and partnerships with innovative start-ups in disruptive technology areas. Learn more at hptechventures.com.
Xavier Casanova (00:00)
There's no better feeling for an entrepreneur than having people who care about the company you're building. Because you feel like you're connected to these people, and you're all working in the same direction.
And that energy is so—it's fantastic.
Bonnie Day (00:23)
Hello and welcome to Reinventing the Future by HP Tech Ventures. I'm your host, Bonnie Day.
Bonnie Day (00:28)
I am so excited to speak today to Xavier Casanova, founder and CEO of Olakai AI.
Xavier, thank you so much for joining us. I'm very excited about this conversation.
Xavier Casanova (00:37)
My pleasure. Likewise, Bonnie. Good to meet you.
Bonnie Day (00:40)
So let's start with you giving us a little introduction. Who are you? Tell us about your business.
Xavier Casanova (00:45)
Sure. So, my name is Xavier Casanova. I'm an entrepreneur here in Silicon Valley. I'm currently the CEO of a company in the AI space called olakai.ai. And originally, I'm from France. I grew up in Paris. I did my studies there, came to the US in 1998 for a degree here. And since then, I've been building companies here in Silicon Valley.
Bonnie Day (01:09)
So tell us a little bit about Olakai.
Xavier Casanova (01:11)
Yeah, so Olakai is a startup here in Silicon Valley that is focused on the problem of measuring the ROI of AI for the enterprise. So, as you know, there's a lot of excitement around AI, a lot of excitement and investment. And one of the key questions that has not been answered yet, I think, is:
Is this worth the money we're investing? And I'm sure it is, but if we go even more granular, finding out for a company with different functions, different AI applications, which are the ones that actually are driving positive returns and which are the ones that either need to be adjusted or even stopped.
And the opposite is also true. Some of the tools that exist today are amazing, and they're also worth measuring. So that's what we do. We are a year and a half old. We've been building the product for the last few months here at the AI Fund.
Bonnie Day (02:12)
I think the term, if you will, for what you are is a serial entrepreneur, correct? You have done a lot of startups. When I look at you and listen to you, I think this is not your first rodeo.
Xavier Casanova (02:23)
No, it is not my first rodeo. I always, when I start a company, always think about my current company as my last company. But you know how things go. Some of these companies are successful, others are not successful. In the end, this is my sixth company. I started my first company, FireClick, when I was a Stanford student.
I've done companies that were, you know, private, VC-backed. Some of them were bootstrapped. I also ran a publicly traded company. But I have to tell you that, you know, I never would call myself a serial entrepreneur. I would just call myself an entrepreneur. I'm not trying to do one after another. I'm just trying to, you know, build things that...
...that give me joy.
Bonnie Day (03:10)
Well, I would guess that it would have to give you joy, right? Because it's a lot of work to do a startup, and that's a lot of startups. Have you ever done anything else besides starting up companies, or has this been your entire career?
Xavier Casanova (03:23)
The only time when I joined a company that I did not start was a few years back. And I joined as the product leader. I liked, you know, being the product leader. I wanted to do something a bit different—ended up actually becoming the CEO of that company. So, in the end, I think this just means that, you know, I am naturally perhaps attracted to be some sort of leader or carry the torch, either as my companies or the companies that I join.
Bonnie Day (03:53)
Yeah. Well, and the passion is the thing, right? If you didn't have that, then the story would be completely different. So, I think that's the exciting thing about entrepreneurs: typically, they are leading with a deep passion. So, tell me about with Olakai—what was the big idea? What was the big vision that really made you say, I have to start this company?
Xavier Casanova (04:13)
Yeah. So initially, actually, I was not in the measuring-AI space. It was like a year and a half ago when LLMs were really starting to become popular. The big concern back then was, you know, who has access to this data? Where is my data going when I prompt ChatGPT? And for some of these companies that are healthcare companies or banks—i.e., companies with a lot of very sensitive information—there was a real issue about how do we manage this type of data? How can we use LLMs in a way that's secure?
And so initially, our idea was to build a private LLM that could be deployed within a company's firewall or even locally on a person's computer and maintain privacy and security. We built a product around this concept.
And then along the way, we discovered that there was a much bigger problem, which was the problem of measurement of productivity gains and measurement of the effectiveness of AI. And this realization came to us, I would say, about eight months ago. And since then, we've been really investing in being a great product to solve that problem.
And it's been very organic. Like anything in AI, everything's changing almost every day, and the needs are changing fast. And it was a natural evolution for us to actually be doing this now. And we're very happy about this change. You could say it's a pivot. I hope it's the last pivot that we do, but it's part of the typical journey of an entrepreneur.
Bonnie Day (05:47)
I think that's a good point. Journey, I think, for anything in life is never exactly what you plan. But I think with entrepreneurship, the pivoting is supercharged, right? It's high octane. You have to be ready to do it all the time. And then you put it in the middle of an industry like this that, like you said, is changing daily. This is a lot of flexibility that just has to be baked in...
Xavier Casanova (06:14)
Yeah, definitely. I view pivots as almost like a tax of building companies. I mean, they're kind of inevitable. I never started any of my companies thinking that I would need to pivot. And it just happens because of, you know, like a market trend or sometimes you lose some talent, or you acquire some new talent, and you find that there's a better direction.
It has a cost. It has a cost on the team, on your customers. It's also an act of courage, I think, to be able to tell your team, look, the work we've done so far—we're gonna try to reuse some of that work, but 90% is gone.
And so, I view this as something that you have to do. You know, you have to do it. But I still don't like it.
Bonnie Day (07:05)
So I want to talk about this idea that you are in an insanely disruptive industry, right? That is the whole point of AI. It is a disruptive environment. How do you stand out in that? How do you disrupt in a disruptive industry?
Xavier Casanova (07:22)
So that's a good question. I've been thinking a lot about that one question, which is the—like with any company that we build—it's the long-term viability of your concept and your project.
And I see a lot of companies in AI that solve a particular problem today that is a new problem, but that might go away next month because of newer technology or because bigger competitors all of a sudden do your thing.
I'm finding firm ground in this notion that with any new technology, you still need to measure outcomes, and you still need to put some metrics in place to kind of know what you're doing.
And when it comes to AI and how AI gets used and all the disruption we know is happening in AI, you still need to measure the effectiveness of AI simply because AI is very expensive today. There's a lot of billions floating around here between Nvidia, Oracle, the energy companies, and OpenAI.
And sooner or later, once we're past this initial excitement about AI and the buildup—which is awesome, by the way; I love this—the questions are going to get asked. And I think this is a question that is not a today question. It's not a tomorrow or next year. It's an always question.
And that is what gives me confidence that perhaps this will be the last pivot for Olakai, and that we'll be on our way to be a really successful company.
Bonnie Day (08:57)
In terms of the entrepreneurial spirit, right? It is a certain breed of cat that wants to do this. It's a hard life. It's full of highs and lows. It's full of stress and sleepless nights. What do you think it is about you that led you to this life?
Xavier Casanova (09:14)
First of all, if you look at my background, my parents held their job for 40 years at the same company. They never changed. My mom worked in a bank.
My dad worked in—was a civil engineer in a large construction company in France. And so, my background was not an entrepreneurial background, except that I had one uncle who had a shop—a stationery shop in Paris—and kind of inspired me to consider other avenues for myself.
But I have to be honest: when I came to California after graduating in France, my idea was not to be an entrepreneur. My idea was to get a degree, be an engineer somewhere, or maybe take a management position at a big company in Europe or in France.
And it is really the Stanford experience that inspired me to actually start building companies, join this ecosystem.
And then when I built my first company, I sold it. Then my reaction was, let's build another one. And then I built another one, which, by the way, failed. And my reaction then was, I'm going to build another one and another one.
And so, it becomes like a career path in its own. And it's very difficult to go to the mainstream and, you know, all of a sudden say, okay, I'm done with this entrepreneurial stuff. I'm going to join a large company—perhaps because of the joy you get out of building things and perhaps because also of the sense that you're working on important problems and that you can make a difference.
But anyways, that's what drives me. I have to tell you that I think if I take 10 days in the life of Xavier, nine days are very difficult and one day is good. So, it's very challenging most of the time, but the joys are so intense—so good—that I think that's what keeps me going.
Bonnie Day (11:11)
I think it's so interesting that your vision of your life was completely different until you went to Stanford. Like you were gonna go back to Europe and you were probably going to do what your parents did and have a long-term nine-to-five kind of job. That's super interesting that that one experience changed everything.
Xavier Casanova (11:28)
I think so too. I think it's one of these things that happen to you and your kind of don't know why they happen to you, but all of a sudden, they completely change trajectory.
I mean, for me at Stanford, one thing that I will always remember was those Friday evening sessions at Terman Engineering. I don't know if the building still exists, but they would invite entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley, and those guys would basically tell you the story of their business and be very encouraging.
And I remember me being like this young student going to classes and meeting with these people, and they were totally normal—not at all like in a different dimension, right? They're like super personable, relatable.
And I think that inspired me also to say, I can be like them, and I can build something here that is going to be exciting, and I'm going to join this ecosystem.
Bonnie Day (12:25)
Let's talk a little bit about starting Olakai and all your other businesses when you get going.
Are there moments that stand out to you where you're like, you know, you think that it's not gonna work or, you know, you're starting to get worried about it, getting stressed about it.
And then there's all of a sudden, a moment where it's like the angels sing and, you know, aha, it's gonna work. I get it. I can see it. Talk about those moments where you think, I am gonna be able to pull this off.
Xavier Casanova (12:50)
It's a great question. I think it's—I'm going to give you a very personal answer about how I experience every one of the companies.
Generally speaking, I'm always worried about the long-term viability of what I'm building. I don't like to be in a position ever where I don't know if the business is going to be around next year. I start to feel uncomfortable and uneasy if I don't have at least a long window of time when I have some confidence.
And so, I need to have this sort of security to really operate normally. And so, I'm always asking the question: is this gonna work? Is this gonna work? Are people interested in our product? Can we sell it?
But the reality of building a business is that I don't have the answers.
What I try to do as much as possible is decide that I'm not going to think about it and I'm going to be executing, and I'm going to also be a good leader and project confidence and explain to people why we need to go in a certain direction and so on.
And so, there's like two sides. There's the me when I'm home and I'm worried and in the shower and I think about the big picture. And then there's the side of me who shows up to work, has to be a good leader, inspire people, and hopefully make the business successful.
Bonnie Day (14:15)
Along the same lines, can you give us examples of really big wins, you know, moments where maybe you had all this buildup of maybe this isn't gonna work and then all of a sudden it all comes together. Tell us about those moments when it just really does work and it's really exciting and it does pay off.
Xavier Casanova (14:33)
Yeah, so I mean, the best example I can give you: that was a company that was called Live Clicker, a bootstrap company that I started with two other co-founders, Walt Mann and Justin Foster, back in 2008.
We started this business—it was a video commerce business. We were helping companies put their videos online for selling products, e-commerce companies mostly. And this was like the very beginning of YouTube.
We started this business, and Justin, Walt, and I were driving from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe. We were going to have a little retreat and think about the company, what we were going to do.
And I don't know if you remember this time of—I think it was 2009—but you turn on the radio and you hear things like; the NASDAQ went down 5.7%. And that was the third day of losses.
And you're driving and you're like with your co-founders and you're thinking, wow, I mean, how are we going to pull this?
We go to this weekend. We have a successful retreat. And then on the way back, we drive back, and we have one of our first customers, eBags, who signs a huge contract—a big deal for us—with us.
And this was completely unexpected. We thought it was going to take much longer. But it was a moment where on the way to Tahoe, we're thinking we're doomed—NASDAQ, whatever. And on the way back, it was like a completely different drive.
Oh, they signed. We're going to do this and that, and we're going to expand. And all of a sudden, you feel like you're onto something.
Bonnie Day (16:16)
Great. Love it. So obviously you have to have things that keep you going during the times that you are full of worry and are full of doubt. So, for you, because you've been doing this now 20, 25 years, is there like this one thing that you're still going after? Is there some brass ring out there that you haven't gotten? Or is it really the journey that keeps you going?
Xavier Casanova (16:40)
I think the answer for me is, I don't know. It's weird. I'm not necessarily a very materialistic person, so it's not about money necessarily—although I need to make a living. I have a family. I want to be able to go on vacation. I want to be able to do things, right?
So, the money is, of course, important, but that's not the primary. The pride is not. You know, like the thing—I don't have a huge ego.
So, I haven't really answered that question yet. And it's funny you ask this question, because if you raise money in Silicon Valley and you start to talk to investors, a question you get all the time from these investors is, OK, what's driving you?
Do you want to get a house in the French Riviera? I mean, you want to own a jet. Or do you do this because your dad was mean to you when you were like five years old and now you want to... and everybody will ask you this question, and I don't have a good answer.
It's funny. I'm also getting to an age now where I'm more seasoned. I'm not 25 years old anymore. And I have more time to reflect on what I want to do. And of course, for me, the age of retiring is approaching.
So perhaps more and more for me know it's about legacy and being around people that are exciting and young and energetic, who can teach me things. But there's not one thing that I'm really trying to get out of it.
And I think that may be pretty unique, but that's really how I feel.
Bonnie Day (18:15)
I think this point you make about being seasoned and having different needs and enjoyments, I think that's interesting.
You pointed out that when you were at Stanford, meeting entrepreneurs, listening to them talk, understanding that they were normal people, connecting with them was very impactful on you. So, do you try to pay that back now? Are you trying to also impact in that way with younger entrepreneurs?
Xavier Casanova (18:42)
I do. And it's funny because I don't like to come across as, I know everything; I'm going to teach you.
And so, I'm trying to do it in a way that's very easy on the entrepreneurs I work with. But yes, I actually am mentoring a few younger entrepreneurs that are, you know, 25, 30 years old.
And, you know, it is for me a joy to do that because I think I get to see the movie of my life again with different eyes. And also, I think it's cool because the people that I work with, I feel like it's a real exchange where I'm able to communicate things and help these entrepreneurs, and they're helping me as well.
So, it makes me younger and more motivated. And I learn. So, I'm smarter as a result, I believe, of that relationship. But yes, it's important to me, actually.
Bonnie Day (19:42)
Let's talk a little bit now about team culture because you've had a lot of opportunity to build teams. What are the secrets to your success? Like, what's your secret sauce for your company and your culture?
Xavier Casanova (19:56)
So I have to be honest, I'm not sure I would recommend my style to anybody. I don't know.
Bonnie Day (20:04)
Okay, so we'll start with honesty. We're gonna start with honesty.
Xavier Casanova (20:07)
I like to work with people who are really passionate about what they do. And I like to give people a lot of space to operate. I really do not want to be in every decision. I see myself as enabling others and I see myself as being your champion.
I think where it works is when you hire people that are comfortable with that culture. So, if you're going to be working for Olakai, you have to be independent and you have to be a hard worker and you have to be creative and smart and kind and forgiving.
And you should not expect me to tell you, you're not working hard enough, or the quality of your work is not good. So, you have to be really good.
It's like, I want to give you as much space as possible. And so, I think honestly, it's pure luck.
In general, I personally believe that as an observer of humanity, people don't like to be told what to do. They like to have a bit of freedom and agency. That I think is also true.
But when you look at super successful entrepreneurs and people like Elon Musk or Steve Jobs or people like that, I feel like they're the anti of what I describe.
And so that's why I'm saying that I don't know that I have the right style, but it works for me. And I get to work on Monday and I'm happy to be around.
I think if I can replicate that for the rest of my team, 99% of the battle is won. And the deals, the product features, and all of that—they happen organically and naturally.
Bonnie Day (21:50)
Because they want to be there and they're having fun.
Xavier Casanova (21:52)
Because they want to be there. That's right.
Bonnie Day (21:53)
So do you do anything in particular to motivate innovation though, other than hands-off and stay out of the way? Is there anything that you're doing to encourage play or risk-taking or anything in particular?
Xavier Casanova (22:06)
So yes, the difficulty in a startup is that because it's small, because you don't have a lot of time, and there's like this emphasis on getting to a certain outcome quickly—either like winning a customer or securing a round of funding—time is the enemy of what you describe.
And so, you want to somehow, I think, led by example and say, like, oh, this weekend, you know, I was prototyping on Replit, and I created this like little product. Hey, take a look at it. Tell me what you think.
Or when someone does something like that in turn, when you are at Olakai, then you have to be supportive. Even if you think that it's not like the best thing, you get to make the person feel like, wow, you tried something.
And that is amazing. Like, nobody told you to build this or nobody told you to build this initiative or to do this initiative. That's amazing.
Bonnie Day (22:59)
Yeah, and that makes sense. And you want to reward the initiative that people take because they actually just care about the company.
Xavier Casanova (23:07)
That's right. And there's no better feeling for an entrepreneur than having people who care about the company you're building.
Bonnie Day (23:13)
Yep, it's the thrill of a team coming together and creating something. There's nothing like it.
Xavier Casanova (23:19)
Exactly.
Bonnie Day (23:20)
So let's just take a moment and imagine: in terms of your leadership style, Xavier on day one of company number one and Xavier on day one of Olakai— is it different or is it exactly the same? Have you evolved or are you just still doing the same exact leadership that you did?
Xavier Casanova (23:37)
I think when I started my career, I was very, very naive. And perhaps that's a good thing because being naive and not knowing that removes a lot of inhibitors. You're kind of reckless. That's an advantage, I think.
Right now, over time, I'm being more careful with my words. I'm seeing danger six months ahead of time. And so, I'm more conservative with my hiring. I'm less willing to take a risk on someone when I interview.
So, I'm way more cautious and wiser, honestly—but less creative and less energetic. And I tend to believe that those two things actually, in the end, average out, and I'm sort of the same.
It's distributed differently, but funnily, the one thing that doesn't change is this crazy energy. I don't know how to describe it. It's not physical energy—it's excitement.
So, I don't know if I'm that different. Perhaps I'm less naive, but equally crazy and excited.
Bonnie Day (24:44)
And equally thrilled about the results.
Well, speaking of unpredictable, let's talk about the future. AI industry—we talked about it before. It's not your first rodeo. You have been at the center of another revolution. Can you talk a little bit about the difference between the setting of your first company and the setting now?
Xavier Casanova (25:06)
Yeah. So, my first company was a company called FireClick that I started in 1999. I was still a Stanford student and we're in the middle of the dot-com revolution, dot-com boom.
And people see the parallels between what's happening now with the AI boom and what happened with the dot-com.
And so, when I started my first company, it was about measuring what was happening on these websites—amazon.com, gap.com, all these types of websites—and seeing if the dot-com experiment was actually viable and if people were making money and measuring things and measuring success.
And I see the same thing happening with AI. As we discussed earlier, there's a ton of money invested, but sooner or later people will start asking for receipts.
And so, what I take away from what happened with the dot-com boom that I think will happen with AI is that even if there's a crash, even if there's a pullback and things look very uncertain, in the end they're so transformational that the journey in itself is going to be exciting.
And we will be able to say, well, I took part in that—I was in the industry when this AI revolution happened, or the dot-com and internet revolution happened.
I have to tell you that this is also a bit different because it's faster, and also every sector of the economy is going to be affected by this revolution. And that's the part where I don't personally have a good frame of reference and remains an unknown, I think, for a lot of people.
Bonnie Day (26:52)
So in terms of your company, what's exciting for you in terms of what's coming up in the future? What do you see for it? What do you hope for it? How do you hope you can make the biggest change?
Xavier Casanova (27:04)
So for us, it's going to be the year of launch for the company. So, we've been building this technology for quite some time now. We're excited about working with customers of all sizes and all industries.
This is one of the benefits of building a company that's in the measurement space: we get to work with energy companies or healthcare companies, banks, and security companies—travel, all of those—and meet some amazing people.
But I fundamentally think that everybody needs to measure AI if AI is to be an important part of their future. And I think for us, it's gonna be the year of growth, and I'm extremely excited about it.
Bonnie Day (27:50)
Great. Tell me a little bit about working with the AI Fund and their partners. What does that do for you in terms of vision, in terms of getting traction? What are the really big benefits of this partnership?
Xavier Casanova (28:04)
So this is the first time when I build a company as part of an incubator. So, I'm here at AI Fund, incubating a company with other entrepreneurs also incubating other AI Fund companies.
I have to tell you, many of my companies recently were work-from-home companies—like, very candidly, not needing to commute to work, not having to deal with any of the office-type of stuff.
AI has created an environment that I think for me is very compelling because I come to work here, I'm surrounded with other entrepreneurs building their business and trying things, succeeding and failing, and sharing their story and giving advice to other entrepreneurs. And to be around them is a huge advantage, especially at a time when things are changing almost every day.
So, when there's a—I'll give you like a super small example—but you know that there are new models that are coming out every day. Google will have a new Gemini model, or OpenAI will have something new tomorrow, and so on.
And so, there's always someone trying the new thing. Sometimes it's me, sometimes it's someone else, but there's always someone trying and sharing their experience, and that is an accelerator for us.
The way we build product at Olakai has changed dramatically in the last year. And even, say, September to January, it also has changed: what tools we use, the approach we take, how to go to market, the technologies.
And of course, how to build this type of product, which is very challenging to build. We're building an AI product.
Being here and having this environment and also being around Andrew, who's brilliant, has been a huge plus to us. And I'm very, very excited about it and coming to work every day.
Bonnie Day (29:54)
I have to say, it sounds to me like part of your success has been the fact that you continue to stay open—to not necessarily be competitive and to be more collaborative—and to really be excited by all the other minds and other ideas that are around you all the time.
Would you say that's sort of a secret to success for all entrepreneurs: to just be that open-minded and willing to take in new information all the time?
Xavier Casanova (30:20)
I think it's the secret of the Bay Area.
I think it's like coming from another continent and growing up in an environment that was way more competitive and closed—it's very different.
I remember coming to California, starting my first company. My first reflex back then was every conversation would be, we need to sign an NDA, or I cannot tell you what we do, or can I tell you how we do it?
And over time, I've actually learned that you gain so much more by being generous with what you know. Other people also share with you. And this trust is real currency here in the Valley.
And so, it is not something that is in my DNA, honestly, or my culture, but something that I've learned in California: being open-minded and generous with your time and energy and ideas—because you get so much in return.
So that's part of the magic as well.
Bonnie Day (31:20)
Great. If you had the opportunity to send yourself a message on the very first day of your journey as an entrepreneur, what would it say?
Xavier Casanova (31:29)
I'd say, sure you want to do this?
Are you sure you want to do this crazy entrepreneurial thing?
Primarily because... it is so hard to be a successful entrepreneur. Like I say, there's going to be nine days that are going to be bad and one day that's going to be good.
I'm very happy that I did it and it kind of worked out, and I have the energy now also because I've had some success. But it's hard, and success is very random.
Like, you know, if not for those crazy coincidences, I wouldn't be here. Maybe I'd be on startup number seven and no success and feeling terrible. I'd feel like I never built anything.
And I have a successful path, but honestly not because I'm smarter or more connected or more this or that—just because I was a tiny bit luckier than others.
And so, you take me and you replay this—you go back in time, and you play—and the outcome could be completely different.
And so that to me is like the thing that, you know, I have kids and I don't know what to tell them. I don't know if I should tell them, look, you should be an entrepreneur or you should go work for Google—because it's so uncertain. Like ups and downs all the time. Hard on your family life, hard on you.
But in the end—and this is the good part of it—I think that I was super lucky to meet the people that I've met and work in the environments I've worked in because of being an entrepreneur, because of like this risk that I took.
I just don't think it'd be the same. Like, I wouldn't know as much or have this outlook on life if I had taken this like corporate job and built a career.
And so, I'm kind of grateful that I was completely naive and ignorant.
Bonnie Day (33:17)
I think there's always gonna be forks in the road where people make decisions, but it always feels to me like, you know, it's weighted one way or the other. And it feels like it was always weighted for you to be more of a risk taker. And it worked out.
If you could give a piece of advice—or if you do give a piece of advice—to the entrepreneurs that you meet, the early-stage founders that are out there, what's sort of the nugget that you want to leave with all of them? Like, this is the one thing to remember.
Xavier Casanova (33:46)
So if you are going to be in that game, I think that the most important thing is to always maximize your learning and always seek opportunities to meet new people, listen to them.
Even if they say things that don't make sense, be in a position where you're always learning something from anybody.
Primarily because also entrepreneurs are problem solvers, and you need to be exposed to real life and talk to real people to understand their problems for you to find a problem worth solving.
So, you have to stay curious. You have to get out, meet with a maximum number of people, stay open-minded, super resilient, and play the long game.
Because you might be struggling with this company and the next one, and then the third one is going to be amazing. Like it would give meaning to those failures in the context of what you're building.
If you are going to choose this life, you need to be patient and ready, and things will work out in the end, hopefully.
Bonnie Day (34:51)
Well, and I think it's a great point. It's not what's happening just today. It's what's happening in the entire story of your life. And to your point, you may learn more from that failure than you learn from the three successes.
Xavier Casanova (35:04)
That's right. And a lot of people will tell you these things and you're like, yeah, yeah, they're just repeating something they heard, but it's really true.
But you only know this—you only understand the failure—after you have the success. Because like failure, failure, failure—still failure—you can't quite identify exactly what didn't work.
But once you have success, you can establish that. And so, it is only when you live through that that you understand why these things are important.
Bonnie Day (35:32)
All right, so we're going to end with some fun stuff. I'm going to do some rapid questions where you just tell me your off-the-top-of-your-head answer, OK?
If you had a do-over and you had to start a career again, what would you have been really good at?
Xavier Casanova (35:45)
So I think I was really meant to work in a scientific field, in a lab, as a PhD professor type of thing. That's what I really, I think, have missed in some ways.
What I'm good at, to be honest with you, I don't know. I'm decent at a lot of things, but I'm not really good at one thing. I'm being very honest.
Bonnie Day (36:05)
You're a generalist.
Xavier Casanova (36:07)
And anybody who knows me knows this.
Bonnie Day (36:09)
All right. What are you likely to laugh the hardest at? Like what just cracks you up?
Xavier Casanova (36:15)
French humor for sure. Recently, more American type of humor because I'm getting used to it. So, The Office, you know, a scene from The Office with Michael Scott and Pam or Jim.
Bonnie Day (36:17)
What is French humor for you?
Did you make New Year's resolutions?
Xavier Casanova (36:30)
No. I've done that for so many years, and I dropped my resolutions on day eight or nine that I'm like, don't bother anymore.
Bonnie Day (36:38)
All right, what's a sport you love?
Xavier Casanova (36:40)
Soccer, for sure. I'm a soccer guy. I grew up in Paris with PSG being the team from Paris, and they were bad.
But when I was nine years old, I played in a soccer league in France, in Paris. And people would take me for free. We would go with our club to PSG games. It was painful—like years and years and years of nothing.
And finally, they won the Champions League. And it's an amazing feeling. And so that would be my sport—soccer for sure.
Bonnie Day (37:11)
And if you could be a professional athlete, would you be a soccer player?
Xavier Casanova (37:14)
I think I'd be a professional surfer because this is California and I grew up in Paris with no ocean, no water.
And one of my first memories of the Bay Area was going to Linda Mar—it's in Pacifica—and getting on a wetsuit, renting a surfboard and hanging out by these California dudes fighting for waves. Such a good feeling.
Bonnie Day (37:38)
Did you figure out that it's like 90% waiting?
Xavier Casanova (37:41)
Exactly. So that's the other thing that I find so crazy about surfing is that it's a little bit like entrepreneurial, right?
It's like you have all this preparation and you have all this energy. You want to get in the water. You want to do amazing. And it's like hours and hours and hours of nothing.
And then 10 seconds of the wave, the turn—and all of a sudden, you know that you're going to talk about that for a week and longing to get back on the water.
Bonnie Day (38:09)
Perfect analogy, right? You're passionate about it and you wait and you wait and it pays off.
Xavier Casanova (38:14)
Exactly.
Bonnie Day (38:15)
All right. If we were to write the story of your life, you and I, what would the title be?
Xavier Casanova (38:21)
It would have to have the word California in it. And it would be A Parisian in California or something like that, because a lot of what I've lived through has been like between those two worlds: where I grew up and the culture and identity and who I am as a professional and now father and so on here in California—this beautiful state with amazing people.
So, it would have to be something like that about Paris and California.
Bonnie Day (38:48)
Do you think that people know you, or do you think there are things about you that they'd be really surprised to know?
Xavier Casanova (38:53)
I think they know my personality. They may not know other things that I, for example...
I'll tell you something not a lot of people know: when I was a Stanford student—again, I was living the California dream—I took flying lessons at West Valley, which happens to be on the other side of 101 on Embarcadero Road.
And I'm a private pilot. And recently I got my commercial license, and I fly very regularly. And that's how I spend my weekends.
Not a lot of people know it because I don't talk much about my weekends, but it's something that gives me a lot of joy as well—especially, again, with these phenomenal California landscapes that you guys were born with and you don't even notice anymore.
Bonnie Day (39:41)
That I would not have known. So, thank you for sharing. Is there anything else that we haven't talked about that you want to add?
Xavier Casanova (39:43)
No, I'm super grateful to be on this podcast with you.
Stanford and HP have a natural connection. Page Mill Road divides basically the Stanford campus with the former HP campus.
I feel like there's a little bit of a déjà vu here—going full circle in this one.
Bonnie Day (40:05)
Thank you so much, Xavier. What an awesome conversation. Thanks for just being here and everything that you shared with us today.
Xavier Casanova (40:12)
Thank you, Bonnie. Appreciate the time.