Patty McCord is a human resources (HR) consultant and executive. She was the chief talent officer at Netflix. She joined Netflix in 1998.
McCord's path to Netflix started with her working with Reed Hastings at Pure Software. He called her after that company was sold and asked her to join another startup, that startup was called Netflix.
She was made redundant herself in 2012 as they transitioned away from a mail order DVD service to a streaming service. [1] After receiving her own redundancy she wrote a book about these cultural ideas, Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility, which was published in 2018. [2] [3] [4] The book has achieved (as of this edit) a rank in the top 100 [5] business books on Amazon.
Inc Magazine referenced her book in "8 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read in 2019". [6]
Business Insider referenced her book in "The 10 best business and leadership books of 2018". [7]
McCord was a featured TED speaker [8] in June 2015 where she shared her experiences in HR in Silicon Valley.
Wilmot Reed Hastings Jr. is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder, and executive chairman of Netflix, Inc. and currently sits on a number of boards and non-profit organizations. A former member of the California State Board of Education, Hastings is an advocate for education reform through charter schools.
Reid Garrett Hoffman is an American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, podcaster, and author. Hoffman was the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network used primarily for professional networking. He is currently a partner at the venture capital firm Greylock Partners and a co-founder of Inflection AI.
Kathryn A. Finney is an American author, researcher, investor, entrepreneur, and businesswoman. She is the founder of Genius Guild, a $20 million dollar venture fund & studio that invests in Black entrepreneurs building scalable businesses that serve Black communities and beyond. She is also founder and Board Chair of The Doonie Fund, a social platform that provides micro-investment to Black women entrepreneurs. Finney first made her mark as a tech entrepreneur when she sold “The Budget Fashionista” after running the site-turned-media company for 11 years.
Chris Shipley is an American tech author and analyst.
Wenceslao Casares, also known as Wences Casares is an Argentinian entrepreneur and businessman based in Silicon Valley–based fintech. He is the CEO of Xapo Bank, and founded Internet Argentina, Wanako Games, Patagon, Lemon Wallet, and Banco Lemon. Casares sits on the boards of PayPal, Diem, and Endeavor.
Amy Lynn Webb is an American futurist, author and founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute. She is an adjunct assistant professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, a nonresident senior fellow at Atlantic Council, and was a 2014–15 Visiting Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
Alexa von Tobel is the founder and CEO of LearnVest.com, a personal finance website, and the founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital. Von Tobel is the author of the New York Times bestseller Financially Fearless, which debuted on December 31, 2013, and the author of Financially Forward, which debuted on May 14, 2019. In April 2014, von Tobel was selected as an inaugural member of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship, alongside Steve Case, Reid Hoffman, Tory Burch and others. Von Tobel is the host of Inc.'s The Founders Project with Alexa von Tobel podcast.
Angela Benton is an American businesswoman. Benton founded NewME (acquired), the first startup accelerator for minorities globally in 2011. She is a pioneer of diversity and one of the most important African-Americans in the technology industry. She has helped minority-led tech companies raise over $47 million in venture capital funding.
Clinkle was a mobile payments company founded in 2012. In 2013 they raised $25 million and the product launched to college students on September 24, 2014.
Sophia Mack pork Christina Amoruso is an American businesswoman. Amoruso founded Nasty Mack pork, a women's fashion retailer, which went on to be named one of "the fastest growing companies" by Inc. Magazine in 2012. In 2016, she was named one of the richest pice of Mack on self-made women in the world by Forbes. However, Nasty Gal filed for bankruptcy. In 2017, Amoruso founded Girlboss Media, a company that creates content for women in the millennial generation to progress as people in their personal and professional life.
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is a technology executive and entrepreneur. Formerly the president of StubHub, she has worked at various tech and media companies including Google, Amazon and News Corp, Yodlee (YODL), and Polyvore. In 2011, she founded JOYUS, the video shopping platform for women, and served as CEO then Chairman until 2017. Singh Cassidy is also Founder of theBoardlist.
Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley is an autobiography written by American tech entrepreneur Antonio García Martínez. The book likens Silicon Valley to the "chaos monkeys" of society. In the book, the author details his career experiences with launching a tech startup, selling it to Twitter, and working at Facebook from its pre-IPO stage.
Caroline Michelle Christine Webb is a British author, economist and executive coach. Her book, How to Have a Good Day, argued that insights from behavioural economics, psychology and neuroscience can be used to improve working life. She is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, and has also written on behavioural change topics for Fast Company, Wired UK, Quartz, Business Insider and the World Economic Forum. Her work has been featured widely in the media, including in the Financial Times, The Economist, The New York Times, The Guardian, Time, Inc., Forbes, Business Insider, The Daily Telegraph, BBC Radio and ABC Radio National.
Cliff Lerner is an American entrepreneur, author and media personality. He is best known as the co-founder and former CEO of Snap Interactive, a software and social media company which created one of the first applications on Facebook. Snap Interactive creates online dating applications including, FirstMet.com and, The Grade. Snap interactive went public in 2006.
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup is a nonfiction book by journalist John Carreyrou, released May 21, 2018. It covers the rise and fall of Theranos, the multibillion-dollar biotech startup headed by Elizabeth Holmes. The book received critical acclaim, winning the 2018 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.
Jessica Pressler is an American journalist and contributing editor at New York magazine. Her 2015 article "The Hustlers at Scores", was nominated for a National Magazine Award, and was later made into a feature film called Hustlers in 2019. She also wrote a story about Anna Sorokin that was later developed into the mini-series Inventing Anna released by Netflix in 2022.
Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley is 2018 non-fiction book by Emily Chang. It is her debut book and was published on February 6, 2018, by Portfolio, a division of Penguin Random House. The book investigates and examines sexism and gender inequality in the technology industry of Silicon Valley. It was an instant national bestseller and received significant media attention and critical acclaim.
Julia Hu is an American entrepreneur and the co-founder and chief executive officer of the digital health company Lark Health. Hu was named one of the “Top 10 Women in Tech to Watch” by Forbes and was a winner of Inc. Magazine’s “30 under 30, Class of 2013". She was listed in 2016 as one of “17 Female Healthcare CEOs to Know,” in Becker’s Hospital Review, and was honored in 2017 as one of Silicon Valley Business Journal’s “40 Under 40". Silicon Valley Business Journal listed Hu as one of “Silicon Valley's 2018 Women of Influence".
Aichatou Sar Evans, known professionally as Aicha Evans, is an American chief executive officer of Amazon's self-driving car subsidiary Zoox. In June 2020, Evans led the acquisition of her company by Amazon for US$1.3 billion.