Steven

Were you confident?

I guess that's a principle as well of many of the people that I meet like you is that they're okay with pushing against convention. And, you know, certain moments in your life you make these decisions which one would say are contrarian bets. I can see them all over your story, but... Clearly that was something innate in you from a fairly young age as you look back.

I guess that's a principle as well of many of the people that I meet like you is that they're okay with pushing against convention. And, you know, certain moments in your life you make these decisions which one would say are contrarian bets. I can see them all over your story, but... Clearly that was something innate in you from a fairly young age as you look back.

It's a really interesting time, I think, to be a CEO generally because I think even 10, 15 years ago, CEOs of major companies that so many people use and love weren't doing podcasts. They would maybe release press releases and their marketing team would kind of run the comms. But there's been this almost big shift towards leadership transparency.

It's a really interesting time, I think, to be a CEO generally because I think even 10, 15 years ago, CEOs of major companies that so many people use and love weren't doing podcasts. They would maybe release press releases and their marketing team would kind of run the comms. But there's been this almost big shift towards leadership transparency.

Now our leaders are like expected to be glass boxes.

Now our leaders are like expected to be glass boxes.

So you went off to university. You went to Stanford University, which is an incredible university. And you went to ultimately try and pursue product design at Stanford. Why did you choose product design at that stage in your life? What was it that was calling you about that course?

So you went off to university. You went to Stanford University, which is an incredible university. And you went to ultimately try and pursue product design at Stanford. Why did you choose product design at that stage in your life? What was it that was calling you about that course?

What is product design for someone like me that has no idea what they teach in such a course? Is it because my head says designing physical products?

What is product design for someone like me that has no idea what they teach in such a course? Is it because my head says designing physical products?

Did you learn entrepreneurship through this time as well? Because I think in your sophomore year, you took a class on entrepreneurship in venture capital, right?

Did you learn entrepreneurship through this time as well? Because I think in your sophomore year, you took a class on entrepreneurship in venture capital, right?

Do you remember anything you took away from those classes that ended up being really important for you in terms of an idea or a philosophy or anything?

Do you remember anything you took away from those classes that ended up being really important for you in terms of an idea or a philosophy or anything?

I've always wondered what they teach at Stanford, especially as it relates to business, because the success rate of creating some of the world's sort of preeminent entrepreneurs is really, really high. So you're telling me one of the key ideas is big ambitions, right?

I've always wondered what they teach at Stanford, especially as it relates to business, because the success rate of creating some of the world's sort of preeminent entrepreneurs is really, really high. So you're telling me one of the key ideas is big ambitions, right?

So in my head, I go, well, if it's really, really big, then the chance of failure is probably going to go up. So, you know, I could open a coffee shop, right? And my chance of success is pretty decent. But if I go after building a new social network, which is something only a psychopath would do, then my odds of success are, what, one in a gazillion?

So in my head, I go, well, if it's really, really big, then the chance of failure is probably going to go up. So, you know, I could open a coffee shop, right? And my chance of success is pretty decent. But if I go after building a new social network, which is something only a psychopath would do, then my odds of success are, what, one in a gazillion?

Interesting. So the question that most of us, especially in the UK, we often don't think about building businesses that have the potential to reach huge scale. In part because we don't have as much of a robust, I think, technical track record in terms of building great unicorn tech companies in Europe. as you guys do over here.