We recently hosted a “Welcome to Silicon Valley” event for this summer’s KPCB Fellows during which Fellows alum Alex Moffit interviewed Hosain Rahman, CEO of Jawbone. In this video, Hosain shares what it was like to grow Jawbone over the past 16 years, how to embrace mistakes, and steps that entrepreneurs can take to enjoy the journey of building a company instead of getting bogged down by the inevitable failures.
SUMMARY
1:29 What is Jawbone?
2:44 “We don’t think of ourselves as just a hardware company or just a software company. It’s how those things come together.”
5:56 Do you have frameworks that help in the early stages of product development that drive innovation?
7:56 What did Jawbone’s first employees do to shape the culture?
9:06 “This place is special:” discussing the entrepreneurial energy in Silicon Valley
11:55 What was design culture like when you started?
16:20 What are some things you do as a leader that have been effective?
18:54 Discussion of mistakes the company made and how it reacted
25:20 “Embrace your mistakes – do it fast:” embracing and learning from failure
27:14 “You have to enjoy the journey:” being motivated and encountering new challenges as an entrepreneur
29:28 Hosain describes how he focuses on problems, not trends
32:23 What are the best and worst pieces of advice you’ve ever received?
35:31 If you had to start Jawbone today, how would you do it differently?