I learned so much from my ‘Panic’ with Josh Elman. Like most of my friends in the investing business, I don’t know the full backstories. When did they first geek out? What was their first job? Is there a big miss that haunts them? Josh answered all these for me.

Josh has seen so much over his 20 years in Seattle and the Valley woking at technology startups and I really enjoyed hearing the stories. Josh’s experience and lessons learned at early internet darling ‘Real Networks’ are just classics.

You can listen to today’s podcast here on Spotify or Apple.

Some more details of today’s episode are below…

Guest: Josh Elman

Profile: Board Partner at Greylock Partners, Product Builder

Where to Find Him: LinkedIn, Twitter

Fun Fact: Not only is Josh a board member of the online publishing site Medium, he also does some writing there himself. If you want more from Josh after finishing this episode, I would recommend checking out his Medium page.

What’s the Panic About:

It was great to have my long-time friend, fellow Twitter fanatic and product builder extraordinaire Josh Elman on Panic with Friends and get some insights from the man who has a lot of experience at basically every social company imaginable. It is always fun to talk to really smart people who are doing really amazing things. Josh is someone who is ahead of his time – he’s philosophical, creative and has seen growth on the ground floor of some amazing companies (in another time he was even an intern at Microsoft). Josh is a product leader who has been involved in the early stages of platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Robinhood.

In his many years as General Partner at Greylock Partners, he has served on the boards of some of the most innovative social companies, including Discord, Musical.ly (currently TikTok), Medium, Mammoth Media and more. The Real Networks lessons and the almost investment at Snapshot were so educational. I wish Josh and I could have touched on even more topics during our conversation this episode. But, it was fun getting his unique perspective on everything from his time working at some of the biggest social product companies, what tech company he thinks is the most evil, his most fun job, TikTok, rocket ships and more. Hope you all enjoy this episode!

The Takeaway:

I would equate Josh’s professional experience to that of a surfer. When you ride a wave and you do it right, it’s a magical experience. You’re going to want to ride waves like that the rest of your life. Josh even said during the podcast that ever since he interned at Microsoft back in the 90s, he has been chasing that feeling he had while working there – and it clearly has served him well over 20 years later.

Favorite Quotes:

“[Robinhood is] democratizing investing”

“[Your work] only matters when you actually get it done.”

“We’re all humans, and if someone wants to argue on the internet – I’m in.”

Food for Thought:

Josh and I started talking about what industries he anticipates future growth in before Knut informed me I sadly had to wrap it up. I think it would be fun and helpful to my listeners to bring Josh back on for another episode. After listening to his episode, what would you be interested in me asking him? Send me your questions!

PS – I am now doing two ‘Panic With Friends’ podcasts per week. Thanks for listening and make sure you subscribe over on Spotify or Apple.