In this episode, Kat Cosgrove (SIG Docs Technical Lead, SIG Release Subproject Lead, and Steering Committee member) and Natali Vlatko (SIG Docs Co-Chair, Steering Committee member for the TODO Group, and Open Source Architect at Cisco) join hosts Kaslin Fields and Abdel Sghiouar to discuss the newly published Kubernetes AI usage policy. We dive into the legal and administrative reasoning behind the policy—including why AI tools cannot legally sign the Contributor License Agreement (CLA) or co-author PRs—and explore how maintainers manage the influx of "AI slop" PRs, spam comments, and restricted AI note-taker bots in community meetings. The discussion highlights the balance between human accountability and AI as an enhancer, while sharing actionable advice on how new contributors can sustainably get involved with SIG Docs, issue wrangling, and the Kubernetes Release Team.
Do you have something cool to share? Some questions? Let us know:
web: kubernetespodcast.com
mail: kubernetespodcast@google.com
twitter: @kubernetespod
bluesky: @kubernetespodcast.com
News of the week Apple Native Container Tool for macOS 1.0: Apple has shipped version 1.0 of its native container tool for macOS. Built in Swift specifically for Apple Silicon, it departs from traditional shared-VM setups like Docker Desktop by isolating every single Linux container inside its own dedicated micro-VM using the native macOS Virtualization framework. Read more on Cloud Native Now.
Google OpenRL: Google launched OpenRL, a new open-source project designed to streamline the training and reinforcement learning loops of large language models. The tool brings declarative, Kubernetes-style resource orchestration concepts to the messy process of AI model fine-tuning. Read more on Cloud Native Now.
CNCF Welcomes New Members: At KubeCon CloudNativeCon India, the CNCF announced they added 14 new members, end Users, and non-profit organizations, highlighting the continued growth of the Cloud Native Ecosystem. One of the new members is Loveable, who was a recent guest on the show. We highly recommend you go listen to Episode 268 about the Agent Sandbox. Read the full announcement on PR Newswire.
Is a Pod the Right Deployment Unit for an AI Agent?: Lin Sun from Solo published a community post on the CNCF blog questioning whether the classic Kubernetes Pod primitive is still the best abstraction for hosting autonomous, long-running AI agents and introducing Agent-substrate, a project attempting to bring a solution to the table. Read more on the CNCF Blog.
Links from the interview Kubernetes AI Usage Policy – Read the community's official guidelines and rules for AI-assisted contributions.
TODO Group Steering Committee – A Linux Foundation project bringing OSPO professionals and enthusiasts together.
Contributor License Agreement (CLA) – Standard agreement required for all human contributors, which AI agents cannot legally sign.
Kubernetes SIG Docs – Get involved with the documentation community.
SIG Docs Style Guide – Learn the style guidelines for contributing to Kubernetes docs.
Kubernetes SIG Release – Details on how to get involved with the release cycle.
Links from the post-interview chat Linus Torvalds on AI LinkedIn Post – Torvalds' clarification on using AI as a helper tool rather than writing kernel C++ code.
Devoxx– A popular developer conference in Europe
Prowbot GitHub Repo – Kubernetes' main CI/CD bot handling PR automation.
(0:00) Travis Kalanick: Officially exiting stealth mode, what he's been working on
(5:52) How to automate the physical world, markets to go after
(11:00) Return to self-driving: Tesla, Waymo, and the autonomous race
(16:17) Leaving Los Angeles for Austin, the decline of truth and justice in California
(25:51) Actuators, robot hands, "Capital as a weapon," Middle East SWF impacted by Iran War
(36:00) Michael Dell: Dorm room to $140B in annual revenue, why Texas attracts founders
(43:46) Dell's $50B AI infrastructure bet
(1:03:50) Invest America: Michael Dell's $6.25B gift - A 401k from birth for 25M kids
This podcast was recorded LIVE at Arena Hall in Austin, Texas.
Thanks to our partners for making this event possible!:
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Austin vibes meet AI innovation. Thanks to EY for co‑hosting with us at #SXSW.
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For 2026’s first episode of In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), Jon Krohn selects 6 clips from December for a wide-ranging look at the current state of AI in business and beyond. Hear from Joel Beasley (Episode 945), Jeff Li (Episode 947), Sandy Pentland (Episode 949), Josh Clemm (Episode 951), Penelope LaFeuille (Episode 952), and John Roese (Episode 953) on ensuring your AI systems get adopted and succeed in their goals, interesting ways to use AI for standup comedy routines, and more.
Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/960
Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Email natalie@superdatascience.com for sponsorship information.
Dell Technologies’ John Roese talks to Jon Krohn about the phenomenon of “agent-washing”, his contribution to Dell’s incredible revenue boost in 2025, and why “knowledge layers” will be crucial to future tech. Hear also John’s predictions for where AI is going to lead us in 2026, from better, clearer governance, data management methods and definitions for agentic AI, to systems that keep AI tools and our data running and secure with the help of “AI factories” and “sovereign AI”.
This episode is brought to you by MongoDB and by Y Carrot.
Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/953
Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Email natalie@superdatascience.com for sponsorship information.
In this episode you will learn:
(01:31) John Roese’s predictions for AI in 2026
(11:28) How John increased ROI at Dell Technologies
(18:59) John’s predictions for AI in 2026
(40:13) How Dell’s clients are using AI factories
In this November episode of “In Case You Missed It” series, Jon Krohn selects his favorite clips from the month. Hear from Shirish Gupta and Tyler Cox (Episode 939), Vikoy Pandey (Episode 941), Marc Dupuis (Episode 937), and Maya Ackerman (Episode 943) on getting back to human motivation and the importance of evaluating the tools and data we use.
Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/948
Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Email natalie@superdatascience.com for sponsorship information.
State space models (SSMs), granite models, and Mamba: Dell’s Tyler Cox and Shirish Gupta discuss with Jon Krohn why state space models can process information so efficiently, and how Dell’s AI factory helps enterprises manage custom AI workloads. Hear the latest on the Dell Pro AI Studio and Dell’s partnerships with IBM and Hugging Face in this episode.
This episode is brought to you by the Trainium2, the latest AI chip from AWS and by Gurobi.
Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/939
Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Email natalie@superdatascience.com for sponsorship information.
In this episode you will learn:
(02:58) Dell Pro AI Studio news
(23:17) How Dell manages interoperability
(28:08) About the Dell/IBM granite models
(47:38) How to troubleshoot AI tools
(52:36) How Dell performs against benchmarks
I’ve started a new show where I have conversations with the greatest living Founders. The show is called David Senra. It will be on a separate podcast feed from Founders.
So it is very important that you follow David Senra on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you're listening to this so you don't miss future episodes.
Nothing is changing with Founders. I will never stop making Founders.
Using Windows for AI development and the bleeding edge of NPUs: Shirish Gupta and Ish Shah from Dell Technologies speak to Jon Krohn about the latest products from Dell, the future of neural-processing units (NPUs), and how AI developers can make sound hardware investments.
This episode is brought to you by the Trainium2, the latest AI chip from AWS, by ODSC, the Open Data Science Conference and by Gurobi.
Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/921
Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Email natalie@superdatascience.com for sponsorship information.
In this episode you will learn:
(04:18) Why Windows still outranks other operating systems
(20:58) The difference between GPUs and NPUs
(32:44) How to access and use Dell’s NPUs and GPUs
(49:08) Using processing units on the cloud versus locally
(57:43) About the Dell Pro Max
Open Source bi-weekly convo w/ Bill Gurley and Brad Gerstner on all things tech, markets, investing & capitalism. This week, they welcome Michael Dell to discuss the Invest America Act, lessons learned from the 90’s, government spending, budget deficit, the AI talent war, AI's Role in Economic Growth and Productivity, the explosion in AI compute and demand, the markets, and more. Enjoy another episode of BG2!
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(4:13) Lessons from the 90’s at Dell
(8:37) Invest America Act Signed Into Law
(27:12) Government Spending and Budget Deficit
(36:05) The AI Talent War
(46:25) AI's Role in Economic Growth and Productivity
(53:42) AI Compute–Explosion in Demand
(1:03:53) Market Check
Show Notes:
Invest America
Next Gen Personal Finance
Play Nice But Win: A CEO's Journey from Founder to Leader
Milken Institute: The Economic Impact of Invest America Accounts
Produced by Benny Beausoleil
Music by Yung Spielberg
Available on Apple, Spotify, www.bg2pod.com
Follow:
Brad Gerstner @altcap
Bill Gurley @bgurley
BG2 Pod @bg2pod
Michael Dell @MichaelDell
Supported by Our Partners
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—
Kubernetes is the second-largest open-source project in the world. What does it actually do—and why is it so widely adopted?
In this episode of The Pragmatic Engineer, I’m joined by Kat Cosgrove, who has led several Kubernetes releases. Kat has been contributing to Kubernetes for several years, and originally got involved with the project through K3s (the lightweight Kubernetes distribution).
In our conversation, we discuss how Kubernetes is structured, how it scales, and how the project is managed to avoid contributor burnout.
We also go deep into:
• An overview of what Kubernetes is used for
• A breakdown of Kubernetes architecture: components, pods, and kubelets
• Why Google built Borg, and how it evolved into Kubernetes
• The benefits of large-scale open source projects—for companies, contributors, and the broader ecosystem
• The size and complexity of Kubernetes—and how it’s managed
• How the project protects contributors with anti-burnout policies
• The size and structure of the release team
• What KEPs are and how they shape Kubernetes features
• Kat’s views on GenAI, and why Kubernetes blocks using AI, at least for documentation
• Where Kat would like to see AI tools improve developer workflows
• Getting started as a contributor to Kubernetes—and the career and networking benefits that come with it
• And much more!
—
Timestamps
(00:00) Intro
(02:02) An overview of Kubernetes and who it’s for
(04:27) A quick glimpse at the architecture: Kubernetes components, pods, and cubelets
(07:00) Containers vs. virtual machines
(10:02) The origins of Kubernetes
(12:30) Why Google built Borg, and why they made it an open source project
(15:51) The benefits of open source projects
(17:25) The size of Kubernetes
(20:55) Cluster management solutions, including different Kubernetes services
(21:48) Why people contribute to Kubernetes
(25:47) The anti-burnout policies Kubernetes has in place
(29:07) Why Kubernetes is so popular
(33:34) Why documentation is a good place to get started contributing to an open-source project
(35:15) The structure of the Kubernetes release team
(40:55) How responsibilities shift as engineers grow into senior positions
(44:37) Using a KEP to propose a new feature—and what’s next
(48:20) Feature flags in Kubernetes
(52:04) Why Kat thinks most GenAI tools are scams—and why Kubernetes blocks their use
(55:04) The use cases Kat would like to have AI tools for
(58:20) When to use Kubernetes
(1:01:25) Getting started with Kubernetes
(1:04:24) How contributing to an open source project is a good way to build your network
(1:05:51) Rapid fire round
—
The Pragmatic Engineer deepdives relevant for this episode:
• Backstage: an open source developer portal
• How Linux is built with Greg Kroah-Hartman
• Software engineers leading projects
• What TPMs do and what software engineers can learn from them
• Engineering career paths at Big Tech and scaleups
—
See the transcript and other references from the episode at https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/podcast
—
Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@pragmaticengineer.com.
Get full access to The Pragmatic Engineer at newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/subscribe
Jon Krohn speaks to John Roese about the promise of multi-agent teams for business, the benefits of agentic AI systems that can identify and complete tasks independently, and how these systems demand new authentication, authorization, security and knowledge-sharing standards. They also discuss how to use AI to refine project ideas down to a core business need, as well as the new and emerging careers in the tech industry and beyond, all thanks to AI.
Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/887
This episode is brought to you by Adverity, the conversational analytics platform and by the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA.
Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Email natalie@superdatascience.com for sponsorship information.
In this episode you will learn:
(03:54) Why ROI is the most important aspect of an AI-driven project
(14:06) Why high-impact AI projects trigger a flywheel of success
(23:32) The future of agentic systems
(30:28) How to manage agentic systems at scale
(46:36) The disruptive nature of quantum computing
Returning after the “Super Bowl of AI”, NVIDIA GTC, Sama Bali and Logan Lawler talk to Jon Krohn about their respective work at tech giants NVIDIA and Dell. Sama and Logan discuss the next-gen Blackwell GPUs to their collaboration with Dell in launching Pro-Max PCs specially designed to take on heavy computational workloads as well as the incredible performance of GB 10 and GB 300 workstations, and the widening accessibility of AI developer tools and models.
Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/883
This episode is brought to you by ODSC, the Open Data Science Conference, by Adverity, the conversational analytics platform and by the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA.
Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Email natalie@superdatascience.com for sponsorship information.
In this episode you will learn:
(07:29) About Dell’s Pro Max PCs
(14:01) Why having a Blackwell GPU from Nvidia is a great option for those new to training and deploying AI models
(36:47) When it makes sense for a data scientist to switch from a Unix to a Windows based system
(46:33) Logan’s and Sama’s predictions for AI
NPUs, AIPC, and Dell’s growing suite of AI products: Shirish Gupta speaks to Jon Krohn about neural processing units and what makes them a go-to tool for AI inference workloads, reasons to move your workloads from the cloud and to your local devices, what the mnemonic AIPC stands for and why it will soon be on everyone’s lips, and he offers a special intro to Dell’s new Pro-AI Studio Toolkit. Hear about several real-world AIPC applications run by Dell’s clients, from detecting manufacturing defects to improving efficiencies for first responders, massively supporting actual life-or-death situations.
Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/877
This episode is brought to you by ODSC, the Open Data Science Conference.
Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Email natalie@superdatascience.com for sponsorship information.
In this episode you will learn:
(03:28) What neural processing units (NPUs) are
(23:53) About Dell Pro AI Studio
(35:03) Use cases for Dell Pro AI Studio
(45:16) How AI development workflows and applications will change
(49:01) About Dell’s AI factory ecosystem
In this Five-Minute Friday, Jon interviews Chris Bennett and Joseph Balsamo on the importance of flexibility in the way we deploy AI models, Dell’s brand positioning in the AI space, and whether GenAI’s business applications stand up to the hype.
Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/842
Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Email natalie@superdatascience.com for sponsorship information.
Over half of Americans live in childcare deserts, while 90% of brain development happens before the age of five. All the while, education and childcare remain among the most resistant sectors to technological change. Billions of dollars have been spent, but outcomes continue to lag. Why?
In this episode, we dive into the systemic issues—misaligned incentives, political resistance, and the lack of a shared vision around the purchase of an education. We also explore how technology and entrepreneurial innovation may be shifting the tide.
You’ll hear from Anurupa Ganguly (Prisms), Chris Bennett (Wonderschool), Anna Edwards (Whiteboard Advisors), and a16z General Partner Jeff Jordan discuss the criticality of early childhood education, how public-private partnerships are required for scale, and how we can engage risk-averse decision-makers.
Listen to learn how the next generation can reclaim the American dream.
Resources:
Find Jeff on Twitter: https://x.com/jeff_jordan
Find Chris on Twitter: https://x.com/8ennett
Find Anna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annakimseyedwards/
Find Anurupa on Twitter: https://x.com/aganguly26
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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This week on Screaming in the Cloud, Corey Quinn is joined by Kat Cosgrove, Lead Open Source Advocate for Dell Technologies. Kat catches Corey up to speed on the newest version of Kubernetes that Kat was the release lead for. The two discuss its unconventional name: Uwubernetes, what goes into creating and implementing a new version of the world’s second biggest open-source project, and which of Kat’s changes will be her legacy to Kubernetes. Kat also shares how she handles running a team that essentially works for free and what her Kubernetes role will be moving forward.
Show Highlights:
00:00 - Introduction and Welcome
00:28 - Meet Kat Cosgrove
01:46 - Kubernetes Release Management Insights
02:43 - Naming the Kubernetes Release: Uwubernetes
06:19 - Roles and Responsibilities in Kubernetes Releases
11:18 - Enhancements and Deadlines in Kubernetes Releases
14:22 - Kubernetes Incentive to Upgrade & Support Policies
18:26 - Running Old Versions of Kubernetes
20:17 - Challenges with Using Outdated Software Versions
22:15 - Best Practices for Version Releases
24:36 - Release Team Cycles
26:00 - Kat’s Release Legacy
31:58 - Kat’s Responsibilities Post-Release
33:04 - Future Plans and Contact Information
About Kat Cosgrove
Kat is a Lead Open Source Advocate at Dell focused on the growth and nurturing of open source through authentic contribution. In particular, her specialties are approachable 101-level content and deep dives on the history of technology, with a focus on DevOps and cloud native. She was the Kubernetes Release Lead for 1.30 Uwubernetes, and currently serves as both a Release Team subproject owner and SIG Docs tech lead.
When she’s not at a conference, she spends her time playing video games, watching horror movies, or reading science fiction, but her current hyperfixation is film photography. She lives in Scotland with her cat, Espresso, who is the real brains behind the operation and actually ghostwriting all of her tweets.
Links Referenced
Kubernetes: https://kubernetes.io/
Kat Cosgrove on Twitter: https://x.com/Dixie3Flatline
Kat Cosgrove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katcosgrove/
Email Kat: kat.cosgrove@gmail.com
* Sponsor
Prowler: https://prowler.com
In this episode, release lead Kat Cosgrove walks us through what's new in Kubernetes 1.30. Recorded at KubeCon EU 2024.
Do you have something cool to share? Some questions? Let us know:
- web: kubernetespodcast.com
- mail: kubernetespodcast@google.com
- twitter: @kubernetespod
News of the week Google Cloud Next Wrap Up Blog
Amazon EKS extended support for Kubernetes versions now generally available
Introducing the Windows Operational Readiness Specification
Links from the interview Kubernetes v1.30: Uwubernetes blog
A Peek at Kubernetes v1.30
Release Team Lead Handbook
Kubernetes Release Team info
This is our interview show, where we sit down with guests, think about their work, and unpack the rest. This week, Wonderschool, a startup that works with individuals and local governments to spin up more childcare businesses by providing software and other support, has acquired EarlyDay. EarlyDay, another venture-backed startup, operates a early childhood educator marketplace.
Alex caught up with EarlyDay’s two former CEOs, Emma Harris and Melissa Tran, and their new boss, Chris Bennett at Wonderschool, to chat through the deal, what’s ahead for their sector, and more.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
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DETROIT — Developer relations, or DevRel to its friends, is not only a coveted career path but also essential to helping developers learn and adopt new technologies.
That guidance is a matter of survival for many organizations. The cloud native era demands new skills and new ways of thinking about developers and engineers’ day-to-day jobs. At Dell Technologies, it meant responding to the challenges faced by its existing customer base, which is “very Ops centric — server admins, system admins,” according to Brad Maltz, of Dell.
With the rise of the DevOps movement, “what we realized is our end users have been trying to figure out how to become infrastructure developers,” said Maltz, the company’s senior director of DevOps portfolio and DevRel. “They've been trying to figure out how to use infrastructure as code Kubernetes, cloud, all those things.”
“And what that means is we need to be able to speak to them where they want to go, when they want to become those developers. That’s led us to build out a developer relations program ... and in doing that, we need to grow out the community, and really help our end users get to where they want to.”
In this episode of The New Stack’s Makers podcast, Maltz spoke to Heather Joslyn, TNS features editor, about how Dell has, since August, been busy creating a DevRel team to aid its enterprise customers seeking to adopt DevOps as a way of doing business.
This On the Road edition of Makers, recorded at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America in the Motor City, was sponsored by Dell Technologies.
Recruiting Influencers
Maltz, an eight-year veteran of Dell, has moved quickly in assembling his team, with three hires made by late October and a fourth planned before year’s end. That’s lightning fast, especially for a large, established company like Dell, which was founded in 1984.
“There's two ways of building a DevOps team,” he said. “One way is to actually kind of go and try to homegrow people on the inside and get them more presence in the community. That's the slower road.
“But we decided we have to go and find industry influencers that believe in our cause, that believe in the problem space that we live in. And that's really how we started this: we went out to find some very, very strong top talent in the industry and bring them on board.”
In addition to spreading the DevOps solutions gospel at conferences like KubeCon, Maltz’s vision for the team is currently focused on social media and building out a website, developer.dell.com, which will serve as the landing page for the company’s DevRel knowledge, including links to community, training, how-to videos and an API marketplace.
In building the team, the company made an unorthodox choice. “We decided to put Dev Rel into product management on the product side, not marketing,” Maltz said. “The reason we did that was we want the DevRel folks to really focus on community contributions, education, all that stuff.
“But while they're doing that, their job is to bring the data back from those discussions they're having in the field back to product management, to enable our tooling to be able to satisfy some of those problems that they're bringing back so we can start going full circle.”
Facing the Limits of ‘Shift Left’
The roles that Dell’s DevRel team is focusing on in the DevOps culture are site reliability engineers (SREs) and platform engineers. These not only align with its traditional audience of Ops engineers, but reflect a reality Dell is seeing in the wider tech world.
“The reality is, application developers don't want to shift left, they don't want to operate. They don't want they want somebody else to take it, and they want to keep developing,” Maltz said. “where DevOps has transitioned for us is, how do we help those people that are kind of that operator turning into infrastructure developer fit into that DevOps culture?”
The rise of platform engineering, he suggested, is a reaction to the endless choices of tools available to developers these days.
“The notion is developers in the wild are able to use any tool on any cloud with any language, and they can do whatever they want. That's hard to support,” he said.
“That's where DevOps got introduced, and was to basically say, Hey, we're gonna put you into a little bit of a box, just enough of a box that we can start to gain control and get ahead of the game. The platform engineering team, in this case, they're the ones in charge of that box.”
But all of that, Maltz said, doesn’t mean that “shift left” — giving devs greater responsibility for their applications — is dead. It simply means most organizations aren’t ready for it yet: “That will take a few more years of maturity within these DevOps operating models, and other things that are coming down the road.”
Check out the full episode for more from Maltz, including new solutions from Dell aimed at platform engineers and SREs and collaborations with Red Hat OpenShift.
In this episode from October 2021, Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies and one of the longest serving founder-CEOs in the technology industry, joins a16z general partner Martin Casado, a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen, and host Sonal Choksi on the occasion of Michael’s book, Play Nice to Win: A CEO’s Journey from Founder to Leader.
There are lots of challenges in being public while trying to innovate, and limits to being a private company as well; but it's rare to see a company go public then private then back to public again. As is the case with Dell Technologies, one of the largest tech companies -- which went private 2012-2013 and then also pulled off one of the most epic mergers of all time with Dell + EMC + VMWare 2015-2016 (and which we wrote about here at the time).
Is there a method to the madness? How does one not just start, but keep, and transform, their company and business? Michael, Marc, Martin and Sonal debate these questions, as well as the impact of the cloud wars, how innovation happens when a company is private and when its public (something Michael knows well, having taken Dell public to private to back to public again), whether you can actually play nice to win as a leader, and more.
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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The first stage of building up a business is to break things down. Michael Dell started a computer company in his dorm room by cracking open some early IBM PCs and figuring out what he could do better, faster, and cheaper. Then he did the same thing to the entire model of computer sales. Learn from Dell how to revolutionize an industry — using deconstruction to gain insight your competitors lack, and then building something bigger and better.
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First, Jason brings on investor, former ad tech exec, and frequent guest Zach Coelius to discuss the strategic implications of Google's new ad attribution policy (01:43). Then Michael Dell joins for for a full interview (21:54) sharing stories from the early days of building Dell, scrappy supply-chain arbitrage, global expansion, negotiations with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, the $67B EMC VMware acquisition (57:40) and more!
Michael Dell, Founder of Dell — Early Failures, Battling Carl Icahn, Learning from the Competition, and How to Play Nice But Win | Brought to you by Wealthfront automated investing, Helix Sleep premium mattresses, and Tonal smart home gym. More on all three below.
Michael Dell (@MichaelDell) is chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Technologies, an innovator and technology leader providing the essential infrastructure for organizations to build their digital future, transform IT, and protect their most important information. He is the author of Play Nice But Win: A CEO’s Journey from Founder to Leader.
Michael is an honorary member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and is an executive committee member of the International Business Council. In 1999, he and his wife, Susan Dell, established the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.
Please enjoy!
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This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront pioneered the automated investing movement, sometimes referred to as ‘robo-advising,’ and they currently oversee $20 billion of assets for their clients. It takes about three minutes to sign up, and then Wealthfront will build you a globally diversified portfolio of ETFs based on your risk appetite and manage it for you at an incredibly low cost.
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This episode is also brought to you by Tonal! Tonal is the world’s most intelligent home gym and personal trainer. It is precision engineered and designed to be the most advanced strength studio on the market today. Tonal uses breakthrough technology—like adaptive digital weights and AI learning—together with the best experts in resistance training so you get stronger, faster. Every program is personalized to your body using AI, and smart features check your form in real time, just like a personal trainer.
Try Tonal, the world’s smartest home gym, for 30 days in your home, and if you don’t love it, you can return it for a full refund. Visit Tonal.com for $100 off their smart accessories when you use promo code TIM100 at checkout.
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This episode is also brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the #1 overall mattress of 2020 by GQ magazine, Wired, Apartment Therapy, and many others. With Helix, there’s a specific mattress to meet each and every body’s unique comfort needs. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk free. They’ll even pick it up from you if you don’t love it. And now, to my dear listeners, Helix is offering up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim.
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For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.
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Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Before it became fashionable to start a tech company in your dorm room, Michael Dell did exactly that. In 1983, he began selling upgrade kits for PC's out of his dorm at UT Austin. A few months later he dropped out of school to focus full time on the PC business. At age of 27, he became the youngest CEO to head a Fortune 500 company. Today, Dell has sold roughly 700 million computers. PLUS in our post-script "How You Built That," we check back with Vanessa and Casey White, who turned their grandfather's pierogi recipe into Jaju Pierogi, hand-made Polish dumplings that are sold across the Northeast.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
with @bhorowitz @shakasenghor @8ennett & sherie james
Hustlin’ Tech is a new show (part of the a16z Podcast) that introduces the technology platforms -- and mindsets -- for everybody and anybody who has the desire, the talent, and the hustle to do great things. Read more about it here.
Episode #1, "The Hustler's Guide to Preschool" features Chris Bennett, CEO and co-founder of Wonderschool, a network of modern early education programs that helps both parents and teachers to start and manage early childhood education centers; Sherie James, who uses Wonderschool to operate her own in-home preschool and daycare -- both interviewed by Ben Horowitz and Shaka Senghor, live at the 25th Anniversary Essence Festival Global Economic Black Forum in New Orleans.
music: Chris Lyons
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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Before it became fashionable to start a tech company in your dorm room, Michael Dell did exactly that. In 1983, he began selling upgrade kits for PC's out of his dorm at UT Austin. A few months later he gave up his plan of being Pre-Med, and dropped out of school to focus on the PC business. At age of 27, he became the youngest CEO to head a Fortune 500 company. Today, Dell has sold more than 650 million computers. PLUS for our postscript "How You Built That," how Hannah England turned a common parenting problem into Wash. It. Later. — a water-tight bag for soaking soiled baby clothes before they stain.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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