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Masters of Scale

Rapid Response: How to scale tech responsibly, with former Google ad chief and Neeva founder Sridhar Ramaswamy

Masters of Scale

WaitWhat

Startups, Business, Mindset, Management, Bob Safian, Entrepreneurship, Diversity & Inclusion, Reid Hoffman, Jeff Berman

4.64.4K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2021

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

To compete against bigger players, you need a special edge. Sridhar Ramaswamy, who led Google’s huge ad business, is now going head-to head against his former employer with an ad-free subscription-based search engine called Neeva. Ramaswamy became disillusioned by Google’s priorities and practices and argues that big platforms – including Facebook and Amazon – have failed to scale responsibly. Sharing inside stories of how big tech makes decisions, and his own experiences with a startup, Ramaswamy offers lessons on growth, monopolistic threats, and why challenging even great companies is necessary right now. “I’m a tech optimist,” he says, “but we need to be conscious of the good and bad.” A renewed focus on responsible tech scaling is right for the businesses and for society. 

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey listeners, it's Alex Morris, a star writer here at Massive Scale.

0:04.1

Every week on Massive Scale, Rapid Response, you hear real insights from business leaders,

0:09.5

and many of you have said that these episodes help you make more informed decisions in fast

0:13.9

changing situations.

0:15.7

So we want to tell you about another fantastic business podcast that can help you stay

0:20.4

in the know.

0:21.4

It's called Business Daily from the BBC, and it's all about the daily drama of money and

0:26.3

work.

0:27.3

From the environment to the world economy, you'll hear all about the rapidly evolving

0:31.4

world of business on a global scale.

0:34.1

There are new episodes of Business Daily every day, Monday through Friday, and you can listen

0:38.9

wherever you get your BBC podcast.

0:41.6

Again, that's Business Daily from the BBC.

0:46.4

I think we are at a pivotal moment in tech history.

0:50.0

This is a decade of reckoning, far tech.

0:53.6

I came to the realization that Google had manifest destiny over all information.

0:58.8

I found that a terrifying prospect, we created a product which is an ads-free, private,

1:05.0

subscription search engine.

1:06.6

This is not a science experiment.

1:09.0

This is not really about updating Google.

1:11.1

This is much more about showing that with a different model, you can create a better product.

1:16.8

I think very large companies that begin to rival the size of governments are just hugely

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