AI, Storage Stories, & Disney Magic: Takeaways from Our CXO Event
What is happening in the market? What companies and technologies should CXOs have on their radar? What’s the latest Generative AI buzz?
It’s questions like these that drew top-tier CIOs and CMOs to our recent CXO Event in San Francisco. Attendees, some traveling from as far as the East Coast, left with insights you can’t find from a business podcast or Tony Robbins seminar.
Headlining the event were fireside chats from Hollywood legend Jeffrey Katzenberg (co-founder, DreamWorks Animation; ex-Chairman, Disney); Augment Code co-founder/CEO Scott Dietzen (ex-CEO, Pure Storage); and Dipanjan (DJ) Deb, co-founder/CEO of esteemed PE firm Francisco Partners.
We also hosted some awesome company showcases from Stephen Balaban (Lambda), Kamal Shah (Prophet Security), May Habib (Writer), and Douwe Kiela (Contextual AI).
The venue? The Battery. The vibes? Immaculate. Let’s recap.
Fireside chats
Ridge Partner and emcee Yousuf Khan kicked off the festivities with self-deprecating jokes about his sweater vest, while also revealing his preferred vintage: Dr. Pepper, 1885.
Managing Partner Alex Rosen followed with an in-depth look at the VC market (to date, AI/ML activity accounts for roughly half of investment dollars 👀).
But the real treat? Three inspiring convos with titans of their respective industries. Here are the highlights:
Jeffrey Katzenberg — Founder/Managing Partner, WndrCo
🔑 Takeaways:
- “Never let your memories be better than your dreams.” According to Katzenberg, the former Chairman of Disney and co-founder of DreamWorks Animation, it’s these words that guided his illustrious career spanning films like Beauty and the Beast, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and The Lion King.
- Transitioning from film to VC. Finding and producing the right movie script is a bit different from backing the right company/founder. In the world of creative storytelling, a bad idea executed brilliantly is still a bad idea. With startups, on the other hand, a smart entrepreneur can have a bad idea, but there’s a good chance they’ll arrive at a better one later on.
- Own your misses as equally as your successes. Katzenberg was candid about his departure from Disney, as well as the risk he took co-founding DreamWorks — the studio behind Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Puss in Boots, etc. Obviously, the gamble paid off, and he’s grateful for the childlike approach to storytelling that Disney instilled in him. As Katzenberg put it, “If it’s non-fatal to fail, then you would never take the risk and do something unique and original.”
Scott Dietzen — CEO, Augment Code
🔑 Takeaways:
- The storage space is no joke. What surprised Dietzen the most when he began his previous role as CEO of Pure Storage? He had no idea how hard the storage space is (“You date your networking vendor, but you marry your storage vendor,” Dietzen quipped.) He quickly learned just how long the cycle is to get compelling tech into the storage market.
- Don’t hire top-down. Dietzen recommends hiring bottom-up and targeting an up-and-comer profile rather than someone who’s been there, done that (“I want to be the only person whose best years are behind them at the company”). Hire for cultural fit, and use trusted “backdoor” references for candidates rather than perfunctory references.
- Board best practices. Never go into a board meeting and propose a problem; have a solution in mind. Foster open communication between your leadership team and the board. Always choose board member fit over valuation; their advice will prove valuable down the road. Drop your ego at the door — your job is to make the company better.
Dipanjan (DJ) Deb — co-founder/CEO, Francisco Partners
🔑 Takeaways:
- Going for it. Dipanjan Deb never intended to found his own PE firm but, after having his first child and buying a home, he took a chance and went all-in. Deb says there’s no use in asking what if? When it comes to realizing your dreams, it’s like a soccer match: “You only get so many crosses and you must convert one or two of them.”
- On the fly. Improvisation is crucial. On any given day, Deb has “a list of 20 things” and is lucky “to get to three of them” because of the myriad crises that arise. External pressure leads to making decisions. You’ll be wrong half the time; it’s all about how you admit your mistakes and course-correct.
- Key differences between VC and PE. For PE firms, loss ratio is the number one metric. Venture firms tend to have a lot more decision makers in the room, increasing the risk of analysis paralysis. In PE, you typically own more of the company as well.
Company showcases
Our company showcases were off the Richter! 💥
Being that AI is all the rage these days, we invited four exceptional startups that are using AI to simplify day-to-day enterprise operations.
Here are the four companies that rocked the house at our CXO Event, and the unique value they provide for enterprises big and small:
On a mission “to build the number one AI compute platform in the world,” Lambda supports engineers and researchers with its AI Developer Cloud. Companies like Intel, Microsoft, Amazon, and Kaiser Permanente use Lambda to build and deploy Artificial Intelligence.
Prophet’s AI solution simplifies security operations and safeguards data. It investigates and responds quickly and accurately, saving SOC analysts from alert fatigue, preventing missed detections, and significantly cutting costs.
Build your AI stack with ease. Writer’s full-stack generative AI platform helps companies build GenAI into any business platform. Finally, engineers can focus on AI-first workflows, not maintaining infrastructure.
Contextual AI “minds your business,” tailoring contextual language models to any enterprise use case. It pre-trains, fine-tunes, and aligns everything so that enterprise businesses can build production-level AI-systems.
See you at the next one?
Our all-star lineup of speakers and presenting companies is specially curated to help CXOs navigate the next chapter of their career — whether that means transitioning to a new CXO role, founding a company, you name it.
In September 2025, we’ll host our next CXO function, powered by our network of CXOs from all corners of the Fortune 500. If you’re interested in attending, or know of another CXO who might be a good fit, we’d love to hear from you!
