50 Takeaways from Silicon Valley Practitioners

And thanks from Tradecraft

Misha Chellam
6 min readMar 25, 2014

As we approach graduation of the first Tradecraft cohort, we’re grateful for the generosity of everyone who invested their time and help. Over the 12-week program, more than 50 startup practitioners and thought leaders visited to share their insights and mentor 27 hungry, talented students. Here are some of the key insights & takeaways as recounted by our students:

Adam FishmanDirector of Growth, Lyft

https://twitter.com/PGhio/status/448325810865192960

Alex BaldwinDesigner, thoughtbot

https://twitter.com/___fl/status/448349184307888128

Aliisa HodgesGrowth Manager, MixPanel

https://twitter.com/margauxviola/status/448324249741058048

Alison HaddenDirector of Product Marketing, Glassdoor

https://twitter.com/AngelaBarth/status/448340655777910784

Andrew Goldner — VP Global Audience, BrightTALK

https://twitter.com/natedesmond/status/448506337459052544

Barry TrailerCo-Founder, Partner CSO Insights

https://twitter.com/margauxviola/status/448326846489169920

Brian Burnett — Regional Sales Director, West at Cloudera

https://twitter.com/SejinHahn/status/448525878838841344

Brian MaCEO, Weave

https://twitter.com/LennsHu/status/448345688540078080

Brian Rothenberg— Sr. Director of User Growth, Eventbrite

https://twitter.com/gabsong/status/448320904632627201

Camille Ricketts— Editor, First Round Capital

https://twitter.com/vkchau/status/448324961858383873

Casey WintersGrowth Marketing, Pinterest

https://twitter.com/henrytwang/status/448332538570752000

Chris NicholsonCommunications, Celery

https://twitter.com/natedesmond/status/448327164983652353

Chris Wong — SVP of Business Development, Ooyala

https://twitter.com/CarloskCheung/status/448337152057700353

Courtney Hemphill — Technical Lead, Carbon Five

https://twitter.com/fionamiller/status/448344115973849088

Cristina Cordova — Business Development, Stripe

https://twitter.com/margauxviola/status/448324818421575680

Dan MartellFounder & CEO, Clarity

https://twitter.com/PGhio/status/448507056023433216

David BlandPrincipal Advisor, Neo

https://twitter.com/Twitzzzy/status/448359893120995328

Doug LandisVP of Sales Productivity, Box

https://twitter.com/AngelaBarth/status/448331692973912064

Elay CohenFounder, SalesHood

https://twitter.com/CarloskCheung/status/448336934817914880

Gagan BiyaniCo-founder & CEO, Sprig

https://twitter.com/gabsong/status/448309862426877952

George DyPropeller Labs

https://twitter.com/TGylys/status/448512017817538560

Hiten ShahCo-founder, KISSmetrics & Crazy Egg

https://twitter.com/henrytwang/status/448344701674868736

Ivan KiriginCEO, YesGraph

https://twitter.com/Piermartella/status/448524548715970560

Jamie QuintProduct Marketing & Growth

https://twitter.com/Ramicube/status/448332315148562432

Jared FlieslerVenture Partner at Matrix

https://twitter.com/Ramicube/status/448325109732757504

Jason EvanishCustomer Driven Product Guy, formerly KISSmetrics

https://twitter.com/SejinHahn/status/448331267042328576

Jason PutortiVP of Design, Causes

https://twitter.com/hilarynemer/status/448334345820835841

Jeff French — Lead Designer, WellnessFX

https://twitter.com/fionamiller/status/448343586933710848

Jesse AvshalomovHead of Growth, Teespring

https://twitter.com/GeorgeJurgens/status/448336440695345152

Joe RobinsonDesigner, Circle Financial

https://twitter.com/msunux/status/448333522646736896

John Tough — Head of BD, Choose Energy

https://twitter.com/hiamandaholt/status/448331858829254657

Karl DotterUX Designer, GoodReads/Amazon

https://twitter.com/JordanPresnick/status/451404339089641472

Katja BattarbeeDesign Researcher, IDEO

https://twitter.com/ragkandala/status/448342099247644672

Kevin YienHead of Customer Dev & Product, Launchpad Central

https://twitter.com/norman_tran/status/448335782692925440

Lei SunScientific Growth, Yozio

https://twitter.com/henrytwang/status/448343549138837504

Mair DundonLean Product Consultant, quietAction

https://twitter.com/fionamiller/status/448512906985218049

Matt EllsworthVP of Growth, Storefront

https://twitter.com/PGhio/status/448505877977628672

Matt EpsteinVP of Marketing, Zenefits

https://twitter.com/gabsong/status/448321274507321344

Matt HudsonProduct Manager of Analytics, YouTube

https://twitter.com/Piermartella/status/448338318300696576

Mary LemmerDirector of Business Development, SoFi

https://twitter.com/AngelaBarth/status/448329452406046720

Mike LongLead Product Designer, Neo

https://twitter.com/JordanPresnick/status/448328486050996224

Phyllis DavidsonSenior Dir. of Global Integrated Marketing, Oracle

https://twitter.com/margauxviola/status/448343748259225600

Sean FlannaganVP of Product, Wanelo

https://twitter.com/gabsong/status/448322688537198592

Sean HarrisSenior Marketing Manager, Hotel Tonight

https://twitter.com/gabsong/status/448313963525050369

Sunita MohantyHead of BD & Strategic Partnerships, Lumos Labs

https://twitter.com/vkchau/status/448324975716360192

Tim Sae KooCEO, Tint

https://twitter.com/norman_tran/status/448335787801600000

Trae Stephens — Principle, Founders Fund

https://twitter.com/CarloskCheung/status/448337170428731392

Tyler McNallyHead of Operations & Business Development, Fixer

https://twitter.com/SejinHahn/status/448338390857961472

Zach PerkinsMomentum Labs

https://twitter.com/TGylys/status/448510903634657280

Zack OniskoHead of Growth, Creative Market

https://twitter.com/Piermartella/status/448524598527524864

And BIG thanks to many others not mentioned here! We appreciate your support.

If you’re interested in becoming an awesome grad and accelerating your career in growth, sales & bd, or UX alongside top Silicon Valley practitioners, we accept 8 to 12 new students every four weeks, visit Tradecraft to apply.

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Misha Chellam

Founder @ Council on Technology & Society, harnessing Silicon Valley capital — human & financial — to help build a stable, broadly prosperous world.