Building company culture through a screen is a challenge more and more organizations are facing these days. The benefits of remote work will not go away, so how can organizations adapt and evolve to build a culture with everyone spread out? Our guest today is Jason Goldlist, CEO and Co-Founder of Venue, a remote-first meeting software for culture-obsessed companies. We talk about Jason’s dedication to community throughout his career working at amazing companies like Wealthsimple, and how he got Slack’s Founder, Stuart Butterfield and Accel Partners to back his startup.
About Jason Goldlist:
Jason Goldlist is the Co-Founder and CEO of Venue, he has been an operator with strong ties to community-building for the last 15 years. Prior to Venue, Jason was Head of Marketing and General Manager of Wealthsimple. He also Co-Founded TechTO, one of Canada’s most prominent tech communities. He began his career at McKinsey and did his undergrad at the University of New Brunswick and his MBA at INSEAD.
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In this episode we discuss:
02:37 Jason’s journey into tech
04:45 Why he leans towards counterintuitive decisions
06:30 Lessons Jason took from working at McKinsey
09:23 Working in sub Saharan Africa
10:57 His experience working at Wealthsimple
13:30 Judging his early career in terms of experience in the moment and in retrospect
15:29 Jason’s first role at Wealthsimple and how it grew
19:18 How he worked on Culutre at Weathsimple
20:05 Origins of TechTO
23:17 What TechTO has accomplished
27:25 How the pandemic and the TechTO events schedule inspired Venue
30:18 Steps Jason and the Venue team took to help define the problem
32:18 Why 2x2 analysis can sometimes deceptive
34:20 Building Venue’s MVP
37:46 How venue is helping build culture and community in the remote world
39:58 ROI casestudies for Venue
43:09 How Venue’s $4M seed came together
47:21 The long-term vision for Venue
Fast Favorites
🎙- Favorite Podcast: Reply All, the show about the Internet and how we relate to it, told through the lens of amazing storytelling and mysteries. Start with episode #158, the case of the missing hit.
📰 - Favorite Newsletter/Blog: The TechTO newsletter. Monday is community events and people, Wednesday is career advice and opportunities, and Friday is all about news and fundraising.
📲 - Favorite Tech Gadget: Stream Deck by Elgato. I use it to control my lights, speakers, music and a lot more.
📈 - Favorite New Trend: Remote-first
📚 - Favorite Book: Bonfire of the Vanities, In Cold Blood, and The Sun Also Rises
🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson:Know thyself
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Building Great Culture in a Remote-First World with CEO of Venue Jason Goldlist