GPT Party 3.0. Daniel Kottke and Arnnon Geshuri: Transformations in the World of Artificial Intelligence GPT Party 3.0, the largest Russian-language networking event dedicated to artificial intelligence, took place in Silicon Valley on March 9-10. More than 450 people gathered at Plug and Play to meet leading experts, entrepreneurs and investors, discuss the latest trends in artificial intelligence and gain practical knowledge. At GPT Party, Daniel Kottke, the first employee at Apple, and Arnon Geshuri, former HR at Google and VP at Tesla, discussed how AI will affect hiring and change the way businesses are run. The discussion was moderated by Alexandra Johnson, Managing Director at DFJ VTB Aurora. Alexandra Johnson: Before the panel, we had a chance to sit down with the three of us and discover a few things that help us relate to each other. First, all three of us have lived in Silicon Valley for over 30 years. We’ve worked with some of the most talented entrepreneurs and have seen the founders of some of the most amazing tech companies up close and personal. While I haven’t met Steve Jobs, I have met Larry Ellison and Elon Musk. I’m sure my fellow panelists have had similar experiences. For example, Daniel was a classmate of Steve Jobs. Here’s a fun fact: Where do you think we went to school as students? Was it tech, engineering, or something else? Any ideas? It was actually liberal arts. With that, I’d like to introduce the panelists. Please share something about yourself that only you know. Arnnon Geshuri: I’ve lived in the Valley for 30 years and have worked with many tech companies here during that time. I enjoy working across industries: I started in semiconductors, then moved into the first wave of fintech. After that, I joined Google to do data science, then Tesla to do electric vehicles and sustainability. Now I’m in telehealth. In each role, I’ve focused on the human element – growing and scaling organizations. It’s been a joy to work with dynamic founders and apply their concepts to different situations, and I’m excited to share that today. Daniel Kottke: I’m Daniel Kottke, a college friend of Steve Jobs. Steve and I bonded over a series of books on Hindu spirituality, including Be Here Now, Autobiography of a Yogi, The Path of the White Clouds, and The Gospel of Ramakrishna. This shared interest will be the subject of a memoir I plan to write someday. Steve and I were close friends in college. We traveled together across India for four months in search of a guru. After returning from India, I went to Columbia to study music, and Steve went to work at Atari making video games. In 1975, the Altair computer was released, which led to the creation of the Homebrew Computer Club, where building personal computers became a popular idea among enthusiasts. In the spring of 1976, I called Steve to see how he was doing. He mentioned working on a computer hobby project, and I offered to help. So I built the first Apple computers in his garage. I spent eight years at Apple as a self-taught engineer and co-creator of the Macintosh. Alexandra Johnson: Are we going to talk about AI? Should we talk about it? Is it important? Arnnon Geshuri: I think AI is important, but I think people want to hear about people. Regardless of the industry, AI is an important next step in societal transformation. But ultimately, it’s about people: how we build companies, how we grow, how we scale, and how we maintain our humanity. So I thought that might be a good topic to focus on today. Daniel Kottke: I think AI is a huge wave of change, comparable to the personal computer, the internet, or mobile technology. But for the first time, it’s becoming clear that for many people, the way they work with AI is going to change because of this technological shift. So it’s really about people. Alexandra Johnson: That’s okay. We’ll get to that because it’s really important, especially given the debate about whether AI will replace all jobs or is just a tool. But before we get into that, I want you to draw on your experience. Arnon, you came to Google when it wasn’t a huge company, and your job was to hire new people. Did they give you any specific criteria for the kind of people they wanted at the time, or did you have to figure out what kind of people they wanted for the company? Arnnon Geshuri: I think the key to scaling companies is understanding what the founders really want to build. It’s critical that they have a clear vision of the culture, the product, and the type of people they want around them. The founders of Google and Tesla — both companies I’ve worked with — had very clear ideas about how the culture should be developed. Google was looking for what they called “smart creatives.” These were problem solvers who could jump into any situation and figure it out. Tesla, on the other hand, was looking for “outstanding performers,” meaning people who could persevere and win in the most difficult situations. So while Google was focused on hiring people who could solve a lot of problems, Tesla valued people who could thrive in any situation and find a way to cross the finish line. The quality of people had to be molded around these different concepts. Alexandra Johnson: Daniel, you were around Steve Jobs in the early days. What was the culture like at the time? Can you comment on what kind of people he hired? Was that a personal decision or did they have an HR process like Arnon described? Daniel Kottke: I don’t recall Apple having an HR department before. There was a payroll department, but HR as we know it didn’t exist yet. If anything, Apple’s HR model probably came from Hewlett-Packard. Steve Jobs set a lot of the tone for how Apple recruited. More than anything else, he looked for passion and enthusiasm. To get a job at Apple, you really had to have an Apple computer and have done something interesting with it or be excited about it. That was the main thing. Alexandra Johnson: Can I ask what Tesla did to hire you from Google? Arnnon Geshuri: Well, I didn’t answer the first call. It was from a recruiter who said Elon wanted to talk to me. I was excited about working at Google, so I recommended a few friends of mine who I thought would be good fits for the HR director position at Tesla. But the recruiter was like, “Just talk to him. Find out his vision for what the company is going to be.” So I agreed to meet Elon in San Carlos. It was a small office right off the 101 freeway, next to the digital sign that you see all over San Carlos. We were on the top floor of this building, and there was this one garage where they were building prototype cars. When I talked to Elon, I was fascinated by his vision. At that point, the company only had 400 people. I decided to leave Google and join his vision. I left on Wednesday, went to Thanksgiving, and started at Tesla the following Monday. In my eight years there, we grew the company to 40,000 people. Alexandra Johnson: Daniel, back to you. I assume you wanted to comment? Daniel Kottke: In 2002, I was looking for a job and applied to Tesla because I knew someone who worked there. I interviewed all the way up the engineering chain, all the way up to JB Straubel, the co-founder. I got hired, but then the HR guy told me, “Sorry, Mr. Kottke, we’re out of money.” JB Straubel was an engineer and Marc Tarpenning was another key figure. They had an idea to make an electric car, but they weren’t rich. A big topic for them was what kind of battery to use. After at least a year of prototyping, they came up with the idea to use standard cells instead of custom batteries. They chose the 18650 cell, which was modular. That decision contributed a lot to their success. Arnnon Geshuri: Yeah, I just want to add to what Daniel mentioned. During my time at Google, from 2004 to 2009, I arrived when there were about 1,800 people. I worked closely with the founders to design the hiring architecture and build the team. By the time I left, the company had grown from 1,800 employees to about 35,000. A big change was the financial resources available. Google was already generating significant revenue, so when I asked for something, they would provide the funds. For example, I proposed building a college recruiting service, and they handed me $5 million to make it happen. When I went to Tesla, it was a completely different situation. They weren’t in a position to spend money freely yet. They gave me $20,000 to build a global recruiting service. This forced us to be nimble, resourceful, and super creative while attracting the best talent to the company. Many founders and people working in startups know that money is often tight even when you have funding, and using it wisely is a privilege. Despite financial constraints, we managed to build a giant multinational company. Alexandra Johnson: When I talk to entrepreneurs, they often ask when an investor will give them money. Obviously, it usually happens when they don’t need it. But is it enough to have a great idea, or do you have to show them the entire process that will lead them to a huge exit, having worked from the inside? Daniel Kottke: I haven’t had the same success as some people. I’ve co-founded a few companies, maybe four, but they didn’t succeed. I’m a self-taught engineer and I love building things. My approach is to prototype first – just build it, find a customer or at least a few enthusiasts, and start selling something. Alexandra Johnson: Some experts say that everything will be replaced by AI and people will just get universal basic income. But I know you might have a different perspective because you’re in business. We’re still hiring, right? Despite the big layoffs, there’s still opportunity. My question is, who do you hire these days? Arnnon Geshuri: Yes, there are many more roles. If you don’t mind, let me tell you a little story first. I’m old enough to remember when the Internet boomed in 1996. I was working at Applied Materials, a semiconductor company. At the time, only 10% of the company’s computers had a browser, and management was worried that the Internet would change everything. People were worried about their jobs, and the idea of digitizing information and putting it online seemed impractical to many. There was a lot of anxiety, especially among the print shop and throughout the company. We educated people about the opportunities available to them through cross-training and retraining. This approach minimized layoffs and job cuts as we helped people transition to new roles within the company. With AI, things are different, but the key point is that there is still an important human aspect to work on. Some research shows that the most important roles to retain are those that involve managing people. These roles remain important despite technological advances. There are so many areas where human care is essential, and I believe people will move into roles that focus on caring for others. AI cannot solve problems of human interaction, mental health, or therapy — these aspects are critical to maintaining our humanity. I think we will see a significant shift towards roles that emphasize human interaction. This will be the next stage of reskilling the workforce so that people can adapt and survive the changes brought about by AI and other technological advances. Alexandra Johnson: So one of my favorite things about Silicon Valley is the acceptance of failure. When I talk to people outside of the Valley, I emphasize that failure is okay here. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. I’m going to ask a really sensitive question. You got into Google when it was just taking off. Then you went to Tesla, and their stock took off, too. So you’re at a company that I won’t mention, and their stock went from $300 during the pandemic to $15. By any measure, that would be considered a failure. How do you feel about that? Arnnon Geshuri: The company still serves millions of people every day in telehealth. But I think there’s an important lesson here that I really want to emphasize to this group: learning how to grow companies is not contingent on success. We all hear that, but it’s actually the failures, the challenges, the hardships, the obstacles along the way that make us stronger as leaders and professionals. Even when Google and Tesla were growing and expanding, there were plenty of mistakes. I tried things that didn’t work many times. Failure is the best teacher, and there’s a reason why that is said. Every mistake teaches you something you shouldn’t do again. For startups to be successful, they need to anticipate future problems and think strategically about their decisions. Failure provides an opportunity to grow, transform, and change the business plan and try something new. I view these experiences as a set of great lessons that I can apply to the next stage of growth. Alexandra Johnson: Daniel, you were Steve’s friend from college. How do you continue to live after that experience? Is there life after Apple? Daniel Kottke: I spent my eight years at Apple as a self-taught engineer, constantly devouring data, books, and computer science as fast as I could. I modeled myself after the tech leaders around me. Years later, in 2007, I decided to become an entrepreneur by co-founding a YouTube-like video hosting startup. My whole focus shifted to being an entrepreneur, which I thought was a great idea, even though I wasn’t very successful at it. I spent all of 2008 pitching to venture capitalists to get funding, but we never got it. It took me a long time to get my head around all the tech advances and think in entrepreneurial terms. Right now, I’m planning on starting an AI startup. I am a consultant to three AI companies, and I am particularly interested in the intersection of AI and telemedicine. I recently read about a big new wave in healthcare: small smart clinics in mini-malls. These clinics need AI to see patients, ask all the questions, and keep track of medical records. This is something that really interests me at the moment. Question from the audience What would you suggest a new startup do to get funding in the AI space? Based on your experience, what holistic approach would you recommend? How should we approach pitching? Or should we go to an accelerator? I’d love to hear your thoughts on both. Arnnon Geshuri: Daniel has done a lot of the work trying to get funded, but I’ve also had some experience with accelerators and pitch events. It’s a bit like speed dating – quickly matching entrepreneurs with investors. There are a lot of these events in the Valley where you can sign up and pitch your ideas. I think it’s a great way to connect entrepreneurs with potential funding. Daniel, what have you found successful in your experience? Daniel Kottke: As I said, I’m personally a big prototyping and demo guy. If you have a compelling demo, it can make a significant difference. However, you could still spend years trying to get funded. Sometimes it’s smart to keep your day job because the process is unpredictable. Steve Jobs got incredibly lucky with his first purchase order. The Apple I was just a kit project until he got a purchase order for $50,000, which is $250,000 in today’s money. A lot of it is luck. Question from the audience My question to you is, what are the top three skills I should develop or learn as a young entrepreneur? Daniel Kottke: Luck is very important. You have to be passionate and work hard. Of course, you also want to be smart at what you do. I would add, think about who your first customers are and then focus on making them really happy. That’s always the case. Arnnon Geshuri: I’ll build on Daniel’s answer. Successful entrepreneurs inspire others. They have a clear vision for their company. You have people in your business whose personal values align perfectly with your mission. They want to dedicate their time and energy to this type of cause. As a leader, it’s critical to be an inspiration to the company and to unite people around your vision. People like to be part of something bigger than themselves. If you can clearly articulate your vision and communicate it effectively, people will gravitate toward you. You will start to attract like-minded people who will help build the company. This ability to inspire and unite is really important. Question from the audience I was at Tesla as a contractor back in 2017. I saw that everyone from the floor cleaner to the engineer was inspired by the purpose of what they were doing. My question is, how did you get to a point at Tesla where everyone from different backgrounds was inspired? Was it the charisma of the leader, the idea, or something else? How did you create this culture? Arnnon Geshuri: I’ll share a little story. I used to attend orientation for new hires every Monday. There would be 100 to 300 people in one room to learn about the company before they were sent to their departments. I remember noticing one woman who kept raising her hand and asking questions — she was really passionate. About two months later, I was walking around the factory floor and saw her again. I said, “I saw you at orientation, how are you doing after a couple of months?” She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “This is an amazing place.” Her job was to assemble the connectors, test them, and put them in a box. She told me, “Every time I put one of these together, I know I’m making a product that’s going to help save the world. When I come home and see my grandchildren, they ask, ‘Grandma, how was your day?’ Deep down, I know I’m making a better world for them. She cried when she said that.” So it’s important to inspire your employees with your vision. Tell a story, make sure people hear it, and internalize it. When they truly believe it, they live it every day. No matter their role, they feel like they’re part of something bigger.
