Silicon Valley OG shares crazy stories from Zynga early days + 3…
About This Episode
Guest Siqi Chen shares behind-the-scenes stories from the hyper-growth days at Zynga and his interactions with Silicon Valley legends. The conversation explores high-stakes business optimization, Siqi's personal journey using AI to research a cure for his daughter's rare disease, and the Stanford 'Touchy Feely' framework for building deep interpersonal trust.
Episode Description
Show Notes
Check Out Shaan's Stuff
- Shaan's weekly email
- Visit
- Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies!
- Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC
Check Out Sam's Stuff
Key Takeaways
Choose your focus wisely because anything can be optimized to infinity; avoid wasting genius-level talent on low-impact 'chicken slapping' features.
Adopt the 'Free R&D' mindset where you let competitors innovate first and use your superior execution and distribution to fast-follow and dominate the market.
Deepen professional relationships by moving beyond ritual and content into 'Level 4 and 5' communication—sharing personal emotions and how you feel about the other person to build radical trust.
Business Ideas Mentioned
Custom Trained Contextual Email Manager
AI & Automation
AI Dating App with Social Media Integration
AI & Automation
Vertical AI Research Assistant for Academics
SaaS