Office Hours Podcast: The Pain And Promise of Crisis
Spencer Rascoff
Spencer Rascoff is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire and dot.LA, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. He is currently executive chairman of dot.LA and a board member at Zillow and TripAdvisor. In fall 2019, Spencer was a Visiting Executive Professor at Harvard Business School where he co-taught the "Managing Tech Ventures" course. In 2015, Spencer co-wrote and published his first book, the New York Times' Best Seller "Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate." Spencer is the host of "Office Hours," a monthly podcast on dot.LA featuring candid conversations between prominent executives on leadership, diversity and inclusion, and startups.
Managing through a crisis is difficult, but great leaders and great companies are created during challenging times. Spencer grappled with crises at two companies he co-founded, Hotwire and Zillow. In this episode, Spencer Rascoff and Katie Curnutte, former SVP of communications at Zillow and now a partner at Kingston Marketing Group, discuss how to manage a company through the strain of calamity while keeping a steady eye on the big picture and the opportunities that can arise.
Want more? Subscribe to Office Hours on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify iHeart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.
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The Los Angeles City Council capped service charges third-party delivery services like Postmates, Grubhub, Uber Eats can pass on to restaurants at 15% of the purchase price during the pandemic following similar moves in San Francisco, Seattle and other major cities.
Restaurants have long complained about charges from the popular apps as high as 30% are eating away at their business, and those worries have grown during the pandemic, as owners find themselves relying more heavily on the services.
<p>Even as dine-in restaurants slowly reopen, many are still devastated by the months-long closure. During that time, those that managed to stay afloat could only offer customers carry out and pick up services in order to keep business alive.</p><p>"Any arbitrary cap – regardless of the duration – will lower order volume to locally-owned restaurants, increase costs for small business owners, and raise costs on customers. Delivery workers would have fewer work opportunities and lower earnings," said Jenna DeMarco, a spokesperson for GrubHub in an email. "We also believe that any cap on fees represents an overstep by local officials and would not withstand a legal challenge."</p><p>Chris Webb, the CEO of ChowNow, an online order platform that offers restaurants a flat fee, said restauranteurs have long been frustrated with the fees. </p><p>"What we are hearing from a lot of restaurants," he said. "' We cannot afford to stay in business and take around 30% commissions consistently. It's driving us out of business and now this (pandemic) is the motivator for us to move.'"</p><p>He said he saw business skyrocket as many restaurant owners shifted away from delivery services that relied on percentage-based fees and to his flat-fee model. Webb said he was signing up as many as 2,000 restaurants a month.</p><p>The effort to cap the services was driven in part by pressure from the United Food and Commercial Worker Union Local 770, which is organizing the drivers. The order, which must still be signed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, also prevents the apps from taking tips from drivers.</p><p>"This smart policy will prohibit these companies from taking tips from drivers and gouging restaurants with fees," said John Grant, president of UFCW 770 in a statement."Food delivery drivers are essential workers who provide meals for the residents of our City, especially to seniors and others who are sheltering at home or under quarantine."</p>
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This New Facial Recognition Extension IDs Celebrities in Videos — and It’s Actually Pretty Useful
Jun 03 2020
RealNetworks is releasing a browser extension that automatically identifies celebrities and other public figures in YouTube and Netflix videos, using the same facial recognition technology that the company originally developed for use with live surveillance video at schools, casinos and airports."StarSearch by Real" doubles as a video navigation tool, pinpointing the places the celebs appear in the videos, and letting users quickly jump to those spots.
<p>No, it's not going to revolutionize the web, <a href="https://25yearsofstreaming.com/" target="_blank">like the company did 25 years ago</a> with its early streaming media technology. But I've been trying out a preview, and it's a surprisingly handy little tool, albeit in a pretty narrow set of circumstances.</p><p>So far, I'm primarily using it to skip directly to the portion of a news segment that features the person I'm interested in hearing from.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM3MDM5Ni9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMzg0NDg5NH0.DYW-syBmwZpUSMBGPjmqy6ivgX6sQo07p0sFDSIcD5I/image.png?width=980" id="b634a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e701ed88172510c9879795182f038021" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Realnetworks" />
</p><p>StarSearch is available starting today as a Chrome extension for Windows and Mac, and as a feature of the new RealPlayer 20/20 software for Windows PCs.<br/></p><p>It's not available via set-top devices or smartphones. But the way RealNetworks CEO and founder Rob Glaser sees it, when it comes to video, the PC is back.</p><p>"A super interesting thing has happened in the last three months, which is the PC has yet again moved to the center of video in the context of the pandemic," Glaser said on a recent video call where he and other RealNetworks showed the new products. "It's really been a Renaissance period for PCs."</p><p>Although the Chrome extension is limited to Netflix and YouTube at launch, the company says it will expand to more video apps and streaming services over time.<br/></p><p>"We figured those were the two best places to start, but we're going to branch out support to pretty much any major video source on the web," Glaser said.</p><p>The release comes at a time of heightened concern over facial recognition technologies due to issues of privacy and bias. This consumer application, focused on celebrities, isn't likely to raise those kinds of alarm bells, but it's an example of how pervasive facial recognition is becoming in many technology products.</p><p>It's the first time RealNetworks has brought AI into one of its consumer products. It's also the first expansion of the company's SAFR facial recognition technology beyond its core market in live video surveillance. The company <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2018/realnetworks-debuts-facial-recognition-software-k-12-schools-raising-ethical-questions/" target="_blank">launched SAFR two years ago</a>, initially for schools, before expanding to public health and public safety.</p><p>StarSearch is a free extension. It brings up thumbnail celebrity bios that link to a RealPlayer "Discover" site that includes ads, but the main benefit to RealNetworks would be if StarSearch were to spur more RealPlayer downloads. RealPlayer these days is used largely for downloading, organizing and playing videos. RealPlayer 20/20 is a Windows app that comes in both free and premium versions, starting at $24.99.</p><p>In the StarSearch browser extension, the facial recognition is limited to celebrities and other notable people, but people can use it in RealPlayer 20/20 to tag and find family members and friends in their own videos.</p><p><a href="http://www.danrayburn.com/" target="_blank">Dan Rayburn</a>, a streaming media analyst and consultant who got a preview of the technology, said he could envision StarSearch ultimately expanding beyond celebrities, even identifying inanimate objects such as a company name, a type of car, or a sports team in a video.</p><p>"Over time, it's going to become more and more personalized, where you have more options and you can pick what you want that tag to really be," Rayburn said.</p><p>RealNetworks says StarSearch differs from other offerings, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/adlp/xray" target="_blank">such as Amazon X-Ray on Prime Video</a>, by using AI to identify people on the fly, rather than manually indexing videos in advance.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM3MDM5NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDg5MzU1MH0.InlNa3Ds_5-IJENkHezWC5KP0RNQ6Hmd5kCy6-qWaAk/image.png?width=980" id="139a9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cbac8ea49fe0faeb585ab50a17681882" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Realnetworks" />
</p><p>Glaser, who worked at Microsoft before starting RealNetworks, said the interaction between the SAFR and StarSearch teams reminds him of how Microsoft Windows became better back in the day because Microsoft's internal Excel and Word teams were building on the platform and pushing Windows to improve.<br/></p><p>"Having a team of people that are really relying on SAFR, putting it through the paces, pushing it, has actually made SAFR better," he said. "So hopefully we'll get some synergies like that out of this too."</p><p>Asked if RealNetworks secured the StarSearch trademark from the company that holds the rights <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Search" target="_blank">to the old Ed McMahon talent search show</a>, Glaser noted that it's specifically called "StarSearch by Real."</p><p>RealNetworks' Consumer Media division, which includes RealPlayer, generated $3.5 million in revenue in the first quarter, about 8% of the company's overall revenue. RealNetworks <a href="https://investor.realnetworks.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2020/RealNetworks-Announces-First-Quarter-2020-Financial-Results/default.aspx" target="_blank">posted a net loss of $4.6 million</a>, with $19 million in cash on hand as of the end of the quarter, after <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2020/realnetworks-ceo-rob-glaser-putting-10m-money-back-company/" target="_blank">Glaser invested $10 million in the company in February</a>. The company <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2020/publicly-traded-seattle-tech-stalwart-realnetworks-receives-2-87m-federal-relief-loan/" target="_blank">received a $2.87 million loan</a> through the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program in April.</p><p><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2020/realnetworks-browser-extension-uses-facial-recognition-id-celebrities-videos-actually-pretty-useful/" target="_blank"><em>This story first appeared on GeekWire.</em></a></p>
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Blck VC Group Launches 'We Won't Wait' Campaign Pushing for Diversity in Investing Groups
Jun 03 2020
Venture capital has fueled billions of dollars in wealth but it has largely excluded black Americans. Only 1% of venture-funded startup founders are black and more than 80% of venture firms don't have a single black investor.
Blck VC, a group of young black investors and entrepreneurs are calling on the venture capitalist community to diversify their ranks and support the black community. Declaring Thursday, June 4th, a day of action, the group launched a campaign called "We Won't Wait."
<p>"Venture prides itself on being progressive. We disrupt industries. We work fast and break things. We fund dreams and create jobs. Yet, venture is one of the most homogeneous and exclusive clubs there is," a post from the group <a href="https://medium.com/@BLCK_VC/we-wont-wait-3eaa94d85aac" target="_blank">said on medium</a>.</p><p>Blck VC was started in the Bay Area in 2018 by Fredrik Groce, a principal at Storm Ventures and Sydney Sykes, who worked in venture and was struck by the lack of diversity in the field.</p><p>The group, with outposts in Los Angeles and other major cities, helps connect graduates to jobs in venture and investors to mentors through their growing network.</p><p>"Venture Capital is one of these unjust systems. It is a system of funding entrepreneurs that has routinely overlooked talented black founders and investors, squashing promising businesses and dreams as a result. It is time for venture to face the ugly reality that it is a system perpetuating the institutional racism that plagues our society," the post said.</p>The group is asking firms to donate to funds that fight systematic racism and help break the wealth gap, including its <a href="https://www.blckvc.com/donate" target="_blank">own group</a>, <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/naacp-1" target="_blank">NAACP</a>, <a href="https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/donate" target="_blank">Minnesota Freedom Fund</a>, <a href="https://secure.everyaction.com/zae4prEeKESHBy0MKXTIcQ2" target="_blank">Reclaim the Block</a>, <a href="https://secure.eifoundation.org/site/Donation2?df_id=6082&mfc_pref=T&6082.donation=form1&s_src=kyrcmain&utm_source=kyrcmain" target="_blank">Know Your Rights Campaign</a>, <a href="https://secure.everyaction.com/4omQDAR0oUiUagTu0EG-Ig2" target="_blank">Black Visions Collective</a>, <a href="https://code2040-2020.funraise.org/" target="_blank">Code2040</a>, <a href="https://www.hbcu.vc/donate" target="_blank">HBCUvc</a>, <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/devcolor" target="_blank">/Dev/Color</a>, <a href="https://www.hiddengeniusproject.org/donate/" target="_blank">Hidden Genius Project</a> and <a href="https://www.digitalundivided.com/donate" target="_blank">DigitalUndivided</a>.
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