The Big Interview

Below is a collection of every The Big Interview article by The Information.
Bolt CEO Markus Villig.
The Big Interview

Bolt, Uber’s European Rival, Takes Aim at North America

By Alex Perry · Mar 9, 2025 8:10am PDT · 6 comments
Uber and Lyft dominate ride-hailing in North America, a position that has helped them turn cash-burning operations into moneymakers. Now Bolt, an Uber rival in Europe and Africa, is trying to undercut the two ride-hailing companies in their home markets. Earlier this year, Bolt started offering ride-hailing services in Toronto and scooter... Uber and Lyft dominate ride-hailing in North America, a position that has helped them turn...
Mitchell Green. Photo provided by Lead Edge Capital.
The Big Interview

Why One Investor Is Buying ByteDance Stock Despite TikTok Ban Threat

By Kate Clark · Sep 18, 2024 12:01pm PDT · 2 comments
A growing number of ByteDance shareholders have been selling their shares as hopes fade that the TikTok parent will go public anytime soon. But one New York–based venture firm that’s already invested over $100 million in the internet company is still eager to buy. Mitchell Green, founder of Lead Edge Capital, which has been... A growing number of ByteDance shareholders have been selling their shares as hopes fade that...
Oracle senior vice president Karan Batta. Art by Clark Miller.
The Big Interview

Oracle Exec: AMD Gaining Favor in Nvidia-Dominated Market for AI Chips

By Jon Victor · Sep 11, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment
Despite Nvidia’s booming growth in selling data center chips for artificial intelligence, some customers developing AI are turning to chips from smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices, said Karan Batta, a senior executive in Oracle’s cloud business. Oracle rents out chips from both companies. “What we’re finding now is... Despite Nvidia’s booming growth in selling data center chips for artificial intelligence,...
HSBC's London headquarters. Photo via Adobe Stock.
Inside HSBC’s VC Charm Offensive
By Michael Roddan · Jun 24, 2024 8:03am PDT
HSBC's London headquarters. Photo via Adobe Stock.
The Big Interview

Inside HSBC’s VC Charm Offensive

By Michael Roddan · Jun 24, 2024 8:03am PDT
Shortly after HSBC swooped on the carcass of Silicon Valley Bank in March of last year, picking up around 50 U.S. bankers and an $8 billion U.K. loan book, the London-headquartered bank’s management drew up plans to win over the biggest venture capitalists in the U.S. that had historically been SVB customers. Fifteen months on, the bank... Shortly after HSBC swooped on the carcass of Silicon Valley Bank in March of last year, picking...
Rocco Basilico, head of EssilorLuxottica's wearables. Photo by Getty
The Big Interview

Meta’s Ray-Bans Partner Draws Attention From Tech Rivals

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jun 20, 2024 10:58am PDT · 1 comment
EssilorLuxottica might not be a household name in the U.S. But the eyeglass giant, maker of Meta Platforms’ smart Ray-Ban glasses as well as dozens of other eyewear brands, is suddenly a company tech firms want to buddy up with. Rocco Basilico, the 34-year-old Italian head of EssilorLuxottica’s wearables business, revealed in an... EssilorLuxottica might not be a household name in the U.S. But the eyeglass giant, maker of Meta...
Photo by Bloomberg.
The Big Interview

‘Sober’ IPO Market Is Over, Says Top Morgan Stanley Banker

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 25, 2024 12:36pm PDT · 1 comment
Many of the big investors weighing Reddit’s initial public offering weren’t convinced by the company’s pitch in the weeks leading up to the listing, fretting about the firm’s lack of profits or uncertainty around big licensing deals for its data. But the doubts dissipated for many by the time Reddit’s bankers closed the deal, which valued the... Many of the big investors weighing Reddit’s initial public offering weren’t convinced by the...
Kyle Leahy. Screenshot via YouTube
The Big Interview

Glossier’s CEO Charts Next Chapter of Growth

By Ann Gehan · Feb 27, 2024 6:00am PST
Beauty company Glossier was an Instagram-fueled breakout star of the mid-2010s, winning over shoppers and investors alike with its promise to reinvent the stodgy, slow-moving beauty industry. But today, as a host of younger makeup brands made famous on TikTok nips at its heels and the trends it helped start now dominate the industry,... Beauty company Glossier was an Instagram-fueled breakout star of the mid-2010s, winning over...
Attorney Gregory Varallo and Elon Musk. Photos via Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann and Bloomberg/Getty Images.
Meet The Lawyer Who Took Away Elon Musk’s $56 Billion
By Becky Peterson · Jan 31, 2024 1:29pm PST · 8 comments
Attorney Gregory Varallo and Elon Musk. Photos via Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann and Bloomberg/Getty Images.
The Big Interview

Meet The Lawyer Who Took Away Elon Musk’s $56 Billion

By Becky Peterson · Jan 31, 2024 1:29pm PST · 8 comments
Gregory Varallo is a corporate lawyer in Delaware. But in the wake of a landmark Delaware court ruling on Tuesday night, he’s not just any lawyer. Varallo is one of the few people to win a courtroom battle with Elon Musk, who has repeatedly prevailed in contentious shareholder and defamation lawsuits. Varallo represented Tesla shareholder... Gregory Varallo is a corporate lawyer in Delaware. But in the wake of a landmark Delaware court...
Verizon CRO Frank Boulben. Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images.
The Big Interview

Verizon Thinks It Can Solve Streaming’s Biggest Problem

By Sahil Patel · Jan 24, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments
If you ask the typical TV executive about the challenges of video streaming, they’re likely to use one word: churn. Unlike cable TV, streaming services let viewers chop and change their subscriptions at a moment’s notice, complicating the companies’ ability to build an audience and make money. Telecom giant Verizon sees an... If you ask the typical TV executive about the challenges of video streaming, they’re likely...
Jon Korngold. Photo by Getty/Illustration by Shane Burke.
The Big Interview

Blackstone Growth Chief Korngold Sees Opportunity in Wake of Turmoil

By Rachel Graf · Apr 28, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment
Blackstone’s Jon Korngold has been winning deals since he was nine years old. Back then, the venue was a flea market rather than a boardroom, and the prize was often a random antique rather than a multibillion-dollar company. But he was a deal hound nonetheless, and he often got a better price than his mom, who collected antiques, could. ... Blackstone’s Jon Korngold has been winning deals since he was nine years old. Back then,...
Impulse Space CEO Tom Mueller. Photo courtesy of Impulse Space.
The Big Interview

SpaceX’s Founding Engineer Has 10 Months to Bring ‘Last-Mile Delivery’ to Space

By Becky Peterson · Jan 17, 2023 10:24am PST · 1 comment
Elon Musk wants to get to Mars as soon as possible. One of his first employees at SpaceX, Tom Mueller, is focused on another destination: the moon. Mueller—who founded his own startup, Impulse Space, in 2021 after retiring from SpaceX—recently announced that Impulse’s first ever vehicle, the Mira, will head into outer space... Elon Musk wants to get to Mars as soon as possible. One of his first employees at SpaceX, Tom...
Stanford Management Company CEO Robert Wallace
Stanford Wants a Bigger Piece of Silicon Valley’s Top VC Funds: Endowment Chief
By Kate Clark · Oct 19, 2022 10:32am PDT · 5 comments
Stanford Management Company CEO Robert Wallace
The Big Interview

Stanford Wants a Bigger Piece of Silicon Valley’s Top VC Funds: Endowment Chief

By Kate Clark · Oct 19, 2022 10:32am PDT · 5 comments
Stanford University’s $37.8 billion endowment raked in nearly $1 billion from its venture capital portfolio’s bets on Airbnb and DoorDash after the startups went public in late 2020. Now it’s looking to increase its stake in the small number of elite VC funds responsible for those wins. But Stanford Management Company CEO... Stanford University’s $37.8 billion endowment raked in nearly $1 billion from its venture...
The Big Interview

Can Grindr’s New CEO Sell the Gay Sex App to Wall Street?

By Cory Weinberg · Sep 13, 2022 7:00am PDT
George Arison begins conversations about Grindr with euphemisms. While gay men largely use the app to find potential nearby sexual partners, Arison—who was announced as Grindr’s new CEO Tuesday—prefers to say that people use the app for “casual dating” and “casual encounters.” In fact, Arison says the... George Arison begins conversations about Grindr with euphemisms. While gay men largely use the...
Samsara CEO Sanjit Biswas. Photo via Samsara
The Big Interview

Samsara’s CEO Plans to Keep Investing Even as Economy Cools

By Nick Wingfield · Sep 8, 2022 12:07pm PDT
In 2014, Sanjit Biswas was puzzled by something. Consumers were benefiting from new technologies like Nest smart thermostats—part of a category of online-connected devices known as the internet of things. But Biswas didn’t see anyone building a complete suite of software and hardware products to help businesses connect their trucks,... In 2014, Sanjit Biswas was puzzled by something. Consumers were benefiting from new technologies...
Microsoft's Chetan Nyak. Photo by Microsoft. Art by Mike Sullivan
The Big Interview

Microsoft Quantum Computing Executive Sees Progress After Lagging Rivals

By Sarah Krouse · Jan 20, 2022 6:00am PST
For more than 15 years, researchers at Microsoft have been chasing the idea of building a better quantum computer, an ultrapowerful machine that promises to accelerate everything from drug discovery to the development of electric batteries. Along the way, the company has suffered setbacks as it takes a novel—and risky—approach to... For more than 15 years, researchers at Microsoft have been chasing the idea of building a better...
Will Shu. Photo courtesy of Deliveroo
Deliveroo CEO Sees Echoes of Scooter Fad in Ultrafast Delivery
By Mark Di Stefano · Oct 13, 2021 6:01am PDT · 2 comments
Will Shu. Photo courtesy of Deliveroo
The Big Interview

Deliveroo CEO Sees Echoes of Scooter Fad in Ultrafast Delivery

By Mark Di Stefano · Oct 13, 2021 6:01am PDT · 2 comments
Every few weeks, Will Shu takes a night off as CEO of Amazon-backed Deliveroo to bike through London, delivering restaurant meals or groceries in the place of one of the newly public company’s 110,000 gig workers. Things changed this year, as Shu noticed Deliveroo couriers were jostling with many more rivals: venture-backed startups... Every few weeks, Will Shu takes a night off as CEO of Amazon-backed Deliveroo to bike through...
Unity Software CEO John Riccitiello. Photo by Bloomberg
The Big Interview

Unity CEO Predicts AR-VR Headsets Will Be as Common as Game Consoles by 2030

By Nick Wingfield · Jun 21, 2021 10:14am PDT
By his own admission, John Riccitiello has a long history of making predictions—some of them right, others not. Riccitiello, a long-time videogame industry executive who is now CEO of Unity Software, once blew it with a prediction that a new Sony PlayStation game console would come out a year earlier than it did. He did better in 2015... By his own admission, John Riccitiello has a long history of making predictions—some of...
Gene Farrell, Smartsheet’s chief strategy and product officer. Photo by Bloomberg
The Big Interview

A Former AWS Executive Helps Smartsheet Grow Up

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jun 14, 2021 10:01am PDT · 1 comment
When Gene Farrell left Amazon Web Services four years ago to join a company called Smartsheet, his former employer sued Farrell for violating his noncompete agreement. Apparently, the hard feelings didn’t last: Amazon is in talks with Smartsheet to officially sanction the company’s workplace collaboration app for use by Amazon... When Gene Farrell left Amazon Web Services four years ago to join a company called Smartsheet,...
VMware's new CEO Raghu Raghuram. Photo by VMware.
The Big Interview

VMware’s CEO Pick Surprised Insiders: Why the Choice Makes Sense

By Kevin McLaughlin · May 13, 2021 8:58am PDT
While VMware began looking for a new leader to succeed Pat Gelsinger as CEO early this year, some employees and industry watchers expected the company to shake things up by appointing a different type of CEO than the three technologists who had previously led it. At the time, many insiders feared VMware’s best days were behind it, as the... While VMware began looking for a new leader to succeed Pat Gelsinger as CEO early this year, some...
Kendall Collins, chief marketing officer of Okta. Photo provided by Okta
Okta Exec: We Can Be Bigger Than Salesforce
By Kevin McLaughlin · May 11, 2021 6:01am PDT · 2 comments
Kendall Collins, chief marketing officer of Okta. Photo provided by Okta
The Big Interview

Okta Exec: We Can Be Bigger Than Salesforce

By Kevin McLaughlin · May 11, 2021 6:01am PDT · 2 comments
Last week, the software maker Okta closed its $6.5 billion acquisition of Auth0, one of its main competitors in the market for identity and access management software. The deal, the largest in Okta’s history, is a bid to expand faster at a moment when Microsoft is breathing down the company’s neck with its own product. Okta has big... Last week, the software maker Okta closed its $6.5 billion acquisition of Auth0, one of its main...