💬 Q&A: Grace Gong (Founder & Host of the Smart Venture Podcast)
Lessons from top performers and building a podcast
Tip to accelerate learning: talk to people who constantly engage with top performers!
Grace is an encyclopedia of knowledge and her podcast is a “hidden secret” that will get you hooked. Grace and I connected on LinkedIn, chatted on Zoom, and boom. Our first collaboration is this Q&A. Enjoy!
Meet Grace Gong.
Guest: Grace Gong, Founder & Host of the Smart Venture Podcast (SVP) where she has conversations with top investors (e.g. Pete Flint, Managing Partner at NFX), superstar founders (e.g. Rebecca Minkoff, Founder of namesake brand and The Female Founder Collective; Dawoon Kang, Cofounder and Chief Dating Officer of Coffee Meets Bagel), and tech executives (e.g. Ethan Evans, former Amazon VP) to learn their way of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company.
Fun Fact: Grace did stand-up comedy in 2013.
Question #1: You launched 60 podcast episodes with iconic guests, what traits do these top performers share?
Top performers tend to have 3 core qualities:
They are able to identify their strength and hire their weakness.
Empathetic.
Positive attitude, believe in themselves and what they are doing, not letting NOs stop them.
Question #2: Tell us about a memorable conversation you had with a top performer and what did you learn?
I learned to be empathetic and humble from the former Co-CEO of Chipotle (episode link). He had more than 20,000 one-on-one conversations with employees from all levels. He went “undercover” through their training program to see what the store managers have to go through. I learned that you really need to have conversations with your team and understand where they are coming from. Those will give you a real picture of your company to manage more effectively.
Question #3: What is an unusual yet effective habit you heard from a top performer?
Fabrice Grinda (Founding Partner at FJ Labs) mentioned he would schedule all the events in his day, including relaxing time (episode link). I thought that was really interesting!
Question #4: How do you prepare for a conversation?
I study the person I will be interviewing, reading their books or reviewing their past interviews, etc.
Question #5: What is your favorite question to ask and why?
I am normally curious about how they become who they are, what kind of events define their characters. And I like to ask about their information diet, then I would go to listen/read what they are consuming.
Question #6: How do you get a guest to open up, be comfortable, and share more details than they normally would?
The best way is to listen, that should be a good way to make a guest open up.
Question #7: What is your favorite failure at SVP and what did you learn?
My favorite “failure” would be I say “like” a lot and before starting a podcast. I really didn’t notice how many “likes,” I say. One day I went on another person’s show as a guest. She said, “Why don’t you say things slowly, and instead of using ‘like,’ just pause.” Then I said no “like” in that conversation.
Question #8: What have you learned about yourself since launching your podcast?
I learned to be humble and emphatic. Things might look easy for someone else but in fact, they probably made a ton of effort behind the scenes. I have a lot more respect for content creators on how much effort they put in planning, editing, and growing their shows.
Thanks for the chat Grace! I like the framework of doubling down on your superpowers, having human-to-human conversations to grow empathy, and actively blocking time to relax and listen.
I highly recommend following and diving deep into Grace’s content to look around corners and explore new ideas.
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