One of the tech world’s most-lauded leaders, entrepreneurs and deal-makers, Emil Michael gained fame as Travis Kalanick’s right-hand man, leading Uber to become the most valuable private tech company in history. Now an investor and strategic advisor to many of the world’s most innovative high-growth companies, Michael serves as Chairman and CEO of DPCM Capital and sits on several tech company boards. A legendary deal-maker and negotiator behind the most successful exits in entrepreneurial history, Michael has been instrumental in raising over $25 billion in capital, and the creation of $100 billion in market value for high-impact technology businesses. Michael shares an inspirational story of immigrant roots, relentless determination, successful entrepreneurship and what it takes to disrupt, innovate, lead, and rise to the top of the tech and business worlds.
Combining an inspiring immigrant story, a relentless entrepreneurial mindset, and a passion for paying-it-forward to help others achieve their dreams, Emil provides an insider’s look into the rise of America’s highest-valued private tech companies—and how Uber and other household names disrupted an industry and the world.
A prominent advisor and mentor for entrepreneurs and organizations positioned for hypergrowth. Michael advises on fundraising, mergers and acquisitions, corporate strategy, and culture, building executive teams and global expansion
What is it like to be on the ground floor of technology that is transforming the world? How do you have your company run a marathon at the speed of a sprint? How do you avoid the “innovator’s dilemma” once your company has changed from the ‘insurgent’ to the ‘establishment’? How can you ensure that you are not growing your company faster than the systems and structures needed for long-term success? How do you turn a $300 million deal into an $800 million one—in one single weekend with Microsoft’s CEO? What’s on the horizon in investment and tech? Ask Emil Michael, the legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur, angel investor, and former Chief Business Officer at Uber. You won’t just get illuminating answers and insights. You’ll hear unforgettable stories about negotiating in China, the “frontier entrepreneurism” of introducing Uber around the world, creating product love, and Emil’s own secrets of successful deal-making.
“Most negotiation books teach you a methodology that’s anti-humanist. The most successful negotiations are all about understanding the human beings on the other side,” says Emil Michael, the legendary tech entrepreneur who has raised over $25 billion in capital and closed high-profile deals and partnerships around the world. This included negotiating an $8 billion deal in China in only 60 days, where Michael’s hard work understanding of the culture and nuances of doing business—right down to researching the right drink to order with dinner—was integral to success. “You have to invest the time to really understand what motivates people,” he says. “Are they trying to get promoted? Is the company doing well? How’s their family life? And in the case of doing business with another culture, how to meet them where they are and show respect.” In this essential talk, Emil Michael walks you through the most successful negotiations of his career—from turning a $300 million deal with Microsoft into an $800 million one to introducing Uber to local markets around the world. His fascinating stories and invaluable lessons on focusing on the human factors at play will forever change the way you think about—and most of all, prepare for—successful negotiations.
First, you have to identify what kind of leader you are: Do you want to hire ‘spikes’ or do you prefer a ‘generalist’ approach to team building? How do you create a great team if your team members are all over the world? When you’re a small startup with less than 50 people, it’s easy to hire high-quality people who share the company’s values. But how do you keep the quality and values consistent when you’re not doing the hiring personally any more? While working as Chief Business Officer for Uber, Emil was responsible for keeping the values consistent as he helped open Uber locations all over the world. In this insightful talk, Emil will share how he built a resilient culture of relentlessness. Audiences will come away learning how to develop a consistent process for hiring, how to communicate cultural values, and how to adapt them to different countries and, most importantly, how to manage a team full of spikes or a team of high-performing generalists.
When survival of a start-up is its chief mission, the team you assemble and the values you adopt are tribal. There is much less focus on the individual employee and much more focus on the existential mission to grow the business. Every employee pitches in to put out fires and everyone gives their opinion on what to do next. You are the underdog and you need a tribal mentality to make it.
However, when the company has found a product that consumers want and how to deliver it efficiently, the company has to change. At that point, having structures, systems and, yes, some ‘bureaucracy’ is needed. Jobs have to be more defined, processes to allocate capital efficiently etc. The stakeholders become more diverse…and like any civilization, your concerns extend beyond survival. Usually, companies make this transition smoothly. However, in the hyper competitive and hyper growth areas in the tech segment, this change has to happen faster than is natural to do.
As important, this maturation can’t go so fast that the company actually slows down and faces the Innovator’s Dilemma. This is the central challenge for high growth companies in tech today.
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