this week, one of zoom's largest investors joins me to talk about that company's enormous growth and challenges. we'll talk about the future startup funding with the national venture capital association and meet a first time ceo leading a multinational company from her dining room table. this week on "press:here." good morning, everyone, i'm house. obviously we are not in the studio. it took some time for to us get our feet underneath us, but we're ramping up with

"press:here" once again. normally, you know as an introduce the ceo we'll talk to, i show a little video of that ceo working at their office working at hard. in this case we'll show a video shot by a family member at home. what makes crystal so unique is she spent a good portion of her career as a ceo in her house. she's a brand-new ceo, taking office just a few weeks before the stay-at-home order. and that's where we find her, crystal joining us via teleconference from her home. good morning. that's quite a timeline. you get your first job as ceo, a few weeks lat right, thanks for having me, scott, that is a very true statement. >> that must be tough. how are you managing as ceo, trying to work from your kitchen table? >> well, i think it's been

challenging for a lot of people. but i have to tell you, the comment that you made about the fact that i've worked from home for the better part of my career has really helped equip me to know exactly what it's going to take to work remote and to really make sure i can this about what it's going to take for the rest of our employees located across the globe. it's natural, and with our talented employees, i'm impressed by how well we've traditi transitioned to working remote. the challenge has been the bandwidth to make sure we're supported in our communications. >> you're not new to business, you were at concur for quite some time. you're a worldwide company, i'm guessing you had an early take on this coronavirus, you have offices in china and in asia. you may have been more aware of

this than we, the rest of us were, who weren't paying as much attention. >> you're right, we do have offices, and our offices really felt this first. to look at this and think that we were going to see the outcome the way that we did, we weren't prepared for the global pandemic. i don't think anyone could see we did have early signs. what it allowed us to do is start to look at how we could draft off the precautions, the health and safety, the work from home requirements that we put in place. and we were able to take that and really move that across our offices and then into our north america offices as well. so it was a little bit of a ripple effect and it was something we were able to then start to stagger and learn some lessons very early from our offices. >> you work data, you've worked with things like dominos pizza to help them understand data. but it's my understanding you're working with the fight against

coronavirus as well. how are you contributing in the fight? >> well, look, you know, the way we help organizations around the world, whether it's domino's or against covid or johns hopkins and other health care organizations, it's really about helping organizations make sure they cannot only have a complete set of data, because it's access to now millions of sets of data that really health care and other health organizations are contribute to go try to fight and try to respond to covid, but it's not just about having all the data, it's about having clean data. one of the things we did to help our employees and help participate in a way we felt weather give back is use the very services that talend provides to our customers to pull that data together and make sure it's usable in the form of scrubbing it to make sure it has data you can put to use in an effective way that's trusted and clean and something that actually can go into the

practice of helping solve covid and some of the virus type of responses that people are looking for. >> you had a very strong first quarter. does the fact that you work in data and not managing hotels or airlines, does it make you somewhat more recession-proof? >> well, we certainly have seen a surge of digital transformation. what we've seen more than anything is, in the past there was an opportunity to really transform, looking at data and how to reinvent your business or reinstrument your business. that was an opportunity that a lot of organizations across the globe, across industries, were looking at. i think what covid has brought about is now a requirement to do that. you know, companies are looking at how to analyze their data in different ways than they've ever had to before, they interact with their customers. you brought up domino's. if you look at contact list, how do you take and make sure we still provide services but in a way that's conducive with the circumstances around us. so there's a whole new set of

requirements for organizations. so we do see a surge of people looking at pulling new data sets and making sure they're not only complete but they're data they can trust to make more important business decisions than ever. >> last question for you, twitter has said to its employees, we think you can probably just work from home forever. you work in the data just space where that would lend itself. have you said something similar to your employees? >> well, we're really taking this opportunity to really think about every part of our business and look at what the opportunities are to have a great life balance with our employees who are i think benefiting from working from home in some cases. others really want to get back to the office. we have the opportunity to really work from anywhere. we've been very fortunate in that we've proven that in some cases our productivity has actually gone up. and so from a capability

perpetra perpetra perspective, it's an opportunity to give our employees and our business new opportunities and come out as a stronger organization and one that's equipped to respond to anything that's in front of us. >> christal, the new ceo of talend, thanks for joining us think morning. up next, we'll talk to the president of the venture capital association about the future of venture capital after the virus. later, i make the biggest investor in zoom download skype, when "press:here" continues.

welcome back to "press:here." i'm scott mcgrew. general catalyst, a venture capital firm, did something unusual thi raised money. the firm was able to raise more than a billion dollars to invest in startups even in the midst of a pandemic. but this is probably the exception. we're seeing lots of evidence firms will have trouble finding new money. and that in turn means big problems for silicon valley startups who need the funding. miriam hawke is a senior vice president with the national venture capital association which recently issued a warning in the form of a white paper

called "startup ecosystem faces capital crunch," capital crunch by the way my least favorite breakfast cereal. you're predicting there won't be enough money to meet startup demand, is that right? >> yes, the idea is startups have not been immune to what's essentially a halt to the u.s. economy. they've been struggling to maintain operations and customers. since the middle of march we've seen more than 300 startups lay off 35,000 employees, and that's just what's been reported. so the situation i think is going to get worse as we see how the impact from covid-19 plays out. startups are, you know, typically younger companies, they are looking for capital from investors to help them reach milestones for growth. but unfortunately with investors also being very careful and cautious with their allocations and how they're committing to

new companies over the next few quarters, it's going to be a significant decline in capital investment in startups. it's going to unfortunately come at a time when the country needs it most, for job creation, to help fuel our country's recovery from this pandemic. >> startups have always been high reward, high risk. but we're seeing a time in which most investors want their money in very low risk situations. >> exactly. so a big source of capital over the past few years has been corporate investors, private equity firms, and those types of investors are in the same position of reassessing their strategies right now, speakingh. that new capital or that important source of capital to the industry is going to be pulling back. at the same time, you know, even though the venture investors started the year with a record amount of dry powder, around $120 billion, unfortunately

there are limitations into how far that capital can go and essentially what companies are allowed to do with that capital. they have their own investors which are limited partners. these tend to be groups like public pension funds, foundations, endowments. and they have their own agreements and those institutions are looking to this high risk/high reward asset class to funnel returns to their institutions. we think about this $120 billion dry powder number, i think the goal behind our white paper too was to just outside some of the mis k mis kconacceptceptions without being some sort of longer term investments and growth opportunities. also it's an equity investment that these investors are making so there is an assumption that

this investment is going to create some value, it's going to grow over the long term, and to stay in the short term operations with that capital would be in misalignment with those limited partners who are investors in the fund. >> it's extraordinary, we went from the timing that i was talking about, maybe there's too much money in the venture capital system, maybe we're funding startups we shouldn't be funding, to there's not enough money to fund all the startups in the space of a couple of months. is it possible, miriam, that during this downturn we'll see what we did during the recession and the dot-com bust in the formation of some of our best companies when only the greatest companies can get access to capital? maybe the greatest companies will get that access and we'll see the next google and the next facebook. >> so you're absolutely right, the past few downturns have actually produced some of the biggest and most successful venture industry has proven to be resilient.

i think the in this economic crisis we're in is different, force it's come with, the almost immediate impact it's brought to how startups are operating, and, you know, not all startups are going to be impacted equally. there are some sectors like the life sciences space who are very focused on offering solutions to the covid pandemic in the form of testing or vaccines. also we're seeing telemedicine becoming a very important sector as well as delivery services. some startups will be pivoting to meet the demands of this new economy we're living in. on the other hand, though, there's going to be a struggle especially for new companies because even though the capital is going to dry up, the entrepreneurs' big ideas across the country are not going to. they're still full of ideas and looking to get funded. when you look at a venture firm,

they have to allocate capital between new investments versus their existing companies. in this sort of reserve planning of capital, we typically see tech investors reserve about one dollar in follow-on investment for every dollar they invest initially in a company. for life sciences, which tend to be more capital-intensive, they can reserve two dollars for every one dollar invested. there will be this shift in how vc firms are thinking about deploying new capital and especially for the new ideas. i think it's going to be impact the different sectors differently. but especially if you are, say, a startup in the middle of the country and we know that so much of the capital right now is managed by firms in california, massachusetts, and new york we travel restrictions, restrictions on in-person meetings. it's going to be limiting to how far and how often some of that capital is going to be willing to travel to new startups and ones that maybe are outside of

the existing relationships or poverty folio. >> i want to get to one last concern. as that capital begins to shrink, i think the opportunity for companies that were maybe represented by underrepresented communities who already had trouble getting capital, may have even further trouble getting access to capital. >> yeah, absolutely. i think this is a very big area that's not talking aboed about . as i mentioned, travel restrictions, limitation on in-person meetings, vc investors will be prioritizing their existing portfolios. it will be more challenging to break through and have these in-person meetings do in-person pitches and move more to this virtual environment we're living in. our concern is there will be this regression on the momentum that the industry had some positive growth on for more access to capital for

historically underrepresented groups. initially it will be a bumpy ride as we transition from a very in-person, network-driven industry to a remote world. >> speaking of this virtual, remote world, thanks for joining us. maryam haque, thanks for joining us. next, i'll get one of the biggest investors in zoom to download skype to talk to us.

welcome back to "press:here." i'm scott mcgrew. i first met the president of emergence capital shortly after the company he invested in, zoom, burst onto the scene with an incredibly successful ipo. it was his biggest investment ever and it paid off very handsomely. of course neither i nor he knew at the time what zoom would turn out to be and how important it would turn out to be. we had an inkling but we could have never guessed school lessons would be taught on zoom or there would be cocktail parties on zoom has friends could not get back together. he joins me remotely. let me point out, start by pointing out, we're not on zoom. we're on skype. and that's because nbc discourages us from using zoom

based on some early security problems that the company had that they caught -- that may have caught you a bit off-guard. i appreciate you installing skype. you're on the board of zoom. that must have caught the company off-guard, those problems with security early on. >> thank you, scott, it's great to see you. it's been a very busy year, a lot has happened since the last time we talked. you're right, with everything that's going on right now, everyone moved to zoom, and they started using it for use cases that the product was not anticipating early on. if you'll remember, when you and i chatted about a year ago, we were talking about enterprise companies and how these big businesses around the world were using zoom for business communication. and when this pandemic hit, out of nowhere, everyone started using zoom. even for me at home, my wife working for a nonprofit, she's

on zoom most of the day. my kids are on zoom, not only learning but also having play dates with their friends. so a lot of that created these new use cases that zoom had to adopt. they focused as a company in making sure that the infrastructure enabled people to keep connected. think of going from 10 million participants to 300 million daily participants. that's a lot. that's a lot of growth. and the company did really well. and then they rolled out this 90-day security plan to adjust and turn to be people's i.t. department. when you're working with enterprises, they have their own i.t. departments. when you're working with my kids, i'm the i.t. department and i'm not that good. >> so this is one of those examples of, we like to see huge growth in silicon valley and

certainly we wouldn't wish the pandemic on anyone, but there will be a test case for years to come of a company that rocketed up in a way that no other company could have possibly, up to what you said those user numbers, that's phenomenal growth. >> it is. i've been saying this for a while now, and i truly believe this. leadership, companies are tested in times of crisis and they emerge stronger. and that's why i believe with all this learning, zoom is emerging stronger. it's not only adjusting to meet users' demand, but it's also leapfrogging every other technology to make sure that the environment in which people are connected, it's safe, secure, and private. so i do believe that we're not going back to the old normal. the new normal is going to look

completely different. even here in silicon valley, i'm starting to hear from companies that they're revisiting their real estate plans, not because they're not hiring, it's because remote is working incredibly well for them and it's enabling them to attract great talent that's not necessarily close to where the company was physically headquartered. now a lot of companies are moving to satellite offices on zoom. that's creating a huge change that we're just scratching the service of the impact that this is going to create. i believe that there's like 20% remote, 80% in person. over time it's going to shift more towards 80% remote and 20% in person. >> that's going to change silicon valley forever. and you're absolutely right, there are some companies that are doing well now that may not do as well, i'm thinking of maybe doordash or whatnot, as well in the future after the

pandemic, god willing, goes away. but i think zoom and tow in everybody's bloodstream. i mean, even my very young nieces are using it all of the time. corporations are using it all the time. people are going to ask, why do i have to fly to cleveland when i can just get them on zoom and do the same thing? >> you're absolutely right. what's interesting is that we're also hearing from small businesses, which got really affected by this pandemic because they couldn't provide their services to the local communities. and now they've discovered zoom and they're delivering workout sessions on zoom, tutoring on zoom, telemedicine on zoom. so it's uncovering a huge opportunity. and for a lot of the small businesses that were constrained to their local geographies, now they're exposed to a global audience of customers who could end up buying their services.

that's another trend i anticipate we'll see over the next five to ten years. as e-commerce has moved from physical to online, now this pandemic will accelerate how services are provided on zoom going from physical to virtually on zoom. >> and santi, in the middle of all this, you continue to invest. you just acquired a company called upkeep, i don't need the details on upkeep itself, but i'm interested in the fact that even in the pandemic, you continue to write checks. >> yes, we were born after the dot-com crash. we went through the financial crisis. and i personally, i'm from argentina, so talking about crises, i've seen a few in my life. and what we believe is that in this crisis situation, great companies emerge, because the

gaps in what the users and companies need and what's out there get exposed. so we believe that in the next 12 to 24 months, a lot of iconic companies are going to be born by just observing how the industry is changing. if you think about emergence's early days, we started with the trend of software moving from on prem services to the cloud, that ended up being a massive change. we believe this pandemic will lead us to another change that will get us to this new world of virtual products and services. >> santi, you mentioned argentina, i know you have lots of friends and families there. how is that country managing, how are things in argentina? >> it's interesting, i use zoom to communicate with a lot of my friends and family there. given that we've been exposed to so many crises, this is another big crisis, but the muscle is

already there. so we can learn a lot from how those countries came out and emerged after this massive crisis. and i believe that here in the u.s., we're going to emerge, emerge stronger, a lot of new opportunities are going to be created, just because the pandemic has exposed the gaps in the market like learning, telemedicine, and a lot of those opportunities. i'm excited and bullish from a venture capital perspective on what's going to happen in the next 12 to 24 months. >> we'll leave it on that positive note. thanks for joining us this morning. i did that podcast interview with santi just after he invested in zoom. you can find that podcast on apple podcast, google play, and spotify. "press:here" will be back in a nu.

that's our show for this week, the first i've ever done remotely from my house. i do look forward to getting back into the studio where i can talk to my guests eye to eye. but that's probably not going to happen for quite some time. we'll stay out of the studio until it's safe and you remain safe as well. my thanks to my guests and thank you for making us part of your sunday morning. we

start here on comunidad del valle out of the mission district out of comunidad del valle the executive director and vice president and