Oct 22, 2026 · 36 min · 11 segments
On this episode of Tech Leader Talk I have the pleasure of talking with Vanessa Liu about the factors behind successful startups, from market tailwinds and luck to the teams that know how to navigate…
So I know throughout your career, a lot of the different activities you've been involved in is relating to innovation.
Are you naturally motivated to be an innovator? Is that something you have to think about consciously? How does that come into your life?
I think I've always been someone who was looking at things from the outside a little bit.
Like, when I was really into space and really into neuroscience, for instance, I just felt like that was my path to look at things from a different lens.
And so I've always been that way ever since I was younger, basically observing what is around me and being like, well, why don't we look at things in this way? Why don't we look at areas that have not necessarily been just so studied? And so for me, it comes very naturally.
What do you think, as things have changed over your career since the days of AOL coming in CD-ROM to today, how has innovation's role changed? Or what do you think the key innovation role is today for tech companies?
So what I see in tech companies, if I think about the first dot-com boom, which you and I both went through, and I'd love to share your perspective too, the way I saw it, it was a huge transformation, just very similar to the one that we're going through right now when it comes to AI.
But back then, every company was really trying to think about what they had to do with this new technology because it was almost inherently baked in into the equation that if you didn't figure it out, you were going to be left behind.
If you're going to be left behind, you won't have that growth and you're just not going to survive.
And I think that it's not, I don't want innovation to be looked at as like a fear-based type of aspect.
It's more about what are the opportunities? How can I transform my business and continue to grow? That's how I think about technology and how tech companies should be thinking about it.
I think about Microsoft, for instance, which for so many decades, if we talk about a company that's been able to reinvent itself at various waves and iterations, they've been an incredible example of that.
I was working in Silicon Valley and with some small startups as well, some of the really large tech companies.
So I know throughout your career, a lot of the different activities you've been involved in is relating to innovation.
Are you naturally motivated to be an innovator? Is that something you have to think about consciously? How does that come into your life?
I think I've always been someone who was looking at things from the outside a little bit.
Like, when I was really into space and really into neuroscience, for instance, I just felt like that was my path to look at things from a different lens.
And so I've always been that way ever since I was younger, basically observing what is around me and being like, well, why don't we look at things in this way? Why don't we look at areas that have not necessarily been just so studied? And so for me, it comes very naturally.
What do you think, as things have changed over your career since the days of AOL coming in CD-ROM to today, how has innovation's role changed? Or what do you think the key innovation role is today for tech companies?
So what I see in tech companies, if I think about the first dot-com boom, which you and I both went through, and I'd love to share your perspective too, the way I saw it, it was a huge transformation, just very similar to the one that we're going through right now when it comes to AI.
But back then, every company was really trying to think about what they had to do with this new technology because it was almost inherently baked in into the equation that if you didn't figure it out, you were going to be left behind.
If you're going to be left behind, you won't have that growth and you're just not going to survive.
And I think that it's not, I don't want innovation to be looked at as like a fear-based type of aspect.
It's more about what are the opportunities? How can I transform my business and continue to grow? That's how I think about technology and how tech companies should be thinking about it.
I think about Microsoft, for instance, which for so many decades, if we talk about a company that's been able to reinvent itself at various waves and iterations, they've been an incredible example of that.
I was working in Silicon Valley and with some small startups as well, some of the really large tech companies.
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