In Good Companies is back! And for Season 6, we’re doing a deep dive into the future of work. Because business will look different in 2050, and if we had to take an educated guess, it seems that technology is going to be a driver of change.

In 2024, the CIO research firm Foundry learned that 86% of organizations have maintained or raised their IT budgets. We all sense that digital tools can help us secure the future of business; we’re just not sure how to use them to our advantage. So today, we speak with a leading voice in the field of technology and entrepreneurship: Shuo Chen, Silicon Valley connoisseur, faculty professor at UC Berkeley and Stanford University, and partner at IOVC, an investment firm focused on early-stage startups that drive the future of work.

In this episode, Shuo shows us how tools like AI and Blockchain can revolutionize business. She demonstrates how technology will eliminate repetitive tasks, streamline our processes, redirect our attention to cultural human questions, and afford us more time to hone our leadership skills. Shuo shines a light on a new, diverse generation of self-starters who are taking their seat at the business table. And she breaks down how technology is changing the nature of entrepreneurship; opening up new career paths going forward.

So join Shuo Chen and our new host Ari Marin, to get into the nuts and bolts and launch your company into the future!

Highlights:

• A brief history of AI & Blockchain (4:16)
• Why AI & Blockchain are a powerful combination (6:44)
• How technology can augment workflows and improve decision making (8:08)
• Breaking down the “Human VS Technology” myth (10:00)
• “80% of the jobs available in 2050 were not invented 5 years ago” (11:03)
• Ways in which technology will change existing roles (12:20)
• A happy middle: how to juggle automation and personalization (14:12)
• Using tech to make different leadership styles possible (15:09)
• Transformations in the world of entrepreneurship (16:42)
• FinTech and changes at play in venture funding (18:17)
• Fractional founders: how Shuo seeded her career (19:41)
• Debunking the taboo of building fractionally (21:58)
• Linking together technology, diversity and inclusion (23:41)
• How widespread access to information can create more fruitful discussion (25:33)
• “Resistance is a healthy part of technological development” (26:38)
• A final word from Shuo on the Future of Work (28:26)

Links:

• Cadence Bank Website
• Cadence Bank X (Twitter)
• Cadence Bank LinkedIn
• Shuo Chen X (Twitter)
• Shuo Chen LinkedIn
• IOVC Website
• Research - “State of the CIO Survey” by Foundry
• Research - “Realizing 2030: A Divided Vision of the Future” by Dell Technologies

Feedback:

If you have questions about the show or topics you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producers, [email protected] or [email protected].

Read the full show transcript.

Meet the Host

Ari Marin, SVP, Family Enterprise Advisor, Cadence Asset Management & Trust and the new host of Cadence Bank’s In Good Companies (IGC) podcast, says his idea of “good company” is being around creative, insightful people who enjoy sharing personal stories about the things that helped make them successful.

From 9 to 5, Marin is a Cadence Bank senior vice president and family wealth strategist, whose specialty is consulting with family-owned and small businesses. Now, he’s squeezing in IGC hosting duties, bringing in a new voice and fresh perspectives.

As a lawyer with a master’s in taxation from Villanova, Marin holds his own in the business world. But hosting IGC gives him a new way of engaging with entrepreneurs and experts to learn smart ideas and new ways of doing things.

Outside the office, Marin is a history fan and podcast aficionado who loves reading and exercising with his two dogs: Friday–aka “the angel”--and Mahla, the stubborn Shih Tzu with selective hearing.

Meet the Speaker

Shuo Chen is a General Partner at IOVC, where she invests in early stage startups in Silicon Valley with a focus on future of work and enterprise/SaaS. She also teaches entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley and Stanford.

In her venture role, Shuo has invested in companies now acquired by Goldman Sachs, Ford, Caterpillar, Binance and Dialpad, as well as now unicorns including Boom, Checkr, Grubmarket, Instacart and Rescale.

Outside of venture, Shuo is appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom to serve as 1 of 14 voting members on California's Mental Health Commission, which includes overseeing ~$10 billion annually in state budget and advising the Governor or the Legislature on mental health policy.

Prior, Shuo worked at Goldman Sachs in investment banking and PwC in advisory, where she worked on Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola and LinkedIn’s $119 million acquisition of SlideShare. Shuo has also co-authored one of the leading books on financial regulations published by Cambridge University Press in 2019.

This podcast is provided as a free service to you and is for general informational purposes only. Cadence Bank and its affiliates make no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the content in the podcast. The podcast is not intended to provide legal, accounting or tax advice and should not be relied upon for such purposes.