#bubba murarka

Bubba Murarka of DFJ chats about all sorts of fun stuff including Mesh Networks, Net Neutrality and non trivial gyrations.

"Connectivity wants to be free, connectivity will be free, the gyrations we have to go through to get there are non trivial..."

Transcript

Bubba: Hello.

Mack: Hi! Bubba, how are you?

Bubba: I am good how are you Mack? How’s our day?

Mack: I am having a stupid day men everything is going wrong it’s really awesome.

Bubba: That is not good what is going on?

Mack: It’s not the end of the world. I have a sick kid I have been to the doctors I have been to the pharmacy I have been to ground but I have low cell phone battery I was getting excited about calling you and I am plundering through the Vancouver rain like it’s a dramatic movie watching my battery die in real time like no Bubba and my telepod casting phone recording services shitty and breaking on me so there is paranoia around that, very dramatic.

Bubba: Yes that sounds like a whole process of constructing anger-bio problems that are very annoying.

Mack: Anger bio is a good word right, none of those is actually a very big deal and yet the summation of all those is Mack is having a crappie little day there.

Bubba: Yes well do you still want to do this thing or you want to cancel to next week?

Mack: Oh hell yes I want to do this thing this is the thing men you are my therapy on the podcast, like a future novel.

Bubba: Excellent oh we got get to that.

Mack: Let’s start with you telling us about why you know a little bit both mobile because you are actually really, really, really smart thinking about the steps why is that what have you done?

Bubba: Well thanks for the compliment that is quite lovely I will take it and use it in my marketing materials, I learnt about mobile first hand great for being I think they are one of the most unique soft spot possible a stage work. I knew I wanted to be a product manager on global team and again in 2005 and as a result of that I got to be Facebook and first manager of the app on android app and sort of face book at the moment.

Got Facebook to be sort of a global property I also got exposed to their different fully armsteir the developing nation the developed nation the app mobile was different in all the complicated value chain so I could have asked for a better PhD in modern mobile the model that involves smart phones then next thing I got through Facebook which I am very lets even think on their parts.

Mack: And then from there you… [Crosstalk]

Bubba: I did two things, I actually when I decided to face book I started a company in the model space and I picked some opportunities that venture community and decided to join DFJ mostly because I love the team but frankly because they were comfortable with me starting my own company while [crosstalk]

Mack: That is a beautiful best of both worlds, isn’t it?

Bubba: I count my blessings every day on that one. 

Mack: Okay next let’s talk about what exactly DFJ is and where I am going with this and I had a thought when I was getting ready to call you and that was…when I asked BC of all people about the fact of the future of mobile I could argue that by action not by word their thoughts in the investing pieces.

So if I look at what you invest in that is probably actually a very telling analysis of at least part of your vision obviously not the entire visions part of visions of what the future of modal looks like so that was the DFJ kind of it and was thinking about and then tell us about what you are trying to bring there so that has too little to do in the future  

Bubba: Awesome, so at DFJ it has been  a venture capital business growth just under 30 year and we are  now investing out of our 11 fund this eleventh fund is pretty meaningful change from the previous ten fund in that two of founding members Tim Draper and John Fisher were not actively leading the DO out of 11 and instead is a smaller team that includes each Steve Juvertison, Josh Stein, Andreas Stavropoulos, Emily Melton on Job Rain and myself  and what we really focus on in our new project is going back to the roots of DFJ.

And focusing on kind of three things that have been on the store at large outside and that is enterprise software, consumer software and disruptive technology data and those certified probably three companies that I can mention the first being in their enterprise phase and these are recent box which we let the series A and we have invested in every single round since then.

And then in the consumer spot probably interesting to mention an iconic company is Skype [crosstalk] but we also have most recent companies like Tango which is one of the largest investing product and then on the shorter stage we really have done some pretty amazing things including Space X and Tesla.

But more recently also companies like Ziwe which is probably classic computing as well as Planet Earth which is checking that  satellite should work and giving images of the earth real time or at least specifically 24 hours full updates fundamentally changes so much so  we would like to think kind of big industry changing companies that have new perspective either on communication or how business will world fundamentally how technology will work our very comfortable betting early stage first check in and  we would like to be in every stage after that .

Mack: Okay so one I had no idea you guys did like Tesla that is absolutely crazy obviously a huge fan I know most people are interesting because you say industry is changing like and like Tesla might change the motor car industry pretty effective actually going to create an industry .

And its creating a category not like in other software category but like now we are going to moon literally so that is something that is a ludicrous that we make and I mean that I hope that is right and that is awesome that you guys do that but that is very venture kind of venture capital investment you know. 

Bubba: Yes I think that is right I think we take all risk and we look at ways that companies can become if they work outside that is great on our  team so in some way just a risk like everyone says that in other ways I think more than most other people we put our money where [inaudible]

Mack: Even Skype is crazy men Skype is a big deal I don’t use Skype as much as some people do I know like that is what the world uses Skype to communicate all the time really did like change the game and not just for the few people in Soma but for people all over all parts of this earth which is interesting.

Bubba: Yes and another bet that is interesting that I didn’t mention is solar city that is fundamental changing how electricity would work and I think has the potential to be the largest electricity provider in the world or the largest electrical company in the world again these are the things that we have made that solely they have characteristics of fantastic founders of huge market opportunities also we are at a risk when we get involved.

And as a result we have an outside the factory where we are very proud  that we participated in building and supporting great company for me personally for the second part of your question what I am student I think I am unique there is a capitalism that I might be one of the only venture capitalist that has a high product management and operation responsibility of a mobile app that has more than a hundred million users being the face book android app as well as then also having create a new mobile strategy focus on the platform that I think it’s under invested in being android and the work that I get to do on face book phone.

 And so I think when I look at my investment this days an interesting area is how the future is turning out I think it’s all about mobile and it comes in three bucket the first bucket is apps and fundamentally how you can reimaging all software’s to be redesigned and rebuilt from the ground up considering and always on connected personal device that is their pocket and that has unlimited compute power and I think that shown up and consumer product quite a bit.

 But I think we are getting into the next stage where it’s going to be disruptive a bunch of enterprise products I think after the app there I really looked at given all software is going to be rewritten from the mobile that mobile infrastructure based not in what they call those areas but much more what we told these software providers software’s builders software companies that are building for mobile.

That are building for the fundamentally more complex less consistent network that we ever had on the depth of app that are building from a more complicated platforms that involves multiple names android higher and mobile web can also fundamentally diplomatically sale we never had an app company skills having five billion users ten billion users like we are likely going to have in the next five or ten years.

And this whole new step of infrastructure problems that need to solve it can only be solved as a central infrastructure aware not necessarily buy every single app way of company and then after that the thing that I get excited  about is how do you disrupt economic mobile. Because  if everyone is going to have a smart device a mobile phone connected to  themselves they also going to need to be able to have data and connect to that phone to make it use and have all the good quality that see at the Appware.

 So fundamentally how do you challenge  the current business model of the carriers either through business mobile innovation or technology innovation  and I think that, that is one of the largest industries out there and looking at some of  the dollars spent on communication connectivity and I look forward to destructing that I am already excited about some of the deal that are coming out and already doing that like stage Willie and I am looking for more of those which are kind of that is my disruptive count of those set of  companies that are .

Mack: Now your ludicrous dream is disrupting like the communication land that is where all the money is being made nobody challenging it nobody trying to keep a bunch.

Bubba: Yes I think the current model is been certainly created a level of connectivity and while I take of those wireless provider has never been seen before and as allocated resources around spectrum around try large in a way try venting in a way that has been economically successful but I think when we go to the next quarter of magnitude of utilization kind of requirements.

 I think they are all going to be fundamentally new ways to architecture carry on business smart phone into lay after that being the internet the things I think that all revolve around fundamental software innovation all the way kind of hardware and business model innovation and  look through the things that can considerably change the game about that .

Mack: Okay so this is I mean like this is like you get to work with the DFJ because you barely given a lot of thought and well versed let me ask an elementary question for you the mesh network that I hear about they have having the develop process Hong Kong otherwise it gets to be useful and a times like a Wi-Fi internet is that the kind of thing that is really interesting to you like is that the realm that we are talking about?

Bubba: So I think that is definitely an example of software innovation the company that enables that is the company that is the company called open garden and they have a product called bio chat and interesting line up they have some of the originals beat form guys there some they are very well versed in appear to be a network mesh network that I think the dream of DFJ connectivity is something that I think has a lot of potential.

  And I think with absent that opens the top solution and what I saw in android and other smarter less that will do something that will have a real spot in the world and can change kind of my conversation part around copex of what the existing charity is you have to buy spectrum you have to buy radio you have to be deployed those radio.

 You have to be buy very expensive network gear and instead if you can do all through software that can trigger the end users that is going to change the economic and will enable very interesting things so yes that is great example something that is interesting to me but that is not the only type of thing that interest me.

Mack: Okay it seems like you will have some of this things you any have to be strong thoughts on neutrality because you are talking about the internet and the data and how like when you are purchasing data and everything is data you are right when you have data and its different scale than we have ever thought about before so with this internet thing do you think that neutrality is really great or is it a terrible thing?

Bubba: I think it’s a very new one is a very complicated topic that I try not to cover I think the reality is connectivity is something that wants to be free connectivity is something that will eventually be free and the directions we have to get there are none trivia but I fundamentally believe that to some point every human being everywhere whether they are located in the US located in desert in Africa or centrally located in planet.

 Will have unlimited data and full data connectivity for anything they want to do and so things are getting in a way of that I think there are temporary and may exist for short period whether that is the need for neutrality or not a need for that neutrality I think it it’s a less interesting to me and frankly I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about focus on because I think again it try to stop either way connected devices and connectivity it should come in play.

Mack: This is like awkward teenage grow that is perhaps awkward but all changes are awkward and therefore we can embrace that and come to the other side of that I agree with you like when I think about the future now I have never not imagined that everybody has the access to all the data maybe where you told him maybe this is ludicrous maybe this won’t become the great barrier between have and have not’s those who are online all the time and those who were never online but that is not when I think of the future I always do think about like everybody you have read embrace new world the new one.

Bubba: I have not yet it’s on my list.

Mack: so there is this you know it has been a long time since I read it but they have got this happy world where everybody is happy like all this can still be a novel you know besides happy where you are oh! There are actually the unhappy people we are the scavengers we are the crazy people who live out in the woods.

Bubba: Yes like the Canadians.

Mack: Yes exactly the Canadians of the post guard exactly.

Bubba: Only because I love my Canadian neighbors like you Mack.

Mack: Yes believe Canadians never take offence, they are just Canadians…the future the future will be weird not everybody has access to that because that is really does become the like the great differentiate that becomes what enables me to do everything that super powers I mean I often think about the iPhone that I carry the android that you carry.

 I think of them like magic worms I almost forgot because if you were in any fairy part of the magical play and you say I want hence spell I want ten sparkle spells there is an app for that I want a chariot to appear  drawn by four might speeds the spell 2014 .

 I want food to arrive in ten minutes and not just delivery stuff like the point is that this things are magic wall they are crazy I mean if you have a world where everybody is drop except some people don’t when you have power when some people don’t so I again maybe you want to talk in full but I agree in the future all the people will have all the data for all three.

Bubba: Yes and I think it’s a staged thing and unfortunately it can’t happen overnight but the first in the putting I think the internet is probably going to have a higher standard that we are going connectivity than any outstands kind of running water and sewage systems I guess it going to be [crosstalk] those are going to be the big three proxs farming agriculture now that is the fourth one now that is pretty amazing to be in the time that didn’t exist when we were born and we are getting to watch it unfold major shaping of out kind of picture of the enumeration cause of equality life for all of us.

Mack: So we have about two minutes left lets pull way back down to 2015 near the end of the year I don’t k now if I am going to have that probably at the end of the year let’s make that a prediction or two about 2015 this bold are not bold as you folks use [crosstalk]

Bubba: I have not done any 2015 predictions so you caught off guard with this what would I say as a prediction I  would say a good production for 2015 mobile is that we are going to see a  new form of mobile advertising drive a huge shift spent from desktop and TV to mobile only advertising unit I don’t know what it looks like I don’t know how it feels I don’t know how its price but I think that innovation is coming and I would like and I have a feeling it would come out in 2015. 

Mack: So the big story of 2014 as far as global advertising is probably the app install unit I knew about face book in 2012 mimic that place slowly and quickly like everybody is doing one of these you are talking about you said from TV and desktop you are not having app installed anymore you are talking about finally the big sort of con break free and the big screen money is finally going get the mobile device and we are going to see that vessel arrive? 

Bubba: I think there is going to be a the unit that will attract all that will get it this year most this year you will start to see all that attractions maybe it’s the premature to say all that step will shift over 

this year but I think fundamentally unit that you know pioneer whether is pioneered by face book, twitter Google, yahoo I don’t know who does it but… chat stream [crosstalk] 

Mack: No you see now little this is not I am not being terrible okay now listen that will be super exciting like you said we will not try and see all the money come out and but maybe in the future they will look back at history and say 2015 the year that we finally use the crowbar and try and open the door on the big screen advertise.

Bubba: Yes on the shift at mobile unit that affective units performs well and creates the value just survive the spend.

Mack: Men I hope that you invest in that company because that will be awesome.

Bubba: Yes I would like to invest in that company but I think that company is probably one that is consumer facing that has an online operating property I think its let’s hope so.

Mack: Yes you need to be up scale sort of speaks to make this work.

Bubba: Yes exactly.

Mack: Okay Bob thank for you time I will call you next time I am in town we will some terrible things together.

Bubba: Excellent it’s great to hear from you I can all day good luck with your  sick kid good luck with this broadcast hopefully it doesn’t come back nearly as half as bad as I suspect my part can be.

Mack: I think you did pretty good we… I always let listen to it before I publish it and I edit it.

Bubba: Okay that is great I have never done a broadcast before so far way.

Mack: No in like the next three days I am going to send you a link and you will be oh wow we are really smart Mack and be cool and publish 

Bubba: Awesome.

Mack: Okay have fun.

Bubba: Alright Bubba later thank you for the interview.