Family, Focus, and 350M Users: Inside Zoom with Eric Yuan

Eric Yuan turned a simple belief into Zoom, the platform that kept the world moving through a once-in-a-century shutdown and redefined modern work. On this episode of Grit, the Zoom CEO shares why velocity beats size, how a family-first ethos powered his leadership during COVID, and why the coming wave of AI dwarfs the original internet boom. He details how he’s refreshing Zoom’s culture for 7,500 people, opting for virtual deal calls over in person meetings, settling into life as an empty-nester, and keeping Zoom nimble enough to outpace Big Tech and the next wave of AI startups. Guest: Eric S. Yuan, Founder & CEO of Zoom Chapters: 00:00 Trailer 00:44 Introduction 01:47 Walking with swagger 03:48 Extremely exciting moment 10:05 Classic innovators’ dilemma 12:59 Laser-focused bandwidth 17:56 Family first: lead by example 22:09 Everybody was doing their road shows 25:34 The entire world was dependent 28:04 Community care 31:57 Valuation and a co-founder 35:17 A lot of unhappy days 39:25 Building Zoom for consumers 46:57 Holograms? 52:01 Home 53:23 Huge competition, high velocity 1:00:33 Where companies get wrong 1:04:52 Giving back 1:13:12 Who Zoom is hiring 1:13:24 What “grit” means to Eric 1:14:24 Outro Mentioned in this episode: Webex by Cisco, Glean, Apple, HP, Netscape, Yahoo, Brian Armstrong, Emilie Choi, Coinbase, New Limit, Elon Musk, Windy Hill, Magic Leap, Rony Abovitz, Jony Ive, OpenAI ChatGPT, Bill McDermott, ServiceNow, Carl Eschenbach Connect with Eric X: https://x.com/ericsyuan LinkedIn:   / ericsyuan   Connect with Joubin X:   / joubinmir   LinkedIn:   / joubin-mirzadegan-66186854   Email: [email protected] Learn more about Kleiner Perkins: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/