Thanks, everybody, for joining us at "Talks at Google." Today's guest, I'm very proud to introduce. Alexis , don't call him Alex, Ohanian, who has just published this book, which you can all get here, and you should all read.I had the great opportunity to read it before it came out, and I enjoyed it immensely.
The Way Millions Shop". Alexis thank you very much for joining us today. Alexis : Thank you for having me. Do we have any Gilt members in the audience, or people familiar with the Gilt model?So I don't have to give too much background before you get started. That's good to know. >>Sandra: Yeah, I think we have a lot of customers
in here, I've seen a lot of the bags and boxes in the mail room. Alexis : Yes. >>Sandra: Well to start it off, I wanted to ask how the book tour is going, I'm sure you've racked up a lot of frequent flyer miles.Alexis : Yeah and I have actually been doing a lot of day trips so I think yesterday, excuse me last week I was in Dallas for a day and I was in Austin for a day. And the week before
Alexis : Yes. >>Sandra: Well to start it off, I wanted to ask how the book tour is going, I'm sure you've racked up a lot of frequent flyer miles.Alexis : Yeah and I have actually been doing a lot of day trips so I think yesterday, excuse me last week I was in Dallas for a day and I was in Austin for a day. And the week beforethat I was in New Orleans and Atlanta. So it's actually been exciting because I've met with thousands and thousands of not just customers but emerging entrepreneurs. People with ideas
Sandra: And what is been your favorite city to visit? Alexis : Well, I always love coming home to New York.Sandra: Of course. >>Alexis : That goes without saying. But it was very exciting to see how, something that was really relegated to Silicon Valley. A
Sandra: Perfect. And how is the actual book writing process? This is your first book. Alexis : So everyone in this room knows what the pace of technology is like today right?We took four months from okay were going to do this to launching our business. Which is even a long time frame now when you look, then it was ridiculous. Our investors, everyone
Sandra: Well, I wanted to focus on you a little bit. You've obviously been very successful in your career. So what do you attribute that success to? Alexis : I, well, first of all, I've been a little bit on the venture capital side asthis is my third start-up through Gilt. And I think to the extent you're operating in an environment driven and fueled by technology, if you're operating in an environment that
I never thought I'd have to ever learn about something like that, but I get kind of a weird thrill or rush out of it. >>Sandra: Had you figured that out? Alexis : Well, one, is it unionized? That's one of the first things that you're supposed to look at and I won't bore you because this is something you'll never have to use in yourday job. But second, I would walk into facilities and you could tell based on the trust level between the employees and the management. So I walked into facilities where literally
Sandra: I think chains are a good thing to watch out for, we don't have them at Google. Alexis : Yeah, can you imagine if they had chains on all these doors, that's what those employees that that once they've had. >>Sandra: We should do that is a test sometime.Alexis : I'm sure they'd love it. >>Sandra: See how people react. So you talk about the thrill of starting a new business, do you still feel the same thrill today as
Alexis : Yeah, can you imagine if they had chains on all these doors, that's what those employees that that once they've had. >>Sandra: We should do that is a test sometime.Alexis : I'm sure they'd love it. >>Sandra: See how people react. So you talk about the thrill of starting a new business, do you still feel the same thrill today aswhen you first started Gilt? >>Alexis : I do because our business is evolving every day. So we, a year and a half in, started building our Japanese business. So I was very
knew each other in school. How would you know each other before you actually launched Gilt? Alexis : We went to college together. We went to business school together. We became very much glued at the hip. We had talked about ideas in business school we wanted topursue. But we had spent a tremendous time together as friends before we took the plunge to work together. And we actually reflect on this quite a bit in the book, like how
with them. So what advice would you give them, for that extra push? Alexis : Two thoughts. One, if you have an idea and you want to pursue it, look at who's doing it already and who did it and tried and failed. And be really mindful of why.So if people are doing it already, can you, are you equipped, is your team equipped to do it better and why? If someone has done it already and failed again why? Was it too
with or are that end user yourself, you are better equipped than almost anyone to understand the mindset. So take confidence in that. >>Sandra: What keeps you up at night? Alexis : Everything when it comes to startup. I think one misconception is that you get to a point and you're like and you're like okay we've made it we're done. Or the thoughtthat you just have as an entrepreneur some sort of brazen confidence that makes you impervious to anything else. And the truth of the matter is you're deeply fearful at every single moment
Sandra: All right good to know, we'll all be paranoid then. Alexis : Yeah, it's just really not to say being fearful. Now there's looking over your shoulder but you're never done. You never finished. And as quickly as things get builtsomething else can emerge and you can similarly be sidelined too, as a business and idea a team or whatever it is. So you just have to be nimble intellectually. Think about broader
time periods. >>Sandra: What do you do for fun? Alexis : For fun, well, one right now I have two kids under a year and a half. So for fun it's like chasing after them most of the time and finding free time, as much free time tosee them as possible. But I've always been an athlete so I spend as much time as I can too, just running the skiing or any number of different hobbies I have in that area.
And then fashions pretty fun, too. >>Sandra: Just a little bit. Alexis : So there's lots of fun parties, events and others that are just a side perk of my current job. So I'm looking forward to Monday night going to the CFDA awards.Last year Lady Gaga showed up at it with fishnet stockings up to here and I don't even know, I saw her sit two rows in front of me in a thong with 4 inch spikes on the back of it.
So how she did that is still beyond me. >>Sandra: Sounds really comfortable. Alexis : It will be a fun event on Monday night as well, too.Sandra: Cool, last question before I open up to questions. Tell us something about yourself that we would find surprising about you. >>Alexis : That I balance a career mostly in
What were the steps that you had to take and the trials that you had to overcome in getting big brands to sign up without conflicting with their existing sales channels? Alexis : It's not something that, well, first of all of morphs to give in each area. So when you talk about sporting-goods it's very different than fashion. And all of it we haveto be mindful of now given how many categories we're in as a business. But in the early days, first year, we would always come up against pushback from department stores saying, you
says the psychology of it even though we pay for Amazon prime. Alexis : Have your bought on Gilt? >>Female #2: Yes, but there are many times that I don't buy something because I don't want to pay the shipping.Alexis : Uh-huh. >>Female #2: Even though you do have free shipping for the next X amount of time. Is this something that ever comes up where you
Alexis : Have your bought on Gilt? >>Female #2: Yes, but there are many times that I don't buy something because I don't want to pay the shipping.Alexis : Uh-huh. >>Female #2: Even though you do have free shipping for the next X amount of time. Is this something that ever comes up where youthink about the psychology of this? >>Alexis : All the time, all the time. And not just shipping because any e-commerce business the top thing, if you do any of the surveys
And so they ended up throwing this party and sponsoring it. from Alexis , that's not good either.
It's in my closet. Maybe Alexis seduced Stavros into a family plan.
Whereas today it's, I focus on the race. But Alexis , he's coming up.
And identity is antagonistic. But Alexis sounds like a lilting woman.
Similarly, when the level of unemployment increased in Nevada because construction workers were unemployed following the collapse of the real estate With Alexis Tsipras we had an agreement that if they closed down our banks, we would retaliate.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Talks at Google. My name is Alexis Ryan, and I run ad safety partnerships here at Google. Today, we will be joined by award-winning quantum physicist Shohini Ghose to discuss her new book called Her Space Her
that all of the ones that I loved presented me with something that I didn't expect, but that I was pleasantly surprised by. I think Alexis is the one of the family to kind of make the best of any shitty-- I didn't mean, I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it.
And so they ended up throwing this party and sponsoring it. And Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian-- what they did was they just said, well, if we don't post content to the home page, no one's going to view it.
I'm sure you have thought through what would make the most sense for your-- what the debate would feel like for each of your characters. Do you think Alexis could be happy living there forever? Watch yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's in my closet. I took Alexis 's pubic relations diploma.
And I was a young journalist working at "Inc." magazine. And I met with Alexis Ohanian and Steve Hoffman on a total whim at South by Southwest. And they were, at the time, working on a site called Hipmunk, which is a travel search site like Kayak, only it searches sites
Just what they went through in the first year of building it alone was such a scrappy, great, garage building-a-startup story that I pitched them both. I pitched Steve and Alexis on exclusively talking to me for the purpose of a book. And so it's been years, years in the making.
And somehow, it worked. When Steve and Alexis , the two founders, left Reddit, it worked. There was amazing growth in the year after they left.
Yeah. That was going to be my next question. So when Alexis and Steve left, there was a period where he was in charge. And there's a lot in the book.
Nobody is as they seem on the surface at first, right? Because you've got Alexis Ohanian, who's a great showman and a charismatic dude. But he's gone through some really troubling times personally.
Similarly, when the level of unemployment increased in Nevada because construction workers were unemployed following the collapse of the real estate When a guy called Alexis Tsipras, who then became my prime minister, started talking to me years ago about-- at that time I had no intention, no interest,
Please help me welcome to the stage Alexis Jones. That's good. I don't need that.
Similarly, when the level of unemployment increased in Nevada because construction workers were unemployed following the collapse of the real estate That threat stopped being credible when Alexis and I were disunited, and when parts of the government--
It gives you a peek inside her brain. The other one you my read is Alexis de Tocqueville who has a lot to say about American character.
What I do is--. I was actually just talking to Alexis about this at the wedding the other day. She had some questions.
Please welcome Shohini Ghose. Hi, Alexis . Thank you so much for having me. Yes. Thank you, Shohini.
Watch yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I think Alexis is the one of the family to kind of make the best of any shitty-- I didn't mean it.
I love the way Moira speaks. Or I love the way that David and Alexis bicker with each other. And then once that happened, politically speaking, the response changed from observational reactions
It's in my closet. Well, Alexis got the phone through Stavros.
It's in my closet. want to show cell phones on TV other than Alexis ' cell phone because I was so bored.
And I didn't get to know that day, all the stories. But turns out, Alexis Ohanian lived in Brooklyn, as did I. And we were able to meet up on Atlantic Avenue, have some coffee.
He realized that to create a sustainable, long-term, on-site business venture they needed the full range of human skills. Then we had some foreigners come along-- this is Alexis de Tocqueville, the famous Frenchman who toured America.
And then what? You, your brothers, your sisters-- your whole family going to start carrying guns now? Hello. My name is Alexis Sanders, and I'm a Exalt graduate of cycle 85.
Whereas today it's, I focus on the race. Because I always said, Alexis , there's time for that later on.
Sandra: Hi everyone my name is Sandra Leung Li and I'm one of the many volunteers that help organize the Authors@Google events. So thank you all for joining us today. Today I am very honored to extend a warm welcome to Alexis Maybank who is the co-founder of Gilt Groupe. Alexis has dedicated her career to building and launching innovative and compelling e-commerce experiences for consumers. In 2007, Alexis along with a founding team, launched Gilt Groupe. She served as Gilt's founding CEO and today she serves as the company's