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Why Listen:

As an entrepreneur focused on marketing, it was an extreme honor to interview today's guest, Bruce Cleveland. Bruce is an absolute Silicon Valley legend, having worked in operational roles at companies including Oracle, Apple, and Siebel Systems. In addition to that, he has worked in venture capital for 15 years, where he has personally generated over a billion dollars in returns. This includes his work at InterWest Partners, one of the most respected VCs in the world, but also as the founder of Wildcat Venture Partners where he worked for five years. He is now the Chief Marketing Officer of a company called C3.ai. He just took that company public. It was founded by Tom Siebel of Siebel Systems, who has now created three different billion-dollar ventures. We talk about marketing, the CMO role, artificial intelligence, venture capital, and more. 

About Bruce:

Bruce Cleveland is the Chief Marketing Officer at C3.ai, a leading enterprise AI software provider for accelerating digital transformation with nearly 700 employees listed on LinkedIn. C3.ai raised over $228 million before going public in December of 2020. Bruce started out at West Point with the class of 1980. He left early to pursue a career in technology including time at Oracle, Apple, Siebel Systems, nine years as a General Partner at investment firm InterWest Partners and more.

Selected Resources: 

• Bruce’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucecleveland/ 

• Bruce’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/brucevc?lang=en 

• C3.ai: https://c3.ai/ 

• Books:

  • Traversing the Traction Gap by Bruce Cleveland: https://www.amazon.com/Traversing-Traction-Gap-Bruce-Cleveland/dp/1635765730 

  • The Perfect Weapon by David E. Sanger: https://www.amazon.com/Traversing-Traction-Gap-Bruce-Cleveland/dp/1635765730 

  • This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends by Nicole Perlroth: https://www.amazon.com/This-They-Tell-World-Ends-ebook/dp/B0877D6H28/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=so+this+how+they+tell+me+the+world+ends&qid=1628292045&s=digital-text&sr=1-1   

Time Stamps:

• Bruce’s background [0:55]

• C3.ai [3:26]

• How Bruce grew Siebel Systems vs. C3.ai [9:48]

• Bruce’s day to day life [13:30]

• Taking a company public [18:08]

• Why Bruce went back into an operational role [22:34]

• How venture capital changed the way Bruce operates [25:23]

• At some point you need to give back [29:33]

• Why Bruce left West Point [31:06]

• Marketing is not what people think it is [35:24]