Welcome to the Boardroom Governance Podcast. I’m your host, Evan Epstein. This is a special *bonus track* episode recorded from a live online event with Professor David Beatty from the Rotman School of Management and co-hosted by the David and Sharon Johnston Centre for Corporate Governance at the University of Toronto. It took place on December 1st, 2022. In this podcast, you will hear us talk about unicorns, private markets, startup governance and innovation. We also address the importance of governance in the downturn, board composition, dual-class shares, the case of Sam Bankman-Fried, the IRA Act, climate tech, public benefit corporations, ESG and more. Thanks again to David Beatty and the Rotman School for the invitation. Note: David was my guest in episode #2 of the podcast (back in May of 2020), and that episode is still one of the most popular ones! If you like this show, please consider subscribing, leaving a review or sharing this podcast on social media. You can find all the show notes on the website boardroom-governance.com and please feel free to subscribe to the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at evanepstein.substack.com
0:00 -- Intro [Evan Epstein]
1:30 -- Intro [David Beatty]
3:50 -- Start of interview.
4:55 -- Discussion on unicorns. [see research on unicorn exits].
9:17 -- On the rise of private markets.
11:57 -- On startup governance.
15:31 -- The importance of governance in downturns (in contrast to bull markets).
16:32 -- Elon Musk and his companies.
18:42 -- On layoffs in the tech industry this year.
20:05 -- How boards are adapting to the "digital tsunami" (board composition: age, 'tech savvy' directors, etc).
23:21 -- On cybersecurity in the boardroom.
29:00 -- On the surge of the electric vehicle (EV) industry and the IRA Act. Geopolitics and supply chain divestment from China.
36:26 -- The impact of the pandemic in Silicon Valley, particularly on remote work and tech migration. An opportunity for Canada.
38:36 -- On Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX collapse).
41:15 -- Innovation by large established tech companies vs entrepreneurs/startups. Zero to One and The Power Law books.
46:34 -- On dual-class share structures.
50:58 -- On climate tech and Silicon Valley.
53:39 -- B-corps and public benefit corporations. [You can also check out E14 with Frederick Alexander on this topic]
56:37 -- On ESG and shareholder activism. The Exxon Mobil proxy fight. The "anti-ESG" movement in the US (for example: Florida pulling $2B from BlackRock in largest anti-ESG divestment)
58:23 - Final words.
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David R. Beatty is a Professor at Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and the Faculty Director of the David and Sharon Johnston Centre for Corporate Governance Innovation.
You can find a video recording of this event [for a limited time] in this link.
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You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License