Worst CEO Interview Ever!? Cringe City, Shaan Reacts Linda Yaccarino Interview
text Linda Yaccarino, X CEO, Interview, Cringe - September 30, 2023 (over 1 year ago) • 30:55
Transcript:
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Shaan Puri | Alright, I'm scrolling on Twitter and I just keep seeing this: "the most uncomfortable live interview I've ever watched," "the cringiest interview," "the worst CEO interview I've ever seen."
And you know what I gotta do? You know what we gotta do when it's Cringe City? Because I'm the mayor of Cringe City, we gotta watch this interview that everybody is talking about. It's with the new CEO of Twitter.
So, Elon hired this woman, Linda Yaccarino. She gave an interview, and I'm excited because, A, I love CEO cringe. I love CEO cringe! Some guys like toes, some people like furries, some people are into Japanese anime... everybody's got a thing. This is my thing: CEO cringe. I can't get enough!
Let's jump in.
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Linda Yaccarino | where am I going | |
Julia Boorstin | I think this is here yeah for our microphones | |
Shaan Puri | yeah maybe go to the empty chair | |
Julia Boorstin | Linda, thank you for being here. I want to make sure to give you an opportunity to respond to Yoel Roth and his comments from about an hour ago.
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Shaan Puri | Okay, so what happened was at this conference, the Code Conference. They've always had a bunch of CEOs come to this, like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Travis Kalanick from Uber. They always have these headliners, and this year the headliner was going to be Linda Yaccarino.
What I guess happened is, before she went on, this guy Yoel Roth, who used to work at Twitter, was a surprise guest. That's why this is a little bit controversial. He was a surprise guest because the CEO of GM dropped out. They were like, "Oh, we have a last-minute replacement." This guy Yoel comes on, and he basically used to be the head of Trust and Safety at Twitter when Elon first bought it. He was like, "Go follow Yoel; that's the place to get up-to-date info on Trust and Safety. He's the man."
Then, in five weeks, he got fired, you know, quit, got fired, whatever. He and Elon had a big spat about it, so they are not on good terms. I guess this guy Yoel came on right before this, and the context is he was obviously sharing his negativity about Twitter. So she kind of got blindsided, I guess, before this. So that's the context.
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Linda Yaccarino | Oh, Chuckles, I'd be happy to respond. I think I've been given about 45 minutes. Yes, but I do want to address Yoel. We don't know each other; he doesn't know me, and I don't know him.
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Shaan Puri | Why is she using like an ASMR voice? It's like CEO ASMR. She's like, "And Hansel and Gretel went all the way through the forest." Is this a funeral? Why is she coming out with this energy? I've never seen her talk before, so this is not what I imagined the CEO of Twitter, or X, or whatever, to sound like. Okay, more ASMR.
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Linda Yaccarino | I work at X. He worked at Twitter. X is a new company building a foundation based on free expression and freedom of speech. Twitter, at the time, was ironic.
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Shaan Puri | The way she's really upset that he just came on stage at this conference and spoke his mind while being like, "X is the free speech platform." Shouldn't she just be fine with him speaking his mind? No.
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Linda Yaccarino | Time was operating on different sets of rules, as said by himself. Different philosophies and ideologies were creeping down the road of censorship. It's a new day at X, and I'll leave it at that. | |
Shaan Puri | Who else is inspired by that? It's a new Dan X, and it is what it is.
She's trying to say something optimistic, but the way she's saying it—this is how she always talks—is so downtrodden. I don't understand. If you go on stage, everything is wonderful, we're going amazing, but nobody believes you. So that's a very strange situation. | |
Julia Boorstin | seriously | |
Linda Yaccarino | the team at twitter is fantastic | |
Shaan Puri | Oh, right after giving the big speech that he worked at Twitter, he comes back and says that the team at Twitter is doing fantastic. She's just like all of us. We call it Facebook, not Meta. We call it Twitter, not X. Can't make "fetch" a thing.
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Linda Yaccarino | If you're talking about my own personal well-being and safety, I feel great. I'm well protected.
He made a comment about the interview, I guess, as he was preparing to come on stage, that the public scrutiny weighs heavy on me, my kids, my family, and my parents. I think that's just a human emotion when you get thrust into such a public spotlight, especially in conjunction with the nature of the platform itself.
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Shaan Puri |
Is she trying to hit a word count? This is me in 9th grade, just double-spaced, trying to hit the word count to get this in. I mean, that's just human nature. "In conjunction," "therefore," "such as"... She sounds like the girl from the Miss USA pageant.
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Julia Boorstin | Okay, people out there in our nation don't have that. I believe that our education, like in South Africa and Iraq, is lacking everywhere.
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Linda Yaccarino |
Self, when you're automatically a recognizable public figure... [You're a] public person 24/7 globally, and with the inability for anyone to control other humans' actions [or] comments. [You're] recognizable and I'm an identical twin.
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Shaan Puri | What actions or comments are recognizable? What is she talking about?
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Linda Yaccarino | think how she feels | |
Shaan Puri | alright solid jokes that | |
Linda Yaccarino | We need a security team and a dollar bet. Because I only ever bet a dollar, by the way. The reason I only bet a dollar... let me explain.
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Shaan Puri | I'm sorry, but it seems there was an error in my response. Here is the cleaned transcription:
Let me finish that for you because I'm already rich. The reason I only bet a dollar is because I'm already super rich, and it would make absolutely no difference to me if I won or didn't win. You know, give me the Jeff Bezos laugh—it's because I'm super rich. | |
Linda Yaccarino | Ever is because it's really only about winning. But I want to... it's very hard for me to refute or sift through the combination of opinions of Yoel's experience and the position as fact that were... | |
Shaan Puri | She's made two mistakes so far.
**First**, the ASMR funeral voice telling the Hansel got a bedtime story was a very strange choice, right? You come out and people feel a certain way because of how you look and how you feel. Her entire energy was wrong; she did not come correct. Somebody who is confident, optimistic about what's going on, and excited to be here would have a totally different energy.
So, that was the first mistake she made: she let this guy's previous talk throw her completely off her game and come out with this very strange interview.
**Second**, we're now 6 minutes and 30 seconds into this interview, and she still hasn't addressed all the points that he made. Nobody would have even paid attention to that guy's talk. She's 6 and a half minutes in and is still playing defense.
If you're explaining, you're losing, right? It's as simple as that. Like, the number one PR rule: if you're explaining, you're losing. And she is explaining.
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Julia Boorstin | But, Linda, I want to shift gears from Yoel's interview to a conversation about the business.
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Shaan Puri | Nice doing her a solid, being like, "Hey baby, stop talking about Yoel and start talking about your business."
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Linda Yaccarino | yoel had 25 minutes to talk about it | |
Julia Boorstin | you have a lot longer | |
Shaan Puri | Yoel got the blue one, and I want the blue one. But he has the blue one. If I get the blue one, then I'm going to have it.
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Julia Boorstin | If you want, you have all the time that you have for us. I want to talk to you about the business and the issues of engagement.
As a reporter at CNBC and Apptopia, I see a lot of data. The actual time spent on Twitter did get a post-Elon bump after the acquisition, but it has tracked down all year since then. A new report out from Apptopia just this month says app downloads have sunk to new lows. It's in 96th place.
When it comes to usage, X is now 25th in active users, behind Telegram and even Samsung Clock. So how can we reconcile what Musk has said about engagement with the numbers you provided, given all of these different data points?
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Linda Yaccarino | Well, you know, with over 540 million global users, I'd love to sift through the data points that you picked out.
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Julia Boorstin | and they're really just tracks tracks of app downloads and engagement yeah yeah | |
Linda Yaccarino | but when you look at the length of time | |
Shaan Puri | Spent... yeah, but you know, it doesn't... yeah, but I don't want to talk about that. So, let's look at something else. | |
Linda Yaccarino | The engagement on X right now is trending very, very positively.
If we want to talk about all the initiatives that have been put in place, like was covered in the previous interview about all the brand safety and content moderation tools that exist now within my first hundred days at the company—tools that didn't exist for the eight years prior, when it was formerly known as Twitter—I think those are the types of things we should be focusing on in terms of progress that has been made.
Because in just a short 100 days or so that I've been at the company, what had to happen was for me to, you know, kind of get in and look under the hood.
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Shaan Puri | Why is she acting like a raccoon? Getting in there, sifting through the trash. I've seen that. I have seen that in my backyard before. That is a raccoon going through trash.
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Linda Yaccarino | and when I realized and I looked at because it's still a lot of learning | |
Shaan Puri | what what did you realize linda what did you realize say it just say a simple sentence | |
Linda Yaccarino | I mean come on it's it's a 100 days there's a lot of learning that's still gonna go on | |
Shaan Puri | what are the learnings tell me what | |
Linda Yaccarino | the velocity no of change | |
Shaan Puri | no we're not having a velocity scope | |
Linda Yaccarino | of the ambition scope is a mouthwash x | |
Julia Boorstin | really | |
Shaan Puri | say what you learned | |
Linda Yaccarino | does not exist | |
Shaan Puri | when you racooned through the data what did you find linda | |
Linda Yaccarino | Anywhere else, forget the other platforms. At any other company likely on Earth, there is no analog for the book that is being written right now. | |
Shaan Puri | What are you talking about? Also, *ultra dismissive hand motion*... *shut your mouth hand motion*... nice.
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Linda Yaccarino | Advertiser products that did not exist are now wrapped up in brand safety and third-party verification. The company that was described about an hour ago no longer exists. I would argue pretty aggressively, no matter if you want to... I don't know the stat. Did you say Telegram?
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Shaan Puri | Yeah, 5 minutes ago when I asked you why you're ranking below Telegram in downloads, you started talking about scope and velocity. I did say Telegram.
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Julia Boorstin | does anyone say telegram no you're behind telegram | |
Linda Yaccarino | no no I know I I I it I'd have to I have to scrub your numbers | |
Shaan Puri | Does anyone even talk about Telegram anymore?
Yeah, no, I'm saying you guys were behind them. Less downloads than them. You're worse than the people you're making fun of.
Yeah, I gotta scrub your numbers. Okay, let's scrub it up. Dub app store charts, free apps. Let's go, where you at?
Telegram: number 22. X: number 63.
We scrubbed the numbers, Linda. You're behind Southwest Air. You're behind Peacock and Impulse Brain Training.
Oh, greatest app of all time, right? Coming in at number 68.
Let's go, we scrubbed the numbers. We scrubbed them. They're good, they're clean.
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Linda Yaccarino | But that being said, when you put in context what has happened in the last 10 months, and specifically the last 12 weeks of listening to our employees... listening.
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Shaan Puri | Listening to your employees? You fired all your employees! You fired 80% of your employees. What are you talking about? You can't hear them. They're walking away with their box from their desk. What are you going to hear?
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Linda Yaccarino | The great news is, another fact that was inaccurate in June. Actually, I did an interview with one of your colleagues at CNBC, Sarah Eisen. | |
Shaan Puri | specific time | |
Julia Boorstin | and I think in august | |
Linda Yaccarino | Was that August? It was a hundred days. Yeah, oh yeah, I started in June. It's all a blur. Yeah, because again, the pace of innovation is unlike anything.
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Shaan Puri | Oh, what a gem of an excuse! The next time I'm late, I'll say, "Oh, I'm late to pick up my daughter from school; it's the pace of innovation. That's why I'm late."
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Linda Yaccarino | You could ever imagine. Think about it. It's exhilarating to the point of being intoxicating. That's why.
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Shaan Puri | she's got bars though I'll give her that she's like mike tyson | |
Mike Tyson | There's no one that can match me. My style is **impetuous**, my defense is **impregnable**, and I'm just **ferocious**. I want your heart. I want even children. **Praise be to Allah.** | |
Linda Yaccarino |
When you get inspired and pushed by Elon Musk to do things that you would never normally think were possible, you land on a day like today. You show up and tell them the mountain-high accomplishments that were made in just 12 weeks.
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Shaan Puri | she's going michelle obama when they go low we go high | |
Linda Yaccarino | And you don't look back and compare yourself to a legacy company that doesn't exist anymore.
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Shaan Puri | all you're doing is comparing yourself what are you talking about | |
Julia Boorstin | but linda I wanna get some of these stats so you mentioned you're | |
Linda Yaccarino | I I it's been a day so | |
Julia Boorstin | I brought my car you're you're welcome to rep | |
Linda Yaccarino | I have my car I was supposed to put | |
Shaan Puri | was that blank just now hold on gotta get back | |
Julia Boorstin | linda I wanna get some of these stats so you mentioned you're I | |
Linda Yaccarino | I it's been a day | |
Julia Boorstin | so I've been waiting on that time for sure you're welcome to | |
Linda Yaccarino | I have one card I was supposed to I | |
Shaan Puri | think that might be a blank sheet of paper | |
Linda Yaccarino | put an x on it but I was watching the interview and I didn't have time | |
Julia Boorstin | okay so one question I have is what are the daily active users | |
Shaan Puri | that you have | |
Julia Boorstin | because that is the metric that daily user | |
Shaan Puri | how many twitter was using for the corinne muscat platform | |
Julia Boorstin | And you mentioned the Sarah Eisen interview. What are your daily active users?
And then also, you told Sarah you were nearing profitability.
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Linda Yaccarino | how yeah are you yeah well that's so exciting I'll get I'll get back to your first question but what's so | |
Shaan Puri | Bet she doesn't. Bet she does not get back to that first question.
Hey, I bet you a dollar, Linda. You only bet a dollar? I bet you a dollar you don't answer the daily active users question. But let's...
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Linda Yaccarino | See, exciting is that from an operating cash flow perspective, we're just about breakeven. So, the kind of other emotion that was painted in the previous talk.
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Shaan Puri | still represents a good feel pretty | |
Linda Yaccarino | I'm good about where we are. When I did the other talk that you mentioned was in August, it was too soon. I think it was about 5 or 6 weeks in. I couldn't have eyes on even the rest of Q3, let alone Q4.
Now that I have immersed myself in the business, we have a good set of eyes on what is predictable and what's coming. It looks like in early 2024, we'll be turning a profit, so that's exciting.
About 90% of the top 100 advertisers have returned to the platform in the last 12 weeks alone. Approximately 1,500 have returned. Whether it is a small business or big brands, like AT&T, Visa, and Nissan, they are all returning.
Why are they returning? They are returning because of the power and significance of the platform and the place that X has in this world.
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Julia Boorstin | you have a stat on daily active users | |
Linda Yaccarino | I'm going to | |
Shaan Puri |
I love the interviewer's smile. They're like, "You've been bullshitting for 5 minutes now. Are you gonna tell me the number or no?"
Oh, now she picked up her phone. What happened to her blank sheet of paper? Okay...
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Linda Yaccarino | I'll put it it it 200 250 something like that | |
Julia Boorstin | okay so the stat went | |
Shaan Puri | 200 or 250 million daily active users. That's less than when Elon bought it, I'm pretty sure. | |
Linda Yaccarino | moe the biz facts | |
Julia Boorstin | No, this was when Moe took over. There were 237,000,000 monetizable daily active users.
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Linda Yaccarino | So, listen to this. One of the reasons that I'm in the chair I'm in today and in the chair I am at X.
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Shaan Puri | And I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam I Am.
It's so condescending, by the way. This whole... like, one of the reasons I'm in this chair and you're down there, that's basically the vibe, the energy that she gives off.
She asks you a simple question: "How many daily active users do you have?" Don't give us this speech about why I'm in the chair I'm in. It's because I'm so great. That's not an answer to how many daily active users you have. | |
Linda Yaccarino | Leading the company is important to me because I knew for the last decade— and you knew this— that part of my old remit was to oversee not only the advertising revenue for the company but also to look after all of our enterprise relationships.
I still say "our" for all of the NBCU enterprise relationships, and Twitter was one of them. I specifically used the name "Twitter" purposefully. That's when, for 10 years, I fell in love with the platform.
I knew, first of all, we all understood the trajectory of where broadcast cable television and usage and consumption was growing.
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Shaan Puri | She's like, "Yeah, the previous company I was at was going down, down, down, down, down."
And so now, the reason I'm in the chair of Munich is because I oversee this. What is she talking about?
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Linda Yaccarino | wing but this oh | |
Shaan Puri | Hang on. She doesn't have X installed on the home screen of her phone. I see Facebook, I see Instagram, but I do not see X. It's a black icon. Where is it? I don't see it.
Wow! And also, what kind of psychopath has the settings wheel on her dock? What kind of psychopath does that?
To show your phone, talk about how great X is, and then not have the app installed? This is why I do what I do. *Aggressive clap.* This is why I do what I do.
As the mayor of Cringe City, we live for this moment where she thinks she's mic dropping. She thinks she's saying something really impressive and important, but she's just embarrassing herself.
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Linda Yaccarino | That's news! When I used to sit in my office and watch you on television.
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Shaan Puri | It was the only... What do some work? Why were you at the office watching television?
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Linda Yaccarino | Well, I'd love to, but we could... I'd love to. I'll give you almost like a more personal, specific number, which...
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Shaan Puri | Alright, another dollar bet. I'm up $1. Is this going to be personal or specific? I bet it's neither. | |
Linda Yaccarino | Straight is part of the growth at X. If you take our community, it's 50,000 curators.
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Shaan Puri | why are we talking about 50,000 communities that's gonna be personal and specific linda | |
Linda Yaccarino | environments and conversations of communities on x k | |
Shaan Puri | The pause to just absolutely make up whatever, wherever the hell she's going. Just be like, "Okay, so I said 50,000 communities. What the hell could I say next?"
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Linda Yaccarino | Numbers and time spent is up dramatically just since June. Okay, right?
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Shaan Puri | so where was the personal and specific example linda | |
Linda Yaccarino | so hold on I wanna | |
Julia Boorstin | oh wait linda we're looking at the blank sheet short on time so I gotta get we have so much to cover here | |
Linda Yaccarino | so okay where do you where do you wanna go | |
Julia Boorstin | Okay, I want to talk about your role running the company.
And, okay, Elon Musk just announced a new monthly fee for users.
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Linda Yaccarino | yep | |
Julia Boorstin | And my question for you is: Do you want to start charging all users of X, as he said? And how many users do you think you will lose as a result?
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Linda Yaccarino | Could you repeat? Could you repeat? Can you repeat?
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Shaan Puri | This reporter just broke news to the CEO. I'm pretty sure that... could you repeat? What the hell are you talking about? Let me buy some time.
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Julia Boorstin | Elon Musk announced you're moving to an entirely subscription-based service. Yeah, nothing free about using X.
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Linda Yaccarino | do you did he say we were moving to it specifically or is thinking about it | |
Julia Boorstin | he said that's the plan yeah so did he yeah | |
Shaan Puri | news to me | |
Julia Boorstin | insult you before he announced that | |
Linda Yaccarino | we talk talk about everything | |
Shaan Puri | okay defensive so defensive gotta go back hold on | |
Linda Yaccarino | did he say we were moving to it specifically or is thinking about it | |
Shaan Puri | Oh, the sit back... like she just served her. Like this is whatever, "Stomp the Yard," and she just... her and then.
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Julia Boorstin | he said that's the plan yeah so did he consolidate before he announced that | |
Shaan Puri | because you're the ceo right | |
Linda Yaccarino | we talk about everything | |
Shaan Puri | No eye contact. Look to the crowd. We talk about everything. Did you guys hear that? Everything is okay. I'm in charge here.
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Julia Boorstin | You don't cover product, right? All of the product teams report to Elon Musk. As a result of that, there's been a lot of... Does anyone in this room... Can I finish the bait limit? Sure, let me finish. Please, let me finish. | |
Linda Yaccarino | sure sure sure | |
Julia Boorstin | As a result of the fact that the product team does not report at Meta, it reports to Mark Zuckerberg. Mhmm. Because the product team does not report to you, there has...
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Shaan Puri | been speculation that you are in more of a coo role | |
Julia Boorstin | Or a CBO role, a CEO in name only role. You know what's funny is that we talk about that a lot at X.
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Linda Yaccarino | you know what's funny is that we talk about that a lot at x as you | |
Shaan Puri | you do everybody asks you are you really the ceo you guys talk about that a lot | |
Linda Yaccarino | No, it's a very flat organization. The teams are very empowered to perform at their highest levels. And who's kidding who? I don't care what the structure is at Meta, but who wouldn't want Elon Musk sitting by their side running product?
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Julia Boorstin | I see a show of hands | |
Linda Yaccarino | I there may be a few show of hands to get the cute chuckles you're getting | |
Shaan Puri | Ozi, that's a good question. Elon is a very, very accomplished engineer and a person capable of building things. So I think it's totally right; you'd rather have him running a product engineering organization.
Definitely not this lady, definitely not the ASMR CEO. I mean, can you imagine her trying to talk to an engineer? This lady is asking for a number, like, "Hey, how many users do we have?" and she's talking in circles about the velocity of change and innovation and blah, blah, blah.
She's saying, "I'm going to come back to that." Engineers don't like that stuff, you know? You can't just talk in circles around people who actually build things. You have to directly answer their questions or give clear, concise statements. This lady is... I mean, the BS detector is like...
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Linda Yaccarino | I mean, if the car industry wasn't questioned, would we have the electric car industry? I mean...
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Shaan Puri |
"Pretty sure she just said 'electronic cars industry.' Is that what you think Tesla does? It makes small electronic cars instead of electric cars?"
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Linda Yaccarino | You'll be hearing some of those announcements in the next week or two. But thank you so much, everyone. I gotta go. I really appreciate it, and diagrino.
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Julia Boorstin | thank you for making the time | |
Linda Yaccarino | for us today | |
Shaan Puri | Let's see how they exit this. Oh, the snub! No handshake, no.
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Linda Yaccarino | hug some | |
Julia Boorstin | of the | |
Linda Yaccarino | no no words | |
Julia Boorstin | I really appreciate it know thank you for making the time for us today stanza | |
Linda Yaccarino | thank you | |
Shaan Puri | And walks by, pretends like you don't exist. Nice power move.
Okay, yeah, I grade this an F. That is an F. Defensive, insecure, says nothing of substance. This is crazy to me that this is the CEO of Twitter.
As it will be called, not inspiring. I don't understand why somebody would like this. This is like... I think when people think about corporate America or bureaucratic companies like this, to me, it is the nightmare. Somebody like this rises in the ranks and becomes CEO of one of the best tech companies, you know, one of the best technology products in the world that's used by, you know, whatever, 100 million people.
Doesn't know the first thing about technology or product or speaking straight English. It's just a hand-wavy type of person. That's really crazy to me. I gotta see more.
Okay, what is this? I googled her name and this was the first picture that came up. You know, maybe don't pose like Jesus on the cross for your front page photo. Maybe don't wear all red and dress like... and pose like Jesus on the cross.
Does she always talk like this? I want to see some of her old interviews. Okay, let's see what this is.
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Linda Yaccarino | Stephanie Rule, I accept your COVID-19 challenge. I'm still stuck mostly at home, and then do we... | |
Shaan Puri | Okay, she has lost her mind in that video. Why is she accepting the COVID-19 challenge? Oh, nice dancing and washing your hands. There's nothing more performative than people uploading videos of themselves taking precautions. You don't stop. Wow, unbelievable, unbelievable.
Okay, yeah, I grade that interview an F. It just comes across like a total bullshitter. She doesn't answer any questions directly, is super defensive, and has a weird ASMR voice.
By the way, her background... it's not like, okay, when Zuck does weird interviews and it's like, "Oh, he looks like a robot." This guy's terrible. Okay, genius kid programmer turns out to not be so media savvy. This lady is a media exec. She's 60 years old and has spent her whole career—40 years—working in the television industry. How is she so poor at doing interviews or media? That's supposed to be what you're good at! If this is how you're like, is this what you're good at? Because you're terrible.
Alright, well, that is the end of Sean Reacts: Cringe City. Hope you liked this video! If you like these, I'll do more of them. There's plenty of cringe out there. There's cringe everywhere, to be honest with you. If you like these and you want me to do more, leave a comment on YouTube saying "Cringe City."
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Linda Yaccarino | our software is the best | |
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