Laura Yecies: "Good Life"

Stayin' Alive in Tech

Laura Yecies has an incredible list of Silicon Valley companies on her resume, including Yahoo!, Catch.com, SugarSync, and Netscape following the AOL acquisition. She has been the CEO of two venture-backed startups, including her current role as CEO of SyncThink, an eye-tracking technology with profound implications for neurological health.

In this episode, Laura and Melinda discuss balancing a family and a tech career (and how we need to start asking this question of men as well as women), and what it was like to walk into a room of 50 CEOs and realize she’s the only female.

Laura offers recommendations for books, advice for managers, supportive words for females in tech, and nuggets of wisdom for married couples trying to nurture two careers at once.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, by Sheryl Sandberg
• Brogrammer culture article from Inc.: New Report: Sexism in Silicon Valley Is Really Pretty Awful
• Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
• State Department of Justice lawsuit against Microsoft Wikipedia article
• Laura’s recommendations for Behavioral Economics books:
• • Misbehaving by Richard Thaler
  • Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
  • Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

MUSICAL INSPIRATION FOR THIS EPISODE ON SPOTIFY:

"Good Life" by OneRepublic

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Stayin' Alive in Tech is an oral history of Silicon Valley and technology. Melinda Byerley, the host, is a 20-year veteran of Silicon Valley and the founder of Timeshare CMO, a digital marketing intelligence firm, based in San Francisco.

We really appreciate your reviews, shares on social media, and your recommendations for future guests. And check out our Spotify playlist for all the songs we refer to on our show.