here, your ideas, not where you're from, matters. jared created uber. john, from stripe, is from ireland. peter thiel was born in germany. tesla and spacex are run by a south african. apple by the son of the syrian. you get the idea. one country has suddenly been looked upon with suspicion. russia has been meddling in our election. executives from facebook and twitter will soon have to explain to the u.s. senate how their companies were taken advantage of by russians. the u.s. government advises you not use the russian security software. you know, it is a tough time to be a russian. nick is the founder of the san francisco based capital, says he hears our suspicions couched asna as nervous jokes. let me guess, the joke is something like, hey, we should have some collusion as to what we're going to have for lunch. is that pretty much the joke we're getting? >> yeah, i hope you didn't invite me to collude with the russians because i have nothing to do with the government. >> yeah. you hear that joke and you sort of grin and say, ah-ha. >> the problem is, the joke is repeated like ten times per day. it's not funny anymore. >> it's not funny anymore. let me ask you about your funding. let's get your -- where you came from. i'm presuming named after the cosmona cosmonaut. >> yes. >> fair enough. where did the money come from? i'll ask the question everyone else is asking. >> yup. >> where did your money come from? how can i be sure you don't have a connection with the russians? >> we are, ourselves, making sure that we don't have any connection. it would bring us a lot of trouble. mostly in russia, not sure. if you take government money, or somebody connected to the government, it is pretty much unpredictable in russia, what they'll do. all our lps go through -- >> limited partners. >> yeah, they go through expe e extensive background checks and procedures. they're all private individuals. or internet entrepreneurs. they made their money online. internet is a rare niche in russia. there's been no involvement on the government until maybe 2013, when they suddenly discovered that audience of the main page is bigger than their major tv channel. they were like, whoa, we need to control it. it's been under siege by the government since 2013. >> all of a sudden, there's a lot of money to be made in russian internet, and you've got the money for re-investment. >> yeah. >> fair enough. >> you know, what about russian trolls? russia has been heavily involved in the internet for years in terms of disinformation campaign across social media and the ukraine, as well. >> definitely. so we should, you know, distinguish russian people from people working for russian government. otherwise, i would say what about americans who don't respect their women or like to infuriate north korean leaders? >> i mean, specifically, the internet research agency that is the russian government troll farm affiliated with the kremlin and infiltrating the media. clearly, they were very interested in the internet. it's been around for a while. >> not for a while. they just started doing this probably since 2013. >> okay. >> since the protests. it was parliament election, which was rigged. a lot of people my age ran into the streets to protest. a lot of people after that were seeking political asylum here. >> i can hear liz's suspension, the painting of a broad brush, right? you are trying ining to come a as, and i'm sure you are, a legitimate russian investor. but we have so many questions about what's going on with russia. the "new york times" says, when a young russian technologist first arrived in san francisco, the first person they text is nicholas davidov. why is that? >> i'm trying to be in the center of the community. i can say i'm quite famous in russia. i got investor of the year award last year. named entrepreneur of the year. pr person of the year. numerous awards. i don't know how. >> what are the expectations when they come here, in terms of -- what do they expect, and what is the reality? >> they created a small tech firm, something they've been working on several years, and they expect me to sell them to facebook or google instantly. >> you did sell someone to facebook, right? >> i did deal with facebook and the deal with ghooogle. >> was that your best? >> so far? >> yeah. >> the jokes being made about russia involvement, are they turning serious, in the fact it is limiting the investments you can make or the companies you can deal with? >> one of the startups we've invested recently, they've asked us if we could engage with russian state-owned hospitals to get data stats for their machine learning tool, to be more precise. but we don't like doing that. we don't like it. so i've never worked in any capacity with the government, for the government, any government. so my relations with any government and when i pay my taxes, my parking tickets and get my passport. that's it. >> so people who are investing in russia today, at least in your position, do you feel they can avoid the government in those investments, or is it almost inevitable, they'll eventually come in contact or confrontation with them? >> yeah, they can definitely avoid. for example, yandex has managed to stay away from the government the last 18 years. no government involvement. putin has recently visited their campus. it was just probably before the election. he wanted to show that his -- he's in-touch with the younger audience, with the geeks. >> what does russia need to do, or what do we need to do in san francisco, to repair relations? i'm not talking about between governments or after the election, but between investors and russian companies or yourself and american companies, how can we repair that? >> i think it comes through better understanding of who are the people who interfered with the elections, or the people who run the troll factories and russian engineers. in russia -- so russian phycology, mentality, is always, you are against the system. since the soviet years. why russians cheat at school so much, because the school is the system. that's not why i got distinction. >> i didn't know that. interesting. >> it's always been against the system. being a hacker is actually a very good thing. >> right. >> it is like being robin hood. it's shared across the tech world. it's like facebook -- >> i'm up against the clock. i want to rephrase my question. how can we in san francisco and silicon valley have a better relationship with you, the russian venture capitalist, and vice versa? >> just being open to more collaboration. outsource more tasks to russian engineers, even abroad. the price difference is tremendous. >> nick davidov, venture capitalist. we appreciate you being here and answering our questions. >> thank you so much for having me. next, she gave advice to steve jobs, now andy cunningham is ready to give advice about your company when "press here" continues. welcome back to "press here." steve jobs was close to very few people, and for good reason. he was smarter than most of them. he was prickly. frankly, many people found him hard to deal with. i'm being generous on the prickly thing. at one of the most important moments of his life, his launch of macintosh, right here, he turned to one person, andy cunningham, for advice and counseling. andy is a friend of this program. she returns to talk about her new book "get to aha," discover your dna and dominate your competition. thanks for joining us this morning. your background with steve jobs, certainly launched your career. can you fathom that that was 30 years ago? >> oh, my, don't mention it. it feels like it was yesterday but -- >> i covered silicon valley for 20 years. >> yeah. >> there are times in which i just think, how is that possible? >> it is amazing. he's been gone for, what, six -- five or six years. >> exactly right. let me ask you the hardest question you'll get today, and i'm assuming he was certainly one of the most difficult people you've ever worked with. who is the second most difficult? >> great question. great question. people may or may not remember this person, but felipe kahn, the president and founder of borland international, a big software company. he was funnier than steve, but also very difficult. >> fair enough. let's talk about your book. you divide companies into three categories. tell me what they are and why you did it. >> yeah. so i think companies are like people, in that they have dna. it is simpler than human dna but it is very much like human dna. three kinds of companies. we have product oriented companies that i affectionately call me tannics. customer oriented companies i call mothers. we have missionary companies that are really concept oriented companies. >> okay. what can i learn from that? >> well, the idea behind understanding what your dna is, whether you're a human being or a company, is that you can more authentically market yourself. once you know what you are on the inside, you can be a better you, whether you're a human or whether you're a company. the idea is to understand what you are on the inside so you can be a better you on the outside. >> i'm curious, probably the hardest problem in startups right now is how to fix uber and change its position. it's been a problem. what advice would you give to the ceo right now? >> uber's problem isn't a company dna problem, i think it is a human dna problem. i think they've made a lot of the kpachanges required to set t in motion. it is shocking, however, they didn't put a woman in as a ceo. as a woman, i'm disturbed by that. seems to me there are plenty of women they could have put in as a ceo. >> it seems they tried hard. the women in the top positions didn't want the job. >> a lot of women -- >> some women are more likely to be chosen as executives during crisis situations, so there is a question of being set up to fail. >> that is true. that's happened. happened in the case of hp. happened in the case of yahoo!. i agree with that. that said, i think there is a ton of women who are maybe not at the very top echelon of famous women, but right underneath that, that are fully capable of handling those issues. it's a shame to me that they didn't do it. but anyway, that said, the new ceo gets what he has to do. i think he's going to do it. let's hope that the company can come along with that and do it. >> it is interesting because they have the top brass there now right below this -- i mean, there is the leadership vacuum, but the people one notch below the ceo are all women. >> yeah. it's good. we'll see whether or not they'll be empowered to change the company. >> yeah. >> whether he'll do that. >> it seems as if he will do that. it is great to see there are so many women in powerful positions there. again, that said, the women have to take that power and use it. >> where does uber dpfit in, in your three possibilities of what company it is? >> i think uber is a product-oriented company, a mechanic-oriented. >> what product? >> the product is the ride sharing service they put out. services are also products. >> services can be products. i'd think it was a customer one. >> i contrast them with lyft. uber and lyft are different companies that provide exactly the same product or the same service. lyft is very much about their customers. they talk about customers all the time. they create an ambiance for their customers. it is a customer company. we call them mothers. uber, on the other hand, is really very much about the service. they're -- they don't really talk about their customers. i th they don't embrace the customers. it's not a bad thing. there are great product-based companies. microsoft, oracle. but they focus on product, not customers. >> though they're trying to -- they've been saying for years, it's the slogan, and travis was saying for years, we're trying to be a mission oriented company because we're about creating the future of transportation. it hasn't seemed to stick. >> for me, my definition of a missionary company is a company that's trying to change behavior on a fundamental level. apple is a good example. tesla is a good example. it's not necessarily about creating the future of something. it is about changing human behavior on a fundamental level in the definition i have in the book. there are many missionary companies but not as many as there are product oriented or customer oriented. >> i put together a list to get the viewer to understand. you mentioned missionary companies. starbucks would be another one. >> yes. >> fedex, apple, me k. mechanics, microsoft, walmart and mcdonald's. then mothers, hallmark, makes sense, nordstrom and lyft. apple is a missionary company, but is it still? >> great question. apple, i think, has been a missionary company during steve's lifetime. when steve passed away, he left his company in the hands of an amazing man who could actually manage the assets he was left really, really well. but he was not a missionary. he's not been able to turn that company in the continuing in the direction of a missionary. what is happening at apple, it is turning from a missionary to a mechanic. it is much more product focused. we haven't seen the next big thing come out of apple since steve passed away, unfortunately. that said, they're a great mechanic company. apple is becoming one. however, they're learning how to pay very close attention to their products. this recent issue with the battery is an example of maybe not paying quite as much attention. >> think they're losing their focus in terms of positioning? we went to the new campus. it's a beautiful building. marble staircases and carbon fiber roofs and no chairs in the lobby and no daycare for the employees. >> sounds like steve jobs' house. >> yeah. so i think, you know, steve always focused on -- tell me if i'm wrong -- but user experience, design and simplici simplicity. tim is brilliant with complexity. we're seeing multiple colors in the devices. have we gone from one about simplicity to one act product? >> absolutely, i think we have. again, i think tim has been a wonderful steward of the assets of the company but he is moving it to a product oriented company. >> can they survive the shift? >> it's not easy, but i think they can. it's been happening the last few years. sometimes circumstances in the market cause that shift to happen. you have to follow along. other times, people or companies actually make a strategic decision to make the shift. amazon is doing that today. amazon is moving from a mechanic oriented company to a mother oriented company. if you read their new mission statement, it's something like, we want to be the world's most customer centric company. that's not what they said five years ago. th >> and acquiring zappos. >> they needed it for a customer centric company. >> what is facebook? >> it's also a mother but not to users. they're not their users. it's their advertisers, who they treat extraordinarily well. one thing to know about the three companies, and why i came to this decision that there are three companies, is they structure themselves differently. measure success differently. hire and fire people differently. talk about different things in meetings. they really behave very, very differently. if you look at the way uber behaves and the way lyft behaves, you'll notice the changes. different structure. different success metrics cht differe -- and different people. >> there is a backlash right now by government and the public. >> as long as they take care of the customers, and they shovel money into the bin, they're going to be fine, regardless of t the other things. i doubt facebook will be making a shift on the dna front for some time. >> one last question and i have to go to commercial break. as you try to guide these companies to find what it is their dna is, i'm sure you get resistance. young startups, we're missionaries. we want to change the world of mayonnaise or whatever it happens to be. >> i worked with him. >> right, right. he thinks he's changing the world, and perhaps he is, but ultimately, he's selling natural mayonnaise, eggless. >> not natural. >> some point, you have to say, you know, you're not a missionary. you're something else. do people resist that? >> absolutely right. every startup in silicon valley wants to be a missionary company. >> steve jobs, tesla. >> if you go through the exercise, and there is a test in the book to show you what you are, people embrace who they actually are. just a quick story, there was a construction software company we worked with, building connected. all big, burly construction guys leading the company. not a woman in sight. >> i know what they'll be. >> exactly. anyway, over the course of the exercise, it became ultimately clear they were actually a mother. they resisted it for a while. soon enough, the ceo said, you know what, i really do care intimately, deeply, about my customers. you know, you're right. that is who we are. we're going to design all our marketing and customer relationships against that dna. it changed their life, actually. >> andy cunningham's new book, "get to aha" is out right now. >> tomorrow. >> it'll be exciting when you see it in the bookstore. >> thank you, scott. >> "press here" will be back in a moment. welcome back to "press here." i want to take a moment to remind you we have an extensive library of interviews. a thousand of them. with venture capitalists, sbr p entrepreneurs, silicon valley leaders. earlier, i mentioned peter thiel and others. all of the people were interviewed by myself and my team of reporters right here. all of them are available at pressheretv.com or as a free video podcast on itunes. here's peter thiel. you urge people not to copy. to find something new and build your monopoly of that. you wrote, socially inept people are less likely to copy. >> like they're missing the imitation gene. >> yes, yes. they're not trying to be like everybody else. >> yes. >> and to be gentle, we do have lots of socially inept people in silicon valley. is that why we're so successful? >> people founded social network or started them are socially ine inept. >> it is an odd fact. i like to make this a critique of our social. what is it, people who are not socially inept are somehow talked out of all their creative, original ideas. >> it can be weird. >> you sense, oh, it's a little weird. people are looking at me in a funny way. maybe i shouldn't go down that way. i'll open a restaurant or do something conventional and, u ultima ultimately, not very valuable. >> we were talking before how in this time, the educational system, there's pressure to conform among the millenials. they want to succeed. our educational system is happy to accommodate them with the next task, the next thing. >> it is hard to measure this, but my son certainly is the pressure to conformity and it's gone up dramatically. there is something destruckive abo -- destructive. there is no wisdom in crowds. only insanity in crowds. when you're doing the same thing as a crowd of other people, you're finding a whole crowd of people to compete against. it's completely frustrating and zero sum. >> i know i'm going back to the education thing, but what would you like some of these institutions to do? rather than just disappear or send them all off for thiel fell fellowships. >> should we capitalize them so they're not as expensive? >> focus more on learning and less on the tournament part. at this point, it's all tournament. the easy way -- so a place like harvard or stanford, if you were teaching people, there's no reason you have to limit enrollment the way they do. you should dramatically increase enrollment. if you did this as president of harvard, you said, we're going to double the enrollment because we have price as many people in the u.s. as we had 50 years ago, you get the alumni, the students, the faculty, everyone evolves. that's the proof that they're more interested in having a zero sum tournament. like the equivalent of studio 57 with development row. it's not really about learning. back in a moment. that's our show for this week. my thanks to our guests. thank you for making us a part of your sunday morning. you know you're watching television that's educational and informational. "the more you know", on nbc. ♪ >> narrator: from executive producer blair underwood, this is give. >> thank you so much. >> narrator: each week on give blair, producer jenna bush hager, or one of their celebrity friends drop in on two small, but mighty charities that are making a big impact. they'll discover what makes these charities so effective, and what they need to do even more good. >> good boy. >> narrator: in the end, they'll award both organizations with a surprise gift. [cheers] >> narrator: today on give, actor, artist and horologist aldis hodge visits 2 organizations that change the trajectories of young people's lives through engagement with the arts. it's time to make some good things happen on give.

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