How Jeffrey Katzenberg & Justin Wexler Are Investing in the Future of Enterprise with WndrCo

Summary

The Speed of Culture Podcast Summary

Episode: How Jeffrey Katzenberg & Justin Wexler Are Investing in the Future of Enterprise with WndrCo
Release Date: March 13, 2025
Host: Matt Britton, Founder and CEO of Suzy
Guests: Jeffrey Katzenberg, Founder and Managing Director at WndrCo & Justin Wexler, Principal at WndrCo

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Introduction

In this enlightening episode of The Speed of Culture Podcast, Matt Britton engages in a deep conversation with industry titans Jeffrey Katzenberg and Justin Wexler from WndrCo. Filmed live at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, the discussion centers on their investment strategies, particularly in the realms of artificial intelligence (AI) and enterprise technology, and their vision for the future of storytelling and brand marketing.

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CES 2025: A Nexus for Innovation

Jeffrey Katzenberg begins by reflecting on his long-standing relationship with CES, noting, “CES has always been a great gathering spot and an opportunity to see sort of amazing, great innovations” (02:54). He emphasizes the event's evolution from a consumer electronics show to a broader hub encompassing digital technology, entertainment, commerce, and more. This multi-dimensional growth makes CES a pivotal platform for connecting with advertisers, CMOs, and marketers, aligning perfectly with WndrCo’s investment focus.

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Investing in AI and Enterprise Technology

Justin Wexler delves into WndrCo’s investment strategy, highlighting their commitment to high-quality technology solutions that cater to enterprise needs. “Our lane at WndrCo is really to find really high quality technology that can serve the Enterprise” (05:06). He cites successful investments such as Figma, Airtable, and Webflow, which have significantly impacted the marketing community.

A notable discussion revolves around the rise of generative AI and its applications in marketing. Wexler introduces Ryder, an innovative platform leveraging large language models for content creation, PR, and blog posts. “Ryder leverages a full stack from their own large language models that are really great for content creation” (05:45). Katzenberg adds, “These tools are empowering me to do things I never imagined before” (16:54), underscoring the transformative potential of AI in enhancing productivity and creativity within organizations.

The conversation also touches on the concept of citizen developers, where non-technical business users can create personalized tools without extensive engineering resources. Wexler explains, “With Webflow you can design, go straight from design to code without needing developers” (07:10). This trend democratizes technology development, allowing for greater personalization and efficiency within enterprises.

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The Future of Storytelling in Hollywood

Katzenberg shares his perspective on how AI could revolutionize storytelling in Hollywood. “These are tools to enhance artists and creators and storytellers” (12:39). Reflecting on his early days at Disney, he marvels at the advancements from hand-painted animation cells to digital effects and AI-driven content creation. Katzenberg is optimistic about AI’s role in fostering new forms of storytelling, stating, “There are going to be very specific skill sets and very specific artists that are going to perfect the deployment of those tools” (15:32).

He envisions AI as a complement to human creativity rather than a replacement, enabling creators to achieve higher quality work. “They get me a lot of the way there, but they're not doing it for me” (16:54), Katzenberg affirms, highlighting the synergy between technology and human ingenuity.

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Alembic: Revolutionizing Brand Marketing Attribution

One of the standout segments of the episode is the introduction of Alembic, a groundbreaking platform addressing the long-standing challenge of brand marketing attribution. Katzenberg explains, “Alembic has built a platform and algorithms that can take TV, social, radio, podcasts, digital, all comprehensive” (24:35). This system integrates vast datasets to provide full-funnel attribution, enabling brands to accurately measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

Justin Wexler elaborates on Alembic’s technical prowess and strategic partnerships, particularly with Nvidia: “Nvidia... has provided one of the top 200 supercomputers in the world that Alembic physically owns” (24:39). This collaboration ensures that Alembic can handle the computational demands of analyzing tens of billions of data points, a feat previously unattainable in the marketing sector.

A real-world success story is shared about Delta Airlines, where their CMO utilized Alembic to evaluate the value of their Olympic sponsorship. “She did a POC around the Olympics last summer... her results came in almost instantaneously” (26:05). The immediate and actionable insights led Delta to commit to a multi-year, multimillion-dollar contract with Alembic, showcasing the platform’s tangible impact on brand marketing strategies.

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Career Advice and Personal Insights

The episode also offers valuable career insights from both guests:

• Justin Wexler shares his journey into venture capital, emphasizing the importance of mentorship and proactive networking. “It was a cold email outreach when I was a senior in college” (27:11). His perseverance and willingness to learn under Katzenberg’s mentorship have been pivotal in his rise to partnership at WndrCo.

• Jeffrey Katzenberg outlines the core principles that have guided his successful career:

  1. Exceed Expectations: “If you exceed the expectations of somebody that you work for, they give you more to do” (30:01).
  2. Value of Partnership and Mentorship: Emphasizing the significance of building strong professional relationships and mentoring others.
  3. Focus on the Future: “Never let your memories be better than your dreams” (32:22), advocating for a forward-looking mindset that prioritizes continuous growth and innovation.

Katzenberg’s advice resonates across all career stages, encouraging individuals to strive for excellence, seek mentorship, and remain future-focused.

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Conclusion

The episode concludes with Katzenberg reiterating the mission of WndrCo to identify and invest in exceptional founders who have successfully navigated the initial stages of building impactful companies. “We’re truffle hunters... we want the unique founder with a great idea” (19:38). Both guests leave listeners with an inspiring message about the power of technology, particularly AI, in shaping the future of enterprise and storytelling.

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Key Quotes:

• Jeffrey Katzenberg:

  • “These tools are empowering me to do things I never imagined before. They are helping me compose things and write things and create things.” (01:06)
  • “Never let your memories be better than your dreams.” (32:22)
  • “Exceed expectations.” (30:01)

• Justin Wexler:

  • “Our lane at WndrCo is really to find really high quality technology that can serve the Enterprise.” (05:06)
  • “With Webflow you can design, go straight from design to code without needing developers.” (07:10)

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This episode of The Speed of Culture Podcast offers a comprehensive exploration of the intersection between AI, enterprise technology, and storytelling, guided by the expertise of Jeffrey Katzenberg and Justin Wexler. Their insights provide valuable perspectives for brands and professionals striving to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving cultural landscape.

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Timestamp Reference:

• 02:54
• 05:06
• 05:45
• 07:10
• 12:39
• 15:32
• 16:54
• 24:35
• 24:39
• 26:05
• 27:11
• 30:01
• 32:22
• 19:38

Transcript

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[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

These tools are empowering me to do things I never imagined before. They are helping me compose things and write things and create things. And I have to say they get me a lot of the way there, but they're not doing it for me. And that's the thing that at least I continue to have a great optimism.

[Matt Britton]

To thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape, brands must move at an ever increasing pace. I'm Matt Britton, Founder and CEO of Suzy. Join me and key industry leaders as we dive deep into the shifting consumer trends within their industry, why it matters now, and how you can keep up. Welcome to the Speed of Culture.

[Host]

Up today. Live from CES in Las Vegas, we're thrilled to welcome Jeffrey Katzenberg and Justin Wexler from Wenderco. Jeffrey Long with David Geffen. Steven Spielberg Co founded DreamWorks all the way back in 1994 and he's remained with the business through to 2017, where he left his role as CEO of DreamWorks and now he's a Founder Managing Director at Wenderco alongside his principal, Justin Wexler, a business major with 10 years working as an investor for high profile clients. Jeffrey Justin, so great to see you guys today.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Thanks for having us. Yeah, nice and early in the morning.

[Host]

Absolutely.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

And so pretty exciting.

[Host]

So why did the two of you prioritize coming to CES this year?

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Well, I have to start with I've been coming to CES for decades.

[Host]

Okay?

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

I mean, literally decades. I don't even want to think about my first CES but it's. It was still when the adult show.

[Host]

Was connected to it, right?

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Well, there was an adult section.

[Host]

Yes. Yeah, it was connected with the adult show. Yeah.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

That is where it literally was like, where it's. I know there was a connection to it. There was the. Another side of the convention center.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Which I happily never saw.

[Justin Wexler]

Right, right, right.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

But it's many, many, many decades. CES has always been a great gathering spot and an opportunity to see sort of amazing, great innovations, both mainstream in terms of consumer electronics and how that was evolving. And you always look forward to seeing what's the next big tv, what's the next great device, communications device in this. And so if you think about podcast, the 30 plus years that I have been coming to CES, how the world has changed, it's an amazing lens.

[Host]

Absolutely.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

But what's happened in, I would say, certainly the last decade is that it blossomed into something that was much broader and it became basically the sort of nucleus of bringing people together of related areas, of which advertisers, CMOs marketers became an essential ingredient. And that's where we are today. And so that's why you're here.

[Host]

Yeah. I mean, you have digital technology, you have entertainment, you have commerce, you have the cpg and the big brands are all kind of colliding, and there's just so much overlap in marketing and media today. You have companies like Chase that are selling advertising.

[Justin Wexler]

Right.

[Host]

So you have banks selling advertising, and then you have retail companies like Target, Walmart selling advertising. So it's not as linear as it used to be in terms of what defines a business.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Right. So for us, us, it just becomes, as I said, just sort of the center of gravity of which in a few days, literally, we've been every day, starting at 6:37am since Monday morning, and over the course of three days, really just touch base with a ton of people. It's the beginning of the year. People are setting up their agendas, and so it's been incredibly valuable for us. And we're on day three. Very cool.

[Host]

So, Justin, you spend a lot of your time talking to emerging startups in AI, in enterprise, et cetera, over the last year. What are some of the trends you've seen with some of the more successful companies, either in your portfolio at Wenderco or just people that you've been talking to that you're excited about here in 2025?

[Justin Wexler]

Yeah, no, I appreciate it. So for us, our lane at Wonderco is really to find really high quality technology that can serve the Enterprise and serve the needs and desires and roadmaps of some of the largest brand in the world. And that's a big reason why we're here at ces because many of those individuals, you know, yesterday we were at the Delta Sphere, they're keynote and we do a lot of business with them on their AI initiatives. So really great to be here for that. Over the years we've invested in software companies, we're super proud of Figma and Airtable and Webflow. Many of those serve the marketing community over the last three or four or so years we've invested in products now that are leveraging large language models and generative AI in different lanes, particularly marketing but other areas as well to that, you know, we just want to highlight one's called Ryder. Yeah, and that founder is here actually right after this we're going to get breakfast and Jeffrey and May the founder are going to speak at that phenomenal platform that leverages a full stack from their own large language models that are really great for content creation, PR blog posts, all those use cases all the way through to software on top to make it easy for teams to actually get going within their organization.

[Host]

Yeah, I've, I've tried it before. It's a great tool.

[Justin Wexler]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

And had extraordinary acceleration in this last 12 months because a lot of people.

[Host]

Have technology but doesn't even know how they know how to go to market. Right way.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Sort of the way we frame it at Wonderco is, is that we think of this as the future of work and at work. How do we. And both at work, but also at home. How do you empower people to be able to be more productive, to be better informed and just giving them tools to be the best version of whether it's at work or at home. And doing it Writer is a phenomenal tool. Very strong deployment in the CMO advertising lane and so exciting to see May build that virtually and almost overnight into now multibillion dollar company.

[Host]

Yeah, I mean it's interesting being an investor in AI because it's moving so fast and now there are tools out there that allow a one person team to code on their own.

[Justin Wexler]

Right.

[Host]

And the question becomes like as somebody who runs a late stage venture funded software company, this what keeps me up at night is what's to stop somebody who understands AI just to build their own tool. What used to cost maybe $50 million in R& D now doesn't anymore. And I think since the barrier to entry for a technology company in a lot of ways is no longer technology, it Becomes risky with a lot of upside in investing in AI companies. And we're seeing a big bubble obviously right now.

[Justin Wexler]

So there's this concept around citizen developer where even business users within enterprise can now build their own tools to leverage that are personalized.

[Host]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Justin Wexler]

And we have another investment airtable that's really core to their thesis. But even, you know, Rider, they have AI Studio, you can build full fledged AI applications. As a marketer, you don't need developer resources. Right. With webflow you can design, go straight from design to code without needing developers. So I think the developer's role within organizations will continue to evolve and seek out technologies that then the business team could use on their own without having to ask for as much engineering resources.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Right.

[Host]

Which is just a massive change.

[Justin Wexler]

Yes. And when you have that, you can have real personalization tooling at scale within these organizations. The other big aspect of that is procurement takes so long. We see particularly the last three or so years. The innovation with Silicon Valley and early stage companies is unlike that we've ever seen. You know, since Wonderco started getting through procurement and legal and security takes a while. And so you could have a nine month lag time of innovation that could help an impact today. And so one of the other big advantages to the citizen developer trends is that as technology evolves with platforms already past all that, teams can then leverage it without having to seek out new tools. They can effectively make their own tools with the vendors that they currently have.

[Host]

Yeah. Of course. Is that some of the complications is that you get legal and data security and privacy involved and they may not want citizen developers.

[Justin Wexler]

We're just in the push and pull. We're seeing it happen.

[Host]

It's uncharted territory.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Yeah.

[Host]

So. And no one really knows because it's heading so fast. Yeah.

[Justin Wexler]

So it's incumbent on the vendor. They're going to enable that citizen developing trend to make sure the proper controls are placed for the IT teams. So you don't run into those problems where someone might not be as sophisticated to understand the implications that they build a tool in a certain way within a broader platform.

[Host]

Makes sense.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

But then the other part of it is, is that there are many aspects of work processes that are just repetitive.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

They can be automated and are so simplistic and yet so time demanding. And they're honestly, they're terrible jobs.

[Host]

Yep.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

The one that goes right to the top of the list for us is expense reconciliation.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Now expense reconciliation is a legal requirement that all corporations are required to do it.

[Host]

All be scraped and submitted for you?

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Well, no, it is. There's a company today called Orbi.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Which again, we've been invested in from very early on. Group of brilliant talent that came out of Google and built this platform that automates reconciliation here, expense reconciliation, to like literally 100% accuracy. Save them in the first year of deployment, $4 million.

[Host]

And that's a big play for AI is efficiency, cost saving.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Right.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

And so taking drudgery out and freeing people up to be doing higher value, higher value work. So there's sort of these almost diverging paths here, which is there's pie in the sky. Let's solve the greatest challenges of mankind. That AI is hopefully going to do some incredible things and those promises are huge and scary. Yeah, well, I'm going to stay on the positive side. Exactly right. And then the other side of it is taking drudgery and taking that out of people's day to day work and making their jobs more fulfilling.

[Host]

I have a question for you about AI.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Yeah.

[Host]

If AI would have been at the state it is today, when you first started in Hollywood making amazing stories, how do you think it would have changed your trajectory over your career? And what do you think that means for the future of Hollywood in terms of everything you're saying?

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Well, it would have had incredible impact. I have been feeling, you know, as I've watched these extraordinary innovations that have been going on around generative AI and the applications around it, whether it's for language or for storytelling or for visuals. Yeah, it's incredibly exciting. And you're talking to someone who has always wanted to be on the forefront of having the best tools for my storytellers as a competitive advantage. I've been going to Silicon Valley literally since the late 70s and when silicon Graphic was coming out with their first workstations. And how do you apply them for special effects? When Steven Spielberg made Jaws, he took a piece of plywood, cut it out in the shape of a shark fin, painted it gray and dragged it behind a motor boat. That was called a special effect. So what I have seen over these years, in terms of digital effects, in terms of animation, animation in terms of 3D, in terms of digital distribution, it is to me, these are opportunities and I've always tried. Personally, maybe it's just my own interest in seeing what's a better paintbrush. Yeah, right. What's a better. I'm going to use a word, nobody use it. Typewriter.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

You know, these are tools to enhance artists and creators and storytellers. And so if I were in the center of this today or were those tools available back in the 70s and 80s when I started? I'm supremely confident that I would be jumping into it hook, line and sink.

[Host]

And that's your advice for younger people?

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

100%. And there are going to be new forms of story and storytelling. Yes. It's going to disrupt some pre existing and processes that exist today that no longer are going to make any sense. But when I arrived at the Disney Studio in 1984, there were several hundred workers in the ink and paint department that painted animation cells by hand. Wow. Literally maybe 200 of them. It was literally the ink and paint department. There's a building on the Walt Disney Studios lot that's on the top of the things and ink and paint now, I didn't know anything at the time, but that's how animation was made now, going back 84. So 40 years, 45 years. And so seeing how these things change and evolve, there are no ink and painters anymore, but there also never been more people employed in animation than there are today.

[Host]

That's fascinating and I appreciate the insight. A question that is just like burning in my mind as I hear you talk is over time since you talked about when you first got to Disney and all of the innovation, those were tools that would enhance storytelling. The question with AI is is it going to replace some of the production and storytelling skills versus enhance? Because now what it can output, it's not just a step forward. I would say it's a massive leap forward and probably unlike something that you've. I mean, you tell me. But probably something you've not really seen in your career.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Well, it's hard to say. You know, certainly the impact of digital both on the making of content and maybe even more profoundly on the distribution of content. Distribution has been utterly disruptive. It's turned everything upside down. I mean, that is the foundation of Netflix.

[Host]

Right?

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Right. Which is now the dominant media entertainment company globally. Today you add up all the market value of all the other entertainment companies and one company, Netflix, is worth more than all of them combined. This is extraordinary. A company 15 years ago was. They had envelopes.

[Host]

You still have one of the envelopes.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

That red envelopes that are cry with your movie.

[Host]

I know.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

So is there a bigger tsunami than that? I'm not sure.

[Host]

I guess what comes to my mind is like. But Netflix is still a company. So Netflix still had to have investors and raise capital, et cetera. With AI, you could have an individual now with the right prompt and the right technology.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Well, you just said the Right thing. So if you really want to hone in on this. I do. The word is prompt. Prompt. Okay. And now prompt, to me is just another word for author.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Writer, director, cinematographer. I mean, I can go through virtually every aspect of it. Okay, well, I'm not sure that a single person will be able to wear all of those hats effectively as, quote, the prompter.

[Host]

And there's the answer.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

And so my guess, and it is only a guess, is that there are going to be very specific skill sets and very specific artists that are going to perfect the deployment of those tools around, whether it's a visual, whether it's a sound, whether it's around music, whether it's around speech, whether it's around scripting, whether it's around storytelling. All these things are possible. Now, I will tell you as someone who is finding enormous, enormous productivity and satisfaction around using. You know, if I opened up on my phone and you would see on my opening screen here, Gemini Claude, ChatGpt, and Perplexity. Right. That's like literally everybody on your phone. You organize the most important things to the bottom of your front screen.

[Host]

The real question is, who's the most famous person on your contact list?

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Okay.

[Host]

That's where I want.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

I don't know. That's a scenary thing.

[Host]

Exactly.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

So my point is, is that I'm finding these tools are empowering me to do things I never imagined before. They are helping me compose things and write things and create things. And I have to say, they get me a lot of the way there, but they're not doing it for me. And that's the thing that at least I continue to have a great optimism around. And so I've had to write a couple of speeches, I've had to do a couple of interviews with people like this, people I'm only meeting for the first time and asking the right questions, the right prompts. It has just empowered me to be able to do a quality of work that is significantly better than I've been able to do on my own in the past.

[Host]

That's saying a lot.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

I know it. I know it.

[Matt Britton]

We'll be right back with the Speed.

[Host]

Of Culture after a few words from our sponsors.

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[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

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[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

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[Host]

I think the one word you said there that is really at the center of all of it, not just all of AI, but CES brands. It's storytelling.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Okay, so this is why Wonderco exists, not why it exists. It is one of the most valuable and singularly unique aspects of us as a venture firm. I mean, there are a lot of great firms out there today and they all find their lanes of things that they are due because money is now fungible. There's any great founder today with a really good idea has many, many, many choices as to where they're going to take investment from. So remember, and this is where Justin's a rock star. He's become a partner, by the way, since the beginning of the year.

[Justin Wexler]

So thank you.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

We're truffle hunters. We're out looking for the rarest of rare. We want the unique founder with a great idea has made that sort of zero to one impossible journey to actually build, create something and has a product, has product market fit. Those are the things that we're looking for because our value, we believe and I think we've shown it now is 1 to 10. So if 0 to 1 is impossible, 1 to 10 is improbable.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

And there are thousands and thousands and thousands of companies that got to 0 to 1 and were never able to actually get out into the world, into the mark and everything and anything. You know, I mean, how do you get in the door? How do you meet a CMO to demonstrate? How do you get nay in front of the right people in the right way to be able to show her product?

[Host]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Think about what's on the other side of that in terms of a company. How many people are knocking on their door every day saying, I've got a great idea for you. I have a new product for you in this. And there's thousands.

[Host]

You gotta go thousands of way well.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Or you want a competitive advantage. Everybody's looking for a cheat code.

[Host]

That's exactly right.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Right. And so what we've tried to focus a lot of our energy on is that go to market. And that's why, frankly, being here at ces, in which we are continuing to build out and connect our market, our connection with the C suites, where they now, I think, recognize we've become effective at sorting through those hundreds or thousands of ideas and finding the very best. And we don't bring them to them until we have proof of concept. So if we walk in the door and knock on the door to a CMO with May to talk about writer, we have proof of concept about that. And they now trust that we've done our work. So if we bringing it to them, tried, true, tested, it will deliver. And so that's what we've been building out the last couple of years. It's exciting because I think we've had some real great successes. Before we run out of time, we should talk about one that we're particularly excited about. Very much focused on the advertising market, which when it achieves its 1 to 10, may be the most disruptive and transformative sector companies that we've come across.

[Host]

Okay, so tell me about it.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

It's called Alempic.

[Host]

Okay.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

A, L, E, M, D, I, C. And I'll say something to you that you've heard many, many times over the years. So this is a company that focuses on brand marketing and being able to deliver attribution, cause and effect in brand marketing. And I've been doing brand marketing for 40 years. I'm sure responsible for many, many billions of dollars spent in brand marketing. And I, like every single other person would say to you, I'm 100% confident that 50% of my brand marketing works. I just don't know which.

[Host]

John Wanamaker. Right. Literally.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

And that has continued to be the case to today. You can walk around here and you have this conversation with any CMO. We had it last night with, frankly, three CMOs of Fortune 50 companies. Each one of us says they're sending. They're spending hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Each of them is a trillion dollars a year spent on brand marketing. Justin found this amazing founder, entrepreneur genius about a year and a half or so ago. And I'm gonna let him tell you.

[Host]

Yeah, please.

[Justin Wexler]

Yeah. So Tomas and his co founder came from a big. They worked in big data, actually. John Adams CTO was head of infrastructure. He built that from seed state to ipo. And then Tomas Puig, who's the CEO worked at NASA and then he was a CMO himself. So he saw all the challenges around brands effectiveness and attribution. And so the two of them noticed during the pandemic contact tracing and the advances there to take huge, huge data sets and bring them together and structure them in a way where you can see how one cause leads to an effect, how infections lead to the spread of the virus. And so they thought to themselves, well, what's the difference between infection and spreading of a virus and spreading of marketing? Because in many ways medically they're quite similar. You get exposed to a virus, exposed to marketing, it spreads and then there's an AB outcome. You know, get sick or not, or you purchase a Delta flight or you don't.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Right.

[Justin Wexler]

So mathematically they're quite similar. We have not had the amount of compute needed to calculate the tens of billions of rows in the marketing world. We've had it for a little while in climate, disease, nuclear, leveraging, supercomputers, but never for marketing teams. And so Alembic has built a platform and algorithms that can take tv, social, radio, podcasts, digital, all comprehensive. Not just testing on TikTok and AB, you know, tests of ads, but looking at comprehensive and holistic and then seeing how that leads to down funnel effects.

[Host]

Very cool. So attribution, full funnel attribution for brand builders.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Exactly.

[Justin Wexler]

And Nvidia, who's been a really close partner in developing this, has provided one of the top 200 supercomputers in the world that Alembic physically owns.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Check it out.

[Host]

Sounds really cool.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

It changes the world. When I say it changes the world, I think in a way in which for brand marketing, if you actually now can have the quality of data around effectiveness that you have for performance marketing, it changes trillion dollar a year business.

[Host]

Yeah, Bifurcated. It's like we have performance marketing that we know is highly as high attribution, but brand doesn't.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Well, we're looking at the building, looking out here and there's a thing called Allegiant Stadium.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

How much is the value of putting that name on that?

[Host]

Right. Versus how much stadium?

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Right, right. And so our.

[Host]

We actually had the theme of Allegiant on the podcast.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Yeah. And so this morning we're actually doing a press interview or interview with the CMO of Delta airline, Alicia. And Alicia boldly and bravely when we brought this to her last summer. There are two paths Here you can unleash an army of data engineers and data scientists to try and understand and get at the core of what this does. And it's all there to do, but it takes you months and months to do that, going through all the clearances and things that you need in approval through CISO and all, you know, to do it. Or you can do what she did, which is say, you know what? I'm just going to do a POC.

[Host]

Well, CMOs have the power to do that.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

And she particularly her. Particularly this moment at Delta. And so she did a POC around the Olympics last summer where she said, show me what value am I getting out of our sponsorship. They're a very, very big sponsor of it. And this was deployed in weeks. Her results came in almost instantaneously. They were invaluable to her, and she literally gave them a multi year, multimillion dollar contract.

[Host]

Awesome. Great to hear about it. I'll definitely check it out. So shifting gives a wrap up. I actually have a final question for each of you guys, but before I do that, Jeffrey, I want to thank you for supporting BU College of General Studies. I'm a graduate of bucgs and I didn't do well in high school and I would not have gotten into BU if there was no cgs. And once I got into school communications, I kind of found my place and went the same path as Howard Stern and so many other famous alumnos. Was actually, it was my daughter who I told her because she's an aspiring actress, and I told her I was interviewing you and she started to do some research and she's like, oh, my God, Dad. He supported college general studies. I just want to thank you for that.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Oh, thank you. And my kids went there and yeah, I know it's a great university and proud to have been able to support it.

[Host]

Very cool. So to wrap up here, I have one question for each of you, and I want to start with you, Justin. It's not lost to me that Jeffrey Katzenberg, a legend in business and Hollywood, just said you're his partner. For those who are listening, Justin's a very young guy. Most people at your age don't get to be partners with somebody with the stature of Jeffrey. Obviously, he knows how to find talent. But you would not be in the seat if it weren't for specific things that you did. Tell me what the two or three things that you did that put you in the seat you are today that maybe we can impart on somebody younger.

[Justin Wexler]

Yeah, no, I appreciate that. So I first met Jeffrey when I was 23 years old. How I got into venture right out of college. And so I was. You talk about Netflix. I was at a firm that was the biggest investor in Netflix, so got to see a little bit when they were moving towards their own content. And so that's how I got my start. It was a cold email outreach when I was a senior in college. So, you know, you just emailed Jeffrey. No, that was how I got my original.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Oh, God.

[Justin Wexler]

So that's how I originally got into Jeffrey. So Jeffrey and Sujay, who's one of our other founding partners, we're starting the firm. I got connected, actually. There's another partner, Chen Li Wang, who previously was a product leader at Dropbox. So he was my initial contact to Wonderco. I remember, obviously, we hadn't had made any investments. You know, the first one hadn't been fully raised, so it was kind of the ground floor. But knew I learned so much from each of them. And so I was really, really excited to be the young guy when I joined. Jeffrey's been my mentor. Incredible. Over the last eight years. And when he speaks about when he came through the ranks with Barry Diller. Right. And how Barry had him do different tasks at Paramount before going off to Disney. And that experience has been provided to me at Wonderco, when I first joined, had no portfolio, so it was all about sourcing new investments and trying build that up from there. All the aspects of doing diligence and closing deals and then just kind of grew the skill set. And very much so, because Jeffries designed it that way. And so now we're at a point where being kind of on the boards of some of these companies, developing that skill set, and particularly over the last couple years, interacting with CMOs and other leaders, hearing their needs. You know, Alicia, interesting enough, she was the one who said attribution effectiveness was a challenge for them. And that's what we love, is to hear the needs and really try to find investments like with Alembic, that can solve those needs. And so the skill sets just developed over the last eight years and the right system and the right firm, and, you know, Wonderco's provided that to me.

[Host]

It's awesome. So, Jeffrey, the question I have for you to wrap up is, if you look back on your career, what are some of the common themes that you would point to? Maybe two or three of them that were decisions that you consistently made, right. In terms of how you were going to approach your career, that made you the success that you.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Well, I'LL do a couple of these things. I've said them before, and they're just sort of fundamental things that I sort of adapted to my own sort of work and work ethic and ambition and stuff. And the first and probably most important one was just two simple words, which is exceed expectations. And so I learned early on that if you exceed the expectations of somebody that you work for, they give you more to do, they provide greater opportunity, you get rewarded for that in many different ways. Exceed the expectations of the people that work for you, exceed the expectation of your customer, of your consumer. Every movie, every television show, every animated show started. The foundation of it is, can we make something that will exceed the expectation of our audience? Now, you don't always succeed at any of those things that I said, but that has been a sort of driving theme to me personally that I sort of embrace, and I continue to embrace it today, which is that at everything that I do, my ambition is to exceed the expectations of someone. The second thing is the value of partnership and mentorship. I put those things together. I have had maybe the greatest set of mentors at anyone. You said, who are the people that would come up in the top of my contact in that? But I had Barry Diller as a mentor, Michael Eisner as a mentor, David Geffen as a mentor, Steven Spielberg as a mentor, and partners. They weren't just mentors. But as I delivered, just as Justin has become my partner, I started mentoring him. Today. He is now my partner. We spent most of our time talking about Ryder and Olympic. He found both those companies, right. So we hopefully created the platform and gave him the resources to go do it. But he's the one that's delivering the goods there in that. And that's what. So again, mentorship, partnership, exceed expectations.

[Justin Wexler]

Love that.

[Host]

It's fantastic.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

And I'll give you the last, which is what drives me most of all, because you say, look backwards, and I don't look backwards. Other than when someone engages and asks me. I never wake up in the morning and think about, oh, the Lion King.

[Host]

You ever watch Old.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

No, you don't?

[Host]

No.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Ever?

[Justin Wexler]

I don't.

[Host]

My daughter watches them 100 times a day.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

You know, but I. But I don't. I never wake. And I'll tell you why. Never let your memories be better than your dreams. And honestly, think about those words. And I will tell you, I got up this morning at 4:45, excited for my day today. Little concerned about the fires in la, but excited for today and tomorrow and all of the things I have coming my 50th wedding anniversary.

[Host]

Amazing congratulations about partnerships.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

There you go. Is this weekend and. And next week I'm in New York and already have an amazing schedule of things. And so my dreams are still what drive me every day. And therefore actually, you know, I'm in my car and I'm driving 100 miles an hour and I metaphorically, by the way, and I don't have a rear view mirror.

[Host]

That's amazing. And I think it's such great advice. I think a lot of people wallow in regret or they look backwards all the time. And we all make mistakes. And that's, I think, a bad place to look backwards as well.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Well, it's a blessing to neither have the regret of something that you didn't do or you did wrong that you wished you could fix. Not that we don't have them, but they're not front of mind for me or relying on moments that happen sometime in your career that you're still living off of. And that's. I think it's one of the hardest things of being a great athlete.

[Host]

Yeah, Michael Jordan never got too high or too low.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

But I'm just saying your greatest moments are in your youth. Right. And to move on, to find some new career, to find that new outlet, that new opportunity. It's like I look at Peyton Manning. He seems as happy as he's ever been. He's found a great path for himself. And so he's not living in the past, he's living today and in the future.

[Host]

Yeah, I think that's fantastic advice. And it's advice that applies to people at all ages because we all have paths. And whether you're 20 or 40 or.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

60 or two months.

[Host]

Yeah, or two months. Exactly. That's exactly right. Well, I want to thank both of you guys for taking time during your busy schedule at CES to speak today. It's been really inspiring and it has motivated me to do a lot more and think bigger and definitely dream forward. And I think it will for our audience too. So thank you for that.

[Jeffrey Katzenberg]

Exceed expectations.

[Host]

Oh, we will. On behalf of Susie Iowa team, thanks again to Jeffrey Katzenberg, the founding partner of Winther, along with his partner Justin Wexler for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe, rate and review this feed the culture podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Till next time, see you soon.

[Justin Wexler]

Bye Bye.

[Host]

Foreign.

[Matt Britton]

Is brought to you by Susie as part of the Ad Week Podcast Network and a guest creator network. You can listen subscribe to all Adweek's podcasts by visiting Adweek.com podcast To find out more about Suzy, head to Suzy.com and make sure to search for the speed of culture in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else podcasts are found. Click follow so you don't miss out on any future episodes. On behalf of the team here at Suzy, thanks for listening.

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