logo
episode-header-image
Jul 16
47m 35s

S8E7: Ken Griffin Still Checks His P&L

StanfordGSB
About this episode

Ken Griffin heads the most profitable hedge fund in history. But Citadel’s founder and CEO is focused on the future — not the scoreboard.   

“I like to think I haven’t accomplished yet what I will be remembered for,” Griffin tells Michael Liu, MBA ’25. “That this is not a view from the top, but a journey to a destination yet to be determined.”

From entrepreneurship — “If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to first learn how to sell” — to the importance of lifelong learning — “If you’re going to go to work at a firm and you’re the smartest person in the room, you have so screwed up your Stanford MBA” — Griffin reflects on what he’s learned since the early days of Citadel and why he's still laser-focused on learning today.

“​I think legendary investors really know when they have an advantage — and they press it. They’re confident in their conviction, and when they're wrong, they move on.”

This conversation was recorded on April 25, 2025.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up next
Sep 24
S8E9: GSB at 100: “The Magic”
This week on View From the Top we’re sharing an episode of GSB at 100, a limited audio series created especially for Stanford Graduate School of Business’s Centennial. GSB at 100 presents a scrapbook of memories, ideas, and breakthroughs, as the GSB celebrates its first century a ... Show More
20m 44s
Aug 6
S8E8: Luis von Ahn Is Making Screen Time Count
Luis von Ahn was a tenured professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University who had sold a company to Google. “You were pretty set, a lot of us would say, so why were you so hungry to build something new with Duolingo?” asks Ayesha Karnik, MBA ’25. “For the first time ... Show More
57m 51s
Jun 2025
S8E6: Aravind Srinivas Has All The Answers
Aravind Srinivas leads Perplexity — whose AI-powered search engine provides direct, sourced answers to any question you might ask it. On this episode of View From The Top: The Podcast, Srinivas joins Aislin Rorth, MBA ’25, for a conversation that provides unique insight into how ... Show More
1 h
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2024
Why Duolingo Worked (with Luis von Ahn, CEO)
Duolingo has fundamentally changed the landscape of self-guided education, starting with language learning. It is now a $9B publicly traded company in a space where everyone thought you could never build a large and exciting company. We’re joined by Duolingo founder and CEO, Luis ... Show More
1h 3m
Nov 2024
Ex Google CEO: AI Is Creating Deadly Viruses! If We See This, We Must Turn Off AI! They Leaked Our Secrets At Google!
He scaled Google from startup to $2 trillion success, can Eric Schmidt now help save humanity from the dangers of AI?  Eric Schmidt is the former CEO of Google and co-founder of Schmidt Sciences. He is also the author of bestselling books such as, ‘The New Digital Age’ and ‘Genes ... Show More
1h 50m
Apr 2025
Emmanuel Orssaud (Duolingo) | April Fool's Day Measured in Smiles
Happy April Fools! To celebrate the spirit of first day of April, Jim welcomes to the show one of Duo the Owl’s best friends, Emmanuel Orssaud, the Chief Marketing Officer of Duolingo, one of the hottest growth brands in the world with one of the hottest mascots in the world. Duo ... Show More
49m 56s
Nov 2024
MI376: Why Do Great Companies Fail? The Innovator’s Dilemma w/ Shawn O’Malley
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@shawn_OMalley_) discusses why great companies fail, as outlined by Clayton Christensen in his timeless book, The Innovator’s Dilemma, which was first published in 1997. The Economist actually named it one of the six most important business boo ... Show More
53m 4s
Apr 2025
Exclusive 🦉 “Education Super App” — Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn announces next product on TBOY
How do you get someone to learn everyday? Make it addictive… in a good way. Luis von Ahn has mastered engagement with Duolingo, transforming it into the largest education app on earth with over 40M daily users. And in our exclusive interview, Duolingo CEO announces the next produ ... Show More
52m 55s
Oct 5
How to find hidden growth opportunities in your product | Albert Cheng (Duolingo, Grammarly, Chess.com)
Albert Cheng has led growth at three of the world’s most successful consumer subscription companies: Duolingo, Grammarly, and Chess.com. A former Google product manager (and serious pianist!), Albert developed a unique approach to finding and scaling growth opportunities through ... Show More
1h 25m
May 2025
Advice Line with Luis von Ahn of Duolingo
Duolingo co-founder Luis von Ahn joins Guy on the Advice Line to answer questions from three early-stage founders. Plus, Luis shares insights on how data can help entrepreneurs understand what their customers really want.First, Steph in Chicago wonders how to manage expansion opp ... Show More
47m 26s
May 2025
Google DeepMind C.E.O. Demis Hassabis on Living in an A.I. Future
This week, we take a field trip to Google and report back about everything the company announced at its biggest show of the year, Google I/O. Then, we sit down with Google DeepMind’s chief executive and co-founder, Demis Hassabis, to discuss what his A.I. lab is building, the fut ... Show More
1h 13m
Apr 2025
#224 Bret Taylor: A Vision for AI’s Next Frontier
What happens when one of the most legendary minds in tech delves deep into the real workings of modern AI? A 2-hour long masterclass that you don’t want to miss. Bret Taylor, current chairman of OpenAI, unpacks why AI is transforming software engineering forever, how founders can ... Show More
2h 11m
Mar 2025
Alphabet CEO on AI as a Workplace Collaborator
The use of artificial intelligence—specifically generative AI—is growing rapidly, and tech giants like Google have an important role to play in how that technology gets adopted and developed. Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Google as well as its parent company Alphabet, which he’s le ... Show More
29m 3s