Nimble Business: From Restaurants to Audio, Around the World, Can the Little Guy Win?

Tony Xu of DoorDash, Hardika Shah of Kinara Capital, Patrick Spence of Sonos

Last week I took a detour from the usual newsletter fare to post the text of my commencement address to DePauw University’s Class of 2022, Love, Truth and Impact. Since that email went out, DePauw posted video of the address on YouTube. Here it is (and two of this week’s cover CEOs are mentioned in the address):

And now, with that out of the way, let’s talk this week’s news.

I always try to find a thread that runs through my interviews and segments in a week, and though I don’t plan them that way, there usually is one. This week the thread is the potential in smaller businesses. DoorDash needs a healthy ecosystem of smaller businesses if it’s going to thrive. Sonos is a smaller audio innovator battling giants. Kinara Capital is giving a lifeline to mom & pops in India. And Bill.com offers financial technology tools to up-and-comers. Here’s what they all show about the health of the economy:

Kinara Capital CEO Hardika Shah on Lending to Small Business: Working Lunch

This choppy market is having ripple effects on startups and small businesses globally. In this Working Lunch on CNBC's Power Lunch, meet Kinara Capital CEO Hardika Shah, who has made it her mission to help small businesses grow:

DoorDash CEO Tony Xu on Reimagining the Restaurant Model: CNBC Working Lunch

Stay-at-home stock darlings are feeling the heat now, testing the strategy and resolve of their leaders. In Working Lunch on CNBC’s Power Lunch, I bring you up close with the CEO of a tech company that's continuing to expand its services portfolio, even though sentiment has turned negative:

From BlackBerry to Sonos: What Patrick Spence Learned About Tackling Titans

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence grew up in Canada, joined Research in Motion before it made the first BlackBerry, rode the wave as it grew and saw it all implode. Now he’s running Sonos and competing with U.S. tech giants again. He’s determined not to repeat BlackBerry’s mistakes. I talked to him about his journey and Sonos’s strategy in this Fortt Knox 1:1:

Focusing on Fundamentals in a Foundering Market: Bill.com CEO René Lacerte

When I found out I would anchor a 6 p.m. CNBC special on technology, one of the first people I reached out to was Bill.com CEO René Lacerte. In our Fortt Knox 1:1 in November 2020, we had talked about what he learned as founder and CEO of PayCycle during the dotcom bust. With growth-stage public company stocks suffering now, I wanted his take on how he’s handling the turbulence this time around:

Here’s our conversation from 11/12/2020:

A New Fund for Security Startups: Kevin Mandia and Ted Schlein’s Ballistic Ventures

As they launched a cybersecurity fund they expect to close at $300 million, cybersecurity veterans Kevin Mandia and Ted Schlein joined me to talk about modern threats and what they say is a new model for backing startups:

The Game is for Everyone: National Hockey League’s Jeff Scott on March Forth

Jayson Council and I return to our social impact series, March Forth, in conversation with Jeff Scott, the National Hockey League's VP Community Development and Growth. We talk changing the culture and tapping into new sources of talent:

Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman: It’s Not Yet Clear that the Macro Environment is Bad

I spoke to Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman in a TechCheck exclusive after the company’s earnings report this week. He gave a nuanced view of the broader economic picture:

Are We Heading for a Recession? On the Other Hand

Earnings from Target, Walmart and other retailers showing that consumers might be more hesitant to buy goods, as prices soar. Does this mean we're headed for a recession? I argued both sides in the latest On the Other Hand, on CNBC's Squawk Box: