In this seven‑minute interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts Steve Hoffman—known in Silicon Valley as “Captain Hoff”—the CEO of Founderspace, a leading incubator and accelerator, and author of the bestseller Make Elephants Fly and upcoming Surviving a Startup. Hoffmann explains that his favorite part of the industry is constantly learning from brilliant technologists, entrepreneurs, and professors. He highlights the “Think Small” chapter from his book, urging entrepreneurs to focus on incremental insights that lead to big ideas. Hoffmann argues that a CEO’s primary job is not to invent products but to recognize existing ideas and hunt for untapped market demand, citing examples like Zuckerberg, Musk, and Jobs. As an investor, he looks for “gusher” opportunities where founders demonstrate clear demand. He recommends fellow angel investor Larry Breitman—early backer of Rotten Tomatoes—and shares his own origin story of running a home film studio, working in Hollywood, and eventually moving to Silicon Valley. Listeners are directed to Founderspace’s website for contact and resources.
Chapters
This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
My name is Steve Hoffman, but in Silicon Valley they call me Captain Hoff because I am the captain and CEO of Founderspace, one of the world's leading incubators and accelerators. And I'm also the author of the best-selling book Make Elephants Fly, which is all about how to take your big idea and get it off the ground. And then my new book will be coming out from Hachette Publishing, Surviving a Startup.
Captain Hoff, it is so awesome to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
I will tell you, I love my job because my job is— I am basically paid to go around and talk to amazingly brilliant people, you know, technologists, entrepreneurs, professors, all over the world and figure out what's going on and how to help them. So the best thing is that I'm always learning. I'm, you know, people like when I go to an entrepreneur, that entrepreneur is teaching me about their business, and a lot of times I learn more from them than they learn from me.
I absolutely love that because it's, you know, it's our life is all about learning. And so it sounds like that's what you get to do for, uh, for what, what you do with working with people.
Yes, I love it.
Question number 3: I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. As an author, what chapter would you think most companies should read?
Well, I will tell you something from a real book, my book Make Elephants Fly. So the chapter you should read is Think Small, because many entrepreneurs believe that they have to have a big idea to get going. They need this like epiphany, this amazing breakthrough But honestly, if you look at most entrepreneurs and the process they go through, it's the little things that lead to the big idea, the things they don't even recognize. So that chapter goes into how to recognize those little things in your business, in what you're doing, that lead you step by step to that big idea.
Oh, I love it, and it's so true. I mean, because that small things, those little steps— so I can't wait to read that, that chapter myself. Question number 4: other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
So I work with business leaders all the time, especially entrepreneurs, and the one thing I tell them is that your job is not to really invent products, come up with ideas. That is not your job as a CEO. People think it's their job, but honestly, if you look at the successful companies out there The CEOs didn't even come up with the ideas. Like, look at Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. He copied it from other, other social networks. Oh, look, look at Elon Musk. You know, he's brilliant, right? But Tesla, he didn't come up with that idea. That was somebody else's company. He was just an early investor, but he saw the opportunity. Look at Who else? Like, look at Steve Jobs, right? Steve Jobs, you know, he went into Xerox PARC and he saw what was there, and he saw how to take that to market. Even with the iPhone and the iPod, which, you know, which were the huge second breakthrough for Apple, you know, those products were out there. There were MP3 players, there were smartphones way before him, but he saw how to take those to the next step. So when you're an entrepreneur, I always tell you your job isn't to have the big idea. Your job is to recognize the big idea. What you really need to spend your time doing is hunting for demand. Demand in the marketplace is the hard thing. Like, when— I'm not talking about demand that's already there. I'm talking about untapped demand, more demand, like either massive growth in a certain industry that you can foresee coming or things that your competitors are not doing, and you can actually step in and do those things much better or in an entirely different way that creates value.
So well said. And finding that demand, yeah, I— because that's— I think that that's one of the hardest things that a successful business can do. They just— because it's, it's, it's sometimes as obvious, I assume, and sometimes it's not. In your experience?
I'm an investor, so I invest in lots of startups, and I will tell you what I try to do is I'm hunting demand too. Like, I, I'm looking at the entrepreneurs to show me this amazing opportunity, that this, you know, gusher, like an oil well, like they're wildcatters and they've hit the gusher, and then I'm willing to put in my money.
I love it. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
I would like to invite Larry Breitman. Now, I worked very closely with him. He is an amazing guy. He founded Flycast, one of the early advertising companies, and took it public. Like, it was a big thing. And he also founded many other companies, and now, like me, he is an angel investor. And he is not only brilliant, but he is kind, and he is very tactical. Like, one of his startups that he invested in— he's invested in so many— you would all know, it's called Rotten Tomatoes, and he was the first investor in that startup and many, many others.
Well, that's one of my, my wife's favorite places to go when she's looking for a movie for us to watch on Netflix, so I totally appreciate that now. And our final question, question number 6: please tell me about your first job.
My first job was actually— I created it myself, and it was making movies. So as a kid, from elementary school all the way through high school, I kind of ran a production studio out of my home, and I made over 50 films, like all these different films. And I would have screenings, and I was just totally into it. And, you know, my— that actually primed me for my career. I actually went into Hollywood before I did investing in technology. I worked in Hollywood, I did television, did all these things, and then one thing led to another, and I I wound up here in Silicon Valley, you know, at the crossroads of technology and entertainment doing investing.
What a great story! I absolutely love it. So Captain Hoff, thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?
The best way to find me is just go to Founderspace, founderspace.com, right up there, and you can contact me. We have— if you're an entrepreneur, you can submit your business plan. We have tons of videos. We have a complete Online incubator, online course, everything.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
