Billion Dollar Moves™ with Sarah Chen-Spellings | Global Venture Capital · Sarah Chen-Spellings

[REPLAY] Pivot or Persevere? Being a Growth Company CEO w/ Jeff Maggioncalda, Former CEO of Coursera

April 24, 2025·43 min·4 clips

After eight years of trial, Jeff's pivot to managed 401k accounts with a call center scaled Financial Engines to $100 billion.

Host Sarah Chen-Spellings interviews Jeff Majin-Kalda, CEO of Coursera and former CEO of Financial Engines, about his journey from working with Nobel laureate Bill Sharpe to leading two pioneering companies. They explore decision-making under uncertainty, including when to pivot or persevere, the impact of AI on jobs and education, and strategies for building enduring businesses through feedback loops and platform models.

As heard by us

A practical CEO conversation about when persistence is wisdom and when it turns into drag.

Jeff Majin-Kalda turns a familiar pivot question into something sharper: how do you tell whether persistence is discipline or just impatience wearing a nicer name?

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Why you'd press play

You want a clear CEO lens on when to pivot and when to stay the course.

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