Joe’s back for Part 2. We rewind our NYC weekend (RÜFÜS, The Edge, Per Se) before diving into his career ride: lugging computers into auto-parts stores, learning to sell to skeptical owners, landing at CA during its acquisition tear, then helping scale Mercury through crisis and an eventual sale. Plus: an FBI interview, a Birkin curveball, and what “getting fired” really taught him about people, resilience, and leadership.
00:00 – Welcome back + Part 2 setup
01:02 – Outfit check & sneaker talk
05:48 – The Edge @ Hudson Yards (glass floor, 100 stories)
08:05 – “You can’t be here” (security almost-kicks Joe out)
11:16 – RÜFÜS show + suite night in New Jersey
13:44 – The Per Se play + corkage math + Penfolds Grange
14:44 – Oyster & caviar “pearls” course
15:52 – Tammy authenticates the Birkin… and it’s not
17:07 – Triad in the Kentucky hills (auto parts + computers)
17:26 – From 100k customer cards to minutes with software
18:05 – No gas to the interview → gets the job anyway
20:02 – Six-month training (Sunnyvale/Livermore)
21:08 – Two cash registers (the “government share” story)
34:19 – Joining CA under ~$63M & the acquisition machine
47:07 – Charles Wang stories: photographic memory & frugality
01:10:22 – FBI interview: tell the truth, full stop
01:14:50 – HP buys Mercury (closing chapter)
01:23:18 – Teaser: McAfee ($7.7B) & AppDynamics next episode
