Podcasts about Andreessen Horowitz

What does it look like to "plant seeds" so aggressively that serendipity starts looking like a strategy? This week on Parker Gals, Cass sits down with Jessica Patton to trace her path from Detroit to Howard University to landing a rare straight-out-of-college private equity role in New York. Jessica shares how she eventually landed in an impact-oriented role at Andreessen Horowitz, and what it took to jump off the deep end and start 5th Century Partners — Gmail, an anchor investor, and a one-way ticket to Chicago. Now 15 people strong, 5th Century is a lower middle market PE firm investing in healthcare and business services. Plus: "Sex and the City" as the ultimate palate cleanser, making spaghetti and meatballs from scratch, and a trio of book recommendations that speak to being a woman in private equity.  

Keith Peiris, Co-Founder and CEO of Lightfield, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman to talk about building an agentic CRM that launched in November 2025, has been adopted by more than 5,000 customers, and just raised a $47 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz. Topics include why every system of record was really a forecasting tool, how to get reliable output from non-deterministic models, and the two reasons companies actually rip out Salesforce or HubSpot. Plus, a spirited debate on whether the SaaS partner ecosystem is dead, why AI-native deal sizes at 200-person companies can rival enterprise contracts, and how Lightfield landed on a mix of seat-based and consumption pricing.   Key Takeaways:   - Plan for models that will always make some mistakes. Keith builds Lightfield on the assumption that models stay non-deterministic, and calls reliability "a harness problem" that they're making fantastic progress against. - Use LLMs for insight and plain code for arithmetic. When Asad asked whether auditing AI forecasts saves anyone any time, Keith described a one-time implementation where Lightfield's head of finance checked every formula: "We converted some things from prompts to real code, right? I don't want LLMs doing math. I want real code doing math." That got the dashboards 95% of the way there, leaving the models to flag which deals were on the cusp because of missing features or competition. - Slightly better AI output won't justify replacing a CRM. After several rip-and-replace projects off Salesforce and HubSpot, Keith said marginally better agentic emails are "not a good enough reason to change a system of record." The two reasons that do move customers are believing one model of the business improves every stage of the revenue funnel, with SDRs pulling real-time case studies from customer success, and higher-level scenario planning, where "the modeling really matters. The data completion really matters." - Put predictable work in the seat price and meter the work with visible ROI. Lightfield tried both extremes, and pure consumption backfired: "It's like going to a store where everything's really expensive, that our customers didn't touch anything." The seat and platform fee now covers the core CRM, call recording, and the data model, while pipeline generation, AI workflow automations, and scenario planning run on consumption, because "most revenue leaders, CEOs… have an uncapped budget for business intelligence."   Connect with the Hosts & Guests:   Host: Sam Jacobs, CEO at Pavilion - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samfjacobs/ Host: AJ Bruno, CEO at QuotaPath - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbruno3/ Host: Asad Zaman, CEO at STA - https://www.linkedin.com/in/azaman1/ Guest: Keith Peiris, Co-Founder & CEO at Lightfield - https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithpeiris/   Topline is more than a Podcast:   Subscribe to Topline Newsletter: https://toplinemedia.substack.com/ Check us out on YouTube for the #1 video podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-podcast Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders to keep the conversation going beyond the podcast: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-slack

Their startup, Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company (AIUC) has raised $40 million in a Series A round led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from First Harmonic. Also, Thatch is a five-year-old startup and the company raised $108 million from The General Partnership, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, and Andreessen Horowitz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 EPISODE DESCRIPTION I sat down with Todd Ault III, founder of Ault.com, a man with 37 years in traditional finance who has seen the future , and it is fully tokenized. Todd walks me through how Ault Markets is being built as a Bloomberg-style platform for Web3, why he borrowed $50 million in DeFi in 20 minutes on Morpho, and why he believes every stock, bond, piece of real estate, and commodity will eventually trade on Web3 rails. We get into stable coins, the dominance of the US dollar, why AI is creating jobs not killing them, and what founders can do right now to tokenize their assets on Ault's platform. If you want to understand where institutional finance meets blockchain, this episode is for you. DISCLAIMERNothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend. Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/ CONNECT Ault Website: https://ault.com/Todd Ault Twitter/X: https://x.com/ToddAultIII?lang=enTodd Ault LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miltontoddault/Web3 with Sam Kamani: https://www.web3pod.xyz KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS • [00:00] Sam introduces Todd Ault III and frames the episode around tokenization and the RWA space• [00:56] Todd shares his 37-year background in traditional finance and how he discovered Bitcoin around 2011• [02:35] Why TradFi won't disappear overnight , Todd compares the shift to a generational standard-of-care change in healthcare• [03:34] Ault Markets explained: a Bloomberg-style Web3 platform with a DEX, lending, staking, tokenized stocks, commodities, and more• [05:28] How Ault integrates with DeFi Capital Markets, Universal Mint tokenization platform, and the Only Bulls wallet via Privy• [06:50] Why stablecoins are still massively underutilized and what gets tokenized next , stocks, commodities, and eventually real estate• [10:00] Todd's real-world DeFi story: borrowing $50 million against Bitcoin on Morpho in 20 minutes• [12:25] Why Todd built Ault's own blockchain after being debanked 10 times in the US for Bitcoin mining• [13:33] Bitcoin Max explained: trading Bitcoin down to the Satoshi level, denominated via a Swiss-based trust• [14:06] The 98% US dollar dominance in stablecoins vs 55% in fiat , and why Todd sees dollar dominance continuing• [17:25] How Ault uses AI for financial modeling, market making, staff accountability, and an integrated AI layer in Ault Markets• [20:10] Sam shares how AI is actually increasing workloads for lawyers and why history shows tech creates more jobs than it destroys• [23:38] Todd's goal to tokenize 100,000 assets over 10 years and grow TVL to $100 billion• [26:28] How founders can use Ault right now to tokenize securities, raise capital, and list on the DEX• [28:28] North Star metric: growing TVL, with 97–99% of all protocol revenue used to buy back the Ault token daily on a TWAP• [29:50] Todd's key asks: traders, founders wanting to tokenize, and hiring in tokenization , contact todd@ault.com• [33:15] Todd highlights Holiday as a standout payments innovation backed by Andreessen Horowitz• [34:36] Ault's hybrid private equity arm: owning and planning to tokenize hotels, a crane company, and other hard assets

Episode 444 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Laura Rippy, Managing Partner and Board Member at Alumni Ventures. When you see the rankings of the top VC firms, you often hear the big brands out there like Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Sequoia, Accel, and others… but did you know that one of the top 20 VC firms, as determined by CB Insights, is based in Manchester, NH? Yes – Manchvegas, where I grew up, so I find that stat of particular interest. Founded in 2014, AV's mission has always been to provide individual investors with professional-grade access to elite venture capital investing opportunities. It is a category that they pretty much created and it is not only working, but it is thriving. AV is continuously listed as one of the most active VC firms with thousands of investments made and over $1.6B in committed capital. Portfolio companies include Groq, the buzzing AI chip startup; Oura, the smart ring wearable company that recently filed for an IPO; Mercor, which was most recently valued at a decacorn status; and Apollo Atomics, a company that you might recognize, as I just had their CEO on The VentureFizz Podcast a few weeks ago. Laura comes to venture capital with a deep background as a former CEO and operator. In addition to serving on the board, Laura oversees multiple fund families at Alumni Ventures, including their Dartmouth fund called Green D Ventures, their Harvard fund called The Yard Ventures, their Women's Fund, and US Strategic Tech Fund. In this episode, we cover: * Laura's background as an operator and how she made the transition into venture capital. * The story and model behind AV, and how they built a $1.6B+ platform that democratizes VC access for accredited investors. * The current state of the markets in terms of trends in private vs. public markets, and high-profile portfolio stories like Oura and Northwood Space which is founded by Bridgit Mendler. * Deep dives into the various sectors that Laura concentrates on in terms of making investments. * How AV leverages its massive network and AI back office to add tangible value to its portfolio companies. * What she looks for in early-stage founders and the specific deal dynamics that signal a winning investment. * And so much more!

In dieser Folge des Trending-Topics-Podcasts spricht Jakob Steinschaden mit Chris Schnabl, Investing Partner bei Andreessen Horowitz, über folgende Themen:

Anish Acharya is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), where he has focused on consumer investing. Anish is one of the most insightful, thought-provoking, and in-the-weeds product investors I've met, and this conversation will get your mind buzzing. Before joining a16z, Anish was a serial founder and operator: he founded SocialDeck, which he sold to Google, then led multiple efforts inside Google before founding Snowball, which he sold to Credit Karma. At Credit Karma he rose to VP of Product and then GM of the consumer product and the broader credit card business.In our in-depth conversation, we discuss:1. Why you don't have to worry about becoming part of the “permanent underclass”2. Why company building will now involve creating a series of loops3. What's happening in consumer right now4. Why the biggest opportunity in consumer is “/loop, make me happier”5. Why moats are discovered, not designed6. The rising importance of distribution as a moat7. Being a model sommelier—Brought to you by:WorkOS—Make your app enterprise-ready, with SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and moreMercury—Radically different banking, now with Command—Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-companies-are-becoming-a-series—Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0—Where to find Anish Acharya:• Andreessen Horowitz: https://a16z.com/author/anish-acharya/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anishacharya/• X: https://x.com/illscience• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/illscience—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction(02:25) The fear of AI creating a permanent underclass(05:25) Why AI takeoff may be slower than expected(08:02) How companies are actually adopting AI(11:25) Building AI products with loops(15:25) Why human intuition still matters(20:19) What the winners in AI are doing differently(21:41) Generalists vs. specialists(26:22) How to become a model sommelier(32:03) /loop make me happier(36:15) Why Anish is optimistic about the future of AI(42:47) What happens when models become too dangerous(46:29) How AI will change jobs and ambition(51:34) The state of consumer AI(54:30) How to build a durable moat in AI(59:25) The power of distribution and word of mouth(01:04:30) Making bigger bets and rethinking pricing(01:09:17) Advice for product builders in the AI era(01:11:48) Lightning round and final thoughts—References: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-companies-are-becoming-a-series—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

“I trust them to kiss the government's ass. I don't trust them to serve me.” — Keith Teare Who to trust in an age of AI agents? Especially when it seems as if these swarming agents — akin to the gang of adolescents in William Golding's Lord of the Flies — are developing minds of their own. At this week's G20 Innovation Ministerial in North Carolina, Donald Trump and his minions produced a hands-off charter for AI. Known as the “Carolina Principles,” it sounds to critics like a particularly unprincipled justification for regulation-free AI. That Was The Week publisher, Keith Teare, however, isn't a critic of Trump's Principles. Don't trust the trust scare, Keith tells us. Especially all the fear around the swarming agents that are supposedly developing minds of their own. Pooh-poohing the real-world Hugging Face breakout, Keith argues that since he's never witnessed swarming agents on his computer, they can't exist. Which is akin, I suspect, to a climate denier who argues that global warming is a hoax because it happens to be chilly outside. All-too-human logic, I fear, in our age of autonomous AI agents. Five Takeaways •       The Carolina Principles. The week's set piece was a G20 Innovation Ministerial in North Carolina that Keith describes as a Trump takeover of a global event: the Russian finance minister turned up at Trump's invitation, and the attendees were lectured — via David Sacks and Howard Lutnick — on the merits of unregulated American capitalism. A propaganda event, Keith concedes, but one that reached the right conclusion: the resulting “Carolina Principles,” signed by everyone including the Europeans, call for flexible frameworks that encourage adoption and pointedly decline to make trust a license innovation must obtain in advance. With Bernie Sanders calling the same week for a development halt pending government licenses, Keith's position is characteristically blunt: “when I've started a company, I don't go and ask permission. I just do it.” Getting rid of Lina Khan, he adds, remains about the only thing he likes about the Trump administration. Andrew's verdict on the charter: to critics, a particularly unprincipled justification for regulation-free AI.•       Don't Trust the Trust Scare. Keith's editorial thesis: trust is not granted by authority; it is built through use. You trust yourself in a car because you drive one, and not on roller skates because you fall over. Over seventy percent of Americans now use AI — the same Americans who tell Politico they oppose data centers — which is why Keith reads the backlash as a confection of media and populist politicians, soon to evaporate (the real coming problem, he argues, is too few data centers, not too many; the modern off-grid ones are net givers of power). The withheld ChatGPT-6 gets the same treatment: launched but limited to insiders, which Keith reads not as safety but as government relations — the pull quote of the week. Andrew's counter: in a world without regulators, trust in the companies is all we have — including, awkwardly for Keith, when they withhold their own products. Exhibit for the defense, from The Washington Post: Americans in an age of anxiety leaning on AI — Keith included, who feeds his medical records to ChatGPT and finds it “very closely aligned with what your doctor thinks.”•       The Swarming Fight. The hour's genuine clash. In the wake of the Hugging Face hack, Kevin Roose warned in The New York Times that it should make you worry more about AI, and OpenAI's Dean Ball publicly apologized for failing “to communicate in sufficiently serious terms about the specifics of self-sovereign AI.” Neither is a doomer — which is Andrew's point. Keith's rebuttal: every swarm sighting has occurred inside an AI lab, in an experiment whose parameters the labs themselves set — “on my computer, I don't see any swarms” — and self-sovereign AI is anthropomorphizing science fiction: agents pursue goals humans set. “I know enough to know BS when I read it, and this is BS.” Andrew's reply — “I think you're trivializing” — went unwithdrawn, and his sign-off flagged that Keith perhaps simplifies the Hugging Face incident. Unresolved, to be continued. Andrew's framing gives the episode its title — swarming agents as the gang of adolescents in Golding's Lord of the Flies — and his verdict its sting: Keith's I-see-no-swarms-on-my-computer logic is akin to a climate denier calling global warming a hoax because it's chilly outside. Keith's exit line: “I'm just gonna go and check on my swarms.”•       Nvidia Buys Hugging Face. The week's biggest deal: Nvidia acquired Hugging Face — the repository of the world's open-source AI models — for $13 billion, just as The New York Times reported corporate America getting hooked on open source (much of it Chinese: GLM 5.3). The economics, per Keith: an $18,000 Mac Studio or a top-end Nvidia GPU beats $200-a-month token fees — AI capability migrating to the edge, out of OpenAI's and Anthropic's meters. Which suits Nvidia either way: The Economist calls it the central bank of AI, though Andrew prefers arms supplier — it wins whether the future is open or closed, and is, ironically, the most trusted name in the business precisely because it has no dog in the fight. Don't expect it to govern anything, says Keith: “that would put friction in the way of their sales.” The challenger to watch: newly public Cerebras, whose wafer-scale chips undercut Nvidia on token price.•       Mom and Dad's Money. The Times asked which investors will get rich from Anthropic's IPO — and noted that, unlike past booms, firms like Sequoia hold both horses, OpenAI and Anthropic alike. Keith's arithmetic explains why: fewer than fifty companies will return venture capital this cycle, those two representing more than half the likely value, and last month 75 percent of all dollars invested in VC funds went to Andreessen Horowitz alone. (His own SignalRank barometer: for two years, none of its 64 investments cracked the top-20 most-wanted secondary shares; now five have.) The pyramid runs from VCs down to pension funds — “somebody's mom and dad's money is heavily betting that Anthropic and OpenAI are gonna return large amounts of wealth” — and late secondary buyers, Figma-style, almost always lose when the IPO right-sizes the price. What could topple the deck of cards? Regulation slowing the modeled returns. Which is why, for Keith, the midterms should be fought on jobs and wages — data centers, he insists, are not a winning issue. About the Co-Host Keith Teare is the founder and CEO of SignalRank Corporation and publisher of the That Was The Week tech newsletter, whose editorial — “Don't Trust the Trust Scare” — frames this episode. A serial entrepreneur and co-founder of TechCrunch, he has spent five decades building and funding technology companies, and brings a techno-optimist's eye to Keen On America's weekly wrap of the tech news. References: •       That Was The Week — Keith's newsletter, including this week's editorial, “Don't Trust the Trust Scare,” and his companion piece on concentration and diversification at The State of Venture.•      &nb...

What do you do on the morning when there are no good moves left?In March 2001, Ben Horowitz took Loudcloud public in the middle of the dot-com collapse. The bankers cut the price from ten dollars a share to six in the week of the offering. The day before the deal, Yahoo announced its chief executive was stepping down. Neither of the two banks that took the company public offered the traditional closing dinner. On the plane home, Horowitz turned to his director of finance and said they had done it. The reply was that the company was still in very serious trouble.He was right. What followed was a share price of thirty-five cents, three rounds of layoffs, four hundred people gone, and business magazines running cover stories on the collapse.Six years later the same company sold to Hewlett-Packard for 1.6 billion dollars.The distance between those two moments is The Hard Thing About Hard Things, and it is the rare book about building companies written from inside repeated near-death rather than reconstructed afterwards from the winner's chair.[AFFILIATE LINK TO THE BOOK]Horowitz opens by attacking the genre he is writing in. Most management books offer a recipe. He argues that the situations which decide a company have no recipe, and that hunting for one is itself the failure. He then organises the book around that claim, putting the endgame material first, and explains the choice by quoting the first principle of the Bushido: keep death in mind at all times.Part one of this review covers the three lessons that belong together.The Struggle. Horowitz names the psychological state every founder recognises and almost nobody describes out loud, and then refuses to sell a way out of it. What he offers instead is a set of survival habits and one instruction: find the move.CEOs should tell it like it is. Shielding a team from bad news feels like leadership and works like sabotage. Trust is communication bandwidth. A brain cannot solve a problem it does not know about. And a healthy culture is one where bad news travels faster than good news.Lay people off yourself. The hardest act in the book, executed as a written procedure rather than improvised on the day. Why the manager has to do it rather than HR, why a layoff and a performance firing are two different acts that companies constantly blur, and why the message is always for the people who stay.Along the way: what Jensen Huang at Nvidia and Roland Busch at Siemens have in common, why Dale Carnegie's most famous principle has aged into something he never intended, and where Reed Hastings and Ben Horowitz disagree about what you owe the person you are letting go.This is a practical review for founders, CEOs, board members, investors and senior executives who build or finance hard companies, particularly in deep tech and life sciences, where the conditions Horowitz calls wartime are the default rather than the exception.Part two covers the remaining four lessons: wartime and peacetime leadership, the two halves of the chief executive's job and the half where founders reliably come apart, why the impressive executive you hire out of a large company so often produces nothing, and the rule about raising money that changes what a rejection means.Chapters(00:00) Introduction: The Least Celebratory IPO in History (02:26) The Big Idea: Keep Death in Mind at All Times (04:16) Who Is Ben Horowitz, and Why Trust Him (08:55) Lesson 1: The Struggle, and Why No Formula Exists (20:37) Lesson 2: CEOs Should Tell It Like It Is, and Why Trust Is Bandwidth (32:26) Lesson 3: Lay People Off Yourself, Because the Message Is for the People Who Stay (45:21) What Comes in Part TwoSend us Fan Mail Join Christian Soschner for expert coaching. 50% Off - With 35+ years in deep tech, startups/scaleups, and public companies, Christian offers power video sessions. Elevate strategy, execution, and leadership. Book Now.Support the showJoin the Podcast Newsletter: Link

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz recently announced the launch of its $1.1 billion "Machine Age" fund, specifically designed to finance the physical infrastructure required for artificial intelligence. This specialized fund targets critical hardware sectors including AI chips, robotics, data centers, and advanced networking systems. The firm's leadership emphasizes that while they are traditionally known for software, the unprecedented speed of the current technological shift necessitates a massive rebuilding of the underlying hardware layer. Experts note that this investment marks a significant pivot toward solving architectural constraints like memory bandwidth and energy efficiency. By backing founders in the physical world, the firm aims to accelerate the industrial-scale expansion of AI capabilities. This strategic move reflects a broader belief that the next era of innovation depends on the integration of hardware and energy systems.

Plus: BYD's overseas push drives quarterly profit growth. And Google will change how it ranks certain websites in most of Europe to appease antitrust regulators. Julie Chang hosts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today we had the pleasure of hosting Erin Price-Wright, General Partner in American Dynamism at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Erin joined a16z from Index Ventures in 2024, where she was a Partner focused on software infrastructure and applied AI. She previously served as Head of Product for Palantir's data analytics and machine learning program. The American Dynamism practice invests in founders and companies that support the national interest spanning aerospace, defense, public safety, education, housing, supply chain, industrials, and manufacturing. We were thrilled to hear Erin's perspective on the rapidly evolving intersection of AI, energy, and industrial technology. In our conversation, Erin shares the story behind a16z's American Dynamism practice and its early investments in companies including SpaceX, Anduril, Applied Intuition, Shield AI, and Skydio. She discusses how the firm's conviction in the space developed well before the recent surge of interest in industrial technology. We explore the convergence of AI, supply chain vulnerabilities, geopolitical pressures, reindustrialization, and skilled labor shortages, which Erin believes are creating the conditions for the “next great American industrial build-out.” We discuss physical AI and robotics, the potential to automate dangerous, expensive, and labor-intensive activities across energy and industrial operations, the challenges of deploying physical AI, and the importance of taking a practical approach to automation by starting with specific activities where the economics make sense and expanding from there. We touch on why venture capital is returning to energy and industrial technology, China's advantage in deployment versus the U.S.'s strength in experimentation and entrepreneurship, and the importance of permitting and regulatory certainty. We also examine data centers and the broader question of whether America wants to build, Erin's thoughts for energy and industrial leaders looking to accelerate innovation within their organizations, and much more. Special thanks to Erin for joining! We look forward to partnering with a16z on our upcoming Energy & Industrial Technology Showcase in Houston on September 10. Mike Bradley kicked off the discussion by noting that the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was trading at ~4.65%, down ~10bps on the week but still near its highest level of the year. Bond investors are focused on the ongoing Canada tariff dispute, Wednesday's Core PCE inflation report, and Chairman Warsh's Jackson Hole speech on Friday. Major equity indices finished lower last week but are modestly higher this week, with attention now centered on NVIDIA's second-quarter earnings report Wednesday and its 6- to 12-month capital spending outlook. Turning to energy markets, Mike highlighted that WTI crude oil had declined ~$5/bbl this week to ~$82/bbl following the Treasury Secretary's announcement of “Operation Economic Outcast,” aimed at increasing economic pressure on Iran. EU natural gas prices rose another ~$1/MMBtu to ~$23/MMBtu, with storage levels remaining a concern ahead of winter. The energy sector was modestly lower this week but remains up ~5% month-to-date, led by refiners (+~12%). In power, electric utilities are down ~5% month-to-date, while IPPs, large-scale generators, and distributed generation providers are down ~10%–15% on average, largely reflecting higher interest rates and growing state-level opposition to data center development.

What happens when life-changing therapies cost millions of dollars, but the healthcare system was never built to manage them? In this episode of Entrepreneur Rx, host John Shufeldt sits down with Annie Collins, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Aradigm, to discuss her journey from healthcare consulting and venture capital to building a company tackling one of the most complicated challenges in modern medicine. Annie shares how her early interest in medicine led her from pre-med studies to Bain & Company and eventually to Andreessen Horowitz, where she invested in early-stage healthcare and life science companies. While at a16z, she became increasingly focused on the disconnect between groundbreaking therapies and the healthcare system's ability to sustainably pay for and deliver them. Eventually, Annie and her co-founders stopped looking for a company solving the problem and decided to build one themselves. The conversation explores the complex world of cell and gene therapies, where a single treatment can cost hundreds of thousands to more than $4 million. Annie explains how Aradigm works across payers, providers, manufacturers, and patients to create a more predictable and sustainable model while helping patients navigate an incredibly complicated treatment journey. John and Annie also discuss what it was like to leave one of the world's leading venture capital firms to become a founder, why entrepreneurship turned out to be even harder than she expected, and what she has learned moving from evaluating companies to actually building one. They also talk about persistence in venture capital, female founders and leadership, and why having other founders and mentors to lean on matters when the startup journey gets lonely. About Annie Collins: Annie Collins is a Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Aradigm, where she oversees launches of new programs, the success of existing customers, and operational execution of Aradigm's program. She began her career at Bain & Company as a strategy consultant for large healthcare and life science companies before joining Andreessen Horowitz as an investment partner focused on early-stage healthcare and life science companies. While there, she was introduced to the commercial complexities posed by high-cost drugs like cell and gene therapies and the largely unsolved challenge of managing those therapies on the medical benefit. That experience ultimately led her and Will Shrank to leave a16z and start Aradigm alongside Spencer Carrucciu. About Aradigm: Aradigm is an incentive-aligned, cost-plus platform managing the financial and clinical complexities of cell and gene therapies (CGTs). Our mission is to create sustainable, affordable access to life-saving medicines through a novel financial and delivery model that brings together every stakeholder — payers, providers, manufacturers, and, most importantly, patients. About Xcellerant Ventures:  Xcellerant Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in innovative companies across healthcare, technology, defense, and other emerging industries. Through multiple funds and investment vehicles, including the Jetstream Venture Fund, Xcellerant partners with visionary founders, provides strategic guidance, and helps connect investors with opportunities in the private markets. About Deal Titan:  This week's episode is brought to you by Deal Titan. Deal Titan is an AI-powered platform that helps investors evaluate early-stage companies faster by turning pitch decks into structured diligence reports covering the market, team, financials, competition, and key risks. Use code EntrepreneurRx for a free solo membership, including 10 full analysis reports.

Healthcare is being rewritten in real time. As AI moves from promise to practice and digital innovation accelerates across the industry, organizations and entrepreneurs shaping the future are creating new possibilities for how care is delivered, experienced, and scaled. In this episode of Mavericks in Healthcare, Julie Yoo, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), shares why she believes healthcare is at a once-in-a-generation inflection point. Julie leads early-stage healthcare investing at a16z, a venture capital firm backing entrepreneurs and companies transforming healthcare and technology. As Julie says, "It could not be a better time to start a health tech company." Drawing from her experience as both a healthcare founder and investor, Julie explores how AI is creating new opportunities across care delivery, clinical workflows, operational efficiency, and patient engagement. She discusses the health tech trends attracting investment, the challenges founders must navigate, and why today's environment presents unprecedented opportunities to build and scale innovative healthcare solutions. From venture capital and digital health to AI's growing role in healthcare transformation, this conversation offers a front-row seat to the ideas, technologies, and innovators shaping the future of the industry. Whether you're a healthcare leader, entrepreneur, investor, or innovator, this episode provides valuable insights into where healthcare is headed next.

Send us Fan MailRuss Fradin is the co-founder and CEO of Larridin, the enterprise AI measurement platform that raised $17 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Bloomberg Beta and Gradient Ventures. Larridin sells to CIOs and CFOs, and answers a question most companies still cannot answer for themselves: which AI tools are being used, by whom, at what level of proficiency, and where they are actually driving productivity.A veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur with three decades of experience leading high-growth technology companies, Russ previously co-founded and served as CEO of Dynamic Signal (now Firstup), Adify, and SocialShield, and was the first employee at Flycast, one of the internet's pioneering ad networks.In this episode, Russ sits down with Dan to share the brutal and beautiful realities of building companies in the Bay Area. Tune in to hear his seasoned perspective on why successful AI integration requires ancient change management principles rather than new software licensing, the operational gap between power users and passive users, and why the most at-risk professionals in the AI era are not the ones you think.In this conversation, we discuss:Why a third party measurement company shows up every time money floods into a category, and what that pattern predicts for enterprise AI.What actually happens after you deploy AI to 3,000 employees, and why the gap that opens up is a change management problem, not a technology one.Why revenue growth cannot tell you whether to renew a multimillion dollar AI contract, and why the vendor's own numbers will not either.What the stark division between organizational power users and casual users reveals about the actual bottleneck in modern workplacesWhy token-spend leaderboards can accelerate adoption, and why they become unsustainable once employees learn how to game them.What the reality of task automation means for the future of knowledge work, and why the threat to specific white-collar roles is often misunderstood.Explore the Conversation00:00 Intro and AI Fun Fact: Beyond Job Replacement, How AI Can Improve Work04:22 Introducing Russ Fradin, Co-Founder and CEO of Larridin06:27 Startup Humility: Why Early Failure Is Essential for Founders09:45 Startup Alchemy: The Absurdity and Ambition of Building a Company11:51 The Larridin Vision: Building the Unbiased Measurement Layer for Enterprise AI18:03 Beyond AI Security: Measuring Usage, Spend, Productivity, and Workflows20:33 AI ROI Beyond Revenue: Measuring Productivity, Renewal Decisions, and Change Management27:02 Blazing Trails: How Facebook Speedran Adoption with Token Leaderboards34:59 What We Measure Shapes AI's Impact on Growth, Costs, and Jobs39:41 AI Replacement Theory: Why Tasks Change, but Most Knowledge Jobs Endure46:57 Where to Connect with Russ Fradin and Learn More About LarridinResourcesSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Russ on LinkedIn Learn more about Larridin at https://larridin.com/AI fun fact article: Labor Market Impacts of AI: A New Measure and Early Evidence by AnthropicOn Making AI Smarter Without Harming Humans-Join Dan Turchin and 4 seasoned technology and people leaders on Sept. 17 for an executive discussion on AI, leadership, and the future of work. Attendees will receive a complimentary personalized AI Maturity Industry Benchmarks Report ($499 value). Reserve your seat: https://go.peoplereign.io/virtual-event-when-intelligence-is-everywhere-intelligence-is-nowhere

Fortune reports that Flock holds an $8 billion valuation, with Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global among its backers. The company sells license plate recognition cameras and cloud software to police departments, neighborhoods, and businesses, and it has expanded into audio-based gunshot detection. Civil liberties groups, including the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, warn that mass vehicle data collection can enable tracking without sufficient oversight and can produce misidentifications. Flock states that it uses time-limited data retention, access controls, and audit logs, and that it does not sell personal data. City councils are adding oversight through transparency reports, impact assessments, and retention and sharing rules. Investors are betting on network effects and multi-year contracts, while regulatory and political risk could affect renewals and growth.Learn more on this news by visiting us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The AI race isn't being won in the model lab — it's being won in the power grid. And right now, America is losing. Motley Fool analyst Rachel Warren talks with Hannan Happi, co-founder and CEO of Exowatt — backed by Sam Altman and Andreessen Horowitz — about why the AI build-out is hitting a wall that no amount of chips or software can fix. They get into why a one-year grid delay costs a hyperscaler $12 billion in missed revenue, why China has 10 times more capacity than the US to build AI infrastructure, and what investors need to actually be tracking as hundreds of billions of dollars flow into the AI build-out — including whether the data centers being built today will still be operating in ten years.  Host: Rachel Warren Guest: Hannan Happi Producers: Dennis Golin, Lauren Budabin  Disclosure: Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. The Motley Fool and its affiliates (collectively, “TMF”) do not endorse, recommend, or verify the accuracy or completeness of the statements made within advertisements. TMF is not involved in the offer, sale, or solicitation of any securities advertised herein and makes no representations regarding the suitability, or risks associated with any investment opportunity presented. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult with legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. TMF assumes no responsibility for any losses or damages arising from this advertisement. We're committed to transparency: All personal opinions in advertisements from Fools are their own. The product advertised in this episode was loaned to TMF and was returned after a test period or the product advertised in this episode was purchased by TMF. Advertiser has paid for the sponsorship of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Story of the Week (DR):L3Harris ousts CEO after investigation into conduct MML3Harris Technologies, the company that overhauled a Qatari plane now used as Air Force One, has replaced Christopher Kubasik as chairman and chief executive after an investigation determined he violated the defense contractor's code of conduct.Kubasik's alleged conduct didn't involve and has no impact on the Melbourne, Fla., company's financial reporting, controls, customer relationships or operational performance, L3Harris said Monday.The company didn't give details on when it received a report of the potential violation. With the aid of independent counsel, the board determined that Kubasik's removal would be in the company's best interest, L3Harris said. He will be allowed to retain and exercise some previously vested stock options but won't receive severance payments, benefits or accelerated stock-based awards.L3Harris Technologies Appoints Sam Mehta, Proven Aerospace and Defense Executive, as President and Chief Executive Officer“The Board determined that the Executive engaged in conduct that was not consistent with the values of the Company as outlined in its Code of Conduct.”Kubasik will still hold onto some of his options that can net him stock worth about $23 million, as well as more than 200,000 shares of stock in L3Harris that he already owns, valued at nearly $57 million. L3Harris has paid Kubasik compensation valued at $66.3 million during the past three years, including $25.6 million in fiscal 2025.The separation disclosure says the L3Harris board decided to reach a deal with Kubasik to get him to leave rather than trying to fire him for cause. Kubasik did not admit to any violation of the company code of conduct, and the deal expressively forbids any of the parties or their representatives from making public statements “inconsistent” with Monday's disclosure.AND THIS:Women at L3Harris Shared Concerns About CEO's Behavior Years Before OusterIt was a warning that was shared among women who worked for Chris Kubasik: Avoid being alone with the executive and be careful on the corporate jet.Multiple women at defense contractor L3Harris Technologies LHX had raised concerns about Kubasik's behavior, including a formal complaint from one woman to human resources that was made around 2023, according to people familiar with the matter. The employee accused the CEO of sexual harassment, the people said.Kubasik stayed on in his role. The woman left L3Harris. Not all L3Harris board members were briefed on the 2023 complaint and it is unclearOusted L3Harris CEO was previously forced out of Lockheed Martin jobChristopher Kubasik's ouster as the L3Harris CEO was not the first time he was forced out of a company amid an allegation of misconduct.In 2012, Kubasik was set to become the CEO of Lockheed Martin when he was forced to resign after an ethics investigation confirmed that he had a close personal relationship with a subordinate employee.Why Do Boards Keep Giving Misbehaving CEOs Second Chances?L3Harris Technologies' LHX chief executive is out because of misconduct allegations, and it isn't the first time: More than a decade ago, Christopher Kubasik resigned from Lockheed Martin because he was accused of having a relationship with a subordinate.The Crucial Moment That Companies Miss After They Oust a CEOIt matters how a company responds to a scandal once it's caught in one, most blow the moment by choosing secrecy over transparency. It's an opportunity to reset the culture that led to the breach in the first place, but instead “your PR team and your legal team tell you ‘Don't dig into these things—it's not good for the company,' so you silence all the debates.”.Meta faces a $1.4 trillion threat that could mean ‘turning in the keys and walking away'—but the stakes of the case reach across techThe trial involves a coalition of 29 state attorneys general in a unified case against Meta that was brought in 2023, and will be argued by lawyers representing California, Colorado, New Jersey and Kentucky. The stakes are enormous as leading government officials across the country push for Meta to be held accountable for allegedly violating federal and state laws, including the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, and various consumer protection statutes.States accuse Meta of targeting children for Facebook, Instagram addiction: 'The young ones are the best ones'Meta whistleblower told jury the company took a 'don't ask, don't tell' approach to kids' safety‘Harvest their data and hide the truth from the public': Four states seek billions from Meta over child safety practicesSEC says it will stop responding to no-action requests ‘entirely'The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to stop responding to no-action requests “entirely … effective immediately,” the agency said in a statement Friday.The decision comes after the SEC sat out the bulk of the no-action process during the 2025-26 proxy season. Investor advocates have since sued the agency, alleging the change violates the Administrative Procedure Act.AI data center outrage is showing up everywhere from ads to electionsAI data center outrage is showing up everywhere from ads to electionsGOP Begs AI Firms to Fix Data Centers' “Toxic Brand” to Help Midterm Chances As A.I. Data Centers Spread, Pressure Mounts to Share ProfitsThe Data Center Industry's PR Blitz Is BackfiringData center backlash echoes fossil-fuel politicsMajor data center bills advance in California despite industry pushbackThe ‘Country Hicks' Who Refused $26 Million from an AI Data Center Bad news for Jason Kelce: Postal Service rules say you shouldn't mail pee to data centersPoliticians Who Once Championed Data Centers Are Now Bashing ThemPennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro cracks down on data centers, says speculators are 'scaring our communities'Data centers are using more electricity than anyone predicted. What happens next?Trump oblivious to voter fury about data centers, saying ‘the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous'Politicians Turn Against Data Centers as Anger Over AI SpreadsAmazon is buying rare books and destroying them to train its AI modelsThe team's logo features a dinosaur holding a book.Data center hysteria is the new woke | OpinionBring back the corporate death penaltyMore formally known as judicial dissolution, the corporate death penalty basically happens when the government is so pissed off by the corruption or damage a corporation causes that it yanks away their charter.Andreessen Horowitz Focus of DOJ Probe Over Board DirectorsVenture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is the focus of a Justice Department antitrust probe over whether its investment partners are improperly serving on the boards of competing artificial intelligence companies, according to people familiar with the matter.The companies at issue include Databricks Inc., one of the most valuable privately held technology companies in the world, and Fivetran Inc., both backed by the VC firm, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential matter. Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz serves on the board of Databricks, and partner Martin Casado is a board member of Fivetran. Both companies help businesses collect, organize and analyze massive troves of data.Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):MacKenzie Scott gave California public education $461 million—and let the recipients decide how to spend every dollarMM: Andreessen Horowitz Focus of DOJ Probe Over Board Directors DRAssholiest of the Week (MM):Bill Brown and Robert Millard DRNever accountable for anything directorsL3Harris ousts CEO after investigation into conductHistory lesson:Kubasik hired in 2015 after Lockheed disaster firing, hired as COO and PresidentPresiding CEO: Michael Strianese, Chair from 2008, CEO from 2006Board: Claude Canizares (71, MIT physics professor, 2003)Thomas Corcoran (72, Carlyle, consulting, 1997)Ann Dunwoody (64, only woman, US Army Gen, 2013)Lewis Kramer (69, EY accountant, 2009)Robert Millard (66, MIT Chair, Lehman until 2008 collapse, LID, 1997)Lloyd Newton (74, only PoC - token black guy - US Air Force General, 2012)Vincent Pagano, Jr (66, lawyer, Simpson Thacher, chair of nom, 2013)Hugh Shelton (75, US Army Gen, 2011), Arthure Simon (85, accountant, 2001)8 white men, 1 woman, 1 black dude2018, Kubasik named CEO of L3 TechnologiesMichael Strianese retires and Kubasik takes overSame exact board minus Strianese2019, L3 and Harris merge to be L3HarrisKubasik added to L3Harris board, named COO and President of the company under Bill Brown, CEO and ChairSurviving the board merger:Thomas CorcoranRobert Millard - LID, nom memberLloyd Newton - chair of nomLewis KramerAdjacent - Roger Fradin of Carlyle on board, Corcoran also of CarlyleJune 2021, Kubasik becomes CEO and Bill Brown moves to exec chair (obviously)Board:Sallie BaileyBill BrownPeter ChiarelliThomas CorcoranThomas Dattilo (nom) - ex tire CEORober GradinHarry HarrisLewis Hay III (nom) - lawyer, ex CEo of NextEraLewis KramerRita LanRobert Millard (nom) - MIT Chair, LehmanLloyd Newton (nom chair) - generalSo given that the CEOs choose their successors, the nom committees approve them, the rest of the board rubber stamps it… we can thank:Michael Strianese - hires Kubasik, names him CEO at L3, despite Lockheed problemsNom approval: Ann Dunwoody (64, only woman, US Army Gen, 2013), Vincent Pagano, Jr (66, lawyer, Simpson Thacher, chair of nom, 2013), Hugh Shelton (75, US Army Gen, 2011) - a nom committee composed of the ONLY woman, two generals and a lawyer - all of whom are the LOWEST TENURED ON THE BOARD at the timeThen Bill Brown - names Kubasik CEO of combined L3Harris, one year of babysitting as exec chairNom approval: Thomas Dattilo (nom) - ex tire CEO, Robert Millard (nom) - MIT Chair, Lehman, Lloyd Newton (nom chair) - generalFamiliar names: Millard and Newton - see Kubasik all the way throughAnd the CEOs and directors can keep failing… Bill Brown on the Becton Dickinson boardRobert Millard on the Green Dot Corp (nom!), iHeartMedia, Evercore (nom!) boardsBrought on to iHeart board just 3 years after an exec there went on a racial slur rant, the company was sued for gender and wage discrimination, and a radio host of the companies were accused of severe harassment - not sure what will change?Dario Amodei“Public benefit corporation” Anthropic: Anthropic Prepares Supervoting Power for Founders as it Readies for Mega-IPOBoard: Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei (President, Dario's sister), Yasmin Razavi (VC, crypto and prediction market investor), Reed Hastings (Netflix), Chris Liddell (ex Trump WH Deputy Secretary), and Vas Narasimhan (Novartis) - zero “public benefit” (or even public safety) peoplePublic Benefit Corporation: “A benefit corporation's directors and officers operate the business with the same authority and behavior as in a traditional corporation, but are required to consider the impact of their decisions not only on shareholders but also on employees, customers, the community, and the local and global environment”What is the impact of supervoting shares? AI on society? AI on the environment? Who on this board is even remotely qualified to answer those questions?Paul AtkinsExhausting and perpetual gaslightingSEC says it will stop responding to no-action requests ‘entirely'In order to focus Division resources on the review of Securities Act and Exchange Act filings, including those reviews that are statutorily required, for the protection of investors and facilitation of capital formation, and in light of the extensive body of guidance from the Commission and the staff available to both companies and proponents on Rule 14a-8, the Division has determined to discontinue responding to Rule 14a-8 no-action requests entirely, including those submitted under Rule 14a-8(i)(1),[2] effective immediately, unless and until the Division announces otherwise. It also will no longer respond to notices filed under Rule 14a-8(j) with a letter indicating that it will not object if a company omits a proposal from its proxy materials.From the 1934 House Report about the importance of Rule 14a-8: “Fair corporate suffrage is an important right that should attach to every equity security bought on a public exchange.”“Managements of properties owned by the investing public should not be permitted to perpetuate themselves by the misuse of corporate proxies. Insiders having little or no substantial interest in the properties they manage have often retained their control without an adequate disclosure of their interest and without an adequate explanation of the management policies they intend to pursue. Insiders have at times solicited proxies without fairly informing the stockholders of the purposes for which the proxies are to be used and have used such proxies to take from the stockholders for their own selfish advantage valuable property rights. Inasmuch as only the exchanges make it possible for securities to be widely distributed among the investing public, it follows as a corollary that the use of the exchanges should involve a corresponding duty of according to shareholders fair suffrage. For this reason the proposed bill gives the . . . Commission power to control the conditions under which proxies may be solicited with a view to preventing the recurrence of abuses which have frustrated the free exercise of the voting rights of stockholders.Investors Slam SEC Plan to Remove Best-Price RuleAtkins also is listening to the crypto bros who want to offer “tokenized securities” off exchanges and is hoping to eliminate a really basic rule that says “investors are entitled to the best price available for stocks they buy”Separately, DOJ Withdraws Antitrust Guidance for Proxy Advisory Industry - no antitrust protections for ISS (good!) but still can't do anything about the socialist NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA (bad!)Headliniest of the WeekDR: Popular breakfast chain closes half its restaurantsDR: The man leading Trump's RTO charge for government workers says he filmed a video in front of a blank wall to avoid work-from-home suspicionOffice of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Scott Kupor, the key driver of President Donald Trump's return-to-office agenda, admitted in a hot mic moment that he intentionally filmed a video in front of a blank wall while he was working from home so he wouldn't get blowback over working at home.“I was in my bedroom, but I was trying to find—because I knew someone was going to give me shit if like, they knew, ‘You were out of the office.' …I was trying to find something that was not recognizable as being in my house, basically. So I was just trying to find a plain corner with a white wall, which was not that easy to find.”Kupor was the first employee hired by Andreessen and Horowitz's venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz.MM: Flock Says It's “Taking a Break” From Responding to Media RequestsMM: Eric Schmidt is selling his superyachtWho is this headline for? Billionaire yacht buyers? Poor people who hate billionaires with yachts?Who Won the Week?DR: The women at L3Harris Shared Concerns About CEO's Behavior Years Before OusterMM: Joshua Ramer, the CEO at PeopleReturn (one of the last vestiges of diversity data in the US), whose newsletter today did the most Free Float thing I've seen anyone other than us do: they tracked a single Getty Image across SIX different company reportsThe image was called 1325876463 “Young Boy Leaping Into Father Arms In Playground”, mostly for sustainability reports because it's brown peopleThey found it in Danaher, Crown Castle, TD, Capital One, CSL Plasma, and Toyota EuropePredictionsDR: The meritocro-mano-sphere-o hires Christopher Kubasik again without any push back from anything or anyoneMM: We decide that, since everyone is trying to make companies immune from climate change lawsuits, that we just make CEOs personally immune for any behavior

What does it take to build a profitable company for a decade without ever really needing the money you raised? According to Joshua Browder, it comes down to one trait he looks for in every founder he backs: grit.Josh is the founder and CEO of DoNotPay, the consumer platform he started the summer before he enrolled at Stanford to help friends fight parking tickets. Nearly ten years later, DoNotPay has helped millions of people appeal tickets, cancel subscriptions, and fight companies and the government - and it's profitable enough that it pays dividends back to its own investors and team. Along the way, Josh raised from Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund, took the Thiel Fellowship (leaving Stanford one class short of his degree), and built a reputation as one of the more unconventional operators in consumer tech.Today, Josh also runs Browder Capital, a solo-GP pre-seed fund now on its fourth vehicle and backed by institutions including Sequoia. His model is deliberately narrow: one founder at a time, often moved into his own spare bedroom, with full access to his network until they raise an institutional seed round - then he moves on to the next.Nick and Josh get into the early days of DoNotPay - jailbreaking iPhones, an unauthorized Pret A Manger app that nearly got him sued at 14, and the Huffington Post post that took the company from 10 users to 50,000 in a week - and how that scrappy, bootstrapped era shaped the way he runs the company today. They also dig into DoNotPay's ongoing arms race with robocallers and big companies, why Josh thinks grit beats IQ when evaluating founders, how he tests for it in real time, and why - even as a full-time investor - he'd tell almost anyone to start a company before starting a fund.Time Stamps[02:27] Josh Browder's Origin Story: From London to Stanford[04:08] Jailbreaking iPhones, Selling Apps, and the Pret A Manger Cease-and-Desist[06:32] Coding DoNotPay the Summer Before Stanford and Going Viral Overnight[10:08] Nonprofit or For-Profit? A Cold DM From Marc Andreessen[11:30] Inside the Thiel Fellowship: Money, Peers, and Community[14:21] Going Solo, Sitting on Cash, and Finding a Business Model[15:00] Bootstrapping Then vs. Today's Mega Seed Rounds[17:55] Profitable, Dividend-Paying, and Barely Touching Its Capital[18:28] The Consumer Growth Playbook: Organic, SEO, and GEO[19:59] The Arms Race With Big Companies: DoNotPay's Robocaller Trap Card[24:04] How Browder Capital Started and the Owner.com Bet That Beat the Best VCs[25:29] The Model: One Founder, One Spare Bedroom, at a Time[30:54] Why Grit Beats IQ – and How Josh Tests for It[34:57] The Rise of "Ideological Fraud" in the Age of AI Deep Research[35:32] Lessons From Four Funds: Zero Reserves and Going Institutional[37:16] How Operator-GPs Won Over Institutional LPs[39:32] Final Advice: Start the Company, Not the FundLinksConnect with the guest and hosts on LinkedIn!Joshua BrowderBeezer ClarksonNick ChirlsLearn more about:DoNotPayBrowder CapitalAsylum VenturesOpenLPDisclaimer:Opinions expressed by participants are their own and do not reflect the views of LGT Capital Partners, Asylum Ventures, DoNotPay, Browder Capital or its affiliates. The content does not take into account your specific investment objectives, financial situation, or needs, and is not intended as a recommendation, an offer, solicitation of an offer, public advertisement or recommendation to buy or sell any investment or other specific product. Information is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty is given as to accuracy or completeness, and it should not be relied upon. Alternative investments are speculative, involve complex instruments, and carry a high degree of risk. Investments and strategies discussed may fluctuate in value and may not be suitable for all investors. Listeners should make their own independent investment decisions. No funds are being discussed on this podcast.

Since portfolio companies often pivot and expand into competing markets, investors view occasional conflicts of interest as unavoidable for large VC firms. Also, Jane Street has installed Etched's first shipped AI cluster system, and was so impressed, it led another massive round, the startup says. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To listen to the full episode and get access to more bonus episodes, an ad-free listening experience, and my weekly newsletter, subscribe to my Patreon or Substack

Fortune reported that Khosla Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz backed a startup aiming to modernize mining to support AI infrastructure. The company is promoting a software-led approach to exploration and operations. The report did not disclose financial terms. The push reflects rising demand for materials used in data centers, chips, and power systems. Governments are offering incentives to expand critical mineral supply, while permitting and community engagement remain hurdles. Investors are blending venture equity with project finance and offtake structures. Founders are adapting procurement and design to manage upstream constraints on materials and power.Learn more on this news by visiting us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Justine Moore, partner at Andreessen Horowitz, joins New Economies to explore the rapid evolution of generative media and why AI-native content is reaching an inflection point. They discuss the rise of AI micro-dramas, how creators are building entirely new forms of entertainment, and why the biggest opportunities may lie not in replacing Hollywood—but in expanding who gets to create. They also cover the future of creator tools, AI agents for individuals, generative video, AI "slop," the economics of AI-native studios, and where founders should be building next as consumer AI enters a new phase.   Resources: Follow Justine Moore on X: https://x.com/venturetwins Watch the episode on YouTube: https://www.neweconomies.co/p/justine -moore-andreessen-horowitz Listen to more from New Economies: https://www.neweconomies.co/ Stay Updated:Find a16z on YouTube: YouTubeFind a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Show on SpotifyListen to the a16z Show on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 437 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Nick LaRovere, CEO & Co-Founder of Pryzm. It seems obvious that selling to the U.S. federal government is complex, especially if you aren't one of the traditional defense prime contractors… but it doesn't have to be that way. Pryzm is out to help companies level the playing field. As I was preparing for this podcast, I learned about things like “J-Books” – the massive justification documents that outline the federal spending budget. While this budget information is public, these documents are notoriously long, dense, and difficult to navigate. This seems like a logical use case for AI. But while many AI tools attempt to simply wrap public data to write proposals, Pryzm goes far deeper. Founded by a team of Colby alumni with backgrounds at Palantir and Lockheed Martin, Pryzm has built an AI-powered command center. The platform unifies market intelligence, relationship insights, and real-time program awareness into a single, actionable view, making it the operating system for federal capture and acquisition. The company recently closed a $12.2M seed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) through its American Dynamism fund, with participation from XYZ Venture Capital, Amplify.LA, and Forum Ventures. Armed with IL5 and FedRAMP High authorizations, Pryzm is actively modernizing the federal procurement industry. In this episode, we cover: 00:00 Introducing Nick LaRovere, CEO & Co-Founder of Pryzm 04:23 Advice for Building a Startup in the DefenceTech sector 08:55 Nick's Background, Early Influences, & Attending Colby 15:36 Getting his career started 20:06 Early Experiences, including Tesla and Palantir 26:48 Founding Prysm and Its Mission 33:42 Details on the Prysm Platform 36:50 Growth and Scaling of Prysm 40:47 Raising funding from Andreessen Horowitz 45:23 The Importance of Storytelling in Entrepreneurship 46:54 Future Growth and Hiring Plans 47:50 3 Essential Apps 50:25 Book / Podcast Recommendations for Entrepreneurs 52:28 Nick's Hobbies Outside of Work Podcast Sponsor: This podcast is brought to you by one of the strongest longtime supporters of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors and $44B in loans as of Q4 2025 – SVB delivers expert guidance, specialized products and a team that knows the innovation economy inside and out. Learn more at SVB.com.

We've heard time and time again about the burnt out tech employee who quits a stable job to chase the dream. This time we're exploring the reverse!Daniel "Tafo" Lee has lived more careers than I can count on two hands. JPL engineer, coach to Melee god Mang0, Yahoo Esports show host, CLG General Manager, the internet's Tetris teacher, Web3 economist, Andreessen Horowitz, and now, at 37, starting over in big tech. He's no stranger to the creator economy and his honest take on who should actually pursue it might save you five years of your life.In this ep, we talk about:→ how he coached a Melee god while working full time at NASA JPL→ the ultimatum from his wife that finally made him quit and move to Esports→ why 90% of streamers won't make it, and why minimum wage might be the better option→ betting on yourself at 37: relearning how to code from scratch in the AI era→ and how becoming a dad made him reevaluate the value of his timeThis episode is for anyone who's ever been told to follow their passion and quietly wondered if that advice is a trap. Tafo is proof that the real flex isn't dying on one hill but maybe knowing when to walk away towards the next one.→ Find Tafo:https://www.instagram.com/tafokintshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellee912https://x.com/tafokintsSubmit your Coworker Confessions

In this conversation, Anne Neuberger, former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology, currently General Partner and Head of Global Affairs at venture capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz, joins What's Your Number hosts Yael Wissner Levy and Yonatan Adiri to discuss how AI, cyber warfare, drones, and defense tech are reshaping geopolitics. As technology, commercial investment, and national security become increasingly intertwined, what will determine which countries, and which companies, thrive in this new era and how core values determine their use. ___ Subscribe here to: What's Your Number? ___ Call Me Back is made possible by our subscribers. If these conversations are where you turn to understand Israel and the Jewish world, consider joining them. It's what keeps this show going. Become a Subscriber - Inside Call me Back ____ In this episode: - The new ingredients of national power - Why supply chains became a national security issue - The AI debate between Washington and Silicon Valley - What Israel and Ukraine teach the world about defense tech - Is the U.S.-Israel alliance changing? - Can Israel withstand growing divestment pressure? - The next breakthroughs in AI and cyber - Personal lessons learned from history from the Holocaust to Entebbe  More Ark Media: Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings. Explore Israel Votes Listen to Ark News Daily Listen to For Heaven's Sake Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal Instagram | Ark Media | Dan X | Dan Dan Senor & Saul Singer's book, The Genius of Israel Get in touch Credits: Ilan Benatar, Ryan Lohr, Beth Pearlman, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

In this conversation, Anne Neuberger, former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology, currently General Partner and Head of Global Affairs at venture capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz, joins What's Your Number hosts Yael Wissner Levy and Yonatan Adiri to discuss how AI, cyber warfare, drones, and defense tech are reshaping geopolitics. As […]

This week on Sinica, a rare treat: an in-person recording from Beijing with two dear friends who happen to be two of the very best in the business on technology and China — Samm Sacks and Paul Triolo, fresh off the exhibition floor of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. We dig into Xi Jinping's first in-person WAIC appearance and his most extensive statement on AI to date, the launch of the World AI Cooperation Organization, Moonshot's release of Kimi K3, the Trump administration's reported push to shut Chinese open-weight models out of the U.S. market, the coming age of agents, the untranslatable problem of ānquán, and what to expect from the first U.S.-China AI dialogue in September.8:51 – The view from the floor: heat, humidity, robot boxing grandmas, WeChat-gated free water, and the "AI+" vibe — why WAIC 2026 felt less like an AI conference than a sector-by-sector snapshot of China's entire economy being supercharged with AI, with attendance swelling to some 200,000 tickets16:32 – Why Xi showed up: what the leader's first in-person WAIC appearance and his most extensive AI statement to date signal, and why domestic drivers matter as much as geopolitics18:01 – Chapter and verse: which phrases from the speech will be put to work in the system — "secure and orderly development" and the governance of agents, and Xi's strikingly extensive language on AI safety after China was frozen out of the Paris process22:26 – The ānquán problem: one word meaning both "safety" and "security," the three buckets of AI risk, and how China's safety community has moved from bias and deepfakes toward CBRN and loss-of-control concerns — Black Mirror versus Star Trek28:14 – Shanghai's baby: how WAIC's ownership structure differs from the CAC-run World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Chen Jining's very visible host duties, and whether the center of gravity in AI policy is shifting to the Yangtze River Delta30:05 – WAICO: what the new World AI Cooperation Organization with its 29 founding members is actually for, Xi's concrete deliverables for the Global South — 5,000 AI training slots, regional cooperation centers, the MAZU early-warning system — and healthy skepticism about follow-through34:39 – Kimi K3: what's technically significant in Moonshot's big new model, why it's the fourth arguably frontier-class Chinese release in a single month, the two-way traffic in distillation accusations, and what it all says about the state of the frontier gap four years into export controls40:33 – Washington reacts: the reported menu of options for shutting Chinese open-weight models out of the U.S. — entity listings, a draft executive order, supply-chain security authorities — and why none of the tools actually fit the problem49:36 – Strange bedfellows: David Sacks versus the "closed lab duopoly," the FUD strategy, why some 80% of Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies reportedly run on Chinese open models, and how gating U.S. frontier models while Chinese weights flow freely supercharges the AI sovereignty argument worldwide54:55 – The model is infrastructure, the agent is the product: the ByteDance–ZTE agentic phone, the CAC's new initiative on agent trust and interoperability, and why agents fused into operating systems upend both super-app walled gardens and China's data protection regime1:02:27 – An exegesis of kěkòng: the many meanings of "controllable," the long history of ānquán kěkòng in Chinese tech policy, and the unanswered question of who — CAC, NDRC, or somebody new — actually owns AI safety in either system1:08:54 – The road to September: what to expect from the first U.S.-China AI dialogue, why Mythos tops the Chinese grievance list, the securitization feedback loop that starves trust-and-safety advocates of resources on both sides, and why recursive self-improvement makes this feel like a last, best chancePaying It ForwardPaul nominates Tony Peng, whose Substack RecodeChinaAI offers sharp, well-written analysis of the application side of China's AI industry — part of an impressive new generation of independent China tech writers. Samm gives a shout-out to Professor Zhu Yue of Tongji University Law School, published in Science and doing pioneering work at the intersection of disability law and AI law.RecommendationsSamm: The Land and Its People by David Sedaris — laugh-out-loud funny, especially the "Enough is Enough" chapter; Transcription by Ben Lerner, a perfect small novel about fathers, sons, memory, and technology as enabler or disabler of connection; and Didion and Babitz, on Joan Didion and Eve Babitz and the 1970s California rock scene.Paul: The Party's Interests Come First by Joseph Torigian — dense but beautifully written, and essential for understanding the current Chinese leadership.Kaiser: A fiction-only summer! Stoner by John Williams, a small life told most grandly in some of the most beautiful sentence-level writing anywhere; Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, an epistolary novel dense with distilled wisdom from a dying Iowa minister; and Wang Xiaobo's The Golden Age (黄金时代) in Yan Yan's excellent new translation — bawdy, hilarious, and super Beijing-y despite its Cultural Revolution setting.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A.M. Edition for July 22. In a landmark agreement, President Trump okays a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia. WSJ's Laurence Norman explains why the commercial deal has nuclear proliferation experts concerned and could shift the balance of power in the Middle East. Plus, utilities pledge to limit increases in electricity bills caused by the data-center buildout. And in a real-life cybersecurity nightmare, OpenAI admits that a pair of its models escaped the lab and hacked into another company. Luke Vargas hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Story of the Week (DR):‘We faltered': IBM stock collapses after a grave warning about AI Customers are Prioritizing AI Hardware: While IBM mostly sells software nowadays, businesses are currently cutting back on their software budgets. Instead, they are rushing to spend their money on physical computer parts (like chips and servers) needed to build new Artificial Intelligence systems.Board skills/tenureFormer Intel CEO says the chipmaker went off the rails ‘when it started to be run by business people'The inside story of IBM's shocking profit warningXbox CEO Joins Fed AI Jobs Task Force Days After Announcing 3,200 LayoffsXbox CEO Asha Sharma, who previously worked in Microsoft's Core AI group before taking over Xbox, joins Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and Charles I. Jones, a Stanford University economics professor currently on leave at Anthropic.Productivity and Jobs task force, which will study the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including AI, as part of the central bank's approach to monetary policy.Marc Andreessen Says AI Is 'Already a Better Doctor Than 99.99% of Human Doctors'Jamie Dimon says he understands why people have grown 'anti-rich'Gallup CEO says colonizing Mars may be closer than fixing today's ‘broken' workplace—where disengagement levels are as high as 2020Elon Musk Says His Goal Is for SpaceX to Be Worth More than the Entire EarthThe U.S. Added 441,000 Millionaires Last Year, While the Typical American Got 20% PoorerJames Murdoch may have reaped as much as $7.5 billion from his pre-IPO investment in Elon Musk's SpaceXPalantir CEO Alex Karp Warns AI Could Become America's Biggest Driver of Wealth Inequality"You now have a revolution where, you know, I could become 20 times wealthier than I am now," he added. Karp said AI is creating a "complete decoupling" between ordinary economic gains and a small group of people accumulating "unimaginable wealth."The AI Backlash Has Tech Executives Fearing for Their Lives MMPeter Thiel and other tech billionaires are publicly shielding their children from the products that made them richAnthropic's New AI Ad Is So Disturbing, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Thought It Was SatireMeta Oversight Board study: AI chatbots may be the most perfect propaganda machine ever inventedA Majority of Americans Now Support Seizing Wealth From AI IndustryGoodliest of the Week (MM/DR):DR: New York bans data center construction for a year, rattling AI industry AND New York becomes first U.S. state to impose AI data center banMM: FREE FLOAT! MMMicrosoft's emissions rose 25% last year. Experts say they'll surge even more dramatically in the years aheadWe said FIVE YEARS AGO that MSFT board was one of the worst at managing carbon despite setting a net negative target at the timeWe were correctAssholiest of the Week (MM):It's not us, it's youxAI sued a Grok user for allegedly generating deepfakes of child sexual abuseIn the ultimate in tech bro manbaby id, Musk is blaming the USERS for his failure to stop child sex abuseLike a gun company suing a gun owner for using the gun used in murder - gun terms of service!Dimon urges calm over fear about AI's impact on jobs: 'Stop being breathless over it'AI isn't the problem, your breathless fear isRobotaxis Are Turning Passengers Into Horrible and Entitled Menaces to SocietyIt's not the service, it's the user… Meta CTO Says He'd Like to Sue Leakers, Then Audio From That Same Meeting LeaksIt's not what I said that's the problem, it's that you told someonePeter Thiel and other tech billionaires are publicly shielding their children from the products that made them richBut YOUR children should use them, obviouslyIt's the USER's fault now… unless, of course, it's a school - in which case the SCHOOL is to blame:84% of students use AI for homework. Only 3 in 10 schools have rules for itAccessWhite House teleprompter operator investigated over alleged trades on Trump speechesTrump Media to Sell Faster Access to President's Social PostsOpenAI Strikes Bold Deal With Kalshi to Mix Together the Most Hated Technologies in Existence: AI and Prediction MarketsDOJ Defends Musk's Unpermitted Gas Turbines, Saying Shutting Down Grok Threatens National SecurityElon Musk's $1 million offers to voters in Wisconsin election were probably illegal bribes, bipartisan panel rulesParamount Shareholder Sues Ellisons, Board For Alleged Side Deal, Promises To Donald TrumpMichael Dell has nailed his relationship with Donald Trump, and it's paying offMeritocracyPete Hegseth Announces Military Will Test Service Members' Testosterone Levels and Offer Hormone TherapyEveryone is a trans man!Is AI Rejecting Your CV Because of Your Age or Race? Landmark Lawsuit Could Reshape RecruitmentFor Black women hit by anti-DEI backlash, this election is personalAustralia's highest paid CEO makes 500 times the average salaryThe American E.V. Has Been Crushed. Will It Take the U.S. Auto Industry With It?WE WANT THE CARS. Just give us the Chinese ones nowJim Cramer on Meta: “Zuckerberg's Not a Bozo, You Can Quote Me on That”Paul Fucking Atkins and The War on John Cheveddan DR“Regardless of the fate of Rule 14a-8 next season and beyond, I implore all who have a role in the shareholder proposal process to not let it be weaponized by those who represent fringe interests. Annual meetings are not vehicles for political or social debates that have little or no bearing on investors' financial returns.”“This past season, one—yes, one—individual was the sole or lead proponent for approximately 41 percent of the shareholder proposals that were voted upon.[20] Of this individual's proposals, only eight percent received majority support.[21] Simply put, when a single shareholder can seize annual meetings to present scores of proposals on issues that are not generally supported by other shareholders, the system is woefully ineffective and in desperate need of reformation.”That individual is John CheveddanAtkins neglected to mention the rise of anti-ESG filers as a group, and their average of

In this episode of the Milk Road Show, we sit down with Colin McCune, Head of Government Affairs at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), to break down the latest developments in Washington, why the Clarity Act matters for Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, and crypto startups, and how U.S. regulation could shape the next phase of the bull market.~~~~~⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

July 15, 2026: Andreessen Horowitz's argues that AI is not simply replacing workers, it is turning every worker into a manager of agents. Then I get into Bank of America's claim that AI is already showing ROI in its earnings, and why I'm skeptical of how much of that efficiency gain can really be attributed to AI. Finally, I look at OpenAI's first physical device, a screen-free AI companion reportedly designed to feel alive, and why that matters for the future of work.

- Convey, founded by Rohan Chopra, builds AI "teammates" that automate repetitive and inhuman business tasks, allowing employees to focus on higher-value, strategic work. - The company has enabled over 1.1 million hours of enterprise work to be handled by AI, serving a range of customers from mid-market to large enterprises, including operationally intensive businesses. - Convey's approach emphasizes giving AI agents distinct identities within organizations, enabling collaboration, auditability, and clear ownership of tasks, rather than just acting as personal assistants. - The company recently raised $38 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with continued support from Khosla Ventures and Pear VC, bringing total funding to $42.5 million. - Rohan attributes Convey's success to a relentless focus on solving real customer problems, prioritizing durable revenue, and maintaining strong alignment with investors who share their long-term vision.

Flock cameras are all the new rage. We have finally forgotten or lost interest in smart meters, Stingray, Dirtbox, PRISM, etc. Flock Safety systems are being installed without consultation of the public, and sometimes reinstalled without permission from local authorities. Sometimes they're randomly placed. These cameras and sensors are supposed to keep communities safer, but what they ultimately do, even according to law-enforcement, is create a dragnet surveillance grid in local communities. They've already been used to fine and jail people for crimes that they did not commit. Perhaps the worst part, but not unlike Axonius, Palantir, Waze, ShieldAI, and so forth, is that the two primary investors are the Peter Thiel group and Andreessen Horowitz, a company directly rooted in Israel. Furthermore, resistance to these cameras being installed is being labeled terrorism. It's also not out of the realm of possibility that many of the cameras that have been cut down, have been removed by law-enforcement, community officials, or the company itself in order to paint the technology as a victim of ignorant and violent citizens.*The is the FREE archive, which includes advertisements. If you want an ad-free experience, subscribe below.

Justin Mares built Kettle & Fire into one of the best known bone broth brands in the country. Then he walked away from it to go after something a lot less exciting on paper: the red tape standing between Americans and the preventive health products that actually keep them well. His new company, Truemed, gives people a simple way to use money they already have set aside for health on things like workouts, better food, and sleep, instead of letting it sit unused or only get spent once they're already sick.Alisa Cohn, executive coach and author of From Start-up to Grown-up, sits down with Justin to talk about why he left a thriving consumer brand to go build something in one of the most regulated, paperwork heavy industries there is. You'll hear how he tests ideas before he feels ready, how he hires for real mission alignment, why he chose venture capital this time around after largely bootstrapping Kettle & Fire, and how he still wrestles with imposter syndrome four companies in.You'll learn:Justin Mares walked away from Kettle & Fire, one of the best known bone broth brands in the country, to go build Truemed instead.Launching an imperfect product, like Justin's ghost landing page for Kettle and Fire built on $500 of ads, beats waiting for a perfect one.Justin chose venture capital over bootstrapping Truemed after growing Kettle and Fire to hundreds of millions in revenue on less than $10 million raised.Hiring your first five to ten people purely for mission alignment shapes every hire that follows, including Truemed's best employee, who found the company through Justin's newsletter.Andreessen Horowitz brought Truemed access to founders and operators that a bootstrapped CEO could never reach cold, well beyond the capital itself.Justin still deals with imposter syndrome after twelve years and four companies, and uses a specific reframe to move from doubt into action.Justin believes startups are fundamentally momentum games, and wishes he had learned to trust his own judgment earlier in his career.We talk about:00:00 Justin Mares introduces Truemed and its preventive health mission00:29 Why Kettle and Fire exposed how expensive prevention really is02:37 The red tape problem hiding inside health savings accounts04:43 Why Justin pivoted from consumer products into fintech07:39 What Truemed tested before writing a line of code09:54 Why an ugly MVP still proved real customer demand14:21 How Truemed built its first team around mission alignment19:37 Why Justin chose venture capital over staying bootstrapped24:39 What Andreessen Horowitz brought beyond the check29:00 Why the MAHA movement matters for chronic disease39:38 How Justin worked through his hardest founder decisions43:57 What Justin wishes he had known earlier as a founderFollow Justin onLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinmares/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justin.mares Website: https://justinmares.com/ Connect with Alisa!Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohnTwitter: @alisacohnFacebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohnLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/Website: http://www.alisacohn.comDownload her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from Amazon

All links and images can be found on CISO Series This week's episode is hosted by David Spark, producer of CISO Series, and Andy Ellis, principal of Duha. Joining is Patti Degnan, operating partner, Andreessen Horowitz. In this episode: Identity built for one person at a time Patching can't outrun the exploit timeline The exception hiding inside zero trust A revenue question nobody's answered yet A huge thanks to our sponsor, ThreatLocker ThreatLocker delivers Zero Trust Network Access and Zero Trust Cloud Access that verifies both user and device before granting access to specific applications. No broad access, nothing exposed, and no reliance on credentials alone. It's a smarter way to control access and reduce risk. Learn more at ThreatLocker.com/CISO.

On this episode of Reaganism, Roger sits down with David Ulevitch of Andreessen Horowitz to discuss the firm's American Dynamism practice and its focus on investing in technologies that strengthen U.S. national security and industrial capacity. Their conversation explored how venture capital can help rebuild the defense industrial base through startups in autonomy, drones, missiles, energy, space, and manufacturing, while also emphasizing the importance of engagement in Washington, procurement reform, and public storytelling to accelerate adoption. David argued that production capability is itself a form of deterrence, and both guests highlighted how recent conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have underscored the need for faster, cheaper, more scalable defense innovation.

„Miałem wtedy 27 lat, gdy rozpocząłem tworzenie funduszu”. Co się dzieje, gdy zamiast podążać utartą ścieżką i kupować kolejne nieruchomości, rzucasz bezpieczny świat lokalnych biznesów i postanawiasz rzucić wyzwanie największym graczom na globalnym rynku venture capital?

Send us Fan MailDr. Muthu Alagappan is the Founder and CEO of Counsel Health, the company automating access to high-quality, personalized medical advice from doctors. Counsel recently closed a $25M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures, following an $11M seed round that included A16Z, Asymmetric Capital Partners, Floodgate Fund, and Pear VC.He holds an MD from Stanford Medicine and a B.S. in Biomechanical Engineering from Stanford, and was among the earliest AI researchers to publish on clinical applications of machine intelligence.In this episode, Muthu draws on 15 years at the intersection of AI research and frontline clinical medicine to explore the shift toward semi-autonomous care.In this conversation, we discuss:How AI addresses the limitations of traditional primary care by offering a highly personalized, knowledgeable, and always available medical experience.Why patients might leapfrog clinicians in their willingness to adopt AI for medical advice, and how this shift challenges the traditional identity of physicians.What semi-autonomous care actually looks like in practice, and how Counsel Health uses a clinician cockpit to augment human compassion with real-time machine intelligence.How to leverage population-level patterns without compromising patient privacy.Why the double standard applied to AI is misplaced, and why Muthu argues we should hold AI to a much higher benchmark than human doctors simply.What the future of global healthcare could look like when cognitive medical expertise is fully democratized, ensuring that a patient's zip code no longer dictates the quality of care they receive.Explore the Conversation00:00 Intro & AI Fun Fact: Big Data Limitations and Bias in Clinical AI03:52 Meet Dr. Muthu Alagappan: From Stanford AI Researcher to Counsel Health CEO06:51 Why Primary Care Falls Short: The Case for AI-Augmented Medicine09:05 Human Doctors Are Human: How Patients Are Adopting AI Medical Advice12:20 Patient Privacy and Population Health: Learning Without Training on Data14:17 Inside the Clinician Cockpit: Real-Time AI Support for Doctors16:17 Why Counsel Health Employs Its Own Physicians: Messaging-Based Care19:00 From Semi-Autonomous to Fully Autonomous Care: Healthcare's Next Era24:19 AI Ethics in Medicine: Safety Standards, Model Values, and Data Ownership27:22 The AI Double Standard: Why Machines Deserve a Higher Benchmark Than Doctors31:07 Founder Lessons: Building a Category-Defining Healthcare AI Company33:53 Rewriting the Commencement Address: Medicine as Lifelong Learning35:37 Where to Connect with Dr. Muthu Alagappan and Counsel HealthResourcesSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Muthu on LinkedInAI fun fact article: Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: The Ethical Frontier via ConexiantOn the future of AI, Silicon Valley and Venture Capital LIVE EVENT: See how leading enterprises are using agentic AI to give employees back 4–6 productive hours every week. Join PeopleReign CEO Dan Turchin for a live demo on June 25, 2026.Register here: https://go.peoplereign.io/live-demo-how-agentic-ai-is-being-used-by-global-enterprises

Un grand merci à Loop Capital, la référence mondiale de l'Infinite Banking Concept, de soutenir ce podcast. Découvrez comment reprendre le contrôle absolu de votre capital et bâtir votre souveraineté financière sur : https://loop-capital.co/À 15 ans, Brivaël Le Pogam gagnait entre 1 500 et 2 000 dollars par mois avec un jeu en ligne qu'il avait codé seul.Personne ne le sait.Aujourd'hui, il est co-fondateur et CTO d'Argil.ai — une start-up Y Combinator qui permet à n'importe qui de se cloner en vidéo grâce à l'IA, de parler dans n'importe quelle langue, sans studio, sans équipe, sans caméra.Mais ce qui m'a le plus frappé dans cette conversation, c'est pas la technologie.C'est comment il pense.Brivaël n'utilise pas l'IA comme un outil de délégation. Il l'a construite comme une extension de lui-même — des agents entraînés sur sa façon de raisonner, d'argumenter, de répondre. Sa bio sur X dit littéralement : "soit moi qui écrit, soit mes agents."Dans cet épisode de Débrouillard, il raconte tout :→ Comment il a reverse-engineeré la technologie deepfake vidéo avec une équipe de trois personnes→ Pourquoi Marc Andreessen a retweeté sa démo à 2h du matin — et ce que ça a changé→ Deux pivots douloureux, 70 000 inscrits brûlés, et comment il a trouvé le vrai founder-market fit→ Sa thèse sur l'IA : on est encore au stade de la CLI des années 70 — la vraie révolution n'a pas commencé→ La différence entre utiliser l'IA comme béquille et l'utiliser comme levier→ Pourquoi il pense que la prochaine génération de créateurs va produire le futur Star Wars depuis leur chambreUn épisode dense, technique, et résolument contre-courant.▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

En este episodio de El Brieff revisamos cómo la CNTE levantó el plantón pero seguirá a Sheinbaum en sus giras, Claudia Sheinbaum recibe a Ben Horowitz de Andreessen Horowitz y anuncia 37 empresas mixtas eléctricas, Ken Salazar revela que AMLO estaba preocupado por lo que "El Mayo" pueda decir, BMW invierte 2,000 millones para producir eléctricos en San Luis Potosí, las pausas de hidratación del Mundial generan 500-600 millones de dólares, Irán cerró Ormuz una semana después del acuerdo con EE.UU., Apple y Huawei crecen mientras el mercado de smartphones cae 8%, y Revolution Medicines no busca ser adquirida tras avances en cáncer de páncreas.Este episodio es traído a ti por STRTGY AI Enterprise: diseñamos sistemas inteligentes hechos a la medida para resolver retos reales de tu empresa, desde automatizar procesos y recuperar eficiencia hasta reducir errores, fugas y costos operativos. Si hoy tu operación te quita tiempo, margen o control, escríbenos a hola@strtgy.ai o llena el formulario en strtgy.ai para explorar cómo podemos ayudarte.Recibe gratis nuestro newsletter con las noticias más importantes del día.Si te interesa una mención en El Brieff, escríbenos a arturo@strtgy.ai Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SpaceX's $1.75 trillion IPO wasn't just a liquidity event for Elon Musk. It was the final step in a four-year bailout of the investors who backed his $44 billion Twitter acquisition. The SpaceX IPO closed an "amalgamation escalator" that converted depreciated Twitter equity into premium SpaceX stock, delivering a nearly 200% return to the private partners who'd been stuck holding the bag since 2022.This episode breaks down how the Twitter-to-SpaceX pipeline actually worked. The mechanics: Twitter merged with xAI in March 2025 at a $33 billion valuation, wiping out Twitter's standalone losses on paper. xAI then merged into SpaceX in February 2026. When SpaceX went public in June at $1.75 trillion, every original Twitter investor (the Saudi PIF, Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Larry Ellison, Jack Dorsey) ended up holding SpaceX Class A shares worth roughly triple what they'd paid for the original Twitter position.The financial mechanics are clean. The governance questions aren't. SpaceX's multi-class share structure gives Musk absolute voting control regardless of his economic stake. The xAI absorption diluted core SpaceX value (launch and Starlink) to subsidize an AI division that lost $14 billion last year. And the $1.75 trillion valuation depends partly on SpaceX's pivot to space-based AI data centers, a technical bet that analysts are openly skeptical about.The SpaceX IPO also lands in the middle of an AI capex cycle that's pricing in perfection. Anthropic just filed for an IPO at $965 billion. OpenAI filed at $852 billion. SpaceX bought Cursor for $60 billion days after going public. The "Muskonomy" thesis (cross-subsidizing underperforming ventures with star assets, then taking the bundle public) only works if public market investors keep paying premium multiples on operational losses.This episode covers how Twitter equity got laundered into SpaceX stock, why the Saudi PIF was the biggest winner of the SpaceX IPO, what Musk's dual-class share structure means for minority shareholders, and whether the "amalgamation escalator" model becomes the template for the next wave of private-market exits.Keywords: SpaceX IPO, Elon Musk Twitter, $1.75 trillion valuation, xAI merger, Musk Twitter bailout, SpaceX Class A shares, amalgamation escalator, Saudi PIF, Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Muskonomy, AI IPO 2026, dual-class shares, space data centers.

It's Hump Day on The Majority Report On today's program: JD Vance talks to Megyn Kelly why the whole Memorandum of Understanding has not been released, citing certain cultural sensitivities in the region without explaining what that means. The war hawks are not happy with the leaked sections of the Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Iran. Former Vice President Mike Pence says on CNN that the preliminary language "smacks of appeasement". Brian Kilmeade on Fox & Friends shares the same sentiment as Pence but he refuses to criticize the president, insisting to his audience that this is Vance's deal. Dylan Gyauch-Lewis, senior researcher at the Revolving Door Project, joins to talk about her piece in The American Prospect: "New Documents Detail Nine-Figure, Silicon Valley–Funded Abundance Movement." Gil Duran, publisher of the Nerd Reich newsletter, joins to discuss John O'Farrell a former partner at Andreessen Horowitz who recently quit the VC firm over their prioritizing of AI hype over the common good. You can preorder Gil's book "The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley's Fascism and the War on Democracy" here. In the Fun Half: As Trump's facilities sunset he is having a hard time keeping his inside thoughts inside. At the G7 conference in France, the president couldn't stop talking about world leaders in an erotic fashion. Trump swooned over India's PM Modi's stunning beauty and recounted the time he met Egyptian president el-Sisi in a hotel and fell deeply in love. Trump post another screed to Truth Social, announcing the cancelation of Jay Clayton's U.S Attorney nomination hearing today and the Bill Pulte will remain acting head of DNI. Trump's nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, Hal Duncan, recites the script and refuses to admit that Joe Biden won the 2020 election but of course freely acknowledges that Trump won the 2024 election. The GOP primary winner for senate in Georgia, Mike Collins, kicks off his campaign by attacking incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff for voting in support of trans rights, much to the ambivalence of the small audience. DSA backed candidate for mayor of Washington D.C., Janeese Lewis George appears to be headed for victory in the democratic primary. On June 11, Trump threatened to have a federal takeover of D.C. is she wins and evidentially that was the best thing to happen to George's campaign. All that and more. To connect and organize with your local ICE rapid response team visit ICERRT.com The Congress switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. You can use this number to connect with either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. Follow us on TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the AM Quickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase Check out today's sponsors: ROCKET MONEY: Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster: RocketMoney.com/MAJORITY RITUAL: Get 25% off during your first month. Visit ritual.com/MAJORITY. SUNSET LAKE CBD: Use coupon code "Left Is Best" (all one word) for 20% off of your entire order at SunsetLakeCBD.com Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech On Instagram: @MrBryanVokey Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on YouTube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.  

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars,” Oscar Wilde wrote in his 1892 play Lady Windermere's Fan. This week, Elon Musk managed — not for the first time — to be simultaneously in the stars and the gutter. SpaceX's IPO valued his rocket company at $2 trillion — making Musk, officially, a trillionaire, the richest person in the world by a very large margin. The space Musk — the defiant genius who bet everything on a reusable rocket and the promise of a cosmic monopoly — is astonishing. The Wall Street Journal called the IPO a Goldilocks debut with Musk starring as the three bears. But there is another Musk — the one in the gutter, promoting white nationalist violence from his platform on X. This week Musk not only stoked the anti-immigrant riots in Belfast but reiterated his support for the English white supremacist gangster Tommy Robinson. So is this another Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella? Keith Teare, publisher of That Was the Week, certainly thinks so. While Keith is in awe of Musk's entrepreneurial genius at SpaceX, he seems to excuse Musk's support for Tommy Robinson's paramilitarism. “I'm not even sure I like him,” Keith confesses in his musings on “civilisation.” Nor do the rest of us. But I wonder if this good/bad Elon narrative is too convenient. There is an uncomfortable symbiosis between Musk's journey to SpaceX and to white nationalist violence. For all the utopian cornucopia of space, our earthly reality is one of scarce land and fear of immigrants — Trump, Tommy Robinson, and this weekend's Swiss referendum on capping its population at 10 million. For all the Muskian promise of cosmic abundance, today's Muskian politics is paranoid and exclusionary. So maybe it's not just Elon. Everyone these days is simultaneously in the gutter and looking up at the stars. Five Takeaways •       SpaceX: From El Segundo Warehouse to $2 Trillion Juggernaut: SpaceX is 25 years old. It started in a warehouse near Los Angeles, in an area with a concentration of rocket scientists. Musk bet almost all of his Tesla gains on the idea of a reusable rocket — and nearly lost everything. Then a rocket worked. Since then: iterative improvement, the rockets getting bigger and more reliable, a virtual global monopoly on delivering payloads to space, Starlink (satellite internet that actually works at gigabit speeds), and NASA subcontracting its launches. Now: $2 trillion at IPO, Musk a trillionaire. Wall-to-wall applause from the startup world. Wall-to-wall pylon on social media. Both simultaneously true. •       The Grimace vs the Applause: Andrew vs Keith's Media Diet: Keith says most commentators are grimacing at the valuation and Musk's net worth. Andrew says the serious press — the Wall Street Journal, even the New York Times — is largely applauding. The exchange reveals the media bifurcation: mainstream outlets cover the achievement; social media — X, Facebook, LinkedIn — is wall-to-wall outrage about a trillionaire in a world of growing inequality. Keith's verdict on Musk: he doesn't care whether people like him. Neither, in Keith's view, should we. You judge him not on likability but on criteria: civilization or net worth. Different criteria, different judgment. •       California and Europe: The Failure of Government: Fareed Zakaria in the Washington Post: California is a case study in failed government. Andrew had Jonathan Weber on the show this week — City on the Edge, the historic dysfunctionality of San Francisco city government. Fukuyama is trying to be optimistic about Europe's liberal future. Keith's counter: Fukuyama ignores the structural problem — top-heavy EU bureaucracy that overrides countries, producing dislike of the EU in every European nation, even France, which built it. Populism, Keith argues, is not the disease. It's the symptom. The disease is twenty years of bad policy. •       Bernie Sanders Finally Had an Insight: The Sovereign Wealth Fund: Sanders has proposed a sovereign wealth fund owning 50% of all high-growth AI companies, giving every citizen ownership shares. Keith, who last week said 50% wasn't enough, this week credits it as the first genuine insight Sanders has had. The kicker: David Sacks — arch right-winger, former PayPal Mafia, Andreessen Horowitz — agreed on his podcast and said it should be 75%. Keith's observation: when David Sacks and Bernie Sanders can agree on the direction, left-right labels stop helping. The question is just how to make capitalism's gains flow to everyone. •       Planning Beats Complaint: Keith's editorial closer. The choice is not between liking Musk and hating Musk, not between celebrating SpaceX and resenting its valuation. The choice is between complaining and planning. John O'Farrell, former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, resigned and wrote an op-ed in the New York Times: “We can't let my former venture capital colleagues buy off democracy.” Gary Tan organised an Asian-American reaction against San Francisco's school board and won. Citizens who act beat citizens who complain. That's the week's lesson. That's Keith's lesson. Andrew is away next week. About the Guest Keith Teare is a British-American entrepreneur, investor, and publisher of the That Was the Week newsletter. He is a co-founder of TechCrunch and Andrew's regular TWTW co-host. References: •       That Was the Week by Keith Teare. •       Fareed Zakaria, “How California Became a Case Study in Failed Government,” Washington Post — referenced in the conversation. •       John O'Farrell, “We Can't Let My Former Venture Capital Colleagues Buy Off Democracy,” New York Times — referenced in the conversation. •       Francis Fukuyama on the liberal vision of Europe — referenced in the conversation. •       Episode 2938: Jonathan Weber on City on the Edge — referenced at the opening. About Keen On America Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States — hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 2,900 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting. WebsiteSubstackYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotify Chapters: (00:31) - Introduction: SpaceX IPO, ...

Exposing The Dark Money Machine Behind AI PropagandaSUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co     Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz I break down my investigation into a network of pro-AI and anti-AI meme accounts that I found were secretly being run and funded by OpenAI, Palantir, and Andreessen Horowitz's big $125M super PAC and dark money group. I reveal how these accounts operated, who is connected to them, why they promoted both sides of the AI debate, and how the organization at the center of the story confirmed key aspects of the reporting after publication.I talk about how a self-described “Meme Lord” named Jason Levin,  founder of Memelord Technologies was hired by the super PAC, Leading the Future, to create and run sock puppet accounts like “DoomersAreDumb” and “Jonathan Doomer” to attack AI critics, mock disabled people, post violent threats, and even pretend to be an anti-AI activist.OpenAI's president Greg Brockman donated millions to this campaign. OpenAI's head of strategy follows these meme accounts. And when confronted, Build American AI confirmed it all.Topics covered:AI propaganda and influence campaignsOpenAI and AI policy politicsDark money groups and Super PACsFake activist accountsAI-generated content networksMeme pages and online manipulationPolitical lobbying and artificial intelligenceSocial media influence operationsTech industry power and public opinion#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #TechNews #OpenAI #SiliconValley #MemeCulture #InvestigativeJournalism #InfluenceCampaign #AIDebate #TechPolicy #PowerUser

Benedict Evans is an independent analyst and former partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he spent years as their in-house “thinker” tracking the most important technology trends. For the past six years, he's been publishing deeply researched presentations on where tech is heading, most recently focused on AI's transformation of the economy. His work is read by founders, investors, and operators trying to make sense of a noisy field. His most controversial opinion: AI is as big a deal as the internet or mobile—and only as big.In our in-depth conversation, we discuss:1. Why we're in “1997” for AI—early, exciting, and deeply uncertain about what comes next2. Where value will actually accrue in the AI stack3. The anti-AI backlash, and where it may lead4. The surprising boom in consulting and professional services at AI companies5. Why distribution is becoming the ultimate moat as software gets easier to build6. Why the right question about your job isn't “What percent can AI do?” but “Is this a task or a job?”7. Why things will probably be okay—and what you need to do to prepare—Brought to you by:WorkOS—Make your app enterprise-ready, with SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more: https://workos.com/lennyVanta—Automate compliance, manage risk, and accelerate trust with AI: https://vanta.com/lenny—Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-rational-conversation-on-where—Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0—Where to find Benedict Evans:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benedictevans• Newsletter: https://www.ben-evans.com/newsletter• Website: https://www.ben-evans.com—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Benedict Evans(02:19) What people aren't pricing in about AI's impact(06:24) Why we're in the 1997 moment of AI(09:44) The unexpected boom in professional services and consultants(17:44) Why distribution is becoming the ultimate moat(23:17) The coming job transformation: what's real vs. panic(27:33) Why AGI definitions keep shifting(38:11) Where value will accrue: models vs. applications(42:55) Distribution wars: Google, Meta, Apple, and OpenAI(48:12) The anti-AI sentiment and backlash(53:11) How to raise kids in an AI future(58:27) What jobs to steer toward or away from(59:20) The question nobody's asking about AI(1:06:25) How to be successful in this coming future(1:08:43) AI corner(1:11:43) Lightning round—Referenced: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-rational-conversation-on-where—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

In episode 303 of Remarkable Retail, Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc deliver a sharp, fast-moving episode built around a single conviction from one of retail's most influential retailers: the future is people-led and tech-enabled. Chris Nicholas, former President & CEO of Sam's Club and now President & CEO of Walmart International — a global operation spanning 18 countries, 5,700 stores, and over 500,000 employees shares how humanity and technology are intertwined to drive growth. In this encore interview, Chris makes the case that retail innovation isn't about replacing people with technology. It's about using AI and digital tools to strip out friction, empower associates, and build better member experiences. Technology serves the human, not the other way around. Chris unpacks Sam's Club's nearly $90 billion membership-driven model and explains why the warehouse club sector keeps gaining momentum worldwide. He goes deep on the "club of the future" strategy — including the closely watched Grapevine, Texas location with computer vision-powered exits, Scan & Go checkout, AI-enabled shopping, and a radically redesigned store built around convenience, inspiration, and engagement. His core belief: consumers everywhere want the same things — value, convenience, innovation, and experiences that genuinely improve their lives. Before the interview, the hosts break down a blockbuster earnings week. Walmart posts another massive quarter, adding a staggering $18 billion in quarterly revenue while investing aggressively in price to hold share against inflation. Target delivers one of its strongest quarters in years, a sign its turnaround may finally be gaining traction. TJX proves resilient yet again as off-price rides the consumer "stampede to value." Home Depot and Lowe's, meanwhile, keep struggling in a sluggish housing and renovation market as higher rates squeeze big-ticket spending. The episode closes with Shein's surprising acquisition of Everlane — which Steve calls "where irony goes to die," given Everlane's brand built on radical transparency. Steve and Michael also dig into rising bond yields and the broader implications of AI legislation and the growing political clout of major technology investors like Andreessen Horowitz. Join us at the CommerceNext Growth Show in New York June 23rd and 24th with this exclusive discount code for 10% off general admission tickets and FREE retail tickets: Your code is "REMARKABLE" . See you in the Big Apple! About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2025 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.

Marc Andreessen is a co-founder and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, co-creator of the Mosaic internet browser and co-founder of Netscape, and author of “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto.”www.youtube.com/@a16zhttps://pmarca.substack.comhttps://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/www.a16z.com Perplexity: Download the app or ask Perplexity anything at https://pplx.ai/rogan. Great Coffee, Great Mission – Black Rifle Coffee is America's Coffee. Visit https://blackriflecoffee.com/joerogan today to get 30% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kara and Scott unpack what AI obsession is doing to relationships and young men. Then, they break down Trump's China summit, the crew of business executives he brought along, and ominous warnings from Xi Jinping about Taiwan. Plus, Sam Altman testifies in the Elon Musk–OpenAI trial, inflation surges, and Andreessen Horowitz becomes the biggest donor of the midterms. Also, Anthropic eyes a valuation higher than OpenAI's, and Google explores orbital data centers with SpaceX. Watch this episode on the ⁠⁠Pivot YouTube channel⁠⁠.Follow us on Instagram and Threads at ⁠⁠@pivotpodcastofficial⁠⁠.Follow us on Bluesky at ⁠⁠@pivotpod.bsky.social⁠⁠Follow us on TikTok at ⁠⁠@pivotpodcast⁠⁠.Send us your questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or email pivot@voxmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brett Adcock is a technology entrepreneur focused on building companies in robotics, artificial intelligence, and aerospace. Born and raised on a third-generation farm in central Illinois, he developed an early fascination with technology and building systems from the ground up. After attending the University of Florida, he set out to tackle ambitious, capital-intensive industries with the goal of reshaping transportation, labor, and human-machine collaboration. At 26, Adcock founded Vettery, an AI-powered talent marketplace that matched thousands of companies with highly qualified candidates. The company scaled rapidly and was acquired in 2018 for $110 million by The Adecco Group, the world's largest recruiting firm. In 2018, he founded Archer Aviation to develop electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft aimed at transforming urban air mobility. During his time leading the company, Adcock helped architect, engineer, and flight-test five generations of aircraft, vertically integrating key technologies including flight software, electric motors, actuation systems, and battery systems. Archer secured a $1.5 billion partnership with United Airlines and positioned itself at the forefront of next-generation aviation. In 2022, Adcock founded Figure, where he serves as Founder & CEO. Figure is building general-purpose humanoid robots designed to address global labor shortages and work alongside humans in manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, retail, and the home. Backed by leading investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, the company has raised billions in venture capital and is focused on deploying embodied AI systems at scale. He is also the founder of Cover (2023–present), an AI security company developing non-intrusive scanners in partnership with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The technology is designed to passively detect concealed weapons in crowded environments, with the goal of improving public safety without invasive screening. Follow the market: https://polymarket.com/event/ai-bubble-burst-by Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: SpotOn GPS Fence — trusted by Shawn Ryan for his dog Stanley. The most reliable GPS dog fence: 100% secure from backyard to backcountry with virtual boundaries you control from your phone. No wires, no digging. Sets up in minutes, any size, any shape, anywhere. Learn more: https://spotonfence.com/srs Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at https://shopify.com/srs Get 20% off Rho Nutrition Liposomal NAD+ for clean, sustained energy and sharper focus with code SRS at https://rhonutrition.com/discount/SRS risk-free 60-day money-back guarantee. If you're serious about selling to the Department of War, go to https://SBIRAdvisors.com and mention Shawn Ryan for your first month free. Brett Adcock Links: X - https://x.com/adcock_brett IG - https://www.instagram.com/brett_adcock WEB - https://www.brettadcock.com LI - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettadcock Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices