Podcasts about Founders Fund

How much would it take for you to tattoo a memecoin's name on your forehead? Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) tells us about the platform where crypto speculators pay strangers to do almost anything in service of pumping their coin's value: Pump.fun Go. But Taylor argues this is bigger than a weird internet rabbit hole — it’s a burgeoning ‘bounty economy,’ that’s quietly warping reality itself. Then: Sriram Krishnan, the Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence, is leaving the White House. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) explains his impact, what this means for the future of federal tech policy and who is jostling for influence in his place. Finally, Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) on the ‘show’-ification of everything. Even the tech industry is getting into the game, literally. The Founders Fund just bankrolled a slick YouTube series where tech billionaires like Sam Altman and Palmer Luckey play Mafia, the parlor game. It’s bizarre. So why does Silicon Valley keep trying to make content happen, and who is it actually for?Additional Reading: These 430 Viral Videos Are Being Preserved in a British Archive The Bounty Economy Is Breaking Reality - by Taylor Lorenz Top Trump artificial intelligence adviser to leave the White House Kareem Rahma and the Tyranny of Web Video Shows | The New Yorker Can Tech Legends Find the Liar? (Mafia Episode 1) Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/techstuff See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SpaceX startet mit einem ordentlichen Pop in den Handel. Tausende Mitarbeiter werden zu Millionären, Founders Fund und Andreessen Horowitz vermelden Rekord-Returns. Anthropic launcht Fable 5 und das Mythos-Modell für Testpartner. OpenAI plant laut Wall Street Journal drastische Preissenkungen für den User-Krieg mit Anthropic. China plant $300 Mrd. für nationalen KI-Ausbau über fünf Jahre. Xiaomi MiMo Code schlägt Claude Code in den gängigen Benchmarks. OpenAI übernimmt das Kieler Startup ONA, Mistral kauft das Linzer Emmi AI für eine Industrie-KI-Plattform und verhandelt selbst eine $20-Mrd.-Bewertung. Dario Amodei mit neuem Essay zur AI-Exponential-Politik. Oracle Earnings, Prometheus von Jeff Bezos bei $41 Mrd. Die Trump-Familie hat $2,3 Mrd. mit Krypto eingestrichen. Palantir verliert vor dem Zürcher Handelsgericht gegen die Zeitschrift Republik. Neura Robotics raised $1,4 Mrd. mit Tether als Lead. Landgericht München: Google haftet für seine AI-Overviews.  Unterstütze unseren Podcast und entdecke die Angebote unserer Werbepartner auf ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠doppelgaenger.io/werbung⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Vielen Dank!  Philipp Glöckler und Philipp Klöckner sprechen heute über: (00:00:00) SpaceX-IPO (00:08:04) Mitarbeiter-Millionäre (00:11:51) OpenAI/Anthropic-IPO-Outlook (00:15:31) Elon-Puppe vor der Nasdaq (00:16:13) Anthropic Fable 5 & Mythos 5 (00:19:54) OpenAI Preiskrieg (00:27:27) Token-Wert pro Abo (00:30:30) Messi für ChatGPT (00:34:48) China $300 Mrd. KI-Plan (00:37:31) Xiaomi MiMo Code (00:39:46) OpenAI kauft ONA (00:42:54) Anthropic: AI Exponential Policy (00:46:53) Oracle Earnings (00:48:07) Mistral kauft Emmi AI (00:49:08) Prometheus von Bezos (00:50:48) Trump Phone (00:51:22) Waymo Premier (00:55:40) Google Trade-Worker (00:57:08) Anthropic Claude Corps (00:58:37) Trump-Krypto-Scam (00:59:35) The Platform Group (01:03:48) Palantir vs. Republik (01:05:48) Mistral $20 Mrd. Runde (01:07:07) Neura Robotics Series C (01:10:47) NYT: China und Robotik (01:13:19) Google haftet für AI-Overviews Shownotes SpaceX-IPO zieht $70 Mrd. an Retail-Orders - bloomberg.com Founders Fund + Andreessen: Rekord-Returns aus SpaceX-IPO - bloomberg.com SpaceX Proteste - xcancel.com Anthropic launcht Claude Fable 5 & Mythos 5 - wired.com OpenAI plant drastische Preissenkungen für User-Krieg mit Anthropic - wsj.com Bitte manuell prüfen (petergostev-Post) - xcancel.com SemiAnalysis - xcancel.com China plant $295 Mrd. für nationalen KI-Ausbau - bloomberg.com ONA: Kieler KI-Startup raised - linkedin.com Anthropic: Policy on the AI Exponential - anthropic.com Oracle Q4 Earnings - cnbc.com Mistral übernimmt Emmi AI für Industrie-KI-Plattform - handelsblatt.com Prometheus: Bezos' Industrial-AI-Startup - axios.com Teardown: Trump Phone ist HTC U24 Pro in Gold - de.ifixit.com Waymo launcht Loyalty-Programm mit 10% Cashback - techcrunch.com Google launcht Trade-Worker-Initiative für KI - axios.com Daniela Amodei startet Anthropics Claude Corps - apnews.com Xiaomi MiMo Code schlägt Claude Code bei 200-Step-Tasks - venturebeat.com Trump-Crypto-Playbook: Family wins, Investors don't - reuters.com The Platform Group - manager-magazin.de Einstweilige Verfügung: The Platform Group vs. Manager Magazin - lhr-law.de Palantir - ft.com Mistral verhandelt $20 Mrd. Bewertung - bloomberg.com Bitte manuell prüfen (dreger-Post) - linkedin.com Neura Robotics schließt Rekord-Series-C - neura-robotics.com Chinas Humanoid-Robot-Schub - nytimes.com Deutsches Gericht: Google haftbar für AI-Overviews - thenextweb.com

ESG StuffBP removes chairman Albert Manifold over governance issues 9The board said the decision was unanimous. In a statement, Amanda Blanc, BP's senior independent director, described the board as having been caught off guard by what it found: "The board has been surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action."The company did not elaborate on the specific nature of the concerns.Ian Tyler has been named interim chair, BP said, with the board set to begin a formal process to identify a permanent successor: "The Board and leadership team have deep conviction in the strategic direction we have laid out, and the company is moving at pace to deliver it."Manifold took up the chairmanship just last October. At last month's annual general meeting, just 81.8% of shareholders backed his electionAmong the most consequential decisions of Manifold's short tenure: pushing out former CEO Murray Auchincloss and overseeing the selection of Meg O'Neill to succeed him — a hire that marked the first time BP had recruited an external CEO and the first time a woman had led one of the oil industry's largest players.Tulsi Gabbard Exit Marks Fourth Woman to Leave Trump Cabinet 0Apology TourBank boss sorry after describing workers as 'lower value human capital' 7Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters triggered a massive PR firestorm by describing the bank's plan to replace back-office staff with automation as replacing "lower-value human capital" with financial investmentStandard Chartered is cutting roughly 7,800 jobs—representing about 15% of its global back-office corporate support roles—over the next four years to make room for AIAfter internal anger and blistering public criticism, Winters posted a formal apology for his "choice of words." However, he initially fueled the fire by attaching the full interview transcript to justify his broader context, drawing further criticism for being defensiveIn his first attempt to quiet the storm, Winters leaned heavily into the corporate strategy rather than apologizing for the specific phrasing: "I said that lower-value roles are more vulnerable to automation, and that we have a responsibility to help colleagues move into higher-value roles. That is what a responsible employer should do. We will continue to speak honestly about the impact of technological change, and we will continue to act responsibly in helping our people to adapt and succeed."After a barrage of negative comments on his first post, Winters returned to LinkedIn later that day to offer an explicit apology for his phrasing: "I have received a lot of support for the messages in my previous post but still get questions about my choice of words, which I know has caused upset to some colleagues. For that I am sorry.""I think the transcript makes it clear that I value our colleagues – all of them – most highly and that we are totally committed to helping them to cope with the accelerating pace of change in our industry."JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon says bank chief's viral AI comment was 'inartful' Dimon downplayed the viral backlash against Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters—who drew fire for saying his bank would replace "lower-value human capital" with technology—calling it an "inartful" slip-of-the-tongue from a friend.Neopbabies and Dropout babiesJames Murdoch to acquire New York Magazine and Vox Media Podcast Network -1Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn't exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go' 6Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow justified firing his entire Human Resources department by claiming they actively manufactured internal frictionThe aggressive purge follows a brutal 97% collapse in Bolt's valuation—crashing from an $11 billion peak in 2022 down to $300 millionTraditional HR has been entirely swapped for a skeletal "people operations" team, shifting the focus away from employee complaints and internal processes toward basic compliance training and empowering managers to make split-second decisionsAlongside gutting HR, Breslow rolled back employee-friendly benefits like four-day workweeks and unlimited PTO, claiming a culture of complacency had taken over and that 99% of his legacy workforce was simply unwilling to work hardRyan dropped out of Stanford in 2014 to launch BoltThe Middle School Boy Man Babies Rule the WorldMan Drives Cybertruck Into Lake to Test Elon Musk's “Boat” Claims, and It Went About as Well as You'd Guess -10"The passengers abandoned the vehicle and the driver was arrested."Tesla CEO Elon Musk:randomly tweeted that the vehicle would function as a rudimentary flotation device.“It will even float for a while.”“[The vehicle would be able to] traverse at least 100m [330 feet] of water as a boat.”“Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes and even seas that aren't too choppy.”Jeff Bezos urges US government to stop taxing 50% of America — and claims doubling his taxes won't help ‘that teacher in Queens' 400Jeff Bezos backs Mamdani's tax on luxury second homes, but says Ken Griffin isn't the villainJeff Bezos on Zohran Mamdani's big mistake: ‘When you don't know how to solve a problem, create a villain, blame them'Jeff Bezos says there is ‘no truth' to the ‘buy borrow die' tax strategyBillionaires Openly Use It: Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has historically pledged over $30 billion worth of his Oracle stock as collateral for personal bank loans. Elon Musk has similarly pledged tens of billions of dollars in Tesla shares to secure lines of credit over the yearsHe said he was "skeptical that that's a true loophole," but added, "If it is, and we can fix it, then we should. I don't think such a loophole should exist."Jeff Bezos Praises Trump's Second Term as ‘More Mature' Jeff Bezos Says AI Will 'Elevate' Workers — Despite Amazon's 30,000 Job Cuts Amid $100 Billion AI PushElon Musk compares his company's work to that of Jesus 0In an interview on Monday, the billionaire said his Neuralink brain-implant company is progressing in its development of ‘Jesus-like technologies'Although brain-computer interface (BCI) as a concept has been around since at least the 1970s, the push to commercialize the technology is more recent. According to data from market-intelligence firm Tracxn, more than 130 BCI startups have been launched since 2016.Why Is Mark Zuckerberg Taunting His Employees Before Firing Them? 20Back in April, Meta announced it was laying off 10 percent of its workforce, or around some 7,800 workers. Unlike traditional layoffs, which are enacted relatively quickly, Meta gave its employees a nearly month-long warning period without announcing who exactly would be headed for the unemployment line.In newly leaked audio from an all-hands meeting at Meta, released by More Perfect Union, the Meta CEO seems to actually be taunting the thousands of workers who were about to be let go by pointing to how the company was harvesting employee data to train its in-house AI models ahead of the massive layoffs.“So we're in a phase where basically the AI models learn from heaving real, from watching really smart people do things. And if you're trying to get it to be able to be able to do certain capabilities, having [AI] be able to observe really smart people doing those things is, is very important.”Going on, Zuckerberg explained that it was better to train AI on soon-to-be-former Meta employees, rather than “contract companies.”“In general, the average intelligence of the people who are at this company is significantly higher than the average set of people that you can get to do tasks if you're working through… contractors,” Zuckerberg stammered. “So if we're trying to teach the models coding, for example, then having people internally, um, build tools that, or, or solve tasks that, um, that help teach the model how to code, we think is going to dramatically increase our models coding ability faster than what others in the industry have the capability to do.”Intuit to Cut 17% of Staff, Invest in ‘Big Bets' 3The restructuring cost is estimated at about $300 million to $340 millionAbout 3,100 employees: and invest the savings in “big bets” as it makes artificial intelligence a centerpiece of its business.Woke WarsTexas AG Sues ISS Over ESG Considerations 0Texas AG Ken Paxton (in a senate race) is suing ISS for allegedly “misleading” customers by pushing “radical political agendas” through its proxy adviceNotably, ISS has attempted to obstruct ExxonMobil's planned reincorporation from New Jersey to Texas“ISS has enormous influence over how billions of dollars are invested and managed across this country, and they have abused that influence in order to push woke ideology”Iowa AG Brenna Bird sues ISS, says advice risks retirement savingsIowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is suing the world's largest proxy-advice firm for abusing its influence and threatening Iowans' retirement savings by "lying" to investors.Stakeholders Rule!Wells Fargo must pay $100M to help homebuyers after discrimination lawsuit — 51 cities are eligible 7The settlement, which was recently approved by a federal judge in California, comes after four years of legal disputes involving Wells Fargo shareholders, former employees and job applicants who accused the bank of systemic problems in both lending and hiring practices.While Wells Fargo denied wrongdoing, the company agreed to the deal to avoid prolonged litigation and mounting legal costs.The case centered on allegations that Wells Fargo's board failed to maintain adequate oversight of the bank's mortgage lending operations, exposing the company to regulatory scrutiny and accusations of discriminatory practices.According to reporting from Realtor.com, plaintiffs accused the bank of “widespread and systematic discrimination in lending” and cited concerns over lending algorithms and refinancing approval patterns.The lawsuit stated that Wells Fargo was allegedly the only major lender in 2020 to reject more refinancing applications from Black homeowners than it approved.Airbus, Air France Hit With Manslaughter Charges Over Pilot Training Failures in Deadly 2009 Flight 447 Crash 1A Paris appeals court delivered a dramatic verdict in one of the longest-running and most complex legal sagas in aviation history. The court overturned a 2023 acquittal and found both Airbus and Air France guilty of corporate manslaughter for the tragic 2009 crash of Flight AF447.The ruling marks a massive victory for the victims' families after a 17-year legal battle. A lower court had previously cleared the European planemaker and the French airline in 2023, ruling that while errors were made, a direct causal link to the crash couldn't be proven. The appeals court completely rejected that logic, declaring the companies "solely and entirely responsible" for the disaster.Ride-Share Drivers in Massachusetts Formally Unionize 100The App Drivers Union said it was the first organization in the country to be formally certified to represent drivers for apps such as Uber and Lyft.In a news release, the organization, the App Drivers Union, said it would represent nearly 70,000 workers in Massachusetts who now have the power to collectively bargain.MATTA very special “who do we blame for SpaceX IPO governance” gameFirst, some S-1 highlights:“Starlink internet is what's being used to pay for humanity getting to Mars.” - MuskTranslation: We don't care much about Starlink, it's just paying our AI billsHe's not kidding: $3.2bn revenue for Starlink, net income of $1.2m$0.6bn revenue for rocket ship, net income of -$0.6bn$0.8bn revenue for AI, net income of -$2.5bnThis isn't a space company - it's classic Musk - you buy the vision (“To build the systems and technologies necessary to make life multiplanetary, to understand the true nature of the universe, and to extend the light of consciousness to the stars.”), but what you're really buying is an internet company that spends all its money on AI and does some rockets on the sideLet someone else invent the car (Tesla) and make them sexy with “big visions” for “humanity”Let someone else invent the rockets, build new ones using someone else's moneyLet someone else invent the satellites, put a whole bunch in space (and buy more satellites from someone else)Musk initially took the role of “Chief Engineer”, but every engineering task seems to have been the other employees - he supplied the moneyShoehorned AI into space exploration because…?Grok is designed as a truth-seeking AI model, built on our founder Elon Musk's mission to enable humanity to understand the universe. We believe that accomplishing this mission requires a truth-seeking approach to AI. We define truth seeking as the active, relentless pursuit of what is objectively true about reality, and grounded in evidence, logic, empirical data, and first principles thinking.AI's ability to revolutionize human potential is directly dependent on meeting exponentially increasing resource demands.We now must go to space to get more resources for AI so we can get to spaceNow the governance who do you blame gameMusk will get:85% voting power (dual class, he owns 94% of Class B 10 vote shares and 12% of Class A shares)The ability to nominate and vote exclusively on >50% of the boardA board which currently includes..TWO execs - Gwynne Shotwell (President) and Musk (three titles)Tesla mafia: Ira Ehreinpreis, Tesla board sycophant, director at the Boring Company and xAI, and longtime Musk hanger on, added Feb 2026Antonio Gracias, ex Tesla director who was explicitly called out in the Tornetta decision as corrupted, cross party transactions with Musk, on boards of Neuralink and Boring Company, added Oct 2010TWO VC bros from DFJ - Randy Glein (SpaceX board observer for 16 years, directors since Feb 2026) and Steve Jurvestson (former Tesla director, director since March 2009) who was ousted from the VC firm with his name on it for sexual harassmentPaypal mafia:Luke Nosek, co founder of PayPal, one of the founders of Founders Fund with Thiel and Ken Howery, invested in DeepMind, director since July 2008Donald Harrison - managed Google purchase of DeepMind, relationship with Nosek, director since Feb 2015Director relationship tenures to Musk: Shotwell: 24 yearsEhreinpreis: 21 yearsGracias: 21 yearsJurvetson: 17 yearsGlein: 16 yearsNosek: 26 yearsHarrison: 11 years (+1 if Nosek/Deepmind connection counts)Texas jurisdiction exclusively (judge shopped) - 3% to sue them, mandatory arbitration, anti-takeover statutes, special meetings ONLY CALLED BY MUSK (no one less than 50% of stock can call a meeting or vote)No written consent - no prior noticeAdvance notice bylaws for the zero shareholder proposals allowedFull omission of board liability - including a provision that automatically allows whatever the conflicts of interest they want with directorsWHO (WHEN) DO YOU BLAME?The US GovernmentDepartment of Energy - in 2010, the DoE gave Tesla a $465m loan, which basically paid for the Model S and helped it buy a factory 6 months before it went public - Musk has said Tesla would not have survived without the loanNevada - in 2014, Nevada gave Musk $1.3bn to build a factory, the most everNASA - spent more than $15bn over years on SpaceX and programs with themThe IRS/Congress - the EV tax credit for $7,500 single handedly pushed Tesla from losing money in 2020 to making money (they effectively got $1.6bn from the US government in 2020), and showing its first profit, which sparked the memefest during COVID and made Musk the richest man on earth - Musk then went on and called for an end to the tax credit since his “competitors” needed it more than Tesla. Tesla made ~$11bn from tax credits aloneThe DoD - started paying SpaceX in 2003 for concept work - and even when the rockets didn't work, the DoD and NASA awarded the company massive contracts anywayJeff Bezos said in 2016 that, “Elon's real superpower is getting government money.”FOMOSpaceX LOSES MONEY - it does not make moneyIf it were a satellite internet company - and NOT THE FIRST - the first was HughesNet in 1996, and Viasat offered it in 2012 - it would make money ($1.2m in income!)Instead, investors are valuing SpaceX as THE LARGEST IPO IN THE HISTORY OF EVER despite the fact that they are burning money on AI, and arguably the worst AIIncluding spending the most on R&D, marketing, and acquisition of Cursor to make up for the fact that Grok suckedIn exchange for FOMO, investors have ENTIRELY GIVEN UP THEIR RIGHTSIt is 100% a private companyTornettaIf Tornetta hadn't sued for Musk's pay, would SpaceX be structured this way?The banks underwriting the dealWho AGREED TO BUY GROK as a term of getting the underwriting, because everyone bends the knee to moneyThe boardI guess

Founder quality becomes more important as startups become easier to build.Trae Stephens, co-founder of Anduril and partner at Founders Fund, has spent years backing founders with strong conviction, including most recently at Roadrunner.He shares why too much capital too early can hurt startups, and why the best companies are built by teams with complementary strengths.Guest: Trae Stephens, co-founder, Anduril and Partner, Founders FundConnect with Trae StephensXLinkedInConnect with Joubin:XLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comFollow Grit on LinkedInFollow Grit on X​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Top Down Ventures closes C$38M Founders Fund I: Top Down Ventures has announced the final close of its Founders Fund I at $38 million Canadian, oversubscribed against its original target. According to the firm, this is the first institutional fund focused exclusively on early-stage software and AI for the MSP ecosystem, backed by more than 100 MSP operators including Pax8. The fund’s first exit – zofiQ to ConnectWise – returned 5.3x the invested capital in roughly six months. Canada now second globally for ransomware, Fortinet reports: New data from Fortinet‘s 2026 Global Threat Landscape Report and its companion 2026 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report show Canada has moved from third to second globally for ransomware attacks, with 374 organizations extorted and 17 billion total cyberattacks recorded in 2025. According to Fortinet, AI-accelerated threats are compressing time-to-exploit by two to four times, while 47 percent of Canadian IT leaders cite a cybersecurity skills shortage as a top cause of breaches. Barracuda: one in three emails now malicious or spam: Barracuda‘s 2026 Email Threats Report, based on analysis of 3.1 billion emails, finds that 48 percent of malicious email activity is phishing, 34 percent of organizations experience account takeover at least monthly, and 70 percent of malicious PDFs now hide phishing links inside QR codes. According to Barracuda, attackers are shifting toward stealthier, trust-based tactics designed to bypass traditional filters, creating growing demand for layered email protection and automated response. Calian completes Computex acquisition: Ottawa-based Calian Group has officially completed its acquisition of U.S. managed service provider Computex. The deal expands Calian’s American IT services footprint and adds to its cybersecurity capabilities. Crogl begins private rollout of AI SOC platform: Crogl has initiated a private rollout of its new AI-powered SOC platform, positioning it to help service providers automate threat response and reduce alert fatigue for lean security teams. Pax8 and NinjaOne announce MSP partnership: Pax8 and NinjaOne have announced a partnership starting as a referral motion, giving MSPs a path to RMM and unified IT operations tools while the companies work toward future marketplace integration. TD SYNNEX secures reserved NVIDIA GPU access for MSPs: TD SYNNEX has arranged reserved NVIDIA GPU capacity for channel partners through a deal with Nebius AI Cloud, giving MSPs a route to AI infrastructure services without buying hardware or competing with hyperscalers for supply. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Tuesday, May 12, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Top Down Ventures has announced the final close of its Founders Fund I, pulling in 38 million Canadian dollars and oversubscribing its original target. According to the firm, this is the first institutional fund focused exclusively on early-stage software and artificial intelligence for the managed service provider ecosystem, which it values as a roughly 1 trillion dollar global IT services category. The fund is backed by a limited partner base of more than 100 MSP operators, including distribution giant Pax8. Top Down noted that closing the fund in the current economic environment was a challenge, but the oversubscription signals clear institutional interest in the MSP software space. The firm also pointed to its first exit as a proof point – zofiQ, an agentic AI platform for MSP service desks, was acquired by ConnectWise just six months after Top Down’s initial investment, returning 5.3 times the invested capital. Having dedicated institutional capital purpose-built for the ecosystem means the next generation of MSP tooling gets funded by people who actually understand the problem. For solution providers thinking about where the platform wars are heading over the next five years, this fund is part of that story. New data released yesterday by Fortinet paints a stark picture of Canada’s position in the global threat landscape. According to the company’s 2026 Global Threat Landscape Report and its companion 2026 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report, Canada has moved from third to second globally in ransomware attacks, with 374 Canadian organizations extorted last year. Total cyberattacks against Canadian targets surged to 17 billion in 2025, up from 13.7 billion the year before. Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs says the time-to-exploit for critical vulnerabilities is now running two to four times faster than it was, driven by threat actors deploying agentic AI to accelerate reconnaissance and execution. The skills picture compounds the problem: 47 percent of Canadian IT leaders cited a lack of cybersecurity talent as a top cause of breaches, and 49 percent say they struggle to hire staff with specific AI security experience. That combination – faster attacks, a shrinking talent pool – is exactly the kind of environment where a strong MSP security practice becomes a business necessity for SMB clients, not a nice-to-have. Derek Manky, chief security strategist and global vice president of threat intelligence at FortiGuard Labs, called it an “industrialized defense” challenge. New research from Barracuda released this morning adds another dimension to the threat picture. Based on an analysis of 3.1 billion emails, the company’s 2026 Email Threats Report finds that one in three emails is now malicious or unwanted spam. According to Barracuda, 48 percent of malicious email activity is phishing, 34 percent of organizations experience account takeover at least once per month, and 90 percent of high-volume phishing campaigns now use phishing-as-a-service kits. Perhaps most notable for the managed services conversation: 70 percent of malicious PDFs now hide phishing links inside QR codes, a tactic specifically designed to bypass traditional email filters. Barracuda positions the core finding as a shift in attacker strategy – away from noisy malware and toward stealthier, trust-based techniques that use compromised accounts and familiar file formats to slip past defenses. The report identifies growing demand for layered email and identity protection combined with automated response, which points directly to an opportunity for service providers helping customers with lean IT teams who are already stretched managing alert volume. In Brief – Calian Group has completed its acquisition of U.S. managed service provider Computex, expanding the Ottawa-based firm’s American footprint and cybersecurity capabilities. Crogl has begun a private rollout of its AI-powered SOC platform, positioning it to help service providers automate threat response and cut alert fatigue. Pax8 and NinjaOne have announced a partnership starting as a referral motion, giving MSPs a path to RMM and unified IT operations tools while the companies work toward future marketplace integration. TD SYNNEX has given MSPs reserved access to NVIDIA GPU capacity through a deal with Nebius AI Cloud, letting channel partners deliver AI infrastructure services without buying hardware or competing with hyperscalers for GPU supply. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, I sit down with Joel Abramson, managing partner at Top Down Ventures, to go deeper on the Founders Fund close – the LP flywheel strategy, the zofiQ exit, and what it means for the companies building the next generation of MSP software. And if you missed it yesterday, check out my conversation with Steven Kiss, partner and national ServiceNow practice leader at EY Canada, on what building Canada’s first ServiceNow elite partner teaches you about what is coming next in the agentic enterprise. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Joel Abramson, managing partner at Top Down Ventures Today’s In The Channel episode lands on the same morning that Vancouver-based Top Down Ventures announces the close of Founders Fund I at C$38 million – oversubscribed against an original target of US$25 million, and positioned as the first institutional venture fund focused exclusively on early-stage software and AI for the managed service provider ecosystem. Managing partner Joel Abramson joined the show to walk through the fund’s thesis and what it means for the channel. Abramson co-founded and led Fully Managed through more than a dozen acquisitions before its $137 million acquisition by Telus Business Solutions in 2021. He joins general partners Chris Day (founder of IT Glue and ScalePad) and Mark Scott (founder of N-able) at Top Down – three operators who between them have spent about 75 years building and scaling companies inside the MSP ecosystem. The fund’s first exit – zofiQ to ConnectWise, which closed in January 2026 – returned 5.3 times the invested capital in roughly six months. Abramson describes it as a case study in what Top Down looks for: founders solving singular problems with exceptional depth, validated by real MSP operators rather than generalist investors. The macro thesis is equally compelling. The global IT services market is projected to grow from $600 billion to over $1 trillion by 2030. And in 2026, SMB IT spend is on track to outpace enterprise IT spend for the first time ever – a shift Abramson contrasts with what he calls the “SaaSpocalypse” in enterprise, where headcount reductions are translating directly into fewer SaaS licenses. The fund’s LP base of more than 100 MSP operators – including Pax8 – acts as a flywheel for validating investments, sourcing design partners, and connecting portfolio companies with the customers best positioned to stress-test what they’re building. Find Top Down Ventures, including their newsletter and annual research report, at topdown.com. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last sixteen years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca and your host for the show. If you caught The Buzz this morning – and you really should have – you already know the headline. Vancouver-based Top Down Ventures has closed Founders Fund I at $38 million Canadian, oversubscribed, as the first institutional venture fund focused exclusively on early-stage software and AI for the managed service provider ecosystem. The story behind it, though, is rich. Top Down was founded with three partners with deep roots in the Canadian channel community: Chris Day of IT Glue and ScalePad, Mark Scott who founded N-able, and today’s guest, Joel Abramson, who ran Fully Managed through more than a dozen acquisitions before its $137 million sale to Telus Business Solutions in 2021. The fund already has its first exit in the books. zofiQ, an agentic AI platform for MSP service desks that ConnectWise acquired just six months after Top Down’s investment, at 5.3 times the invested capital. Joel joined me this morning to talk about why MSP software needs its own dedicated venture fund, what the first exit tells us about where agentic AI is headed, and one market shift that has the team genuinely excited about the decade ahead. Let’s get right into it. My chat with Joel Abramson. Joel, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Joel Abramson: Great to be here, Rob. Robert Dutt: I wanted to start with the origin story here. I think it’s an interesting one in that you had a big role in building and running Fully Managed through a dozen or so acquisitions, then sold – instead of going off and retiring on a boat somewhere or that sort of thing, you ended up in venture investing in specifically MSP software. Can you walk me through how that happened? How did Top Down come together? Was this something that you sought out or something that Chris Day pulled you into? How did that happen? Joel Abramson: Yeah, well, let’s be clear – I do love being on boats. To tell the origin story, you get to go through a 25-year journey of the MSP ecosystem itself, because there are three general partners: Mark Scott, Chris Day, and myself, Joel Abramson. Our journey dates back to the early 2000s when Mark Scott started N-able, and he was one of the pioneers that really helped value-added resellers and break-fix IT service providers become MSPs. I meet people every time I’m out on the road who have a story about working with N-able – transitioning their revenue model from break-fix to recurring. N-able is a phenomenal company today and I think Mark’s legacy lives on there. Mark started that company and then exited just before the SolarWinds acquisition. Then he went on to start a service provider called CareWorks – an MSP focused on senior care facilities. A really interesting vertical, as well as broad SMB. But I’ll pause his story and focus on Chris, because Chris is founder and chairman and really sets the vision for Top Down. Chris had an MSP as well back in the early 2000s. Eventually that was Fully Managed, and that’s where I joined him. I had a small – much less successful – MSP called Packetsafe Networks, and I rolled my little MSP into Chris’s marquee MSP, Fully Managed, and together we set on this journey. We wanted to bring that company to ten cities with $10 million in revenue in each city and then sell it to a Canadian telco – and it’s not revisionist history, it was actually the goal. But then a couple of years into our shared journey at Fully Managed, Chris got pulled into building software. It was because I’d built a bunch of software for Fully Managed to run on, and he made the mistake – or the fortuitous opportunity – of showing it to his peer group. His peer group was like, “I want to use that.” So he said, “Okay, well, I’ll build it for you.” He started building a documentation platform from the ground up and called it IT Glue, and that was a phenomenal ride for him – taking it from a couple of peer group mates trying it out to selling to Kaseya in 2018 and building a very large company in a relatively short amount of time. Not without a tremendous amount of hard work and grind. He was on the road with pop-up banners signing up logo by logo by logo in the early days, but eventually the movement just took shape and every MSP realized that they needed a documentation platform, and IT Glue took off. So IT Glue exits to Kaseya in 2018. Chris has to make that decision: do I want to golf and travel for the rest of my life, or what brings me joy? And so he actually started Top Down as a way to re-engage back with the MSP community. He had an early portfolio of three companies: Warranty Master, a company he had started with his brother; Backup Radar; and Quoter. Together those three early companies started to grow at their own individual pace. Keep in mind, we’re still running Fully Managed over here – I’m running it for him. Then we ended up putting Fully Managed together with Mark Scott’s MSP, and that’s how the three of us came together. Then yes, we did a number of acquisitions. We grew Fully Managed to be $100 million in revenue. It wasn’t the straight line Chris and I had talked about – ten cities in ten years – but it was maybe seven cities. The bridge version: Telus came in and said they wanted to acquire Canada’s largest MSP, which was Fully Managed at the time. They had done a bunch of research and nine months later we consummated that transaction, at the end of 2021. I’d been working with Chris for a number of years on the early-stage portfolio, because we’d get a couple of calls every month with people saying, “Hey, I’m starting this project, Chris, are you interested in taking a look?” So we started to build this reputation as investors in early-stage MSP software companies. We tried some other stuff – everything from consumer packaged goods (we still have a couple of investments) to starting a country music label, which we’ll save for another time. But we always knew our home, I think, was in the MSP space. After the Fully Managed exit, we decided we wanted to really compound our impact. We had this idea of a venture fund – and maybe I’ll pause there, because I can continue the journey, but we’ll wait and see if you have any questions up to that point. Robert Dutt: Understandable. It’s a wild journey, and it really is back to the heart of the early days of the MSP movement – as you say, from break-fix and VAR models. I guess tell me a little bit about where you’re at now. The fund is positioned as the first institutional VC targeting early-stage software and AI for this ecosystem. Why do you think this space needs a dedicated fund? What does a generalist venture fund miss or get wrong when they’re looking at the space? Joel Abramson: We’ve been doing early-stage investing for a few years – five years. At the same time, Warranty Master became ScalePad, and ScalePad started to gain really, really great momentum. ScalePad brought in a growth equity partner, Integrity Growth Partners, who are just phenomenal folks. They capitalized the business and that grew ScalePad from $10 million to $50 million. They were great partners, great board members, and we watched these guys – we were like, wow, we’ve been through this journey a couple of times. They add a lot of value, and we’re really excited about that relationship. We were doing our thing with the early-stage companies, and so we looked across the ecosystem. We said, there is a ton of capital that’s ready to invest in companies in the MSP ecosystem when they get to a certain scale – that was kind of the scale that ScalePad had gotten to. Then we looked down and said, well, what about the guys that are just starting out? There’s not a ton of support. There’s a ConnectWise pitch contest that grants $60,000 or $70,000 to early-stage companies. And there are early-stage investors – we’ve seen companies like Pax8 and Huntress go through many rounds of financing and they started somewhere. But we saw that the strongest source of capital in the MSP ecosystem was actually coming from angel investors. It was Joe Paniterri and Kevin Blake and Channel Angels, and they had done a number of deals, bringing together really early-stage capital and putting $100,000 into a business fueled from a number of different folks. That’s really, really cool. But where’s all the venture? You look across horizontal software and there are funds of venture that just pour in. In the big markets – the Valley and New York – and then in secondary markets, there are funds focused on those areas. But we saw early-stage MSP software companies as vastly overlooked. So we said, what if we could bring together capital from the MSP ecosystem? Because we’ve made plenty of millionaires just by acquiring them with Fully Managed. You look at how that scales out across the ecosystem: you’ve got Evergreen and Integris and Thrive and all these folks buying up MSPs. The stats are over 200 search funds, family offices, and MSP aggregators buying MSPs right now. That’s generating a lot of wealth for a lot of people. Then you have MSPs that are super profitable and people are making good cash flow. Then you have all the software companies that have exited with similar stories to Chris’s. There’s actually quite a bit of capital that could be put to work back into the ecosystem if we just found a way to harness it and focus it on innovation. We said, instead of doing a couple of deals a year, what if we could make 8 to 10 investments a year by bringing capital together? And then what if we could build a system around that to take everything we’ve learned working with early-stage companies – applying those practices, bringing folks together for design partners, early customers, advice, and partnerships in the MSP ecosystem? So we set out to raise a $25 million venture fund, and we said we were going to focus on educating the MSP ecosystem on what investing in a venture fund looks like, because it’s really just going to fuel innovation for MSPs themselves. Our goal was to have half the fund raised from the MSP community and half from outside – similar to what it was at Fully Managed: let’s tell the world about what a great opportunity exists in MSP. We were super successful in the first bucket. We got really well received by the MSP community. We have over 100 LPs in the fund and we exceeded our target of $25 million. In the second bucket, we still have a lot of work to do. We’re one year into our Outliers podcast, we’ve produced one white paper, and we’ve had hundreds and hundreds of conversations in the institutional community, educating funds of funds and family offices on the opportunity for early-stage MSP software investing. We only got a couple of participants in this fund – which is all right, because it shows the strength of the MSP ecosystem. We still oversubscribed our target. But we’re excited to continue that journey of educating institutional investors for our second fund and beyond. Robert Dutt: You mentioned you’re in at the early stage. Where in the lifecycle do you typically start looking, and what does a target portfolio company look like at the point you’re getting involved? Joel Abramson: I’ve only been doing this for a few years, so I’m still learning some of the language, Rob. But we talk about early stage being right at inception – which is called pre-seed, the first money into a company. Maybe they have an idea of what they want to build, a prototype, a business plan, some people, but they haven’t actually started that path to launch – all the way up to around that first million or million and a half of revenue, where they’d be called a late-seed investment or an early Series A. So maybe it’s the second money in, or in a Series A it could be the third. But really we’re focused on the early stage where we can leverage the strength of our LP base – a lot of strong MSPs – as well as the strength of the community that Top Down works to enable and bring together. That can be for design partners, early customers, folks to help with advice, and then partnerships in the MSP ecosystem. Maybe a company is working with ScalePad to solve a problem and ScalePad can help by bringing that product to its customer base. It’s really about building the things that matter most to MSPs. And that’s why I think we love this ecosystem so much – it’s a partnership of vendors and service providers. If we look forward to how AI is going to impact things, you have small and medium businesses at the frontline – all the enablement use cases there, all the cybersecurity use cases. Then you have the service provider layer, which is MSPs helping them with all those things. Then you have a middle layer of supply chain software like the companies we invest in. And on top of that, you have the hyperscalers, the cloud companies, the frontier companies. That four-tiered system really matters, because without the innovation from Microsoft and Anthropic, the macro doesn’t move forward. But very rarely is it going to go straight from there into frontline workers’ hands. The two layers in between – the layer we invest in, and the MSPs themselves – are really what’s helping bring the value from the top to the end market. We think it’s an incredibly resilient ecosystem. We think there’s nobody better positioned to help with AI transformation than MSPs. And that layer between the frontier companies and the hyperscalers and the MSPs is really important – that’s where innovation happens on their behalf, and that’s the kind of companies we’re investing in. Robert Dutt: One example of that would be zofiQ, which I think was your first exit – and some pretty startling numbers there: a six-month turnaround, selling to ConnectWise, bringing back more than 5x what you put in. What did you see in that company that made you say “we’re in,” and what did the ConnectWise acquisition tell you about the market for PSA and agentic AI and where that’s all headed? Joel Abramson: It starts with Lee and his team. We get the fortunate opportunity to look at a lot of things that are being built and we’re still learning, trying to keep pace. As the last couple of years have played out, we’ve been students of what people are building and how they’re looking at solving problems, armed with the knowledge of the last 25 years of the ecosystem. When we met Lee, we were really impressed with him as a founder. He had a strong track record of purpose-building solutions. When Chris and I sat down with him, it was obvious he was solving singular problems with a tremendous amount of depth, versus some of the other folks we’d seen building solutions who were really going an inch deep and a mile wide. Knowing how mission-critical these solutions are to MSPs – that for every time they mess up a service ticket, they put that customer relationship at risk – we knew that Lee’s approach was just bang on. He was obsessed with solving singular use cases. It showed in the team he put together, the technology he built, and what customers were saying about the product. It’s very atypical to make an investment and then six months later have it acquired. When it was all going down and we were talking to the ConnectWise folks, it was bittersweet. We’re so happy to see ConnectWise gain this incredible capability, but we were sad to know we weren’t going to have Lee in the Top Down portfolio anymore. Ultimately, thrilled – because what it means for ConnectWise is that they can get this really powerful technology into a lot of people’s hands. That has a tremendous impact for the ecosystem, the end market, the MSPs partnered with ConnectWise. They can get this great innovative technology out into the market much faster than Lee could on his own, just going out and telling the story and waiting for the momentum to build. Thrilled for ConnectWise, thrilled for Lee and the team to jump into an organization like ConnectWise. And proud that we were able to play a tiny part on that journey. Robert Dutt: zofiQ was automating the service desk with AI agents. From what you saw inside that experience with them, and looking across the portfolio now, I’m curious – especially given your background running an MSP – when you’re talking to MSPs about what some of these companies are doing, how ready are they to adopt and operationalize this kind of agentic tooling? Both in terms of willingness and interest, which I’m sure is high, and actual aptitude and ability to make the operational changes that come with it? Joel Abramson: It totally depends on the MSP’s maturity. I’ve been through the life cycle of MSP maturity many times – two steps forward, one step back, a bunch of times. Every MSP is on a similar treadmill of growing and maturing, then having to embrace new technology, then getting hit by outside factors: whether it’s COVID, the move to remote work, the push back to the office, or the change in technology. It’s not a static industry, but it is an industrial-strength ecosystem because it’s so mission-critical for the customers MSPs serve. Everybody is at their own part of the journey. Companies like zofiQ come around and they focus on building the right technology, then working with the ideal MSPs that are at a place where they can embrace it. I go back to an inspirational investor, Dave Lahn, who always talks about the different buckets of work: the hero work, all the work that supports the hero work, and then all the work that should be done but isn’t. I think about MSPs with that third bucket. As a 20-year MSP operator, there were all these things I knew I wanted to do but could never get around to because we were always fighting fires, then trying to do proactive work, then project work – it compounds and you never had enough hands for the work that should be done that isn’t. I think that’s one of the huge opportunities with AI – actually getting that work done, staying on top of it, and providing more stable, secure environments for MSP customers. If AI is the great enabler for MSPs themselves, then how exciting is it to be in a position where I can’t think of a service provider that supports small and medium businesses that’s better positioned to bring AI enablement down to that market than an MSP. I doubt it’s the accountant, I doubt it’s the janitor or the maintenance people. I think it’s the MSP, because you’re already talking technology. As MSPs continue to evolve from the server room to boardroom conversations, AI is an incredible hook to get into that conversation. That’s why the work ScalePad does around customer success and supporting the strategy conversations is so critical. But the next wave of companies we see are really around helping MSPs actually deliver AI use cases successfully to their customers. That transformation will take place for a long, long time. Robert Dutt: Your base of limited partners includes more than 100 MSP operators, including Pax8. That’s unusual for a VC fund. Was that a deliberate choice? And how does having operators as limited partners actually change how you source and evaluate deals? Joel Abramson: It just makes us so strong. We have the brainpower of over 100 people there for us to tap and leverage. At our Horizons event in November – where we bring all of our LPs together – I’ve never seen a more aligned group of individuals, focused on supporting the supply chain of an ecosystem, come together and have meaningful conversations without any real individual agenda. We think about it as a flywheel. We have a group of limited partners with all of our capital in this fund together. Of course we all want to make money – but I think what drives that outcome is supporting innovation and figuring out exactly where the best place to put capital is today that can have the largest impact tomorrow. zofiQ is a perfect example. Here’s a strong founder with a huge problem, solving it at the deepest level, that MSPs are going to be able to take forward and dramatically impact their businesses and their customer experience. That, to me, is the genesis of venture investing: aligning all those things and putting the right pieces together. We think about the strength of the mindshare of our LPs, figuring out ways to connect them with our portfolio companies, ways to validate our thesis and investments by harnessing that energy, and then making the right investments and providing the right support throughout a portfolio company’s lifecycle, thanks to that really, really strong LP base. Robert Dutt: So if I’m an MSP owner listening to this – not an investor per se, just someone running a managed services shop – why should I be paying attention to what you guys are doing and what you’re funding? What’s the typical practical downstream impact on my business? Joel Abramson: You could look at our portfolio with a degree of confidence that these companies are getting great support to build great products, that they’re talking to top MSP operators around the world to help shape what gets built. The average MSP is the benefactor of that, because it means they’re getting great product built that they can use in their MSP or deploy to their customers. We’re doing this to earn and keep the reputation that a Top Down-backed company means tier-one innovation, great people behind it, that it’s been validated and tested – and that MSPs themselves can be the benefactor of that by leveraging this technology. Robert Dutt: You closed this fund at about $38 million, oversubscribed, in what you called a slog of an environment – and I get that. What does that tell you about where institutional capital is actually flowing in 2026? And what does a successful Fund I set up for Fund II? Joel Abramson: A lot of institutional capital is flowing towards the frontier companies and the supply chain of AI. We think that’s great, because just like the Microsofts and Googles that have powered the ecosystem for the last ten years, we think heavily capitalized AI companies are fantastic for the downstream companies – the software companies we’re investing in, the AI companies we’re investing in, the MSPs themselves, and the SMB layer. Capital flows down as well. As vertical-focused funds like ours demonstrate a strong track record, more institutional capital will flow into vehicles like ours. Certainly a lot of capital is tied up at the top right now, but we see that as a great thing because we’re not super concerned about the capital cycles of the next three months. We’re much more concerned about the capital cycles of the next two decades. As we’ve mobilized a non-insignificant pool of capital to support early-stage MSP software companies, we strive to earn the right to have a second fund with a more diverse group of participants, and subsequent funds beyond that – as long as we continue to find the right companies to partner with and add value along the way. Robert Dutt: And that seems like – just with the names you’ve mentioned and the names I can think of off the top of my head – a target-rich environment. There are lots of companies building specifically for the MSP market for obvious reasons. But I’m curious: without necessarily naming names or tipping your hand, what problem or product category are you most excited about in the MSP software pipeline right now? Where’s the white space that’s still underbuilt? Joel Abramson: In our research paper, we talk about two big macro things happening in the market right now. One: we think this market – let’s broaden it to IT services, not just MSP – is going from a $600 billion addressable market to a $1.3 trillion addressable market, certainly $1 trillion by 2030. That’s a huge market. On the MSP side specifically, we have four or five scaled companies at or above a billion in revenue. Ninja is on its way up there. N-able, of course, is a big company. But you’re talking about a much larger addressable market – there’s still empty canvas where new companies can scale up to fill the middle and eventually be alongside some of those platforms. We expect those platforms to continue to grow and thrive, and we hope to build or invest in companies that can partner with them to take advantage of their distribution and ultimately make small and medium businesses better through MSPs. All that said, what are some of those categories? I don’t think it’s new MSPs starting up and buying PSA – that market is fairly saturated. Nor do I think it’s more EDR or XDR – those are pretty saturated markets too. There’s still market share that will trade, don’t get me wrong, and innovation will build on top of it. But doubling the market requires new products, new revenue streams, and obviously AI is a critical part of that. Whether it’s the evolution of agentic service work to do all the work that should be done but isn’t, or raising productivity levels so the service is that much better, or helping the average SMB with a sophisticated IT strategy that evolves into an AI strategy – we see the category of AI services enablement for MSPs as a huge, huge opportunity. In the enterprise, we’re living through what I call the SaaSpocalypse – the idea that big SaaS companies are going to see fewer licenses because people are going to downsize headcount and thus take an impact on their top line. But we see the SMB market as more resilient, because my accountant with 60 people and one person in marketing – they’re not going to downsize that one-person marketing department. That person is actually just going to get that much better thanks to all the tools they’re using. SMB IT spend is expected to outpace enterprise IT spend for the first time ever in 2026. We believe that’s because of the resiliency of the SMB market – the idea that when a big tech company lays off 5,000 people, those people don’t all sail off into the sunset. A lot of them move into the SMB economy and start small businesses. Maybe the IT folks start an MSP. So we see the SMB part of the economy continuing to thrive, and it’s showing itself this year – thanks to this crazy stat that SMB IT spend will outpace enterprise IT spend for the first time ever. For all those reasons, we’re very excited about the opportunities it creates in the companies that we’re invested in. Robert Dutt: That is a crazy stat, and it’s worth underlining – because of where you and your peers and so much of this community is focused, right in that SMB space. And closer to home, as a Canadian podcast, we’re very much a nation of SMBs. So it really is super impactful here. Joel Abramson: Yeah, I would agree. Robert Dutt: For people who want to follow what you guys are doing – whether they’re founders, MSPs, or just interested in what’s coming in terms of new AI-first MSP software – where do they find you? How can they find out more? Joel Abramson: TopDown.com. We publish a newsletter and try to share all the learnings we’re gaining each quarter. We publish a white paper annually. We have a conference in November called Horizons – if you’re interested in investing in the MSP ecosystem, our goal is to bring everybody together as peers. We do a lot of dinners and events around the big MSP events. Our goal is always to bring everyone together as peers, not in a supplier relationship where you’re being sold to – just everybody trying to solve this thing together. The community aspect of the MSP ecosystem is so strong, and that’s how you engage. I’m pretty easy to find and always interested in a conversation with anybody from inside the ecosystem or outside, as we try to build this thing one brick at a time toward 1.3 trillion of addressable market. Robert Dutt: Brilliant. Go get that. Go build that. I appreciate you taking the time, Joel. Joel Abramson: Thank you so much for having me. Robert Dutt: There you have it – Joel Abramson from Top Down Ventures. I’d like to thank Joel for his time this morning. Thank you as always for listening to In The Channel. A few things stuck with me from this conversation. First, the framework Joel described: frontier AI companies at the top, then the supply chain software layer that Top Down invests in, then MSPs, then SMBs at the front line. It’s a clean way to think about how AI value actually gets delivered to small and medium businesses. And the point that MSPs are the most natural vehicle for that delivery is hard to argue with – from where I sit, and probably from where you sit too. Second, that stat about SMB IT spend outpacing enterprise IT for the first time ever this year. If we’re in what Joel calls the SaaSpocalypse for the enterprise, we’re in a resilience story for SMB. For an audience of MSPs, that’s your market, and that’s your moment. And the zofiQ story. A six-month hold, 5.3 times the invested capital to ConnectWise. What Joel said about what made it work – going deep into a singular problem rather than an inch deep and a mile wide – is as much a product philosophy lesson as it is a venture capital story. If you want to follow what Top Down is doing, find them at TopDown.com, where they publish a regular newsletter and annual white paper on the state of MSP capital. Their Horizons conference runs every November if you’re engaged in this ecosystem as a founder, an operator, or an investor. If you’re enjoying the show, please give the podcast a follow or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or most of the major podcast directories. Ratings and reviews are always encouraged. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.

Scott Nolan spent 12 years at Founders Fund looking for the most important problems that no one else was funding. Then he found a problem so critical, and so ignored, that he couldn't find a company to back. So he started one. General Matter is rebuilding US uranium enrichment. The United States was the world leader in enrichment through the 1980s and then stopped entirely. Today roughly a quarter of US enriched uranium comes from Russia, a ban on those imports takes full effect in 2028, and the advanced reactors everyone is counting on to power the next wave of data centers have no reliable domestic fuel source. Scott believes enrichment is the single bottleneck to a nuclear future, and that the window to solve it is narrow. The conversation covers how Peter Thiel influenced him, why being in love with an idea is dangerous for investors but required for founders, and what it actually takes to rebuild an industrial capability the country let atrophy for 40 years. Please enjoy my conversation with Scott Nolan. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  ----- Become a Colossus member to get our quarterly print magazine and private audio experience, including exclusive profiles and early access to select episodes. Subscribe at ⁠colossus.com/subscribe⁠. ----- ⁠Ramp's⁠ mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ramp.com/invest⁠⁠ to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Trusted by thousands of businesses, ⁠Vanta⁠ continuously monitors your security posture and streamlines audits so you can win enterprise deals and build customer trust without the traditional overhead. Visit ⁠vanta.com/invest⁠.  ----- ⁠WorkOS⁠ is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. Visit⁠⁠ ⁠WorkOS.com⁠⁠⁠ to transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. ----- Rogo is the AI platform for finance. They're building agents for Wall Street that are trained to understand how bankers and investors actually do work: from diligence and modeling, to turning analysis into deliverables. To learn more, visit rogo.ai/invest. ----- ⁠Ridgeline⁠ has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Visit⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ridgelineapps.com⁠. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠). Timestamps: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like The Best (00:02:45) Guest Intro: Scott Nolan (00:03:36) SpaceX, Founders Fund & General Matter (00:08:04) What Scott learned from Peter Thiel (00:10:05) The "Avoid Trends" Concept (00:10:55) Finding Important Problems No One Is Working On (00:17:32) Gut v. Intuition (00:18:49) Valuation, Competition & Capital Intensity (00:20:20) Founders Fund Strategy (00:21:06) The Steeper the Up Round, the Greater the Undervaluation (00:21:41) Being in Love with the Problem (00:26:07) Governments, Technology & History (00:28:54) Lessons from SpaceX and Elon (00:29:42) Vertical Integration (00:33:07) The Role of Energy in Civilization (00:37:36) State & Direction of US Energy (00:38:58) Why Nuclear? (00:42:20) Taxonomy of Advanced Reactors (00:45:33) The BYOE Concept (00:46:50) What Could Make Advanced Reactors Fail? (00:48:04) General Matter: Product, Business & Company (00:50:12) Enrichment & Weapons-Grade Uranium (00:56:45) North Star Metric (01:01:05) Building a Great Enduring Company (01:04:01) How Scott Runs the Company (01:06:11) Overcoming Irrational Fears About Nuclear (01:08:25) Why Aren't There More Founders Funds? (01:10:03) Operating vs. Investing (01:11:56) Kindest Thing

Paulo Passoni, Managing Partner at Valor Capital, and Olga Maslikhova break down Claude 4.6, Brex's $5.15B sale to Capital One, and why only 4 US companies can IPO right now. This is the April 2026 edition of TJC Debrief — a monthly show covering tech, venture, and capital markets for Latin American founders and investors.We cover why Claude 4.6 was a bigger “aha moment” than the original ChatGPT for building companies and how it's rewiring CTO roles, org design, and the question of what a moat even is anymore, how Nubank, Revolut, Tether, and Plata are reshaping consumer finance and why Paulo thinks regional US banks are an “aberration” that shouldn't legally exist, the Brex x Capital One deal, Ramp's software multiple, and what the prof stack saving late-stage LPs means for every fintech exit going forward, Brazil's IPO window cracking open and Mexico's sudden flood of Sequoia, Founders Fund, and a16z capital, why Paulo thinks many employees are already “worse than AI” and why every salary should now come with a token budget, how he built a working marketplace in three hours on Perplexity Comet without writing a line of code, and the coming collapse of low-ROI universities and what it means for talent in LATAM.Subscribe to The J Curve Insider newsletter for deeper insights and follow Olga on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Kian Sadeghi, CEO of Nucleus Genomics, wants to help parents design their own babies, from height to IQ to personality traits. What happens to humanity when we have the power to tamper with life's formula? Kian Sadeghi is the founder and CEO of Nucleus Genomics, a genetic testing company that screens embryos for disease and allows parents to choose the traits of their unborn child. He founded Nucleus in 2021. Kian has been named a Thiel Fellow, and Nucleus has raised more than $32 million from investors including Founders Fund, Seven Seven Six, and Samsung Next. Paid partnerships with: Cozy Earth: Luxury shouldn't be out of reach. Get up to 20% off at https://cozyearth.com/TUCKER  Defend: Enter code "Tucker" for 20% off your purchase at https://defendcellcam.comTCN: NEW! Tucker Carlson Books presents Russell Brand's ‘How to Become a Christian in 7 Days.' Available only on  https://tuckercarlsonbooks.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode #253 features Andrew Fraser, President at Halter, the fast-scaling agritech company using smart collars, virtual fencing and AI to transform livestock farming. Founded in 2016, Halter has raised over US$400 million, with their most recent Series E led by Founders Fund. In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Andrew shares his journey — from growing up in Auckland with just his mum, to an unexpected detour as a uranium explorer in Ethiopia that nearly cost him his health and his savings, to becoming one of New Zealand's most respected go-to-market leaders. He breaks down how Halter rebuilt its sales motion from the ground up, why he abolished the customer success function in favour of account managers with targets, the revenue operations secret behind his success across Vend, Lightspeed and Halter, and how a tight-territory outbound model beat inbound every time. Please enjoy exploring your curiosity. ________ Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.  Show notes and more episodes here Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here Contact us via our website ________ The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world's most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW. Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths),  David Haber (GP, a16z), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, US Tennis), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and more. 

Why did Founders Fund invest $220 million in cattle management startup Halter? Also, Anthropic has purchased the stealth biotech AI startup Coefficient Bio in a $400 million stock deal, according to The Information and Eric Newcomer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Hemant Mohapatra of Lightspeed India Lara Banks of Makena Capital Management Victor Orlovski of R136 Ventures We asked guests to discuss the most visionary founder that they've worked with and what makes them so special. The host of The Full Ratchet is Nick Moran of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in founders outside of the Bay Area. We're proud to partner with Ramp, the modern finance automation platform. Book a demo and get $150—no strings attached.   Want to keep up to date with The Full Ratchet? Follow us on social. You can learn more about New Stack Ventures by visiting our LinkedIn and Twitter.

This Week In Startups is made possible by:PaperOS - https://PaperOS.com/twistNorthwest Registered Agent- https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twistEvery.io - https://Every.ioPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistToday's show:Silicon Valley just lined up its biggest liquidity event in years: SpaceX filed confidentially for an IPO that could target a $1.75 trillion valuation — potentially the largest public offering in history. Meanwhile, a new Quinnipiac poll shows that 62% of Americans aren't excited about AI, and 70% think it will destroy their jobs. The disconnect between Sand Hill Road and Main Street has never been wider, and this panel is here to argue about what to do about it.Jason Calacanis and co-host Alex Wilhelm are joined by Delian Asparouhov, Partner at Founders Fund and co-founder of Varda Space Industries; Salen Churi, General Partner at Trust Ventures, focused on regulated industries and physical infrastructure; and Larsen Jensen, Founder and GP of Harpoon Ventures and former Navy SEAL.They dig into the SpaceX IPO and what it means for LP liquidity, founder formation, and venture capital's comeback story; the gap between Silicon Valley's AI optimism and public hostility; whether defense tech is in a bubble after $49 billion flooded the sector in 2025; the Marc Andreessen "zero introspection" thesis for founders; America's reindustrialization challenge and the rare earths supply chain crisis; and Artemis's path to putting boots back on the Moon.Timestamps:00:00 Intro1:09 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!3:50 SpaceX files confidentially for IPO: $1.75T valuation, June target9:00 Will the SpaceX IPO reinvigorate venture capital?10:25 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io14:40 Quinnipiac poll: Americans use more AI but trust it less17:31 AI's PR crisis: Dario vs. Jensen, and who's communicating well18:02 Jason's "Invest America" proposal: give workers equity stakes19:55 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist21:39 Larsen: Silicon Valley is walking into the same trap as China offshoring29:04 PaperOS - Whether you're raising a round, launching a fund, or managing a venture portfolio, PaperOS can unlock simplicity and scale across your empire of capital, contracts, and companies. Claim your $10,000 credit at https://paperos.com/twist29:50 Polymarket: 24% chance of a federal AI data center moratorium33:57 Marc Andreessen on zero introspection (David Senra podcast clip)46:48 Is defense tech in a bubble?1:10:32 Saronic raises $1.75B for autonomous drone boats1:25:07 Anthropic vs. OpenAI: where would you put your entire net worth?Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.comCheck out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.comSubscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcpFollow Alex:X: https://x.com/alexLinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelmFollow Jason:X: https://twitter.com/JasonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanisCheck out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarlandCheck out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanisFollow TWiST:Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartupsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekinInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartupsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartupsSubstack: https://twistartups.substack.com

There is a quiet myth in startup culture: that building something big requires sacrificing your body, your relationships, and your inner life. But what if the most durable companies are built by people who know how to take care of themselves before the pressure hits? Host Yusuf sits down with Mike LeBlanc, a decorated Marine Corps officer, Harvard Business School graduate, co-founder of Cobalt Robotics and Foundation Future Industries, and author of the upcoming book What If Anger is the Answer? Mike brings a grounded, honest perspective on what it really takes to build under pressure, why rigidity breaks companies, and why the first system any company runs on is the founder's own health and mindset. About the Guest: Mike LeBlanc is a former Marine Corps major who completed three tours to the Middle East, served as an economic and technology advisor to the Pentagon, and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. He co-founded Cobalt Robotics, a Silicon Valley startup backed by Sequoia, Founders Fund, and Coatue, which raised over $120 million and was acquired in 2024. He is now co-founder of Foundation Future Industries, building humanoid robots for the U.S. Department of Defense. His book What If Anger is the Answer? is available for pre-order on Amazon, Target, and Barnes and Noble. Key Takeaways: Internal grit is the skill no one can give you. Being turned down by over a thousand investors while still raising more than $100 million requires an inner resilience that goes far deeper than strategy. The founders who survive rejection have already decided they know what they have. Stop stretching your neck. Mike's Lamarck vs Darwin analogy is clear: most people exhaust themselves adapting to whatever environment they're in. The smarter move is to find the environment where you are already the best fit. There are no bad genres, only bad stories. Stress, uncertainty, and hard pivots are not signs something went wrong. They are features of the startup genre. Reframing difficulty as part of the experience, not a detour from it, is what keeps founders going. Founder burnout is often hidden resentment. When founders become controlling under pressure, what is usually underneath is not fear. It is a feeling that no one else cares the way they do. Naming that honestly is the first step to leading better. Food, sleep, and exercise are the three easiest levers. Emotional and hierarchy pressures are hard to control. Your workout, your sleep, and what you eat are fully in your hands. When everything else feels uncertain, protect these. The builder is the first system. Your nervous system, your sleep debt, your body all flow directly into your decisions, your culture, and your company. Taking care of yourself is not a detour from building. It is building. Connect With Mike LeBlanc: Book (pre-order): What If Anger is the Answer? by Mike LeBlanc Available at: Amazon, Target, Barnes and Noble LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mike-leblanc-20783b114 Episode Chapters: [00:00] Opening: What If the Healthiest Founders Build the Strongest Companies? [03:00] Welcome: Who Is Mike LeBlanc? (approx.) [04:00] The One Internal Skill Every Founder Must Build: Grit After a Thousand Rejections [07:00] Lamarck vs Darwin: Stop Stretching Your Neck and Find Your Environment [08:00] The Misconception About Building: Embrace the Genre, Not Just the Goal [10:00] Flow, Eudaimonia, and Why Flourishing Beats Happiness as a North Star [12:00] What Is Really Behind Founder Control and Reactivity Under Pressure [17:00] The Practical Shift: Food, Sleep, and Exercise Are the Easy Levers [20:00] Lead Yourself First: The Builder Is the First System the Company Runs On Want to be a guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life? DM on PM - Send me a message on PodMatch DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik Disclaimer: This episode is produced for educational and informational purposes only. All views expressed by the guest are their personal opinions alone and do not represent the views of the host or Healthy Mind by Avik™. The Network does not verify, endorse, or assume responsibility for any guest statements. Nothing in this episode constitutes medical, legal, financial, or professional advice, please consult a qualified professional before making any decisions. Listeners are encouraged to engage critically and independently with all content do not consume blindly. Use this content as a starting point for your own reflection and research, not as a substitute for professional guidance. Third-party content is referenced under fair use for informational purposes only. Guest speakers are solely responsible for their own statements. If you have concerns about any content, please contact us here By listening, you acknowledge and accept this disclaimer in full. Read detailed disclaimer here. Healthy Mind By Avik™️ is a global platform redefining mental health as a necessity, not a luxury. Born during the pandemic, it's become a sanctuary for healing, growth, and mindful living. Hosted by Avik Chakraborty, storyteller, survivor, and wellness advocate. With over 6500+ episodes and 200K+ global listeners, we unite voices, break stigma, and build a world where every story matters.

Virtual fencing and herd-system firm Halter has doubled its valuation in less than a year to $3.4 billion (US$2 billion), as Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund leads a $377 million capital raise. This is the largest ever by a New Zealand company. We ask the founder and chief executive what he’s going to do with all that money.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The traditional CMO career path is disappearing. Senior marketers are now expected to be strategists and builders - able to vibe code landing pages, wire up automations, understand agents, and ship prototypes alongside leading teams and shaping narrative. So what does a successful marketing leader actually look like in 2026?In this episode of the Finite Podcast, Jodi Norris sits down with Kat Wendelstadt to unpack how AI, economic pressure, and changing expectations are reshaping marketing leadership. They explore why director and CMO roles are getting rarer, why salaries in some areas are dropping, and how AI is simultaneously shrinking team sizes and raising the bar for individual marketers.Kat Wendelstadt is a seasoned go-to-market leader and startup advisor with a track record of scaling companies from early stage to billion-dollar valuations. A former GTM lead at Microsoft and three-time CMO, she has co-founded and advised ventures backed by investors including Sam Altman, Bill Gates, and the venture firm Founders Fund. She now leads marketing at Electric Twin, where she focuses on bringing its AI-driven synthetic audience technology to market.  Kat shares how she's rebuilt her own skill set to stay ahead — from going deep on one AI platform, to building plugins and automations herself, to rethinking how and when to hire humans versus agents. She talks candidly about cognitive load, burnout risk, and why “having options” should be the north star of every marketer's career.If you want to stay employable (and in demand) as a modern marketing leader, this conversation is a must-listen.

This week's Espresso covers news from DollarApp, Zapia, Celero, Cicada, and more!Outline of this episode:[00:30] – Ualá raises $195M led by Allianz X[00:40] – DollarApp raises $70M from Sequoia and Founders Fund[00:48] – Zapia raises a $7M round[00:55] – Celero raises $2.9M Series A[01:06] – Vitrify raises $190K for private credit platform[01:15] – Cicada raises $13.5M Series A round[01:31] – Pagsmile acquires 49% of a55Resources & people mentioned:Startups: Ualá, DolarApp, Zapia, Celero, Vitrify, Cicada, Pagsmile, a55,VCs: Allianz X, Prosus Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, Headline, Citigroup.

This week we chat with Delian Asparouhov!Delian is a Partner at Founders Fund and the President and Co-Founder of Varda Space Industries, one of the most ambitious companies redefining what's possible in space and manufacturing. Varda is pioneering the orbital economy by producing pharmaceuticals and advanced materials in microgravity—unlocking breakthroughs that simply can't be achieved on Earth.Before co-founding Varda, Delian earned a Thiel Fellowship while still an undergraduate, leaving MIT to move to Silicon Valley and build at the frontier of technology. Since then, he's become a leading voice at the intersection of startups, deep tech, and national ambition.Beyond venture and space manufacturing, Delian is also the co-creator of the Hill & Valley Forum, which brings together leaders from Washington and Silicon Valley to strengthen collaboration around technology, defense, and national security.Born abroad and raised in Salt Lake City, Delian's journey—from a young coder obsessed with space to backing and building category-defining companies—has been anything but conventional. Driven by intellectual curiosity and an appetite for hard problems, he's helping shape the future of both industry and exploration.✨ This episode is presented by Brex.Brex: brex.com/trailblazerspodThis episode is supported by RocketReach, Gusto, OpenPhone & Athena.RocketReach: rocketreach.co/trailblazersGusto: gusto.com/trailblazersQuo: Quo.com/trailblazersAthena: athenago.me/Erica-WengerFollow Us!Delian's Twitter: @zebulgar@thetrailblazerspod: Instagram, YouTube, TikTokErica Wenger: @erica_wenger

welcome to wall-e's tech briefing for tuesday, march 10th! delve into today's key tech developments: ami labs' major funding round: yann lecun's ami labs secures $1.03 billion at a $3.5 billion pre-money valuation, with plans to innovate "world models" ai systems aimed at sectors like healthcare. founders fund's fourth growth fund: peter thiel's founders fund is near completing a $6 billion fund, highlighting direct investments in ai leader, anthropic. coruna iphone-hacking toolkit: linked to russian spies and traced to u.s. military contractor l3harris, raising concerns over surveillance tool distribution. archer aviation vs. joby aviation: legal battle ensues over alleged fraudulent practices and foreign influences concerning chinese suppliers and u.s. government contracts. anthropic's ai code review tool: launches a new enterprise tool to enhance software development quality by identifying logical errors in ai-generated code. stay tuned for tomorrow's tech updates!

Bitcoin lleva más de tres semanas en Extreme Fear — pero el miedo no es la historia. La historia es que nadie sabe qué es Bitcoin: ¿reserva de valor, activo de riesgo, commodity digital? La correlación BTC-VIX llegó a 0.88, su máximo histórico. Mientras tanto, la Clarity Act que debía clarificar la regulación crypto en EEUU sigue congelada, y los ETFs mandan señales contradictorias.En AI, hablamos de la tesis que está cambiando todo: los agentes de AI van a ser los principales usuarios de blockchain. Ya hay más de 21 millones de agentes operando, Coinbase les está dando wallets propias, y las stablecoins se perfilan como el riel de pago nativo del internet autónomo.En tech, Apple tuvo su semana más activa en años: iPhone 17e, MacBook Neo a $599 con chip de iPhone, y Siri completamente rediseñado con el modelo Gemini de Google. Y como preview para la semana que entra: Jensen Huang prometió en el GTC de NVIDIA "un chip que va a sorprender al mundo."Cerramos con ARQ (antes DolarApp) que levantó $70M de Sequoia y Founders Fund para llevar el dinero digital a toda Latinoamérica.Síguenos en X: https://x.com/EspacioCriptoInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/espaciocripto.io/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@espaciocriptoSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3aTbNIU9dcaWtkbd2QzaQz

新年第一期播客，我们梳理了彼得·蒂尔（Peter Thiel）的Founders Fund在Web3领域的投资版图——当然了，讨论Founders Fund和彼得·蒂尔的意义不是算他投资赚了多少钱，而是看他如何影响了硅谷和整个科技行业发展的底层哲学思想，影响了当今美国政治的走向。Web3的思想和人物对他产生深远的影响，而他亦对Web3世界的发展，带来强烈的反作用力。 【主播】 刘锋，BODL Ventures合伙人，前链闻总编辑 熊浩珺Jack，律动BlockBeats副主编，《Web3无名说》主播 【你将听到】 01:59 Consensus Hong Kong 2026 彼得·蒂尔/Founders Fund投Web3究竟怎么样？ 00:25 加密原生VC落寞，Founders Fund在Web3信号作用突显 04:08 捋一捋Founders Fund在crypto的投资情况 09:24 Founders Fund在比特币和以太坊的投资曾获利超18亿美元 12:01 区块链相关投资在Founders Fund整体投资中比重不大 14:13 RootData团队总结的Founders Fund加密投资特点 看看彼得·蒂尔思想的转变和crypto给他的影响 16:26 彼得·蒂尔对比特币态度有所转变 19:55 作为「思想家」的彼得·蒂尔比「投资大亨」的他更值得关注 22:24 自由意志主义者 vs. 自由主义 24:32 「施特劳斯时刻」：彼得·蒂尔思想的转折点 34:22 彼得·蒂尔科技价值观和政治思想启蒙者：Curtis Yarvin（柯蒂斯·雅文） 35:14 柯蒂斯·雅文是个密码朋克，也是Web3项目Urbit的创始人 40:42 雅文的「蝴蝶革命」操作手册成为特朗普政府的行动指南 45:12 蒂尔的科技价值观与投资理念高度一致，坚持了十余年 给crypto世界的反作用力 53:13 Vitalik Buterin站出来说「不」 54:04 d/acc vs. e/acc 56:29 这是crypto的春天吗？ 【Consensus Hong Kong 2026】 2026年2月10至12日，Consensus Hong Kong（香港共识大会）将回归香港。届时，来自100多个国家和地区的6,000 余家企业和机构的代表，将与各国的监管者、政策制定者、数字资产和前沿科技的投资者、行业领袖、一线的从业者、还有区块链技术开发者将汇聚一堂。 由CoinDesk主办的Consensus大会是金融科技、区块链、数字资产和 Web3领域全球最大且历史最悠久的行业峰会。今年的会议还增加了AI 与机器人的相关议题，探讨AI、机器人与区块链技术结合在推动全球创新中的可能性。 如果你也有兴趣参与到香港Consensus大会中，欢迎点击购票链接输入「WEB3101」获得Web3 101专属折扣。 【延伸阅读】 Founders Fund的Web3投资版图 彼得·蒂尔：施特劳斯时刻（The Straussian Moment） 彼得·蒂尔：一个自由意志主义者的教育 柯蒂斯·雅文（Curtis Yarvin）近期的博客：灰镜 柯蒂斯·雅文（Curtis Yarvin）早期博客（以「霉菌孟子Mencius Moldbug」为笔名） 柯蒂斯·雅文创立的Web3项目：Urbit Vitalik Buterin：我的技术乐观主义（My techno-optimism） 【后期】 AMEI 【运营】 朱婕 【BGM】 Mumbai - Ooyy All Parts Equal - Airae 【在这里找到我们】 收听渠道：苹果｜小宇宙 海外用户：Apple Podcast｜Spotify｜Google Podcast｜Amazon Music 联系我们：podcast@sv101.net

In this second Best Of compilation, our team distilled the most powerful insights from 2025, and some from 2024—of Investing in Integrity. Spanning leadership, culture, and purpose-driven finance and investing, this special edition brings together defining moments from more than 40 conversations with some of the world's most thoughtful executives, investors, and builders.Rather than a simple highlight reel, this episode revisits key voices across multiple dimensions of leadership — reflecting how the same principles show up differently in how we lead, how we build culture, and how we deploy capital. Selecting these moments was no easy task, but each was chosen for its ability to inspire us to think more deeply our lives and our work. It's divided into three sections:Leadership That Transforms: We begin with reflections on leadership at its core — how leaders think, grow, and show up when stakes are high. Featuring Howard Marks, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Oaktree Capital Management; Bill George, former Board Director at Goldman Sachs, Executive Education Fellow at Harvard Business School, and author of True North; Doug Kimmelman, Senior Partner at ECP; and Steve Ellis, Co-Managing Partner of The Rise Fund at TPG, this section explores humility, self-awareness, conviction, and the evolving nature of values. Together, these insights illuminate what it truly means to lead with character in complex environments.Culture, Purpose & Integrity: We shift into the essential work of shaping organizational culture through the experiences of Bei Ling, CHRO at Wells Fargo; Pamela Alexander, Head of Corporate Citizenship at KKR; and Howard Marks (returning), this section reveals how trust is built, how purpose is operationalized, and how integrity becomes a guiding force inside the world's most influential institutions.Finance as a Force for Good: Finally, we explore how leadership and culture translate into action — particularly in the world of finance. Featuring Steve Ellis (returning), Trae Stephens, General Partner at Founders Fund, and Greg Shell, Partner at Goldman Sachs, this closing section demonstrates how capital, when aligned with long-term thinking and human impact, can be a powerful force for good. These voices challenge us to move beyond profit alone toward outcomes that expand opportunity and strengthen communities.In closing, Howard Marks shares a final reflection on generosity, underscoring the importance of giving back as a cornerstone of purposeful leadership.Whether you're leading a team, shaping culture, entering finance, or striving to grow personally and professionally, this episode is designed to accelerate your development and deepen your sense of purpose.This compilation isn't just a highlight reel — it's a blueprint.A blueprint for leadership anchored in character.A blueprint for careers aligned with purpose.A blueprint for a financial system that lifts society up.We've curated this episode to equip you with actionable insights you can carry into your work, your relationships, and your life.

Kevin Hartz, Co-founder of A*, Eventbrite, Xoom, and Sauron.Kevin has been building and investing in technology companies for 30 years, and we talk about how the industry's evolved, why he calls AI the Mother of All Bubbles, why we're still early, and lessons today's breakout AI companies can learn from those that survived the Dot Com Crash.Kevin is a big proponent of backing young founders. A significant percentage of his latest fund at A* is invested in teenagers, and he shares how he identifies outlier talent so early, from Seed investments in Airbnb, PayPal, and Pinterest, to many of today's hottest AI companies.He also shares the insane story of investing 100% of the proceeds from his first startup into PayPal's Seed round, how PayPal's early fraud systems inspired Palantir, what he learned from the PayPal Mafia, from Peter Thiel, and what makes Founders Fund special.We also talk about how he and his wife recently had two babies, five months apart, using genome screening and surrogates.Thanks to Ramtin Naimi, Navya Gudimetla, and Bennett Siegel for helping brainstorm topics for the conversation.Try Numeral, the end-to-end platform for sales tax and compliance: ⁠https://www.numeral.com⁠Sign-up for Flex Elite with code TURNER, get $1,000: https://form.typeform.com/to/Rx9rTjFzTimestamps:(4:25) Power shift from VC's to founders since the 90's(9:08) AI is the mother of all bubbles(12:40) Why AI is still underhyped(14:10) What Kevin and A* are investing in today(16:02) Investing 100% of his first startups proceeds in PayPal's Seed round(21:21) What made the PayPal Mafia special(23:37) Parallels between the 90's and today(26:40) What makes Founders Fund special(35:07) How Palantir evolved from PayPal's fraud models(39:06) Building Xoom on the PayPal API(43:38) Lessons between Kevin's 1st and 2nd startups(46:52) Starting Eventbrite off early PayPal API app(51:51) Eventbrite's hidden TAM challenge(53:49) Selling Eventbrite to Bending Spoons(54:59) Investing 20% of A* in teenage founders(1:02:33) Incubating Sauron, the home security company(1:08:44) Making breakfast for our kids(1:13:33) Having kids with genome screening and surrogates(1:20:31) Collecting art, how to get startedReferencedhttps://www.a-star.co/https://www.eventbrite.com/https://www.xoom.com/https://www.sauron.systems/https://www.orchidhealth.com/Setting the Table by Danny Meyer: https://www.amazon.com/Setting-Table-Transforming-Hospitality-Business/dp/006074276320% of fund in teenage founders: https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/18/this-top-vc-bet-close-to-20-of-his-fund-on-teenagers-heres-why/https://nypost.com/2025/12/14/us-news/xu-bo-chinese-billionaire-reportedly-sires-more-than-100-kids/Follow KevinTwitter: https://x.com/kevinhartzLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hartzFollow TurnerTwitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovakLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovakSubscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/

Joey Krug (Founders Fund partner, former Pantera co-CIO, and Augur co-founder) returns to unpack whether the “crypto-native era” is fading as institutions and mainstream apps adopt crypto rails without adopting crypto culture.  We dig into prediction markets' breakout (and why Polymarket finally found product-market fit), the coming regulatory fights around market structure and “insider” edges, and what's next for founders building in a post-cypherpunk, distribution-first phase of crypto. ------

In the final years of his life, Jeffrey Epstein attempted to reinvent himself as a player in the surveillance and security-tech industry. Newly leaked emails from Ehud Barak's inbox show Epstein's interest in Reporty Homeland Security (now Carbyne) and his attempts to build ties with figures like Peter Thiel, former Israeli intelligence officials, and even individuals connected to Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Epstein used these connections to push into Silicon Valley through funds such as Valar Ventures and Founders Fund, while simultaneously promoting himself as a bridge between high-tech innovation, private wealth, and the geopolitics of surveillance.The leaks also reveal Epstein's maneuvering in Russia, where he connected Barak with Sergey Belyakov and presented himself as a nonpolitical facilitator able to skirt sanctions and open doors to oligarch networks. He circulated articles on cyberwarfare, emergency management, and Israeli Unit 8200 to maintain relevance in the intelligence conversation. Collectively, these documents portray Epstein as more than just a disgraced financier—he was actively embedding himself in the global spy-tech ecosystem right up until his downfall.to  contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connections

In the final years of his life, Jeffrey Epstein attempted to reinvent himself as a player in the surveillance and security-tech industry. Newly leaked emails from Ehud Barak's inbox show Epstein's interest in Reporty Homeland Security (now Carbyne) and his attempts to build ties with figures like Peter Thiel, former Israeli intelligence officials, and even individuals connected to Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Epstein used these connections to push into Silicon Valley through funds such as Valar Ventures and Founders Fund, while simultaneously promoting himself as a bridge between high-tech innovation, private wealth, and the geopolitics of surveillance.The leaks also reveal Epstein's maneuvering in Russia, where he connected Barak with Sergey Belyakov and presented himself as a nonpolitical facilitator able to skirt sanctions and open doors to oligarch networks. He circulated articles on cyberwarfare, emergency management, and Israeli Unit 8200 to maintain relevance in the intelligence conversation. Collectively, these documents portray Epstein as more than just a disgraced financier—he was actively embedding himself in the global spy-tech ecosystem right up until his downfall.to  contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connectionsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

In the final years of his life, Jeffrey Epstein attempted to reinvent himself as a player in the surveillance and security-tech industry. Newly leaked emails from Ehud Barak's inbox show Epstein's interest in Reporty Homeland Security (now Carbyne) and his attempts to build ties with figures like Peter Thiel, former Israeli intelligence officials, and even individuals connected to Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Epstein used these connections to push into Silicon Valley through funds such as Valar Ventures and Founders Fund, while simultaneously promoting himself as a bridge between high-tech innovation, private wealth, and the geopolitics of surveillance.The leaks also reveal Epstein's maneuvering in Russia, where he connected Barak with Sergey Belyakov and presented himself as a nonpolitical facilitator able to skirt sanctions and open doors to oligarch networks. He circulated articles on cyberwarfare, emergency management, and Israeli Unit 8200 to maintain relevance in the intelligence conversation. Collectively, these documents portray Epstein as more than just a disgraced financier—he was actively embedding himself in the global spy-tech ecosystem right up until his downfall.to  contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connectionsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

A Note from James:Tye Sheridan is one of my favorite actors. You might know him as Cyclops in the X-Men movies (Apocalypse, etc.) or as the lead in Ready Player One—which is not only a great movie but also one of my favorite sci-fi books. One of his first films was Mud with Matthew McConaughey.What I didn't realize: since 2016, while still acting, Tye has also been a serious AI entrepreneur. He and Nikola Todorovic co-founded AI-powered VFX/CGI company, Wonder Dynamics, now an Autodesk company, that built AI tools to make visual effects more accessible.I wanted them both on to talk about how AI will change filmmaking—potentially letting someone like me make a movie that would normally cost hundreds of millions because of VFX—and, just as important, how Tye balanced being a movie star and an entrepreneur at the same time. I also wanted Nikola's take on where AI is going and whether it will take jobs. Fascinating conversation ahead—here are Tye Sheridan and Nikola Todorovic.Episode Description:James sits down with actor–founder Tye Sheridan and VFX director Nikola Todorovic to unpack how their company's AI tools (now part of Autodesk) are changing what small teams can pull off—and what that means for studios, budgets, and actual stories. They trace the path from stitching 360° GoPro rigs and a VR proof-of-concept… to a first demo for Steven Spielberg… to a platform that lets indies do big-look work without big-studio burn. You'll hear clear, non-hyped answers on where text-to-video fits, why they focus on editable 3D over black-box 2D, and a candid take on the only moat that still matters: writing something people care about.What You'll Learn:A workable cost model for VFX-heavy projects: where 10× savings can come from—and where they can't.How to run “lean” on real productions: recruiting cross-disciplinary talent and sequencing funding without chasing hype cycles.3D pipelines vs. text-to-video: why pros need full control of lighting, camera, and performance—and how Sora-style tools can still complement the workflow.Story first, always: the audience forgives limited budgets—not lazy scripts.A pragmatic future for studios and indies: expanding voices without erasing human actors or craft.Timestamped Chapters:[00:02:00] “Hollywood is nervous”: James frames the AI anxiety he's hearing in studio rooms.[00:03:01] A note from James: why Tye's career (from Mud to Ready Player One) made him the right guest—plus Nikola's VFX roots.[00:06:03] Tree of Life to tech startup: meeting on set, Chivo's influence, and early curiosity about tools.[00:13:46] DIY 360° & the Spielberg audition: the VR demo, a $10k experiment, and a first product pitch to Steven.[00:20:12] The question everyone asks: will AI erase studio jobs—or expand what smaller teams can make?[00:24:00] Distribution changed—financing didn't: presales, streaming, strikes, and why a bigger shift is still coming.[00:27:12] Reality check on budgets: VFX vs. SFX, and how a $100M effects bill could land near $10M.[00:36:02] Running lean + real backers: Founders Fund, MaC VC, Horizons; hiring for overlap (CV/ML/VFX/eng).[00:37:44] From waitlist to workflows: who used the platform first, and a TV case where weeks became days.[00:42:12] Sora vs. 3D pipelines: where text-to-video fits—and why pros avoid black-box 2D for final shots.[01:00:45] “A decade of procrastination”: the founders joke about building a company to avoid writing their own film—then set sights on making it.Additional Resources:Tye Sheridan — filmography and roles (Ready Player One, X-Men). WikipediaNikola Todorovic — Co-founder, Wonder Dynamics (Autodesk company). linkedin.comAutodesk acquires Wonder Dynamics — press release (May 21, 2024). Autodesk NewsAutodesk Flow Studio (formerly Wonder Studio) — product page & docs. AutodeskReady Player One (2018). WikipediaThe Card Counter (2021). WikipediaThe Tree of Life (2011) & Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki. IMDbSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Matteo Franceschetti is the Co-founder and CEO of Eight Sleep.Eight Sleep created one of the original breakout consumer health products in 2014, quietly building a business that's raised over $300 million dollars and was reportedly free cash flow positive in the first half of 2025.But things weren't always easy, and Matteo shares the challenges of starting a hardware company, why hardware has stronger moats, and the fundraising mindset he adopted that eventually got Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund to invest.We also get into the importance of sleep, how the company's Sleep Butler uses AI to help you sleep better, and the big opportunity building more consumer health products.Thanks to Numeral for supporting this episode. It's the end-to-end platform for sales tax and compliance. Try it here: ⁠https://www.numeral.com⁠Timestamps:(2:18) Three pillars of health: sleep, nutrition, fitness(4:02) Creating a sleep routine(6:59) Importance of body temperature in sleep(8:43) How Eight Sleep works(12:14) Using AI to help you sleep(18:35) The AWS outage(24:12) It's too hard to build in Europe(28:09) Why hardware has stronger moats(32:23) How to fundraise for a hardware company(35:30) The opportunity in Sleep tech(38:43) Hiring is easy when you have a mission(40:37) How to fight jet lag(43:03) Opportunities in women's health(45:54) Evolving from single purchase to subscription model(47:12) Matteo's personal health stack(49:41) Racing sports carsReferencedEight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/Compliant VC Meme Account: https://x.com/compliantvcFollow MatteoTwitter: https://x.com/m_franceschettiLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matteofranceschetti/Follow TurnerTwitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovakLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovakSubscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/

Link per ottenere €50 di sconto su Fiscozen: https://links.madeitpodcast.it/fiscozen Matilde Giglio è la CEO e co-founder di Even, una startup che all'epoca stava muovendo i primi passi per rivoluzionare il mercato delle assicurazioni sanitarie in India. Da allora, Even è cresciuta in modo incredibile: oggi è il primo “payvidor” in India, un modello che unisce assicurazione sanitaria, cliniche e ospedali sotto un unico tetto. Ha raccolto oltre 70 milioni di dollari da investitori come Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund e 8VC, ha aperto il suo primo ospedale nel 2025, con altri tre in arrivo, e genera già più di 30 milioni di dollari di ricavi all'anno — una delle realtà healthcare in più rapida crescita in Asia. Ammiriamo profondamente Matilde: è una di quelle imprenditrici che sognano davvero in grande, con una mentalità internazionale e una grinta che contagia. Sta costruendo un'azienda che ha l'ambizione di diventare gigantesca, e la sua energia ti fa venire voglia di spaccare il mondo e credere che tutto sia possibile. Abbiamo deciso di farvi riascoltare questa intervista perché, nonostante sia stata registrata qualche anno fa, è ancora attualissima e incredibilmente ispirazionale.

Ev Randle is a General Partner @ Benchmark, one of the best funds in venture capital. In their latest fund, they have Mercor ($10BN valuation), Sierra ($10BN valuation), Firework ($4BN valuation), Legora ($2Bn valuation) and Langchain ($1.4Bn valuation). To put this in multiples on invested capital, that is a 60x, two 30x and two 20x. Before Benchmark, Ev was a Partner @ Kleiner Perkins and before Kleiner, Ev was an investor at Founders Fund and Bond.  AGENDA: 05:25 Biggest Investing Lessons from Peter Thiel, Mary Meeker and Mamoon Hamid 14:36 OpenAI Will Be a $TRN Company & OpenAI or Anthropic: Who Wins Coding? 22:27 Why We Should Not Focus on Margin But Gross Dollar Per Customer 30:25 Why AI Labs are the Biggest Threat to AI App Companies 44:26 Do Benchmark Fire Founders? If so… Truly the Best Partner? 54:38 People, Product, Market: Rank 1-3 and Why? 57:36 Why the Mega Funds Have Just Replaced Tiger 01:04:08 GC, Lightspeed and a16z Cannot Do 5x on Their Funds…  01:14:09 Single Biggest Threat to Benchmark  

Trae Stephens is Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Anduril Industries, a defense technology company, and a General Partner at venture capital firm Founders Fund, where he invests across sectors with a particular interest in startups operating in the government space. Previously, Trae was an early employee at Palantir Technologies, where he led teams focused on growth in the intelligence and defense sector as well as international expansion, helping large organizations solve their hardest data analysis problems. He was also an integral part of the product team, leading the design and strategy for new product offerings. While at Palantir, Trae also served as an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University. Before joining Palantir, Trae worked as a computational linguist building enterprise solutions to Arabic/Persian name matching and data enrichment within the U.S. Intelligence Community. He began his career working in the office of then Congressman Rob Portman and in the Political Affairs Office at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C. immediately following the installation of Hamid Karzai's transitional government. Trae graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: Buy PSYOP Now - ⁠https://psyopshow.com⁠ ⁠https://tryarmra.com/srs⁠ ⁠https://aura.com/srs⁠ ⁠https://betterhelp.com/srs⁠ This episode is sponsored. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/srs and get on your way to being your best self. ⁠https://bubsnaturals.com⁠ – USE CODE SHAWN ⁠https://bunkr.life⁠ – USE CODE SRS Go to ⁠https://bunkr.life/SRS⁠ and use code “SRS” to get 25% off your family plan. ⁠https://shawnlikesgold.com⁠ ⁠https://moinkbox.com/srs⁠ ⁠https://mypatriotsupply.com/srs⁠ ⁠https://patriotmobile.com/srs⁠ ⁠https://prizepicks.onelink.me/lmeo/srs⁠ ⁠https://rocketmoney.com/srs⁠ ⁠https://ROKA.com⁠ – USE CODE SRS ⁠https://shopify.com/srs⁠ ⁠https://USCCA.com/srs Trae Stephens Links: X - https://x.com/traestephens LI - https://www.linkedin.com/in/trae-stephens-485a811 IG - https://www.instagram.com/trae.stephens Founders Fund - https://foundersfund.com/team/trae-stephens Anduril Industries - https://www.anduril.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Austin Lyons, Senior Analyst at Creative Strategies, talks with TITV Host Akash Pasricha about OpenAI's new deal with AMD and what it means for other AI chip companies. We also talk with M13 Partner Anna Barber about where startups can still succeed in a world dominated by OpenAI, and we get into Founders Fund's surprisingly bullish stance on AI with Reporter Miles Kruppa. Lastly, we discuss the business of AI rollups and AI customer service with Crescendo Founder and CEO Matt Price.Articles discussed on this episode:https://www.theinformation.com/articles/founders-fund-shifts-caution-concentrated-bets-aihttps://www.theinformation.com/briefings/openai-strikes-six-gigawatt-compute-deal-amdTITV airs on YouTube, X and LinkedIn at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. Or check us out wherever you get your podcasts.Subscribe to: - The Information on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theinformation4080/?sub_confirmation=1- The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/subscribe_hSign up for the AI Agenda newsletter: https://www.theinformation.com/features/ai-agenda

Polymarket is considering an offer that values the platform at $9 billion. Polymarket is considering a deal that would value the company at $9 billion, according to a report from The Information. The number is a dramatic climb from its $1 billion valuation just three months ago, when it raised funds in a round led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. What drove the surge in prediction market's valuation? CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie hosts “CoinDesk Daily.” - Break the cycle of exploitation. Break down the barriers to truth. Break into the next generation of privacy. Break Free. Free to scroll without being monetized. Free from censorship. Freedom without fear. We deserve more when it comes to privacy. Experience the next generation of blockchain that is private and inclusive by design. Break free with Midnight, visit midnight.network/break-free - This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

In the final years of his life, Jeffrey Epstein attempted to reinvent himself as a player in the surveillance and security-tech industry. Newly leaked emails from Ehud Barak's inbox show Epstein's interest in Reporty Homeland Security (now Carbyne) and his attempts to build ties with figures like Peter Thiel, former Israeli intelligence officials, and even individuals connected to Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Epstein used these connections to push into Silicon Valley through funds such as Valar Ventures and Founders Fund, while simultaneously promoting himself as a bridge between high-tech innovation, private wealth, and the geopolitics of surveillance.The leaks also reveal Epstein's maneuvering in Russia, where he connected Barak with Sergey Belyakov and presented himself as a nonpolitical facilitator able to skirt sanctions and open doors to oligarch networks. He circulated articles on cyberwarfare, emergency management, and Israeli Unit 8200 to maintain relevance in the intelligence conversation. Collectively, these documents portray Epstein as more than just a disgraced financier—he was actively embedding himself in the global spy-tech ecosystem right up until his downfall.to  contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connections

In the final years of his life, Jeffrey Epstein attempted to reinvent himself as a player in the surveillance and security-tech industry. Newly leaked emails from Ehud Barak's inbox show Epstein's interest in Reporty Homeland Security (now Carbyne) and his attempts to build ties with figures like Peter Thiel, former Israeli intelligence officials, and even individuals connected to Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Epstein used these connections to push into Silicon Valley through funds such as Valar Ventures and Founders Fund, while simultaneously promoting himself as a bridge between high-tech innovation, private wealth, and the geopolitics of surveillance.The leaks also reveal Epstein's maneuvering in Russia, where he connected Barak with Sergey Belyakov and presented himself as a nonpolitical facilitator able to skirt sanctions and open doors to oligarch networks. He circulated articles on cyberwarfare, emergency management, and Israeli Unit 8200 to maintain relevance in the intelligence conversation. Collectively, these documents portray Epstein as more than just a disgraced financier—he was actively embedding himself in the global spy-tech ecosystem right up until his downfall.to  contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connections

In the final years of his life, Jeffrey Epstein attempted to reinvent himself as a player in the surveillance and security-tech industry. Newly leaked emails from Ehud Barak's inbox show Epstein's interest in Reporty Homeland Security (now Carbyne) and his attempts to build ties with figures like Peter Thiel, former Israeli intelligence officials, and even individuals connected to Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Epstein used these connections to push into Silicon Valley through funds such as Valar Ventures and Founders Fund, while simultaneously promoting himself as a bridge between high-tech innovation, private wealth, and the geopolitics of surveillance.The leaks also reveal Epstein's maneuvering in Russia, where he connected Barak with Sergey Belyakov and presented himself as a nonpolitical facilitator able to skirt sanctions and open doors to oligarch networks. He circulated articles on cyberwarfare, emergency management, and Israeli Unit 8200 to maintain relevance in the intelligence conversation. Collectively, these documents portray Epstein as more than just a disgraced financier—he was actively embedding himself in the global spy-tech ecosystem right up until his downfall.to  contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connectionsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

In the final years of his life, Jeffrey Epstein attempted to reinvent himself as a player in the surveillance and security-tech industry. Newly leaked emails from Ehud Barak's inbox show Epstein's interest in Reporty Homeland Security (now Carbyne) and his attempts to build ties with figures like Peter Thiel, former Israeli intelligence officials, and even individuals connected to Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Epstein used these connections to push into Silicon Valley through funds such as Valar Ventures and Founders Fund, while simultaneously promoting himself as a bridge between high-tech innovation, private wealth, and the geopolitics of surveillance.The leaks also reveal Epstein's maneuvering in Russia, where he connected Barak with Sergey Belyakov and presented himself as a nonpolitical facilitator able to skirt sanctions and open doors to oligarch networks. He circulated articles on cyberwarfare, emergency management, and Israeli Unit 8200 to maintain relevance in the intelligence conversation. Collectively, these documents portray Epstein as more than just a disgraced financier—he was actively embedding himself in the global spy-tech ecosystem right up until his downfall.to  contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connectionsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Golden State Salmon Association Logo On today's show, the Stop Billionaires Summer continues.  I speak to Scientists Rebellion Turtle Island's Dr. Michelle Merrill on today's action in San Francisco and beyond entitled, “Thiel Takedown – Action at Founders Fund”.  We'll switch gears and speak to the project manager for Veterans for Peace Golden Rule Project, Michelle Kanoelehua Marsonette about their vigil for the whales that have perished in the Bay.  We'll close out the show with Barry Nelson, senior policy advisor for the Golden State Salmon Association about the latest water strategy coming out of Sacramento. The post Newsom Administration's Clandestine Water Strategy appeared first on KPFA.

"Comply or Die" reality is hitting crypto developers. Roman Storm of Tornado Cash was found guilty of operating an unlicensed money transmitter, while Samurai Wallet devs took plea deals. Meanwhile, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund raised $353M for Plasma - a fully compliant, surveillance-friendly stablecoin sidechain. We explore the stark contrast between privacy developers facing prison time and establishment players launching token sales with regulatory blessing. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com **Notes:** • Roman Storm faces up to 5 years in prison • Samurai devs face $6.3M in fines each • Plasma raised $353M in oversubscribed round • Only 10% of Plasma tokens for public sale • 25% token allocation goes to investors • Legal defense funds were crowdfunded Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:20 Is Peter Theil the Antichrist? 03:25 Tornadocash 18:39 Peter Theil goes ICO baby! -

Send us a textLooking to raise capital in today's market? Watch this expert panel of founders, fund managers, and family office leaders share what's actually working in 2025 — from cutting-edge tools and tech like ChatGPT, to timeless strategies like in-person networking, educational content, and investor trust-building.You'll hear real stories and proven tactics from investors in oil & gas, real estate, art, cannabis, and advanced robotics. Whether you're a seasoned capital raiser or just getting started, this is a masterclass in modern fundraising.

Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm found guilty of operating unlicensed money transmitter. Meanwhile, Peter Thiel's fund raises $353M for surveillance-friendly stablecoin sidechain. Privacy devs criminalized while compliant chains get funded."Comply or Die" reality hitting crypto developers. Roman Storm of Tornado Cash was found guilty of operating an unlicensed money transmitter, while Samurai Wallet devs took plea deals. Meanwhile, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund raised $353M for Plasma - a fully compliant, surveillance-friendly stablecoin sidechain. We explore the stark contrast between privacy developers facing prison time and establishment players launching token sales with regulatory blessing.Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com**Notes:**• Roman Storm faces up to 5 years in prison• Samurai devs face $6.3M in fines each• Plasma raised $353M in oversubscribed round• Only 10% of Plasma tokens for public sale• 25% token allocation goes to investors• Legal defense funds were crowdfundedTimestamps:00:00 Start00:20 Is Peter Theil the Antichrist?03:25 Tornadocash18:39 Peter Theil goes ICO baby!-

Hadrian, a defense manufacturing startup focused on machine parts, has closed a $260 million Series C funding round. Led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and Lux Capital, the capital will go towards building a 270,000 square foot factory in Arizona and expanding its California footprint. CEO Chris Power joins to discuss the raise, reviving American manufacturing and where defense tech goes from here.

We dive into Nucleus Genomics, a startup backed by the Founders Fund, that wants to help you evaluate, rank, and name your embryos in a pre-IVF dashboard designed for “genetic optimization.” We talk about the junk science and wild ideologies that drive these desires to treat your genes and children like assets to be managed – with the ultimate goal of creating and enforcing a society ordered by genetic hierarchies. We then wrap up by tying these biotech visions to their AI counterparts in the “Gentle Singularity.” ••• This 25-Year-Old Biotech Founder Says His Startup Can ‘Optimize' Embryos for Intelligence https://www.inc.com/ben-sherry/kian-sadeghi-says-nucleus-genomics-can-optimize-embryos-for-intelligence/91198815 ••• Controversial genetics testing startup Nucleus Genomics raises $14M Series A https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/30/controversial-genetics-testing-startup-nucleus-genomics-raises-14m-series-a/ ••• Genetics testing startup Nucleus Genomics criticized for its embryo product: ‘Makes me so nauseous' https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/06/genetics-testing-startup-nucleus-genomics-criticized-for-its-embryo-product-makes-me-so-nauseous/ ••• OpenAI wins $200m contract with US military for ‘warfighting' https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/17/openai-military-contract-warfighting ••• This is the gentle singularity? https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/this-is-the-gentle-singularity ••• China shuts down AI tools during nationwide college exams https://www.theverge.com/news/682737/china-shuts-down-ai-chatbots-exam-season Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan's new book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed's substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

Scott Nolan is the CEO of General Matter, enriching uranium in America to reshore domestic nuclear fuel capacity and power the American energy production needed to lead in AI, manufacturing, and other critical industries. General Matter is backed by Founders Fund, the first institutional investor in SpaceX, Palantir, and Anduril.Scott is also a partner at Founders Fund, where for the past 13 years he led hardtech investments across energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, aerospace, and defense. Companies Scott has worked with include SpaceX, Neuralink, Crusoe Energy, Planet Labs, The Boring Company, Nubank, Impulse Space, and Radiant Nuclear. Previously, Scott was an early engineer at SpaceX, where he helped develop the Merlin engine systems and Dragon capsule. He earned his Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University, and his MBA from Stanford University. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: https://www.americanfinancing.net/srs nmls 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org https://www.tryarmra.com/srs https://www.betterhelp.com/srs This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp — give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/srs and get on your way to being your best self. https://www.shawnlikesgold.com https://www.drinkhoist.com - USE CODE SRS https://www.patriotmobile.com/srs https://www.rocketmoney.com/srs Scott Nolan Links: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottpnolan X - https://x.com/ScottNolan General Matter - https://www.generalmatter.com  X - https://x.com/generalmatter  Founders Fund - https://foundersfund.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Agenda: 00:03 – Circle's IPO: Investors Just Left $BNs on the Table 00:06 – CoreWeave & Circle: Are We Back to Meme Stock Madness? 00:11 – Should Stripe and Databricks Finally Go Public? 00:17 – US Stock Markets: How They DOMINATE the Global Game 00:21 – 50% of Unicorns Are DOOMED. What Happens Now? 00:25 – Founders Fund Just Dropped $1B on Anduril. Why?! 00:29 – What Would You Do If LPs Let You Go Wild? 00:36 – What Missing Out on Millions for Docusign Taught Rory 00:44 – Cursor is 20% of SaaS Spend: The Shocking Data Behind the SaaS Slowdown 00:47 – AI vs. SaaS: The Great Budget War Begins 00:48 – Can AI Take Budget from the Talent Budget or Will It Remain in Software Budgets? 00:56 – SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink: Elon's Empire After the Firestorm Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.modemobile.com. This is a paid advertisement for Mode Mobile's Regulation A+ Offering. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investing in private company securities is not suitable for all investors because it is highly speculative and involves a high degree of risk. It should only be considered a long-term investment. You must be prepared to withstand a total loss of your investment. Private company securities are also highly illiquid, and there is no guarantee that a market will develop for such securities. DealMaker Securities LLC, a registered broker-dealer, and member of FINRA | SIPC, located at 105 Maxess Road, Suite 124, Melville, NY 11747, is the Intermediary for this offering and is not an affiliate of or connected with the Issuer. Please check our background on FINRA's BrokerCheck.  

Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years, published once a month. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. There aren't many people like Cyan Banister. Her life story is remarkable. She was homeless at a young age, dropped out of high school, and five years ago she suffered an extremely rare stroke. Yet, in spite of everything, she is one of the most optimistic and curious people you can hope to meet. Cyan is also one of the great angel investors of this era, having invested early in SpaceX, Uber, Postmates, and Deepmind to name a few winners. She became the first female investing partner at Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and now invests at Long Journey Ventures. Our conversation is as much about investing as it is about the essence of life and how connecting with that will help us in our professional pursuits. It is also full of awesome stories about people and companies like SpaceX and Bill Murray. Please enjoy this great conversation with Cyan Banister. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: [00:00:00] Welcome to Invest Like the Best [00:04:06] Contrarian Thinking in Investing [00:05:30] Joining Founders Fund and Learning from Peter Thiel [00:11:15] Investing in Companies that Change Lives [00:14:00] The Importance of Overcoming Adversity for Founders [00:16:02] Personal Journey and Choosing Hope [00:20:56] Embracing Curiosity and Wonder in the Face of Adversity [00:21:20] Reconnecting with Our Inner Child [00:24:46] The Interruption and Resumption of the Conversation [00:27:20] The Power of Intuition in Business Decisions [00:32:28] The Story Behind the Investment in Uber [00:38:46] Conclusion: Following the White Rabbit of Curiosity [00:39:08] Investing in Uber: The Beginning [00:41:50] The Impact of Success: Personal Wealth and Privacy [00:50:22] The Intersection of Spirituality and Investing [00:59:34] The Bill Murray Experience: A Lesson in Presence [01:09:54] The Violin Kid: A Tale of Curiosity and Generosity [01:12:43] The Evolution of Investing: A Personal Journey [01:16:34] The Philosophy of Giving: The Universe's Return [01:17:36] The Spirit of a Venture Firm: Founders Fund [01:23:09] The Power of Integral Family Systems [01:28:41] The Trillion Dollar Question: Disrupting Hollywood [01:36:05] The Future of Artistry: AI and Creativity [01:41:39] The Power of Kindness

As DeFi continues to evolve, the challenge of finding a balance between decentralization and protection from all manner of exploits persists. The founder of Infinex, Kain Warwick, joined the show to talk about: How crypto market makers have at times veered into “all-out crime” What market making looks like today Playing chart games with token allocations What Kain looks at when evaluating tokens Why Binance kicked a MOVE market maker off its platform The $JELLY attack on Hyperliquid and the problem of centralization in DeFi What problems in crypto Kain is attempting to solve with Infinex Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! Bitwise Guest: Kain Warwick, founder of Infinex App and Synthetix Previous appearances on Unchained: 2025 Will Be a Year of Crypto Competition. Can Ethereum Make a Comeback? Links: Crypto Market Making Kain Warwick: Discussion about market makers Binance: What happened with MOVE on Binance Coindesk: Binance Offboards Market Maker That It Said Made $38M Profit on MOVE Listing Bloomberg: Citadel Securities Plots Jump Into Crypto Trading After Trump's Embrace Hyperliquid Unchained: Hyperliquid Saved Itself a $15 Million Loss, but Sparked Criticism Infinex The Block: Synthetix founder Kain Warwick launches Infinex The Block: Peter Thiel's Founders Fund invests in Infinex's Patron NFT sale as total amount raised hits $67.7 million Timestamps:

Cyan Banister (@cyantist) is a general partner at Long Journey Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on early and new investments. Cyan was an early investor in Uber, SpaceX, DeepMind, Flexport, and Affirm and has invested in more than 100 companies. Prior to that, she was at Founders Fund, a top-tier fund in San Francisco. Subscribe to Cyan's Substack at uglyduckling.substack.com.Sponsors:Eight Sleep's Pod 4 Ultra sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating: https://eightsleep.com/tim (save between $400 and $600 on the Pod 4 Ultra)AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: https://DrinkAG1.com/Tim (1-year supply of Vitamin D (and 5 free AG1 travel packs) with your first subscription purchase.)Wealthfront high-yield cash account: https://Wealthfront.com/Tim (Start earning 4.25% APY on your short-term cash until you're ready to invest. And when new clients open an account today, you can get an extra fifty-dollar bonus with a deposit of five hundred dollars or more.) Terms apply. Tim Ferriss receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Brokerage, LLC for advertising and holds a non-controlling equity interest in the corporate parent of Wealthfront Brokerage. See full disclosures here.Timestamps:[00:00] Start [06:16] Early life and education as a white minority on a Navajo reservation.[11:18] Strained family dynamics and a cycle of neglect.[18:20] The intervention of Officer Pratt and becoming a ward of the state at 15.[22:46] Crusty punk survival strategies and life on the streets.[32:02] The positive influence of Cyan's "second" mother.[34:17] Crass, Chris Collins, and computers.[38:03] An unorthodox path to angel investment beginning with Uber.[48:13] Niantic/Pokemon GO.[56:27] How stalking Garrett Langley led to a Flock Security investment.[01:00:07] GameCrush, activist investors, and lessons learned.[01:07:00] Sales lessons from the street.[01:10:08] A mindful approach to questioning narratives.[01:15:35] The pre-OnlyFans story of Zivity.[01:24:44] Views on sex and relationships.[01:28:47] Magic glasses, esoteric rabbit holes, and rolling the dice.[01:44:02] How Aleister Crowley and Bill Murray paved a path to ex-atheism.[02:02:21] Cyan's billboard.[02:04:41] Enduring a stroke and its aftermath.[02:08:31] Meditation, throat-singing, and philosophy.[02:17:50] The Boston spiritual experience and duck boat baptism.[02:40:53] A book in the works, the Ugly Duckling Substack, and parting thoughts.*For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsorsSign up for Tim's email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim's books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissYouTube: youtube.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Peter Thiel is an entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded PayPal, made the first outside investment in Facebook, and co-founded Palantir Technologies, where he serves as chairman. Thiel is a partner at Founders Fund and leads the Thiel Foundation, which funds technological progress and long-term thinking. He is also the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Zero to One. https://foundersfund.com https://palantir.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices