Podcasts about general partners

In this episode, we sit down with David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and former founder of Bond Street, to discuss what separates exceptional founders from everyone else.David breaks down why the best founders study those who came before them, how to stand out in crowded markets, what makes an “N of 1” company, and the biggest mistakes founders make when hiring. We also discuss building and selling Bond Street, New York vs. Silicon Valley, and how AI is changing what it takes to build a successful company.If you're interested in entrepreneurship, startups, venture capital, founder advice, hiring, AI, or building a successful company, this episode is for you.This episode is supported by Sydecar, HEX, Wispr Flow, Granola, Beehiiv, KalshiSydecar: https://sydecar.io/partners/trailblazersbeehiiv: www.beehiiv.com/splash?utm_campaign=trailblazers-2026-Partnership&utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=trailblazers&utm_term=podcast-18&stripe_campaign_code=TRAILBLAZERS30 (or use code “trailblazers30” for 30% OFF)Granola: http://granola.ai/trailblazers*Granola is the official notetaker of Trailblazers! Check out the episode shownotes here: https://notes.granola.ai/t/18b4e05d-a30c-4192-85f7-f5db17f34f4f-00b881l8Kalshi: http://Kalshi.com/r/trailblazersWispr Flow: https://ref.wisprflow.ai/trailblazersHEX: http://hex.ai/trailblazers

Anna Skaya built Basepaws from “23andMe for cats” into a pet genetics company that ultimately sold to Zoetis in a nearly nine-figure exit.But the path there was anything but straightforward. Anna was rejected by YC four times, initially turned down by Shark Tank, struggled to raise venture capital, navigated a painful co-founder split, and spent years hearing that her cat DNA company would never work.In this episode, Anna shares how she turned that rejection into fuel, what she learned from Kevin O'Leary and Shark Tank, why founders should start building relationships with potential acquirers years before an exit, and what life after selling a company actually feels like.Now a General Partner at Ani.VC, Anna also shares what she's seeing next in pet tech and why she believes Miami could become a global hub for the industry.

Working longer does not necessarily make founders feel worse. In fact, some of the founders putting in the most hours report feeling healthier than their peers.Itxaso del Palacio, General Partner at Notion Capital, explores this founder health paradox and why feeling capable of pushing harder may not be the same as performing sustainably.Using lessons from endurance sport and findings from Notion Capital's Negative Split research, she explains why founders need to pace themselves for a journey that can last five, eight or ten years. She also looks at the role of intrinsic motivation, teams, coaches and peer networks in helping founders maintain performance over time.The talk ultimately challenges investors and board members to look beyond growth metrics and consider whether the people building the company have what they need to finish the race strongly.HighlightsWhy founders can learn from endurance athletesWhat the negative split reveals about sustainable performanceWhy long working hours can distort how healthy founders feelWhat startup culture misunderstands about recoveryWhy intrinsic motivation matters over the long termHow strong support networks help founders keep performingWhy boards should look beyond financial and operating metricsWhy the way a founder finishes matters more than how they startThis session was recorded at the Love Tomorrow Summit, where EUVC curated the investor-focused programme.Timestamps(00:00) Intro(01:20) What happens when founders have to keep going for years(03:00) Why elite athletes pace for the second half(04:35) Why investors treat founders like machines(05:30) What the Negative Split research found(06:40) The perception gap around founder health(08:05) What startup culture gets wrong about recovery(09:10) Intrinsic motivation and support networks(10:00) Why founder health is a business issue(10:40) What investors should ask in the boardroom(11:15) Why performance is about how you finish

In this episode, host Keri Smith, Global Lead for AI and Data in Banking & Capital Markets at Accenture, sits down with Adrian Crockett, General Partner and Head of EJ Labs at Edward Jones to explore what it truly means to democratize AI across a 55,000-person organization, how to empower non-engineers to safely build and deploy agents, close the AI value gap, and shift from isolated pilots to a platform-first mindset without sacrificing speed or governance.

This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________David Schneider is a General Partner at Coatue, where he co-leads the firm's Growth Fund. Previously, he was President at ServiceNow, helping scale the company from roughly $100M to $5B in revenue, after helping take another software company in Data Domain from zero customers to more than $1B in revenue. David is widely regarded as one of Silicon Valley's most successful go-to-market, sales, revenue and business building executives of all time.In this rare public conversation, David joins Vidit to unpack a career spent building some of enterprise software's defining companies. He shares how he was initially rejected by Data Domain for not being “aggressive enough”, only to join when it had zero customers and around 18 employees and help scale it beyond $1 billion in revenue — revealing the intensity, hiring philosophy and relentless focus on execution that shaped him as a leader. They also explore David's decade at ServiceNow, where he helped scale the business from roughly $100 million to $5 billion, what he learned working alongside legendary CEO Frank Slootman, and the painful customer failure that fundamentally changed how he thought about leadership. David then opens up about leaving operating at the height of his career to become a General Partner at Coatue, where he now co-leads its Growth Fund, and the surprisingly difficult transition from being the person making decisions to the investor sitting beside the founder. Along the way, he reflects on building exceptional sales teams, spotting future leaders, the future of enterprise go-to-market, flying 250,000–350,000 miles a year, the impact that ambition had on his family, and why curiosity has remained a constant throughout his life.Please enjoy exploring your curiosity._______Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.comJoin our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. Show notes and more episodes hereFollow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and InstagramGet in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly hereContact us via our websiteThis episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________TIMESTAMPS00:00 – Left Field Questions01:24 – The founder David is betting on04:01 – Growing up in Silicon Valley before the boom08:25 – How David became obsessed with winning24:45 – Rejected by Data Domain for not being “aggressive enough”28:40 – From zero customers to a billion-dollar business40:00 – What David learned working with Frank Slootman50:23 – The customer failure David never forgot52:25 – How David helped scale ServiceNow from $100M to $5B59:04 – Why he walked away from operating01:00:29 – From operator to investor at Coatue01:08:00 – What David looks for in breakout companies today01:11:00 – 350,000-mile years01:13:30 – Left-field questions: grit, pet peeves and what matters now________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), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Paul Grosmann (CEO, RM Williams), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India).

Despite front-end gross compression, tariff uncertainty, and macroeconomic headwinds, automotive dealers continue to prove remarkably resilient across every other department. In this episode of VADA Live, Steve Greenfield, General Partner at Automotive Ventures and author of The Future of Mobility, breaks down the state of retail automotive. Steve explores why the traditional BDC model could become obsolete within five years due to voice AI, how dealers can capture revenue from older vehicles in operation amid a K-shaped economy, and what global competition from Chinese OEMs means for long-term dealership strategy. In this episode: Dealer Resilience & Margin Shifts — How dealerships are offsetting front-end gross compression with strong performance in back-end F&I and Fixed Ops. The K-Shaped Economy — Navigating high-end luxury demand alongside mass-market affordability challenges and credit tightness. Fixed Ops Capture Rates — Strategies to retain customer loyalty after vehicle warranties expire and capture older vehicles in operation. China EV & Global Competition — How tariffs, joint ventures, and Chinese manufacturing efficiency require long-term scenario planning. Reimagining the BDC with Voice AI — Why 24/7 AI voice assistants will transform first-line phone response and render traditional BDC setups archaic. Vetting AI Software — Why technology investments are shifting toward Fixed Ops innovation and capturing unanswered inbound calls. Resources & Links: Stream more episodes and access dealer resources: https://vada.com/live Learn more about Automotive Ventures: https://www.automotiveventures.com/ About Steve Greenfield: Steve Greenfield is General Partner at Automotive Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in technology startups across automotive and mobility. A veteran industry executive and former Manheim leader, Steve is also the author of The Future of Mobility. Enjoying VADA Live? Please leave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

If you're ready to invest in venture or a startup with your IRA, book a call with Directed IRA today to learn more!: https://directedira.com/appointment/Tell USVC about your situation and their team will follow up individually with the right path: https://usvc.com/iraIn this special episode of the Directed IRA Podcast, host Mat Sorensen, CEO of Directed IRA, sits down with Ankur Nagpal, General Partner at USVC by AngelList Asset Management and founder of Carry, to discuss venture capital, startup investing, and how retirement accounts can provide access to private-market opportunities.Venture capital and investing in private companies have traditionally been difficult for individual investors to access. In this conversation, Mat and Ankur explore how that landscape is changing and what investors should understand before using retirement dollars to invest in venture capital and startups.Mat explains how Self-Directed IRAs can be used to access private-market investments and the key IRA rules investors need to understand. Ankur shares his perspective as a venture investor and discusses how USVC and AngelList are working to expand access to venture capital.In this episode, they cover:How Self-Directed IRAs can invest in venture capital, startups, and private companiesHow investing in private markets through an IRA worksWhy venture capital has historically been difficult for individual investors to accessHow USVC and AngelList are expanding access to venture investingWhat investors should consider when evaluating venture and startup opportunitiesKey IRA rules to understand before investing retirement dollars in private companiesThe potential benefits of holding high-growth private investments in Traditional and Roth accountsHow venture capital can fit into a broader alternative investment strategyWhether you're interested in startups, venture capital, or alternative investments, this episode provides a closer look at how retirement accounts can be used to participate in private markets.For questions or to learn more about this episode's topic, book a call with an IRA specialist here: https://directedira.com/appointment/Interested in learning more about alternative investments? Join us this year at the Alternative Asset Summit October 22 & 23, where you'll hear from industry experts and connect with like-minded investors exploring new ways to build wealth: https://altassetsummit.com/Other:Mat Sorensen: https://matsorensen.comMark J. Kohler: https://markjkohler.com/ KKOS: https://kkoslawyers.comMain Street Business https://mainstreetbusiness.com

Moneda Moves is back in 2026 for Latino Heritage Month: September 15 to October 15.In this era, Moneda Moves is talking about the intersection of capital and trust. Who has it, who's asked to give it, and how it gets built inside the big ecosystems that decide where money goes.Latino entrepreneurs start businesses at some of the highest rates in the country. The capital rarely follows at the same pace. So we asked a simple question across every conversation: what does it take to build trust on purpose, and how do we use it to create a more equitable ecosystem for Latinos and other underfunded entrepreneurs doing great work?Most people enter venture without a roadmap. Lolita Taub has sat in every chair: founder, angel, LP, GP and ecosystem builder.She's the General Partner at Ganas Ventures, where she writes $100K checks into pre-seed and seed community-driven software companies. Over nearly 20 years across big tech, startups and venture, she's invested in more than 100 companies, including Brex and AngelList. She co-founded The Community Fund and has built a community of more than 100,000 founders, funders and friends.Forbes named her to its Culture 50. ¡HOLA! counted her among its 100 Latina Powerhouses. She received the Stella Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award and has spoken at SXSW, Stanford, Harvard, TEDx and Cannes Lions.She's a dual US-Mexico citizen raised in South Central Los Angeles. Today she lives in San Diego.We talked about her book, What Actually Matters: Startups, Capital, and the Rules Nobody Taught Us, out September 15. It's a practical guide to venture for people who didn't inherit a seat at the table.We started with why she got into investing and what a good investor owes the wider ecosystem. From there, we walked through the chairs she covers in the book and how ecosystem builders create infrastructure that outlasts a single cycle.Then we got into the thing that shapes everything: most venture deals still move through warm introductions.That makes trust the real currency. It works like a distribution system. Lolita's argument is that you can build it on purpose instead of waiting to be let in. For her, community is capital, and she explained what a real one is built on.Tune in to hear how you can build credibility in venture and what's next for Lolita.Follow Lolita on Instagram: @lolitataubFollow Moneda Moves on Instagram: @MonedaMovesFollow your host Lyanne Alfaro on Instagram: @LyanneAlfaroMain podcast theme song from Premium Beat.

Send us Fan MailI sat down with Maik Taro Wehmeyer, co-founder and CEO of Taktile, an agentic decision platform that helps financial services companies automate their highest-stakes decisions: credit underwriting, fraud detection, and compliance. Maik and his co-founder built the company from a failed first product and 99 rejected banks into a business that just closed a $110 million round led by Goldman Sachs. Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today's global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Real estate is moving from stabilization to selective acceleration, with value creation becoming more targeted, operational, and execution-led. As capital concentrates in select sectors and strategies, leaders need sharper asset selection, disciplined capital structures, and stronger AI-enabled capabilities. Ben Dimson, Tripp Norton, and Aditya Sanghvi discuss how General Partners, Limited Partners, and real estate operators can turn market complexity into an advantage, drawing on research from their recent article.Related insights Real estate builds on new terrain Real estate’s selective recovery How agentic AI can reshape real estate’s operating model 2026 Global Private Markets Report: Private equity−clearer view, tougher terrainSupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________Mike Vernal is a General Partner at Conviction and one of Silicon Valley's most respected operator-turned-investors. He joined Facebook very early, spent eight years there working closely with Mark Zuckerberg and ultimately became VP of Product and Engineering, before becoming a partner at storied venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, where he backed companies including Notion, Rippling, Clay and Statsig.In this conversation, Mike joins Vidit to unpack the journey from Microsoft to joining Facebook when it was still only a few hundred people, helping scale it through one of the most important periods in technology, and later becoming a partner at Sequoia before joining Conviction. He shares what he learned working closely with Mark Zuckerberg, why Facebook's obsession with speed became such an advantage, how he learned to spot exceptional founders, and why ambition remains one of the traits he values most.They also explore why Mike believes people risk “overfitting” to a job after seven years, what Sequoia taught him about great businesses, why he came back to venture after some of the most enjoyable years of his life with his family, and what changes when the cost of creating software starts approaching zero. Along the way, Mike shares the habits, quirks and principles behind his reputation as a “nerd's nerd”, from obsessive curiosity and inbox zero to the belief that the best leaders make the people around them better.Please enjoy exploring your curiosity._______Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.comJoin our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. Show notes and more episodes hereFollow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and InstagramGet in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly hereContact us via our websiteThis episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________TIMESTAMPS00:00 — The Nerd's Nerd04:00 — Growing Up in New York08:00 — Power, Internet and Caffeine13:00 — Working at a Startup in High School14:00 — Why Harvard Became the Goal18:00 — Meeting His Wife24:00 — What Microsoft Taught Him31:00 — Why Strategy Can Go Wrong33:00 — How Facebook Built High-Impact Teams37:00 — The Moment Facebook Felt Different43:00 — Facebook's Speed Advantage49:00 — Why Mike Left Facebook54:00 — Why Sequoia56:00 — Learning What Makes a Great Business59:00 — Why He Doesn't Take Notes01:01:00 — What Mike Looks for in Founders01:07:00 — Leaving Sequoia01:09:00 — Why He Joined Conviction01:14:00 — How Mike Spots What's Next01:16:00 — When Software Costs Approach Zero01:18:00 — What Makes Products Go Viral01:20:00 — Coaching His Kids01:22:00 — Inbox Zero and Productivity01:25:00 — What Mike Is Experimenting With01:27:00 — The Advice That Changed His Career________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), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India).

Daniel träffar Tobias Bengtsdahl, General Partner på Antler, för ett samtal om riskkapital, AI-trender och vad som skiljer en alldaglig idé från ett framtida miljardbolag.Investeringar i finansiella instrument är förknippade med risk och en investering kan både öka och minska i värde eller komma att bli värdelös. Historisk avkastning är ingen garanti för framtida avkastning.Ingen del av podcasten skall uppfattas som en uppmaning eller rekommendation att utföra eller disponera över någon typ av investering eller att ingå några andra transaktioner. De uppfattningar som redogjorts för i podcasten återspeglar de medverkandes uppfattning för tillfället och kan således komma att ändras. Informationen i podcasten tar inte hänsyn till någon specifik mottagares särskilda investeringsmål, ekonomiska situation eller behov. Informationen är inte att betrakta som en personlig rekommendation eller ett investeringsråd. Adekvat och professionell rådgivning skall alltid inhämtas innan några investeringsbeslut fattas och varje sådant investeringsbeslut fattas självständigt av kunden och på dennes eget ansvar. Max Matthiessen frånsäger sig allt ansvar för direkt eller indirekt förlust eller skada som grundar sig på användandet av information i podcasten.

Daniel träffar Tobias Bengtsdahl, General Partner på Antler, för ett samtal om riskkapital, AI-trender och vad som skiljer en alldaglig idé från ett framtida miljardbolag.Investeringar i finansiella instrument är förknippade med risk och en investering kan både öka och minska i värde eller komma att bli värdelös. Historisk avkastning är ingen garanti för framtida avkastning.Ingen del av podcasten skall uppfattas som en uppmaning eller rekommendation att utföra eller disponera över någon typ av investering eller att ingå några andra transaktioner. De uppfattningar som redogjorts för i podcasten återspeglar de medverkandes uppfattning för tillfället och kan således komma att ändras. Informationen i podcasten tar inte hänsyn till någon specifik mottagares särskilda investeringsmål, ekonomiska situation eller behov. Informationen är inte att betrakta som en personlig rekommendation eller ett investeringsråd. Adekvat och professionell rådgivning skall alltid inhämtas innan några investeringsbeslut fattas och varje sådant investeringsbeslut fattas självständigt av kunden och på dennes eget ansvar. Max Matthiessen frånsäger sig allt ansvar för direkt eller indirekt förlust eller skada som grundar sig på användandet av information i podcasten.

The boys get together in person as CLARITY falls short with 47 votes. They break down what comes next, Hunter Biden's LAPTOP token collapse, the Robinhood/Hyperliquid case, Balancer winding down, and the debate over an AI pause. The CLARITY Act fails cloture with 47 votes, not a single Democrat in favor, and the crew works out what that leaves behind: rulemaking at the SEC and CFTC, an ethics fight that was never really about market structure, and Robert's tally of everyone who walked away with nothing. Then Hunter Biden's LAPTOP token collapses 99.85 percent, the SDNY indicts two Robinhood engineers over Hyperliquid front-running, Balancer and a wave of exchanges wind down, Robert explains why Satoshi is a time traveler, and the panel takes apart the labs' agreement to pace the frontier. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

A major commercial real estate syndication just collapsed, and $30 million worth of investors are going to lose their money. Other syndications are struggling to stay afloat…issuing capital calls and freezing distributions to investors. To understand what's driving this wave of failures, I reached out to Ryan Caldwell CCIM®, CPM®, Co-Founder and CEO of Resolute RDM and an 18-year veteran of commercial real estate investment and development.    What You'll Discover In This Episode  The one question that separates good real estate deals from disasters How underwriting assumptions made years ago affect syndications today Why the best capital-raisers are struggling right now The "pretend and extend" dynamic reshaping distressed commercial RE The two paths the Federal Reserve could take interest rate policy What it takes to find deals that survive rough times   About the Guest Ryan Cadwell, CCIM, CPM, is Co-Founder & CEO of Resolute RDM, an Indianapolis-based commercial real estate firm he co-founded in 2008, specializing in investment, brokerage, and property management. Over 18 years, his practice has spanned income-producing assets, investment strategy, asset management, syndications, and ground-up development, including more than $25 million in construction and redevelopment delivered for investors. He currently serves as General Partner of Aero Landing Development, a 242-unit build-to-rent community in Lebanon, Missouri. His practice is deliberately consultative: fixed-fee advisory work built on the CCIM analytical framework, helping owners answer the hold-or-sell, lease-or-own, and where-next questions before any transaction. Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn or Resolute RDM website.   About Your Host From pro-snowboarder to money mogul, Chris Naugle has dedicated his life to being America's #1 Money Mentor. With a core belief that success is built not by the resources you have, but by how resourceful you can be. Chris has built and owned 19 companies, with his businesses being featured in Forbes, ABC, House Hunters, and his very own HGTV pilot in 2018. He is the founder of The Money School™ and Money Mentor for The Money Multiplier. His success also includes managing tens of millions of dollars in assets in the financial services and advisory industry and in real estate transactions. As an innovator and visionary in wealth-building and real estate, he empowers entrepreneurs, business owners, and real estate investors with the knowledge of how money works. Chris is also a nationally recognized speaker, author, and podcast host. He has spoken to and taught over ten thousand Americans, delivering the financial knowledge that fuels lasting freedom.   Resources Private Money Guide:  https://go.moneyschoolrei.com/book-podcast Wealth Wednesday Webinar: https://go.moneyschoolrei.com/wednesday-webinar-podcast Mapping out the Millionaire Mystery:  https://go.moneyschoolrei.com/newbook-podcast    

The boys get together in person as CLARITY falls short with 47 votes. They break down what comes next, Hunter Biden's LAPTOP token collapse, the Robinhood/Hyperliquid case, Balancer winding down, and the debate over an AI pause. The CLARITY Act fails cloture with 47 votes, not a single Democrat in favor, and the crew works out what that leaves behind: rulemaking at the SEC and CFTC, an ethics fight that was never really about market structure, and Robert's tally of everyone who walked away with nothing. Then Hunter Biden's LAPTOP token collapses 99.85 percent, the SDNY indicts two Robinhood engineers over Hyperliquid front-running, Balancer and a wave of exchanges wind down, Robert explains why Satoshi is a time traveler, and the panel takes apart the labs' agreement to pace the frontier. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

Most people enter venture capital as a founder, an angel, an LP, a GP, or an ecosystem builder, usually without a roadmap. Lolita Taub has been all five. She calls the hidden cost of building without inherited networks the "access tax," and she says it shows up everywhere: in every country, for founders and investors and leaders alike, and most people never even name it. In this conversation, Lolita and Lori dig into: The three elements of the access tax: time, equity, and the emotional cost of learning unwritten rules nobody wrote down Why code-switching becomes dangerous the moment you start believing it is you, and how to honor a culture without losing your identity What "community as capital" really means, and why every leadership role is an ecosystem-building role whether or not it says so on the org chart How to answer biased pitch and interview questions ("how will you avoid failing?") by redirecting to the numbers and the value you bring The case for investing in Latin America and Latino-founded companies, including the economic scale most investors overlook What growing up in South Central LA and building a venture fund taught her about resilience, and why she wrote the book she wished she'd had Lolita Taub is General Partner and Founder of Ganas Ventures, a pre-seed and seed fund backing community-driven startups across the US and Latin America. In nearly 20 years across tech and venture capital she has made more than 100 investments and built a community of over 100,000 underestimated founders, funders, and friends. Timestamps (placeholder — pending final edit) 00:00 – Cold open 01:00 – Welcome and introduction 02:00 – A non-linear career: from big tech to startups to venture 04:00 – What is the "access tax"? 08:00 – Code-switching and corporate America 13:00 – Community as capital, ecosystem building as leadership 21:00 – Data centers, AI, and the people behind the numbers 22:30 – The five seats of venture: founder, angel, LP, GP, ecosystem builder 27:00 – Answering biased pitch and interview questions 33:00 – The case for investing in Latin America 38:00 – What Venezuela and resilience taught Lori 40:00 – Where to find Lolita and her book Find Lolita Taub at: LinkedIn | X/Twitter | Instagram | Ganas Ventures | Book: lolitataub.co/book Join us on Patreon for the bonus, exclusive episode with Lolita, just for patrons. (You can start off with a free trial.) Subscribe, leave a review at https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com/reviews/new/, and share this episode. Visit https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com for more resources. Curious what Brava Global Advisory could do for your distributed team or your own leadership globally? Head to https://www.bravaglobaladvisory.com to see how we work together and where to start. Thinking about a life abroad? I use and recommend Expatsi to help navigate the move https://www.expatsi.com/?ref=2kJ926HZ. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Europe can invest heavily in AI, but without enough cheap, reliable electricity, its ambitions will eventually hit a physical limit. Data centres, industry and digital infrastructure all need power, making Europe's energy system an increasingly important part of its technology strategy. Alex Bakir, General Partner at Norrsken Evolve, argues that electricity is becoming a question of competitiveness, resilience and sovereignty, not only climate. Alex traces how Europe became dependent on imported energy and why electrification now requires changes to grids, costs and supply chains. He also explains why Europe may already have the technology and capital it needs, if it can overcome fragmentation and build enough momentum to act. HighlightsWhy Europe's AI ambitions depend on electricityHow energy became a competitiveness and sovereignty issueWhy grid infrastructure is becoming a bottleneckThe risk of swapping one dependency for anotherWhy Alex believes Europe already has the technology and capital to actThis session was recorded at the Love Tomorrow Summit, where EUVC curated the investor-focused programme.Timestamps(01:00) Why Europe should run on cheap, clean electricity(02:00) How Europe's postwar model shaped its energy system(03:00) From industrial power to dependence on imported energy(04:00) Why this is bigger than climate change(05:00) Energy, geopolitics and economic power(06:00) Europe's vulnerability to energy price shocks(07:00) Why AI raises the stakes for Europe's electricity system(08:00) Grid bottlenecks, high costs and new dependencies(09:00) Why Europe already has the technology and capital to act(10:00) The case for a more electrified Europe

Most of us didn't grow up learning about venture capital — it can feel like a world you're either born into or invited into by elite networks. This week, Jannese sits down with Lolita Taub, General Partner at Ganas Ventures, who has done it all: founder, angel, LP, GP, and ecosystem builder. Lolita breaks down what venture capital actually is (no jargon, promise), how to become an accredited investor without a six-figure salary, and why the questions investors ask founders of color are so different from the ones they ask everyone else. If you've ever felt like investing — or raising money — "isn't for you," this episode is your invitation to the table.WE GET INTO:01:55 — Growing up in South Central LA & lessons about money03:39 — "Echale ganas": the origin of Ganas Ventures05:51 — From USC to big tech: IBM, Cisco & finding her "tribe"07:45 — The interview series that introduced her to venture capital09:12 — Breaking into VC and building her own fund10:25 — Representation in venture & the Siete Foods story11:37 — What venture capital actually means, no jargon13:23 — VC vs. lotto tickets: the real odds14:24 — What makes a business "venture backable"15:01 — Bootstrap vs. raise: the Calendly story17:11 — Why full control means skipping VC money18:50 — Crowdfunding and other accessible ways to invest19:20 — What is an accredited investor (and how to become one without the income)22:07 — The risk of taking money from unaccredited investors24:51 — Bias, pedigree, and the double standard for founders of color31:25 — How to actually get started as an investor34:03 — Angel checks vs. VC checks: how much you really need35:03 — Overcoming imposter syndrome & belonging in venture36:24 — The size of the Latino economy & rising unicorn foundersKEY TAKEAWAYS:→ Venture capital is money businesses raise to grow fast but most small businesses shouldn't raise it, and bootstrapping is often the smarter move.→ You don't need to be a millionaire to become an accredited investor — working at a fund or taking a certification course can qualify you.→ Angel investors can write checks as small as $100 through platforms like crowdfunding sites, angel syndicates, and groups like Hustle Fund's Angel Squad.→ Founders of color get asked "why won't you fail" while their counterparts get asked "how big is your vision" — know this bias exists and come prepared with hard numbers.→ If the Latino community were its own economy, it would be the third largest in the world. The opportunity in this space is massive!→ Imposter syndrome is normal. Belonging doesn't require certainty; it requires showing up.CONNECT WITH LOLITA:Website: lolitataub.co Instagram: https://instagram.com/lolitatatub TAKE THE NEXT STEP WITH YO QUIERO DINERO:

Suranga Chandratillake is General Partner at Balderton Capital ,a venture firm that invests in European start ups that have included Revolut and Wayve. He joined Bloomberg Daybreak Europe to talk to Caroline Hepker and Stephen Carroll about the current landscape in the UK and sector wide funding challenges. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

a16z's Matt Perault sits down with General Partner and Speedrun lead Andrew Chen on the a16z AI Policy Brief to explore what “Little Tech” actually looks like at the earliest stages, and why the realities of building a two- or three-person startup are often missing from policy debates.Andrew takes us inside Speedrun, where founders are often starting companies from kitchen tables, working with tiny teams, and trying to determine in a matter of months whether their idea can become a viable business. He explains why these founders rarely have the time or resources to engage with policymakers, even as regulation can have an outsized impact on whether and where they build.Matt and Andrew also discuss how regulatory burdens accumulate for young companies, why startups can choose where to put down roots, the role of ecosystems like Tech Week, and what policymakers can do to hear directly from the founders who may otherwise be absent from the conversation.This episode originally appeared on the a16z AI Policy Brief. Resources:Follow Andrew Chen on X: https://x.com/andrewchenFollow Matt Perault on X: https://x.com/MattPeraultLearn more about a16z Speedrun: https://speedrun.a16z.comListen to more from the a16z AI Policy Brief: https://a16zpolicy.substack.com/ Stay Updated:Find a16z on YouTube: YouTubeFind a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Show on SpotifyListen to the a16z Show on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

FOMO co-founder Paul Erlanger joins Haseeb, Tom, and Tarun to answer last week's unc takes on memecoins: why a fully transparent social graph beats copy trading, how FOMO became the biggest app on Robinhood Chain, Hunter Biden's LAPTOP token, the three-way launchpad war, AMC's fight with Robinhood over tokenized stock, and the AI race to solve Navier-Stokes. Welcome to The Chopping Block, where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra are joined by FOMO co-founder Paul Erlanger to chop it up about the latest in crypto. After getting dunked on as uncs for last week's memecoin takes, the crew brings on the founder at the center of it. Paul lays out FOMO's case for a fully transparent trading social graph, Tarun reports back from a holiday weekend in the trenches, and Haseeb holds the line on where memecoin trading actually destroys value. Then: Hunter Biden's $LAPTOP token, the Pons versus Stonk.fun versus Pump launchpad war, AMC's CEO versus Robinhood's tokenized stocks, and the OpenAI versus Anthropic fight over who solved Navier-Stokes. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

Send us Fan MailI sat down with Harshil Mathur, Co-Founder and CEO of Razorpay, one of India's most important fintech and tech companies. Razorpay moves hundreds of billions of dollars in annual payment volume and powers about 85% of the country's largest tech companies. They are also reportedly preparing for a large IPO on the Indian Stock Exchange.Harshil started coding at age 12 and began building Razorpay in 2014, only a year after graduating college. Their early days were not easy, and Harshil and his co-founder, Shashank Kumar, ran into about a hundred bank rejections before a single bank partner said yes. Fast forward to 2026, and the company today is one of India's most important payments players.Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today's global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

In this episode, Michael Blank breaks down the different paths investors can take to achieve financial freedom—and explains why multifamily real estate is only one of many options. Drawing from his own experience with house flipping and rental properties, Michael explores the pros and cons of short-term rentals, co-living, self-storage, mobile home parks, and even buying businesses. He then dives into the different ways to earn a General Partner role in a syndication, including finding deals, raising capital, funding due diligence, providing guarantees, and managing assets. Most importantly, Michael explains why investors shouldn't become too narrowly focused on one asset class or one role, and how being flexible can open the door to partnerships, opportunities, and ultimately the financial freedom they're looking for.Key TakeawaysThere Isn't Just One Path to Financial FreedomMultifamily is powerful, but investors can also build wealth through self-storage, mobile home parks, short-term rentals, businesses, and other asset classes.Choose an Investment Strategy That Matches Your GoalsFlipping and traditional rentals can generate wealth, but they can also require significant time and effort. Understanding the tradeoffs helps you choose a vehicle that actually supports the lifestyle you want.Don't Make Your Buy Box So Narrow That You Never Buy AnythingBeing open to multiple asset classes can dramatically increase deal flow and may reveal opportunities you hadn't considered.There Are Multiple Ways to Earn GP EquityFinding deals and raising capital are the two primary roles, but funding deposits, covering due diligence, signing on debt, and handling asset management can also contribute significant value to a partnership.You Don't Have to Be Great at EverythingThe strongest partnerships often combine complementary strengths—such as one partner focused on deal flow and another focused on capital raising—rather than relying on one person to do everything.Your First Deal Is About Getting Into the GPMichael encourages investors to focus less on finding the "perfect" opportunity and more on finding a way to contribute meaningful value to a deal and earn a position in the General Partnership.Connect with our Deal Maker PartnersCheck out all Partners hereAttorney - Swafford Law LLC Asset Manager - Cyndee Harding, High Caliber MultifamilyCPA - James Bohan, Stonehan AccountancyMentor - Deal Maker MentoringResourcesConnect with Michael BlankTheFreedomPodcast.com Join the Deal Maker MastermindExplore Michael's Mentoring ProgramReview the Podcast on Apple PodcastsGet the Syndicated Deal AnalyzerGet the Book, Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing by Michael Blank For full episode show notes visit: https://themichaelblank.com/podcasts/session540/

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

Forget Growth. Your Valuation Depends On Your AI Story | Tomasz Tunguz, GP @ Theory Ventures Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman with public software multiples sitting at 4 to 4.5 times forward revenue, down from the 100x ceiling of 2021. Topics include why the market now pays for an AI story rather than growth, the $10 billion AI companies committed in a single year to putting forward-deployed engineers inside customer orgs, and the 41 days a model company gets to commercialize a state-of-the-art release before it is knocked off the perch. Plus, why the mid-market is being abandoned for enterprise deals that close in 45 days, what quota inflation at AI-native companies is actually measuring, and a bull-versus-bear call on 50 to 100x multiples for AI harness companies twelve months from now. Key Takeaways: - The valuation follows the AI story, not the growth rate. Average public software trades around 4 to 4.5 times forward revenue today, and the category leaders carrying 30x and up are usually not the fastest growers in their category. As Tomasz put it: "what the market is asking for, and this is both true in the public and the private market, is great, you have an existing business, now show me that you can sell tokens." Revenue growth is still the highest single correlate to multiple, but the token story is what re-rates a company before the revenue shows up. - Before you copy an AI-native company's quota model, work out where the number is actually coming from. "It's not the supply side has changed and suddenly become 10x more productive. It's the demand side budgets have increased by a factor of 10. And that's what's driving quotas," said Tomasz. Quota-to-OTE ratios that topped out between 2.5 and 4 at Oracle and IBM five years ago are now routinely 1.5 at early startups, and a single insurance account can carry a quota in the tens to hundreds of millions, which is why he no longer grades companies on AE to SDR or AE to CSM ratios at all. - Using AI to save time is the wrong target for top-tier performance. Tunguz rebuilt his blog workflow so every edit runs through AI, and the total edit count held flat at 134 per post regardless of how long he had been at it, while a graded review of ten years of posts showed a 20% quality increase in 2026. "if you're a chess grandmaster and you want to be better with AI, you don't train less. You train just as much, but you hold yourself to a higher standard." The hour to an hour and a half per post did not change; the research, citations, and depth of analysis did. - Product advantage is thinning, so the distribution move is what investors are underwriting now. "the go-to-market innovation is now significantly more important than it was. And if you can find a founder who can execute a beautiful go-to-market judo move and produce a lot of leverage for the company, then it's incredible," said Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures, placing Dropbox, Zoom, Confluent, and HashiCorp as the previous era's version of the same pattern.  Connect with the Hosts & Guests: Host: Sam Jacobs, CEO at Pavilion - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samfjacobs/ Host: AJ Bruno, CEO at QuotaPath - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbruno3/ Host: Asad Zaman, CEO at STA - https://www.linkedin.com/in/azaman1/ Guest: Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasztunguz/ Topline is more than a YouTube Channel: Subscribe to Topline Newsletter: https://toplinemedia.substack.com/ Tune into Topline Podcast, the #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-podcast Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders to keep the conversation going beyond the podcast: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-slack Chapters: 00:00 Introducing Tomasz Tunguz 02:16 Market Stopped Paying For Growth 04:56 Show Me You Can Sell Tokens 06:33 Inside The Hugging Face Hack 10:07 Explaining RL With A Roomba 13:43 Is Security The Next AI Use Case 17:49 Fertility, Consumption, And Tokens 22:36 Overleveraged On The AI Buildout 26:08 Writing Every Post Through AI 30:55 The $10 Billion FDE Boom 39:11 FDE Moat Or Toll Booth 44:39 Quotas Are A Demand-Side Story 52:54 Does Customer Success Die 55:55 Enterprise Shift And GTM Judo 01:03:41 Bulls and Bears Sources & Attribution: 2015 quota figure: https://tomtunguz.com/how-big-should-your-sales-pipeline-be/ SaaS AE compensation: https://blog.bridgegroupinc.com/saas-account-executive-compensation 2024 AE metrics and compensation benchmark: https://blog.bridgegroupinc.com/2024-ae-metrics-compensation-benchmark AI investment map: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2026/02/27/ai-is-redrawing-the-tech-investment-map-in-2026/ The $10B FDE Boom: https://tomtunguz.com/the-10b-fde-boom/ Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DbCQn86f9w Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSo4V6tY9XQ&t=1385s Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36mE3cjYldU&t=560s

J Scott invites Andrew Cushman and Brian Burke to a conversation about why the market is currently a “traffic collision” at a four-way intersection, with some assets suffering 50-70% drops while others are barely dented. Andrew shares the importance of operational excellence and how savvy investors are capitalizing on distressed properties, even as the broader market remains uncertain. Brian emphasizes why cap rates and NOI are your true market thermometers and how understanding their movements is critical to navigating the current downturn. Both guests dive into the bifurcated reality of today's multifamily landscape: safe, cash-flowing Class A assets are holding their value, while lower-end properties face extreme distress with vacancy rates soaring and delinquencies through the roof. J Scott Current role: General Partner of Bar Down Investments LLC, Partner / Co-Founder of ScottBuilt Based in: Sarasota, Florida Where to find them: https://linktr.ee/jscottinvestor https://www.linkedin.com/in/jscottinvestor/ Andrew Cushman Founder & Principal of Vantage Point Acquisitions Based in: Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Where to find them: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewcushmanvpa https://www.vpacq.com/ Brian Burke Current role: Founder & CEO, Praxis Capital Based in: California Where to find them: ⁠www.PraxCap.com⁠ ⁠www.linkedin.com/in/praxiscapital⁠ For more information, visit https://superhuman.com/. Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura joins Haseeb, Tom, and Tarun to unpack Robinhood Chain's surge, the strange fusion of stock tokens and memecoins, the damage speculative entertainment can do to retail, Solana's competitive position, and why regulated onchain markets will still look different across jurisdictions. Welcome to The Chopping Block, where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra are joined by Laura Shin to chop it up about the latest in crypto. The panel examines Robinhood Chain's second wave, stock-backed memecoins built from old DeFi mechanics, the line between financial entertainment and retail harm, the race with Solana, and the legal constraints facing global onchain markets. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

What if commercial real estate is already in a period of serious distress, but most investors cannot see the full extent of it yet? When a market turns, people expect the evidence to be obvious. They expect public defaults, collapsing prices, and clear signs that the cycle has changed. But this downturn is unfolding differently. Distressed assets are changing hands privately, lenders and institutional owners are limiting what becomes public, and significant capital remains on the sidelines because investors still do not know how to price rates, risk, and future values with confidence. In this episode, I sit down with John Azar to examine what is actually happening inside the commercial real estate market, why this cycle is not simply another version of 2008, how hidden distress is creating opportunities for investors who preserved capital, and why the operators who showed discipline during the euphoric years may be the ones best prepared to act now. What You'll Discover In This Episode Why commercial real estate can be in distress before the broader market acknowledges it How private sales and nondisclosure agreements can conceal the real level of pain Why this cycle looks fundamentally different from the 2008 financial crisis How the excesses of 2021 through 2023 created many of today's distressed assets Why the behavior of an operator during the last cycle matters when evaluating them today How patience and preserved liquidity can become an advantage in a repricing market Why uncertainty around rates and values is freezing capital despite abundant liquidity What investors should examine before allocating money to a distressed real estate opportunity   About the Guest John Azar is an entrepreneur, adventurer, executive coach, and the Founder and Managing Partner of Peak 15 Capital. As a fund manager, John helps investors access tax-efficient commercial real estate opportunities designed to support long-term capital growth and generate regular cash flow throughout the holding period. Through Peak 15 Capital's current fund, limited partners can participate in opportunities structured to provide General Partner-level economics without taking on the same operational risks and responsibilities. Peak 15 Capital takes a collaborative, transparent, and highly disciplined approach to investing. The firm focuses on protecting the downside through extensive due diligence, conservative underwriting, and prudent deal execution, while pursuing strong returns, tax advantages, and quarterly distributions for investors. To learn more, visit http://peak15cap.com,  http://johnazar.com, or send an email to azar@peak15cap.com. You can also find John on Instagram and LinkedIn.   About Your Host From pro-snowboarder to money mogul, Chris Naugle has dedicated his life to being America's #1 Money Mentor. With a core belief that success is built not by the resources you have, but by how resourceful you can be. Chris has built and owned 19 companies, with his businesses being featured in Forbes, ABC, House Hunters, and his very own HGTV pilot in 2018. He is the founder of The Money School™ and Money Mentor for The Money Multiplier. His success also includes managing tens of millions of dollars in assets in the financial services and advisory industry and in real estate transactions. As an innovator and visionary in wealth-building and real estate, he empowers entrepreneurs, business owners, and real estate investors with the knowledge of how money works. Chris is also a nationally recognized speaker, author, and podcast host. He has spoken to and taught over ten thousand Americans, delivering the financial knowledge that fuels lasting freedom.   Resources Private Money Guide:  https://go.moneyschoolrei.com/book-podcast Wealth Wednesday Webinar: https://go.moneyschoolrei.com/wednesday-webinar-podcast Mapping out the Millionaire Mystery:  https://go.moneyschoolrei.com/newbook-podcast    

What if the better environmental solution is also the better business? Michael Smith, General Partner at Regeneration.VC, argues that regeneration is about building products and systems that waste less, use resources better and outperform what they replace.He explores why we may have a design problem rather than a consumption problem, how corporate supply chains can drive change and why the ambition should go beyond sustainability and circularity towards restoring natural systems.HighlightsWhy better environmental solutions can also deliver better economicsHow supply chains can become a platform for impactThe difference between circularity and regenerationHow technology could help restore natural systemsThis session was recorded at the Love Tomorrow Summit, where EUVC curated the investor-focused programme.Timestamps(01:18) From DJ to regeneration(03:16) A design problem, not a consumption problem(04:06) Supply chains as a force for change(05:00) Regeneration in practice(05:50) When environmental solutions make better business(06:18) Beyond circularity(07:05) Super nature: where technology meets nature

Adam Grosser is the Chairman and Managing Partner of UP.Partners, an investment firm backing entrepreneurs building the technologies that help move people and goods faster, safer, and more efficiently. Before founding UP.Partners, Adam was a General Partner at Foundation Capital and a Managing Director at Silver Lake, where he led the Energy and Resources Fund. Shaped by early lessons from innovators including Steve Jobs and George Lucas. In this episode, learn why AI is moving from bits to atoms, how he evaluates high-conviction physical AI investments, why technical moats and supply-chain resilience matter, and why ambitious founders should seek meaningful problems.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamgrosserWebsite: https://up.partners/

Episode #1437: Today, Steve Greenfield, General Partner at Automotive Ventures joins us: Carvana's nationwide new-car sales raise questions about who handles the customer after the sale, Nissan and Honda reunite to share software development without sh...

The crew sizes up Bitcoin's rebound, the fight to bring Hyperliquid onshore, the SEC's new token fundraising framework, and why Stripe's OpenRouter deal could make AI inference markets look a lot like DeFi. Welcome to The Chopping Block, where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. Tom and Tarun check in from Bhutan after lunch with the king, then the crew tackles Bitcoin's rebound, the path to a compliant U.S. Hyperliquid, the SEC's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, and the growing overlap between AI inference markets and DeFi market structure. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

In this episode of the [Un]Churned Podcast, Josh Schachter sits down with Jake Saper, General Partner at Emergence Capital, to unpack the firm's 25 year thesis of being “early experts in emerging business models,” from the on-prem-to-cloud shift that birthed their first investment in Salesforce, to vertical SaaS with Veeva, to what Jake calls AI-Native Services, or AINS.They also dive into:What “AI-Native Services” actually means, in Jake's own wordsThe real story behind Gainsight's shift from selling software to selling outcomesWhy the biggest headwind to this transformation is cultural, not technical“Mirage product market fit,” the #1 mistake Jake sees in AI pitches right nowWhat Jake actually looks for in founders before he investsWhy tech vendors of the future might look more like insurance carriers than software companiesIf you're building anything in the AI services space, thinking about how AI changes SaaS margins, or just want to understand where venture capital thinks the next generational businesses will come from, this episode is a masterclass in spotting a category before it has a name.Want the playbook, not just the conversation? Subscribe for deep-dive, actionable breakdowns from every episode at ⁠unchurned.substack.com.⁠--Timestamps00:00 – Intro & Backstory01:37 – What Emergence Capital Focuses On, and How It Started08:14 – Naming the Category: Why “AI-Native Services” (AINS)12:42 – The Walk on the Embarcadero: How Gainsight's Pivot Was Born17:28 – The Biggest Headwind: It's Cultural, Not Technical20:24 – What Jake Looks For as an Investor: Domain Credibility31:21 – The Hanover Park Story: 150 Fund CFOs36:38 – Mirage Product Market Fit: The Overplayed Pattern in AINS Pitches38:48 – The AINS Idea Jake Wants Someone to Build42:07 – The Mafia, Dump Trucks, and Unexpected AI Competitors--Where to Find Jake Saper:Jake's LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakesaper/Emergence Capital: https://www.emcap.com/Where to Find Josh Schachter:Josh's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/Unchurned Substack: https://unchurned.substack.com

Hampus Jakobsson, General Partner at Pale blue dot, explains how Founders and investors can balance careful planning with decisive action when doubt takes over.Through the true story of polar explorer Ann Daniels and his “swimming with sharks” framework, he explores:Why planning without action keeps you stuckWhy speed without direction wastes energyHow extraordinary people act before certainty arrivesRecorded at Love Tomorrow Summit, where EUVC curated the investor-focused programme. Subscribe to EUVC for more insights.Timestamps(01:00) Ann Daniels reaches a breaking point(02:00) An unexpected opportunity at the North Pole(03:00) Surviving the expedition selection process(04:00) What makes extraordinary people different?(05:00) Why you have to handle cringe(06:00) Breaststroke versus crawl(07:00) Planners, action heroes and why you need both(08:00) Scheduling your breaststroke meeting(09:00) Give doubt an appointment

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

Episode 310 opens with Steve Dennis reporting back from an invitation-only Amazon analyst day in Seattle, two days focused on Prime and grocery. Steve unpacks the breadth of the Prime flywheel, Amazon's push into sub-one-day delivery, the drone facility he toured just before the company announced an expansion to roughly 500 markets, and why Amazon's rise to the number two grocer in North America should have rivals looking over their shoulders. Then, the numbers. US retail sales grew about 5% excluding fuel. Walmart delivered a lackluster 2.6% US comp, its weakest in six years, offset by a 46% jump in global advertising and nearly $3 billion in tariff refunds the company says it will reinvest in price. Target posted a nearly 4% comp with traffic up 3.6%; real progress, though Steve cautions the invitation can be better than the party. In off-price, TJX comped 4% while Ross Stores turned in a second straight double-digit quarter. And Simon Property Group made the case that great physical retail is alive and well. The interview, recorded live at the CommerceNext Growth Show in New York, features Scott Friend, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, and Indy Guha, General Partner at VMG Partners. Scott co-founded price optimization pioneer ProfitLogic before joining BCV twenty years ago; Indy co-leads VMG's commerce infrastructure fund after scaling Signifyd. Together they tackle a hard question: when AI makes everything easier to build, how do you tell a real company from a pitch formula? Their answer centers on founder clarity and earned domain expertise, because a couple of quarters' head start has never mattered more. The conversation ranges across whether personalization and merchandising optimization are now table stakes, the surveillance pricing debate, AI-driven homogeneity versus the promise of the "N of one" customer journey, and Indy's memorable "Claude-proof" test for anyone building in commerce. Both push back on agentic commerce hype, arguing agents will own low-interest replenishment missions while people keep the treasure hunt. Scott points to the revenue ramp of AI-native companies as evidence this cycle is real, not overhyped. Both land in the same place: brand, community, and authenticity are the last durable moats, and retail teams must become architects rather than assembly-line workers. Back in studio, on the radar: Steve tracks the bond market, with 30-year Treasuries at a 19-year high and the 10-year at 4.75%, squeezing discretionary income and retailer expansion plans alike. Michael watches Canadian icon Roots, newly sold to New York's Marquee Brands with Joe Mimran advising on merchandising, and asks whether the brand can reclaim its former glory. Registration is open for a special webinar featuring Steve in conversation with Placer AI's Head of Analytical Research RJ Hottovy. From changing shopping patterns to emerging market opportunities, shifting consumer demand continues to reshape the industry. So don't miss this data-driven session unpacking the most important trends defining today's marketplace and the strategies leading brands are using to win retail's future. It's all brought to you by Placer.AI and It all happens on Tuesday September 29 at 1pm ET..Register here today:https://www.placer.ai/discover-events/discover-shifting-consumer-demand About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.

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

Episode #1431: Today we're joined by Steve Greenfield, General Partner at Automotive Ventures and we're talking about lenders opening the credit taps even as delinquencies stay near record highs. Plus Amazon's Zoox clears a major robotaxi hurdle and th...

Haseeb Qureshi is the Managing Partner at Dragonfly, a crypto investment firm with roughly $4 billion under management. Dragonfly recently closed its fourth venture fund at $650 million.Prior to Dragonfly, Haseeb was a General Partner at MetaStable Capital, the crypto fund co-founded by Naval Ravikant and later acquired by Dragonfly. Before venture, he was a software engineer at Airbnb and Earn.com, and before that a top-10 globally ranked professional poker player.We spoke about digital dollars, nationalized banks, bubbles and speculation, Iran and BlackRock, jaywalking, and beanie babies.0:00 – Intro1:23 – What Happened to Crypto?3:18 – Stablecoins and Escape Velocity7:04 – Bitcoin, Gold, and the Generational Trade10:34 – War and Stores of Value15:06 – Retail, Nvidia, and Capital Flight18:23 – Stablecoins 10120:00 – Eurodollars, Venmo, and AI Agents23:00 – Dollarization and the Black Market25:28 – Banks, Airwaves, and the Balance of Power31:20 – Too Many Currencies36:11 – Institutions and Cypherpunks40:08 – Iran and BlackRock41:00 – Speculation and Bubbles43:12 – Prediction Markets and the Overton Window51:04 – Skin in the Game and the Rational Voter54:06 – Staying in Crypto57:13 – When Crypto VC Ends58:57 – What Would Change Haseeb's Mind on Crypto1:03:00 – What Should More People Be Thinking About?

Matt Mainini is a commercial real estate investor and General Partner focused on multifamily acquisitions, adaptive reuse, and hotel-to-apartment conversions. After beginning his career at NASA and spending nearly two decades in Silicon Valley, Matt transitioned into real estate full-time, applying his analytical, systems-based approach to commercial investing. He became part of Rod's Warrior Group in May 2025 and today partners on projects that transform underutilized properties into quality housing while creating long-term value for investors, with a focus on helping technology professionals and busy investors build wealth through private real estate beyond public markets. Here's some of the topics we covered:   Matt's journey from tech and NASA to real estate Why busy professionals need to build wealth beyond their 401K Finding his superpower in investor relations and communication Joining the Warrior program to expand his network His first major deal converting a 104-unit hotel into multifamily How the $13M hotel conversion could reach a $26M valuation Why passion, value, and scalability are the keys to taking action   If you'd like to apply to the warrior program and do deals with other rockstars in this business: Text crush to 72345 and we'll be speaking soon.   For more about Rod and his real estate investing journey go to www.rodkhleif.com  

Send us Fan MailEvery August 12, the world observes International Youth Day, and this past July 15 marked World Youth Skills Day. Both are good moments to remember what we owe the people entering the workforce: paths, tools, and advice that inspire them, not warnings that scare them.In this special August compilation episode of AI and the Future of Work, we bring back four former guests whose conversations point to the same idea: AI is not a threat. It is an opportunity, and the people starting their careers right now hold an unfair advantage. They have not spent years absorbing policies and habits that are already obsolete, so they get to begin from what is possible instead of unlearning what used to be true.From building AI into daily work, to leadership teams learning from their newest employees, to understanding what becomes more valuable when AI makes creation easier, this episode explores how the next generation is approaching work differently.The conversations point to a broader shift: as AI takes on more of the repetitive work and makes production cheaper, human judgment, creativity, curiosity, taste, intention, and the ability to identify the right problems become more important.Featured GuestsKourtney Cross, Business Analyst at Leidos and ServiceNow Rise Up graduate. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/18741521] Andrea Iorio, Keynote Speaker and Author of Between You and AI, formerly Chief Digital Officer at L'Oreal Brazil. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/18662632] Jake Saper, General Partner at Emergence Capital. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/18982636] Matt Britton, CEO of Suzy and Author of Generation AI. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/18792172] What You'll LearnHow an analyst early in his career built AI into his daily work, and why he went looking for it before anyone handed it to himWhat it takes to make your work visible when you are just starting outHow reverse mentoring puts the newest employees in the room to teach the leadership team what it is missingWhat a workday looks like once these tools handle the repetitive parts, and how to reinvest the time that comes backWhy AI can democratize creation while making taste, intention, trust, curation, and point of view more valuable Why "which tool should I use" is the least interesting question, and what rises in value once memorizing information stops being the pointInspired by something you heard in this episode?Share your favorite insight about learning, curiosity, or the ideas shaping how work gets done, and tag us on social.And don't forget to subscribe to AI and the Future of Work for more conversations with the leaders shaping the future of work.Other special episodes:SE 19: AI and Education: How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming Learning (International Day of Education Special Episode)Lessons from Four Unicorn CEOs Disrupting Massive Markets with AI (Special Episode)Artificial General Intelligence: Can Machines Really Think Like Us? (Special Episode)Ethical AI in Hiring: How to Stay Compliant While Building a Fairer Future of Work (HR Day Special Episode)AI and the Law: How AI Will Change Legal Careers (Special Episode)AI and Safety: How Responsible Tech Leaders Build Trustworthy Systems (National Safety Month Special)Lessons from Leaders: How AI Is Redefining Work and the Human Experience (Labor Day Special Episode)-Join Dan Turchin and 4 seasoned technology and people leaders on Sept. 17 for an executive discussion on AI, leadership, and the future of work. Attendees will receive a complimentary personalized AI Maturity Industry Benchmarks Report ($499 value). Reserve your seat: https://go.peoplereign.io/virtual-event-when-intelligence-is-everywhere-intelligence-is-nowhere

Creative financing can make the difference between losing a deal and creating a successful investment. In this episode, Dave Dubeau sits down with Culby Culbertson, founder of Culbertson Holdings, to discuss how today's investors can navigate an evolving lending market. Culby explains how his firm helps clients structure debt, organize capital, and solve challenging situations that traditional financing alone cannot address. The conversation also explores how helping clients solve financing problems naturally led Culby into becoming a GP on select projects. Rather than actively searching for acquisitions, many of these opportunities came through relationships built while advising investors on difficult transactions. Key Topics Organizing debt and equity for commercial real estate Loan assumptions and loan modifications Using preferred equity to bridge financing gaps Solving distressed investment situations Growing a capital advisory business from startup to over $100 million in annual loan volume Why networking and consistent outreach still drive business growth Guest Information Culby Culbertson Founder of Culbertson Holdings Connect with Culby on LinkedIn. Company LinkedIn: Culbertson Holdings LLC Call To Action If you're investing in commercial real estate and want to better understand your financing options, connect with Culby and his team through LinkedIn to learn more about available debt and capital solutions.

My guest today is Eric Vishria, a General Partner at Benchmark.  Eric has spent his career in software and cloud, and few people know the history of these markets as well as he does. What makes him special is his ability to use that history to make sense of today.  We discuss what the rise of AWS teaches us about AI, what he has learned from investing in Fireworks, Sierra, and Cerebras, and how the criteria for winning have changed for founders and investors.  Please enjoy my conversation with Eric Vishria. 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. Invest Like the Best listeners get a special offer of $1,000 off Vanta when you go to ⁠vanta.com/invest⁠.  ----- WorkOS⁠ is the infrastructure B2B and AI-native companies use to sell to enterprise. It covers everything enterprise security requires: SSO, SCIM, RBAC, Audit Logs, AI governance, and more. Trusted by 2,000+ fast-growing companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, and Vercel. ----- 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 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ridgeline.ai⁠. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant. Timestamps: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like The Best (00:02:20) Learning the World Through Fireworks (00:05:42) AWS Was Going to Eat Everything (00:07:40) The Zero-Sum Thinking Trap (00:09:01) Comparing Cloud and AI Adoption (00:11:03) Becoming Enterprise's AI Sherpa (00:13:05) Building Sandcastles (00:14:55) The Return to Being Technical (00:17:13) The Shifting Competitive Frontier (00:22:10) Why the Old Playbook Fails (00:27:53) Energy as the Binding Constraint (00:29:38) The Cerebras Story (00:37:57) The Virtue of Productive Naivete (00:39:19) What Robotics Still Needs (00:45:58) What Makes a Great Board Partner (00:51:13) Raising A Growth Fund (00:55:39) What the Big Winners Taught Him (00:57:37) Hard Work Versus the Hole-in-One (00:58:38) The Best Reasons to Go Public (01:01:09) Debates Inside Benchmark (01:02:16) What If It All Works (01:03:35) What Geoff Hinton Got Wrong

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.Welcome back to another episode of Venture Unlocked, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of the business of venture capital.In this episode, I sit down with Aditya Agarwal of South Park Commons (SPC) to trace his journey from being one of the earliest employees at Facebook, becoming CTO at Dropbox, and then the inspiration of creating South Park Commons from his living room. The firm just announced a $575MM IV, it's largest fund to date. We discuss his decision-making at key career forks including his learnings working with Mark Zuckerberg, the power of surrounding yourself with exceptional people, and the five founder traits SPC relentlessly optimizes for. We also covered what it means to invest at the -1 to zero stage, and his view on the current state of venture capital.Thanks for listening to another episode of Venture Unlocked. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Aditya. If you'd like to get Venture Unlocked content straight to your inbox, go to ventureunlocked.substack.com and sign up, or head over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and subscribe. Thanks again for listening.Aditya Agarwal is a General Partner at South Park Commons and a longtime technology leader and entrepreneur. He previously served as CTO and VP of Engineering at Dropbox, where he scaled the engineering organization from 25 to more than 1,000 people. Before Dropbox, Aditya was one of Facebook's earliest engineers, helping build foundational products including News Feed, Search, and Messenger before becoming the company's first Director of Product Engineering. Today, he invests in and advises early-stage startups, drawing on decades of experience building some of Silicon Valley's most influential technology companies.Topics in this conversation include:* Choosing Oracle Over Bridgewater (2:31)* First Impressions of Mark Zuckerberg and Early Facebook (6:02)* Lessons From Oracle on Talent Density and Bureaucracy (9:38)* Five Founder Traits SPC Looks For (13:14)* Growing the SPC Community and Early Angel Checks (22:33)* AI, ChatGPT, and Rethinking Fund Size (35:15)* Investing Ahead of the Curve in AI and Robotics (39:11)* Aiming for 5x Net Per Fund (41:04)* AI Compared to Railroads and Heavy Capex (46:07)* AI's High Usefulness Floor and Mass Adoption (49:10)* Concerns Around Hyperscaler Capex and Hiccups (52:01)* Closing Reflections and Takeaways (54:38)Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you'd like to be considered as a guest or have someone you'd like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on X. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Kevin Mandia is CEO of Armadin, where he leads the company's mission to secure some of the world's largest and most complex environments. A globally recognized cybersecurity leader, he is also a General Partner at Ballistic Ventures, mentoring and investing in the next generation of cybersecurity entrepreneurs. Best known as the founder of Mandiant and former CEO of FireEye, Mandia helped redefine the cybersecurity industry through pioneering digital forensics, the groundbreaking APT1 report exposing state-sponsored cyber espionage, and his leadership during the SolarWinds attack. Today, he continues to shape cybersecurity strategy, national security policy, and the future of AI-driven defense. Privacy isn't Paranoia. It's Protection. Download Glacier - https://srs.site/glacierapp Website - https://theglacierapp.com Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: Get 10% Off your entire order & take advantage of Ridge's Annual Sweepstakes by going to https://www.Ridge.com/SRS #Ridgepod NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open only to legal residents of the promotion territory, who have reached the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence. Void elsewhere & where prohibited by law. Enter by 9:00 a.m. USPT on 8 September 2026. 2 winners, prizes total ARV: up to approx. $539,165 CAD / £284,170. Skill-testing question required in CA. See Official Rules at ridge.com/pages/rules for complete eligibility, entry instructions, how to enter without a purchase, entry limits, prize details, odds, and restrictions. Sponsor: The Ridge Wallet LLC. Get started with Claude at https://claude.ai/srs and use promo code srs for access to all features mentioned in today's episode. Visit https://betterhelp.com/srs. #ad Go to https://calderalab.com/SRS and use code SRS for 20% off your first order. Kevin Mandia Links: Armadin - https://www.armadin.com Ballistic Ventures - https://ballisticventures.com LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-mandia-0a07173 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we dissect ColdCard's ~$100M RNG exploit that Claude Code cracked in 8 minutes, debate whether AI just killed open-source security and Bitcoin maximalism, tear apart Ethereum's EIP-8361 staking-yield taper, and unpack Leopold Aschenbrenner's 67% Situational Awareness blowup and CLARITY Act's ethics fight. Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. No guest this week, just the four of them working through a week where AI quietly rewrote the economics of both security and human psychology, and crypto happened to be standing in the blast radius. This episode: ColdCard, NVK's Bitcoin-only hardware wallet, got drained of nearly $100M thanks to a random-number-generation bug that a one-word commit buried five years ago, and Claude Code sniffed it out in 8 minutes (an open model with no internet found it in 20, for about two bucks). The crew debates whether AI just killed open-source security, whether Nic Carter is right that this is 'the death of Bitcoin maximalism,' and why Tarun thinks maxi devs are 'the RFK of security practices.' Then they take a blowtorch to Ethereum's EIP-8361 staking-yield taper (Tarun: 'the proposal reads like shit'), unpack Leopold Aschenbrenner's 67% Situational Awareness blowup while 4x levered, and wade into the CLARITY Act's ethics fight where a single amendment is the whole ballgame. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

What does it take to power the AI boom? Steve Vassallo, a roboticist turned General Partner at Foundation Capital, helped semiconductor company Cerebras figure it out. Steve and Oz discuss why AI workloads demanded an entirely new kind of chip, what "wafer scale" actually means, and how a decade of near-failures — including a system that literally caught fire — led to the largest semiconductor IPO to date and deals with OpenAI and AWS.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

YC's Nemil Dalal joins to explain why he's never been more bullish as BitMEX winds down after 11 years, whether every failed crypto idea (TCRs, DAOs, creator coins) eventually works, why crypto is really about money, Base's consumer mea culpa, on-chain reputation and credit, and who pays in the x402 AI-agent era. Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week they're joined by Nemil Dalal, Visiting Partner at Y Combinator and ex-Coinbase, where he led USDC and the Coinbase Developer Platform. He's here to explain why, with exchanges winding down left and right, he's somehow never been more bullish. The crew digs into the great contrast of the moment: BitMEX shutting down after 11 years (plus BitMart, Movement Labs, Balancer Labs) while the plumbing quietly prints, and whether Imran's viral 'everything that failed will eventually work' thesis is genius or toxic positivity. From there it's the question of whether crypto is really only about money (Jesse's Base mea culpa included), a war-memories tour through TCRs, on-chain reputation and why pure on-chain credit keeps faceplanting, and finally who actually pays in the x402 AI-agent era, and whether decentralization even survives contact with Google-shaped gravity. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights