Podcasts about Sequoia Capital

U.S. venture capital firm

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Best podcasts about Sequoia Capital

Latest podcast episodes about Sequoia Capital

TechSurge: The Deep Tech Podcast
Betting Early on Zoom, Canva, and Crypto: Inside the Playbook of Visionary Solo VC Bill Tai

TechSurge: The Deep Tech Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2025 62:22


Legendary technologist and investor Bill Tai joins our latest episode for a wide-ranging conversation spanning decades of Silicon Valley innovation. Bill shares his remarkable journey from being employee #1 at TSMC to becoming one of the first seed investors in Zoom and Canva, and his early embrace of Bitcoin when it was priced at just 7 cents.The conversation explores Bill's unique investment philosophy shaped by mentorship from Don Valentine of Sequoia Capital, his innovative approach to building entrepreneurial communities through kiteboarding, and his insights into the intersection of AI, energy infrastructure, and cryptocurrency. Bill discusses the massive energy crisis facing AI data centers, drawing parallels to the telecom infrastructure buildout of the 1980s.From his early days as a kid reverse-engineering electronics to his current role as Chairman of Hut Eight Mining and his partnership with the Trump organization on American Bitcoin Corp, Bill provides invaluable insights into recognizing structural market changes and backing the right entrepreneurs and emerging technologies at the right time.LinksLearn more about Bill's blockchain companies Hut Eight Mining and BITFURY - Hut 8 Corp, BITFURYBill's original tweet from 2010 about the potential of bitcoin: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb7QQ8GHN12/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D Read Bill's founding stories on Zoom and Canva: https://medium.com/@billtai/30b-stress-test-on-necker-island-814553c7f520Bill's early memo detailing his conviction about Zoom's technology: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwcaZjFpNrs/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Article: Design start-up Canva raises $3 million after kitesurfing in Hawaii: https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/design-start-up-canva-raises-3-million-after-kitesurfing-in-hawaii Canva now tops the list of most popular AI tools: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/most-popular-ai-tools Learn about TSMC's history - Taiwan SemiconductorRead the article that changed Bill's life - Secrets of the Little Blue BoxMore fun items mentioned during the discussion2600 Hacker Quarterly: https://www.2600.com/The Cap'N Crunch whistle used by early hackers: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/capn-crunch-whistleThe Radio Shack 100-in-one electronics kit: https://www.rcgrabbag.com/radio-shack-100-in-1-electronic-project-kit/

Legal Tech StartUp Focus Podcast
Paralegals, Plus Robots: Finch Legal's Recipe for PI Success

Legal Tech StartUp Focus Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2025 39:30 Transcription Available


What if personal injury attorneys could say "yes" to every promising case that came through their door? That's the problem Finch Legal (https://www.finchlegal.com) is solving with a groundbreaking approach that combines human expertise with AI-powered automation.In this conversation with founders Viraj Bindra and Ben Weems, we explore how Finch Legal transforms the pre-litigation process for personal injury attorneys. After embedding themselves with law firms to understand operational pain points, these founders built a solution that handles everything from client intake to demand letter preparation, allowing attorneys to focus exclusively on what they do best.The magic behind Finch Legal's model isn't just clever AI—it's the thoughtful integration of experienced US-based paralegals working alongside AI agents that automate the most repetitive aspects of case management. This human-AI collaboration ensures clients receive empathetic service while mundane tasks like requesting medical records, opening insurance claims, and drafting documents happen efficiently in the background.What makes this conversation particularly timely is Finch Legal's recent $3.75 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital, validating their approach in an increasingly competitive legal tech landscape.For attorneys struggling with capacity constraints or legal tech entrepreneurs navigating the fundraising landscape, this episode offers both practical wisdom and inspiring vision about the future of legal practice. The founders paint a compelling picture of how thoughtful technology implementation can expand access to legal services while improving outcomes for both attorneys and clients.

Building The Base
From Submariner to CEO: Cameron McCord's Journey Building Nominal

Building The Base

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2025 34:28


In this episode of Building the Base, Hondo Geurts and Lauren Bedula reconnect with Cameron McCord, Co-Founder and CEO of Nominal, two years after his first appearance on the show (linked here). Drawing from his unique journey from submarine officer (484 days underwater) to defense tech entrepreneur, McCord discusses building software to accelerate testing and validation of mission-critical systems. He shares insights from his time at Anduril, Applied Intuition, and Saildrone, and how these experiences shaped Nominal's approach to modernizing test and evaluation processes. The episode concludes with exciting news that Nominal recently announced a $75 million Series B led by Sequoia Capital and co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.Five key takeaways from today's episode:Entrepreneurial success, according to McCord, requires falling in love with the process itself rather than just the initial idea, as markets, technology, and competition will force constant adaptation and iteration throughout the journey.Testing and validation software in defense hasn't been meaningfully innovated in decades, McCord explains, creating massive opportunities to modernize from "2002 to 2019" standards using basic automation and data practices before advancing to AI capabilities.The most valuable customer conversations, McCord notes, evolve from incremental efficiency gains at the engineer level to strategic business impact discussions about reducing 24-month test campaigns to 18-20 months for major defense programs.Rather than leading with confidence, McCord advises asking genuine questions to allow customers to reveal what's truly valuable to them, while learning when to say "not right now" instead of forcing poor fits often leads to higher revisit rates.Cross-functional experience across military service, government, startups, and venture capital has provided McCord with invaluable perspective for navigating complex stakeholder environments and understanding what success looks like from multiple viewpoints.

RSG Geldsake met Moneyweb
Die rand hou aan om veld te wen teen die dollar

RSG Geldsake met Moneyweb

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2025 7:34


JB Smith, besturende direkteur van Sequoia Capital, bespreek die markte sowel as die finansiële resultate van Mr Price en die Foschini-groep. Volg RSG Geldsake op Twitter

RSG Geldsake met Moneyweb
Kenners antwoord luisteraarsvrae

RSG Geldsake met Moneyweb

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2025 21:43


JB Smith, besturende direkteur van Sequoia Capital en Elke Brink, direkteur by PSG Wealth R21, beantwoord die vrae wat luisteraars se sakke raak. Volg RSG Geldsake op Twitter

Terra Podcast - Stay Fit, Stay Connected
Sequoia Partner: George Robson

Terra Podcast - Stay Fit, Stay Connected

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2025 60:05


In the latest conversation at Imperial College London, Kyriakos is joined by George Robson, Partner at Sequoia.George went from leading global products at Revolut to joining Sequoia Capital - one of the most selective VC firms in the world.At Revolut, he helped scale the team from a few hundred to thousands and launched products used by millions. Now at Sequoia, he backs Europe's most ambitious founders.In this episode, George shares:What made Revolut's culture so intense and effectiveHow Sequoia actually decides who to fundThe founder red flag they won't tolerateWhy “talent density” beats speed in the early daysWhether you're raising your first round, building a team, or just curious how the top VCs think this episode is packed with real insight from both sides of the table.Follow George Robson on XFollow Kyriakos Eleftheriou on XTIMESTAMPS:00:00 – Intro: From Revolut to Sequoia03:15 – What made Revolut's culture brutally effective06:40 – Nik Storonsky's “gym” metaphor and hiring filter10:30 – The pod structure that unlocked speed and ownership13:50 – Why Revolut grew like a Darwinian startup lab17:10 – Inside Sequoia: culture, filters, and pace21:45 – What founders often misunderstand about VC24:30 – 50/50 founder equity splits: why it's a red flag28:00 – How Sequoia filters for world-class founders31:00 – The 4 traits George looks for before investing35:20 – Working with founders after the check lands38:50 – Europe vs US: what's still misunderstood43:00 – How to pitch Sequoia the right way46:30 – What great founders don't do in a pitch50:15 – Why storytelling and obsession matter53:45 – What George would do differently as a founder56:00 – Lightning round: hot takes on VC, speed, AI59:10 – Closing thoughts: how to build for the long game

Keen On Democracy
Drowning in Black Swans: Why Governance is Failing in our Age of Chaos

Keen On Democracy

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2025 44:17


Black swan events used to be considered as one-of-a-kind events signifying something rare and exceptional. Today, however, we may be drowning in black swans. That, at least, is the view of global venture investor Christopher Schroeder, in his reflections on recent travel in India, the Gulf, Estonia & the United Kingdom. From the sudden eruption of India-Pakistan tensions that nobody saw coming, to Ukraine's daring military successes against Russia, to this week's collapse of the Dutch government, Schroeder argues we're living in an era of perpetual unpredictability. Schroeder believes that this flood of uncertainty is not only fueling a global anti-incumbent movement and reshaping defense technology, but also forcing nations to rethink their fundamental assumptions about governance, geopolitics, and technological innovation. five key takeaways1. We're Living in an Era of Constant Black Swans Unpredictable, high-impact events have become the norm rather than the exception - from sudden India-Pakistan tensions to Ukraine's surprising military successes to government collapses across Europe.2. Global Anti-Incumbent Sentiment is Driving Political Upheaval People worldwide are rejecting traditional governance that they perceive as incompetent or rigged for insiders, creating fertile ground for populist alternatives and massive political disruption.3. Defense Technology is Stuck in 20th Century Processes While Ukraine adapts drone technology in weeks based on battlefield feedback, Western procurement systems take 3-5 years (versus China's 18 months), creating a dangerous capability gap in modern warfare.4. Countries are Diversifying Dependencies to Avoid Over-Reliance Nations from India to Europe are consciously seeking alternatives to avoid becoming overly dependent on any single power - whether China for manufacturing or Russia for energy.5. Business-as-Usual Governance Cannot Address 21st Century Challenges Traditional institutions and processes are fundamentally inadequate for the speed and complexity of current global challenges, requiring dramatic structural changes that most governments resist making.Christopher M. Schroeder is a Washington D.C. and New York City based entrepreneur and venture investor. He is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of the German Marshall Fund. He co-founded HealthCentral.com, one of the nation's largest social and content platforms in health and wellness, backed by Sequoia Capital, Polaris Ventures, The Carlyle Group, Allen & Company and IAC Corporation. The company was sold to the health media publisher, Remedy Health, in January 2012 where Schroeder remained a board advisor. Previously he was CEO of washingtonpost.newsweek interactive and LegiSlate.com, the b2b interactive platform on US and state legislation and regulation that he sold in 2000. He currently is an active investor in and advisor to top US venture capital funds and over a dozen consumer-facing social/media startups. He has had a career in finance and served in President George HW Bush's White House and Department of State on the staffs of James A. Baker, III and Robert B. Zoellick.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Closing Bell
Closing Bell Overtime: Home Depot CFO, Sequoia's Shaun Maguire From Reagan National Economic Forum 5/30/25

Closing Bell

Play Episode Listen Later May 30, 2025 42:30


Markets navigate fresh trade headlines and tech disruption: Unlimited's Bob Elliott and G Squared Capital's Victoria Greene weigh in on market sentiment and positioning. Our Kate Rooney reports on whether the Trump agenda could chill Silicon Valley's startup pipeline through its attacks on higher education. Shaun Maguire of Sequoia Capital joins exclusively from the Reagan National Economic Forum to discuss venture capital and the tech ecosystem, including his firm's exposure to Musk-led companies like SpaceX, xAI, and The Boring Company. Home Depot CFO Richard McPhail speaks exclusively on how tariffs are impacting retail and housing, and Tim Sloan of Fortress gives a read on the real estate market. 

Training Data
From Data Centers to Dyson Spheres: P-1 AI's Path to Hardware Engineering AGI

Training Data

Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2025 38:25


Former Airbus CTO Paul Eremenko shares his vision for bringing AI to physical engineering, starting with Archie—an AI agent that works alongside human engineers. P-1 AI is tackling the challenge of generating synthetic training data to teach AI systems about complex physical systems, from data center cooling to aircraft design and beyond. Eremenko explains how Archie breaks down engineering tasks into primitive operations and uses a federated approach combining multiple AI models. The goal is to progress from entry-level engineering capabilities to eventually achieving engineering AGI that can design things humans cannot. Hosted by Sonya Huang and Pat Grady, Sequoia Capital

Go To Market Grit
From Scaling Cisco to Seeding AI: John T. Chambers on Speed, Strategy, and Reinvention

Go To Market Grit

Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2025 87:08


John Chambers led Cisco through the rise of the internet—transforming it into the world's most valuable company at its peak.On this week's Grit, the former Cisco CEO unpacks how he scaled the business from $70M to $50B+, pioneered M&A as a growth strategy with 180 acquisitions, and built what many called the best sales force in tech.Now leading his own venture firm, Chambers shares how he's backing the next generation of AI-native startups.Guest: John T. Chambers, Former Cisco Executive Chairman & CEO, JC2 Ventures Founder & CEOChapters: 00:00 Trailer00:45 Introduction01:45 Track record, relationships, trust13:21 Acquisitions every year17:32 Product-focused24:40 Family, dyslexia, and without shame30:46 Wang Laboratories35:59 Ready being CEO40:17 Reinventing your business50:08 Numbers don't lie54:09 Sales calls and making mistakes56:20 Adapting leadership style1:06:32 Best leadership year ever1:13:35 A busy, exhausting schedule1:22:07 Candid with me1:25:21 What “grit” means to John1:26:43 OutroMentioned in this episode: John Doerr, OpenAI, Wang Laboratories, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple Inc., Meta Platforms, FMC Corporation, DuPont de Nemours, Inc., John Mortgage, Don Valentine, Sequoia Capital, Alcatel Mobile, Lucent Technologies, Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc., Rick Justice, Pankage Patel, Larry Carter, CNBC, Jim Cramer, George Kurtz, CrowdStrike, Randy Pond, Rebecca Jacoby, Mel SelcherLinks:Connect with JohnXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comLearn more about Kleiner Perkins

Training Data
Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach: Building the System of Record for the AI Era

Training Data

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2025 47:49


Workday CEO and Sequoia partner Carl Eschenbach explains how the company is evolving its platform to handle both human and AI workers. He shares Workday's three-pronged approach to monetizing AI through seat-based pricing, role-based agents and consumption-based API access. Eschenbach discusses why domain-specific agents with curated data will be more valuable than general-purpose models in the enterprise, and how Workday is helping enterprises navigate the transition to an AI-powered workplace while maintaining human connection. Hosted by: Sonya Huang and Pat Grady, Sequoia Capital

Go To Market Grit
HubSpot CEO on the Future of SaaS, AI, & Leading Through Change

Go To Market Grit

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2025 77:15


From a 350-square-foot home in South India to leading HubSpot, a $30B CRM powerhouse, Yamini Rangan's journey is nothing short of remarkable. In this episode, Yamini shares how she's guiding HubSpot through a post-pandemic shift toward product-led growth, the hard-won lessons behind building go-to-market alignment, and why human-centric leadership is her edge in an AI-first world. Plus, her take on why data is the new battleground in tech.Chapters: 00:00 Trailer00:52 Introduction02:22 Fire in my belly10:06 Constraints12:19 Peak performance16:38 Helping while in sheer panic21:43 The general ethos30:14 Customer value36:08 Excited and scared47:25 Becoming CEO54:19 Feeling behind1:01:51 Very lonely1:05:34 Losing credibility1:08:42 Slowing down, sitting still1:12:31 No patience to finish a book1:15:39 Who HubSpot is hiring1:15:54 What “grit” means to Yamini1:16:45 OutroMentioned in this episode: Sequoia Capital, Carl Pieri, Brian Halligan, Zoom Workplace, Meta Platforms, Google, Anthropic, Microsoft, Salesforce, Blockbuster Video, BlackBerry Limited, Axon Enterprise, Netflix, Snapchat, Harvey, Dharmesh Shah, Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, Sapiens: A Brief History of HumankindLinks:Connect with YaminiXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comLearn more about Kleiner Perkins

5 Year Frontier
#36: Sales Co-Pilots, AI Revenue Intelligence, Procurement Agents, CRO in 2030, and The Future of Selling w/ Clari CEO Andy Byrne

5 Year Frontier

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2025 25:33


The future of selling. We cover AI-copilots for sales, forecasting engines for CROs, real-time procurement layers, and the future of revenue intelligence. Guiding us will be Andy Byrne CEO of Clari, the #1 Enterprise Revenue Platform trusted by over 1,500 companies managing more than $4 trillion in revenue. From pipeline to close, renewal to expansion, Clari brings end-to-end visibility, control, and predictability to every revenue-critical function in the enterprise. The company has raised $520 million in funding from top-tier investors including Blackstone, Silver Lake, Sequoia Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and Sapphire Ventures. Recognized as a 2024 Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ winner and growing at 227% over three years, Clari is leading a movement to modernize how businesses run their revenue process — transforming it from siloed and reactive to unified, intelligent, and data-driven. Andy is a defining voice in the future of revenue operations. A serial entrepreneur and two-time CEO, Clari marks the fourth company he’s helped build with backing from Sequoia Capital — a rare feat that speaks to his track record and long-term vision. Known for being thoughtful, resilient, and a true builder, Byrne has helped scale Clari into a global platform used by the world’s most sophisticated sales and finance teams. Sign up for new podcasts and our newsletter, and email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Matt Huang - Investing At The Frontier - [Invest Like the Best, EP.420]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2025 92:20


My guest today is Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm, a leading crypto investment firm with over $12 billion in assets under management. Before launching Paradigm in 2018 with Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, Matt was a partner at Sequoia Capital, where he led many of the firm's crypto investments. It's widely reported that Michael Moritz called Matt “the only regrettable loss in Sequoia's history.” In our conversation, Matt shares his framework for navigating the often illegible frontier of crypto, how his early investment in ByteDance (now worth 10,000x his initial capital) shaped his approach to identifying exceptional founders, and why he believes so deeply in crypto's long-term potential. His firm, Paradigm, not only invests in many of the leading companies in the industry, it also builds open-source tools used by most of crypto. Matt has a rare blend of IQ and EQ that allows him to understand technical complexity, bring together unique talents, and ride out crypto's notorious volatility. Whether you're crypto-curious or crypto-skeptical, I think you'll find his perspective valuable. Please enjoy my great conversation with Matt Huang. Matt Huang's Profile in Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. 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. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. –  This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:15) Matt Huang's Early Life and Career (00:08:13) College Years and Early Career (00:12:27) The Failed Startup and Lessons Learned (00:25:58) The Journey to Sequoia Capital (00:32:51) Discovering Bitcoin and Crypto (00:39:33) Founding Paradigm (00:45:40) Building a Unique Investment Team (00:46:37) The Role of Engineers and Researchers (00:48:03) Challenges and Volatility in Crypto (00:52:11) The FTX Investment and Its Aftermath (00:58:40) Crypto as a New Financial System (01:05:19) The Importance of Stablecoins (01:09:54) AI and Crypto: The Next Frontier (01:16:19) Personal Motivations and Mission (01:29:23) The Role of Regulation in Crypto (01:32:27) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Matt

The Engineering Leadership Podcast
Recalibrating leadership priorities, leveraging your time & empowering senior leaders w/ Vinod Marur #216

The Engineering Leadership Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2025 40:19


ABOUT VINOD MARURVinod Marur is the SVP of Engineering at Databricks. He was previously at Rubrik where he served as SVP Engineering and established a mature engineering organization geared for rapid product development and innovation with a deep focus on product quality and organizational development. Prior to that Vinod spent nearly 15 years in leadership roles across some of Google's most critical business units, including Search, Ads, and Payments as well as tapping into his passion for developer platforms to create and lead the Actions on Google platform, used by third parties to develop for Google Assistant and other Google products. Build AI Voice Agents with ElevenLabsElevenLabs is the leading Voice AI platform for developers with thousands of ultra-realistic, human-like voices across 32 languages.Developers use ElevenLabs to build life-like, conversational AI voice agents to handle customer support queries, appointment scheduling, and even offer personalized 1-1 tutoring.Get started for free at elevenlabs.io/elc SHOW NOTES:Vinod's process for recalibrating his leadership focus / priorities (2:25)Why routine can be dangerous & the mental shift required to prioritize impact (4:17)Examples of pivoting & how Vinod's leadership priorities adapted (7:57)Strategies for assessing core priorities when scaling (9:39)Identifying where the most leverage is for your time (11:05)Signals that it's time to recalibrate your organization's priorities (13:27)Solving for information asymmetry: designing communication and collaboration structures (16:20)Rewriting hiring playbooks & tailoring recruitment pitches in a shifting market (18:56)Hiring tactics that worked five years ago that don't anymore (21:21)The impact of AI on hiring practices (22:55)Current factors impacting hiring engineering leaders (25:30)Vinod's framework for identifying the right problems to solve when transitioning to a new role (27:14)“The best leaders often start small, and progress to tackle larger problems” (28:33)Strategies for accelerating the impact of senior cross-functional partners (29:40)Obsessing over a single organizational goal & identifying champions to carry initiatives forward (31:25)Vinod's latest obsession: the implementation and evolution of operational reviews (33:48)Rapid fire questions (36:36)LINKS AND RESOURCESACQUIRED - Acquired tells the stories and strategies of great companies, hosted by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal. Acquired is a depth-first show. Episodes are 3-4 hours long, and are better described as "conversational audiobooks" than "podcasts." Episodes occasionally feature guests, such as the founders/CEOs of NVIDIA, Berkshire Hathaway, Starbucks, Meta, Spotify, Uber, Zoom, CAA, Sequoia Capital, and all five Benchmark partners.This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

GREY Journal Daily News Podcast
The surprising moves of top startup investors in the first quarter

GREY Journal Daily News Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2025 2:46


Investors moved capital in the startup ecosystem during Q1 2025, reflecting higher spending rates. Global startup investment reached notable highs, primarily driven by enthusiasm for AI technologies. Venture investors increased deal flow compared to the previous year. Y Combinator emerged as the top-ranked post-seed investor, focusing on follow-on rounds for its accelerator participants and investing in major companies. Competition among venture capitalists heightened, with several investments over $500 million, indicating strong interest in high-value opportunities. SoftBank led this activity with a historic $40 billion investment in OpenAI, the largest venture investment recorded. Lightspeed participated in nine post-seed deals, with Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Accel also leading multiple rounds. Seed funding showed signs of contraction, yet Y Combinator remained active with over 200 reported seed and pre-seed rounds. As Q2 approaches, investment strategies will likely adapt in response to public market volatility and IPO challenges.Learn more on this news visit us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stanford GSB: View From The Top
S8E1: Roelof Botha Doesn't Believe in “the Top”

Stanford GSB: View From The Top

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2025 60:09


In a candid conversation with Kailash Sundaram, MBA '25, Roelof Botha, MBA '00 — leader of one of the most influential venture capital firms in the world — reflects on his journey from South Africa to Sequoia Capital. From meeting his wife and partner Huifen Chan, MBA '00, at Stanford Graduate School of Business, to lessons about ambition and failure, Botha reflects on his life and career so far — and why he believes he's still “not at the top."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Capital
Radar Empresarial: Alphabet se hace con Wiz por 32.000 millones de dólares

Capital

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 20, 2025 4:31


Por fin se hizo realidad: Alphabet se hace con la empresa de seguridad jurídica Wiz por 32.000 millones de dólares. Es la mayor adquisición de la historia de la matriz de Google. Y es que a la tercera va la vencida. Ya en julio de 2024 la compañía ofreció a Wiz 23.000 millones para evitar que la start-up con sede en Nueva York no siguiera con su oferta pública inicial. Entonces Assaf Rappaport, CEO de Wiz, declaró en comunicado que “"Si bien nos sentimos halagados por las ofertas que hemos recibido, hemos decidido continuar nuestro camino hacia la construcción de Wiz". El halago necesitó de más dinero y nueve mil millones más los que han convencido a la compañía fundada por Israel. ¿Pero qué es lo que hace especial a Wiz? Una de las razones por las que Wiz pudo rechazar esta suculenta oferta fue precisamente porque está respaldada por Sequoia Capital y Thrive Capital. En julio, la valoración que se hacía de la compañía era de 11.000 millones de dólares. Ahora el acuerdo hace que Google se quede con este negocio de seguridad, que por cierto trabaja con una multitud de rivales de la compañía: Wiz ofrecía servicios de ciberseguridad a compañías como Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure y Oracle Cloud. Aunque parece que los cambios en la administración Trump pueden favorecer al éxito de la operación. Paco Canós, CEO y fundador de Cyber-C. El acuerdo también pone en duda la viabilidad anti monopolística de la operación. Detrás de Google siempre han estado los organismos reguladores de la competencia tanto en Estados Unidos como en Europa. Está claro que la compra hace que las grandes compañías piensen ahora si seguir con Wiz pero ¿Qué nivel de datos puede obtener Google con esta compra? ¿Permitirá la operación la FTC de Estados Unidos, la CMA del Reino Unido y las autoridades de la Unión Europea? Sea como sea, Wiz era el deseo más anhelado de Google desde hacía ya tiempo. Tanto es así, que esta compra se convierte en la mayor adquisición de la historia de la compañía, superando con creces la compra de Motorola de 12.600 millones de dólares aunque lejos de la mayor operación tecnológica de la historia que fue la compra de Fox por parte de Disney, que tuvo un valor de 71.000 millones. La empresa fue fundada en enero de 2020 por Assaf Rappaport , Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik y Ami Luttwak, quienes anteriormente fundaron la compañía Adallom. Su crecimiento ha sido tal que en agosto de 2022, Wiz afirmó ser la startup que más rápido había escalado de 1 millón de dólares a 100 millones de dólares en ingresos recurrentes anuales, desde febrero de 2021 hasta aproximadamente julio de 2022.

Training Data
Josh Woodward: Google Labs is Rapidly Building AI Products from 0-to-1

Training Data

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2025 51:16


As VP of Google Labs, Josh Woodward leads teams exploring the frontiers of AI applications. He shares insights on their rapid development process, why today's written prompts will become outdated and how AI is transforming everything from video generation to computer control. He reveals that 25% of Google's code is now written by AI and explains why coding could see major leaps forward this year. He emphasizes the importance of taste, design and human values in building AI tools that will shape how future generations work and create. Mentioned in this episode: Notebook LM: Personal research product based on Gemini 2 (previously discussed on Training Data.) Veo 2: Google DeepMind's new video generation model. Paul Graham on X replying to Aaron Levie's post that “One approach to take in building in AI is to do something that's too expensive to be reasonably practical right now, and just bet that the costs will drop by 10X or 100X over time. The cost curve is on your side.” Where Good Ideas Come From: Book on the history of innovation by Steven Johnson. Project Mariner: Google DeepMind's research prototype exploring human-agent interaction starting with browser use. Replit Agent: Josh's favorite new AI app The Lego Story: Book on the history of Lego. Hosted by: Ravi Gupta and Sonya Huang, Sequoia Capital 

People Business w/ O'Brien McMahon
Up Your Interviews w/ Jordan Burton

People Business w/ O'Brien McMahon

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2025 61:27


Jordan Burton is an executive assessor and interview trainer, working with top VC/PE investors and high-growth startups to hire the best of the best. He has trained over 3,000 executives and investors on hiring and interviewing skills, working with companies like Sequoia Capital, TH Lee, Insight Partners, Twilio, and Scale AI, and over 50 venture-backed startups. He was formerly a Partner at leadership advisory firm ghSMART, a consultant at Bain & Company, and he holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.Mentioned on the ShowConnect with Jordan Burton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanwburtonLearn more about Talgo Team Building and Training: https://www.talgo.io/Listen to futurist Alexandra Levit on People Business: https://peoplebusinesspodcast.com/alexandralevit/________________________Connect with O'Brien McMahon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/obrienmcmahon/Learn more about O'Brien: https://obrienmcmahon.com/Timestamps(1:44) - Welcoming Jordon(2:17) - How does one become an expert in interviewing?(3:27) - How should you structure different types of interviews?(5:03) - What makes a good candidate? (10:53) - Are there any counterintuitive aspects of the interview process?(16:05) - How and What questions vs. Why questions (24:34) - When it comes to hard skills, how do we create good problem-solving interviews?(27:24) - Is there a similar way to test soft skills?(38:50) - The importance of motivation and will. (32:03) - How do we assess the actual skills required in real-time?(35:14) - What are your thoughts on the statement  "hire for attitude, train for skills"?(42:12) - Tips for candidates and interview teams to get organized and prepare(45:13) - How do we decide the best questions to be asked?(45:07) - How does an individual prepare for an interview?(46:19) - How do you analyze an interview?(49:09) - How do we develop our gut instincts? (52:32) - What is disciplined decision-making? (55:02) - Track, with honesty, which decisions worked out.(58:46) - Can you share a crazy interview story?

Training Data
How AI Breakout Harvey is Transforming Legal Services, with CEO Winston Weinberg

Training Data

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2025 54:09


Harvey CEO Winston Weinberg explains why success in legal AI requires more than just model capabilities—it demands deep process expertise that doesn't exist online. He shares how Harvey balances rapid product development with earning trust from law firms through hyper-personalized demos and deep industry expertise. The discussion covers Harvey's approach to product development—expanding specialized capabilities then collapsing them into unified workflows—and why focusing on complex work like international mergers creates the most defensible position in legal AI. Hosted by: Sonya Huang and Pat Grady, Sequoia Capital

Startup Mindsets
Berkeley Skydeck's Executive Director: Caroline Winnett

Startup Mindsets

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2025 49:25


Caroline Winnett is the Executive Director at Berkeley SkyDeck, a world leading startup accelerator. We discuss What it is like running a startup accelerator. How academics make the decision to commercialize their ideas and research.  What Skydeck looks for in applicants. Advising startups on their best path forward. About their fund _ _ _ _The Berkeley SkyDeck Fund is the investment partner for UC Berkeley's SkyDeck Accelerator Program. The Fund invests $200K into each startup that goes through SkyDeck, and can participate in later stage investment rounds with Berkeley founders. One of the most active seed investors in the Bay Area, the Fund has made over 130 investments in 3 years! In a first-of-its-kind, public-private partnership, the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund shares one-half of fund profits with UC Berkeley. This unique partnership helps support UC Berkeley education and creates a source of funding for UC Berkeley's public education mission. The Berkeley SkyDeck Fund is run by Chon Tang, Managing Partner, and Brian Bordley, Partner. It is funded by organizations such as Sequoia Capital, Sierra Ventures, and Canvas Ventures, as well as other VC firms, individuals, and large corporations.Learn more about Berkeley Skydeck: https://skydeck.berkeley.edu/our_teamGRAB YOUR COPY OF STARTUP MINDSETS ON AMAZON, UNLOCK VALUABLE LIFE AND BUSINESS INSIGHTS FROM OUR RESEARCH, PODCAST, AND LIFE EXPERIENCES: https://www.amazon.com/Startup-Mindsets-Blueprint-Innovation-Driven-Connected

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Ravi Gupta - AI or Die - [Invest Like the Best, EP.411]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 18, 2025 58:39


My guest today is Ravi Gupta. Ravi is a Partner at Sequoia Capital and a host on Glue Guys, a podcast on the Colossus network that intersects business and sports. I wanted to have him back on Invest Like the Best to discuss his recent most recent blog post titled “AI or Die.” As both an investor and former Instacart operator and CFO, Ravi believes we're entering an era where the constraints that historically limited small teams are dissolving, creating unprecedented opportunities for those willing to embrace change aggressively. We discuss why traditional metrics of corporate success like headcount and process adherence may become liabilities, what it means to be a world-class reactor vs predictor, and how "magic per employee" and organizational agility will emerge as crucial measures of value creation. Please enjoy my conversation with Ravi Gupta. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. 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. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).  Show Notes: (00:00:00) Learn About Ramp, Ridgeline, & Alphasense (00:06:00) Introduction to 'AI or Die' Essay (00:06:29) Initial Reactions to AI Advancements (00:08:24) The Concept of 'AI or Die' (00:10:40) Adapting to Rapid Technological Change (00:12:02) Using AI for Real Work (00:13:58) Evaluating Company Agility and AI Integration (00:18:58) The Cost of Employees in the AI Era (00:25:36) AI's Impact on Business Strategy (00:36:55) Changing Perspectives on AI Models (00:37:50) The Importance of Context in AI (00:39:09) Optimism in the Age of AI (00:40:22) Predictors vs. Reactors (00:42:54) AI Tools in Business Operations (00:46:07) The Future of Small Teams and Efficiency (00:49:01) Investing in the AI Era (00:55:11) The Role of Board Members in AI Adoption (00:57:22) Embracing Change with Humility (00:59:17) The Ghost of Competition (01:05:04) Seizing the AI Opportunity

Crypto Hipster Podcast
Why We Should Create a Collaborative AI-Powered Blockchain Economy That Benefits Everyone, with Sean Ren @ Sahara Labs (Audio)

Crypto Hipster Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2025 31:49


Sean (Xiang) Ren, CEO and Co-Founder of Sahara AISean is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sahara AI, a decentralized AI blockchain platform for a collaborative economy. Backed by top investors in AI and Crypto, including Binance Labs, Pantera Capital, Polychain Capital, Sequoia Capital, Samsung Next, Matrix Partners, and many more, Sahara AI has raised over $40 million to advance decentralized AI. Today, Sahara AI is trusted by 35+ leading tech innovators and research institutions, such as Microsoft, Amazon, MIT, Character AI, and Snapchat. Additionally, Sean is an Associate Professor in Computer Science and the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair at the University of Southern California, where he is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Intelligence and Knowledge Discovery (INK) Research Lab. At Allen Institute for AI, Sean contributes to machine common sense research. Prior, Sean was a Data Science Advisor at Snapchat. He completed his PhD in computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University. Sean has received many awards recognizing his research and innovation in the AI space including the WSDM Test of Time Paper Award, Samsung AI Researcher of 2023, MIT TR Innovators Under 35, Forbes 30 Under 30, and more.  Personal Site: https://www.seanre.com/ Twitter: @xiangrenNLP LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xren7

Crypto Hipster Podcast
Why We Should Create a Collaborative AI-Powered Blockchain Economy That Benefits Everyone, with Sean Ren @ Sahara Labs (Video)

Crypto Hipster Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2025 31:49


Sean (Xiang) Ren, CEO and Co-Founder of Sahara AISean is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sahara AI, a decentralized AI blockchain platform for a collaborative economy. Backed by top investors in AI and Crypto, including Binance Labs, Pantera Capital, Polychain Capital, Sequoia Capital, Samsung Next, Matrix Partners, and many more, Sahara AI has raised over $40 million to advance decentralized AI. Today, Sahara AI is trusted by 35+ leading tech innovators and research institutions, such as Microsoft, Amazon, MIT, Character AI, and Snapchat. Additionally, Sean is an Associate Professor in Computer Science and the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair at the University of Southern California, where he is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Intelligence and Knowledge Discovery (INK) Research Lab. At Allen Institute for AI, Sean contributes to machine common sense research. Prior, Sean was a Data Science Advisor at Snapchat. He completed his PhD in computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University. Sean has received many awards recognizing his research and innovation in the AI space including the WSDM Test of Time Paper Award, Samsung AI Researcher of 2023, MIT TR Innovators Under 35, Forbes 30 Under 30, and more.  Personal Site: https://www.seanre.com/ Twitter: @xiangrenNLP LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xren7

CryptoNews Podcast
#413: Sean Ren, CEO of Sahara AI, on Personalized Knowledge Agents (KAs), Copyright Issues in AI, and The Future of Crypto AI

CryptoNews Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 13, 2025 31:45


Sean Ren is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sahara AI, a decentralized blockchain platform built for AI. Backed by top investors in AI and Crypto, including Pantera Capital, Polychain Capital, Sequoia Capital, Samsung, Matrix Partners, and many more, Sahara AI has raised over $40 million to advance decentralized AI. Today, Sahara AI is trusted by 35+ leading tech innovators and research institutions, such as Microsoft, Amazon, MIT, Character AI, and Snapchat.In this conversation, we discuss:- The Future of AI and Crypto- Knowledge Agents (KAs)- Complexities of Data Collection- Operational Hurdles- Ethical Considerations- AI Across Leading Institutions- Generative AI- Autonomous Systems- DeepSeek Open Source AI- The Issue of Copyright in AI- AI-based Revenue Streams and MarketplacesSahara AIWebsite: saharalabs.aiX: @SaharaLabsAILinkedIn: Sahara AISean RenX: @xiangrenNLPLinkedIn: Sean (Xiang) Ren ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This episode is brought to you by PrimeXBT.  PrimeXBT offers a robust trading system for both beginners and professional traders that demand highly reliable market data and performance. Traders of all experience levels can easily design and customize layouts and widgets to best fit their trading style. PrimeXBT is always offering innovative products and professional trading conditions to all customers.   PrimeXBT is running an exclusive promotion for listeners of the podcast. After making your first deposit, 50% of that first deposit will be credited to your account as a bonus that can be used as additional collateral to open positions.  Code: CRYPTONEWS50  This promotion is available for a month after activation. Click the link below:  PrimeXBT x CRYPTONEWS50

Can You Hear Me?
How to be an Effective Change Agent

Can You Hear Me?

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2025 32:30


About our guest:Nellie Wartoft is a Swedish technology entrepreneur who launched Tigerhall in 2019, revolutionizing how large enterprises engage their organizations to drive change at scale. Under her leadership, Tigerhall has quickly gained traction with global Fortune 500 firms undergoing transformation, and today has users across 32 countries, and employees in 12 markets. Nellie has raised over $10 million in venture capital from visionary investors including Sequoia Capital and Monk's Hill Ventures, and Tigerhall's customers include well-known enterprises in technology, consumer goods, professional services, and financial services.Prior to founding Tigerhall, Nellie was a top biller at Michael Page, where she led the Sales & Marketing practice and saw firsthand the issues in driving organizational engagement around change, and how the technology used in communications, knowledge sharing, change and transformation led to dissatisfaction, more confusion and increased disengagement. Her experience led her to launch Tigerhall, which bridges the gap between how organizations have traditionally shared information and knowledge (think ghost town Sharepoint sites, mass internal email overload and snooze fest town halls), and how people prefer to consume content and interact with each other today (think your internal Spotify, two-way live interactions and the right reinforcement in the right workflow).Nellie has been named on the 2021 Gen T list of Leaders of Tomorrow by Tatler Magazine and was recognized as one of the Top Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2023 by the International Business Times. She was also a Swedish National Champion in skeet shooting and air rifle in her teenage years.Nellie is an accomplished speaker and regularly presents at large events and global forums such as the Global CEO Exchange, Business Transformation Exchange, TEDx events, SaaSTech Asia, SMF, Cornell University and several leadership summits across the United States, Europe and Asia. She currently serves as a non-executive director on the boards of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Singapore and the SGTech Digital Transformation Chapter - the largest industry association for technology companies in Singapore.Outside of changing the way enterprises drive change, Nellie loves tennis, surfing and electronic house music. She has lived and worked in Singapore, London, Seoul and Los Angeles. Thank you for listening to "Can You Hear Me?". If you enjoyed our show, please consider subscribing and leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform.Stay connected with us:Follow us on LinkedIn!Follow our co-host Eileen Rochford on Linkedin!Follow our co-host Rob Johnson on Linkedin!

Training Data
Roblox Studio Head Stef Corazza: Using AI to Empower Creators

Training Data

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 4, 2025 54:46


Stef Corazza leads generative AI development at Roblox after previously building Adobe's 3D and AR platforms. His technical expertise, combined with Roblox's unique relationship with its users, has led to the infusion of AI into its creation tools. Roblox has assembled the world's largest multimodal dataset. Stef previews the Roblox Assistant and the company's new 3D foundation model, while emphasizing the importance of maintaining positive experiences and civility on the platform.  Mentioned in this episode: Driving Empire: A Roblox car racing game Stef particularly enjoys RDC: Roblox Developer Conference Ego.live: Roblox app to create and share synthetic worlds populated with human-like generative agents and simulated communities| PINNs: Physics Informed Neural Networks ControlNet: A model for controlling image diffusion by conditioning on an additional input image that Stef says can be used as a 2.5D approach to 3D generation. Neural rendering: A combination of deep learning with computer graphics principles developed by Nvidia in its RTX platform Hosted by: Konstantine Buhler and Sonya Huang, Sequoia Capital

Gradient Dissent - A Machine Learning Podcast by W&B
DeepSeek, Stargate and AI's $600 Billion Question with Sequoia's David Cahn

Gradient Dissent - A Machine Learning Podcast by W&B

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 28, 2025 58:16


In this episode of Gradient Dissent, host Lukas Biewald sits down with David Cahn, partner at Sequoia Capital, for a compelling discussion on the dynamic world of AI investments. They dive into recent developments, including DeepSeek and Stargate, exploring their implications for the AI industry. Drawing from his articles, "AI's $200 Billion Question" and "AI's $600 Billion Question," David unpacks the financial challenges and opportunities surrounding AI infrastructure spending and the staggering revenue required to sustain these investments. Together, they examine the competitive strategies of cloud providers, the transformative impact of AI on business models, and predictions for the next wave of AI-driven growth. This episode offers an in-depth look at the crossroads of AI innovation and financial strategy.Mentioned Articles:AI's $200B QuestionAI's $600B Question

We Study Billionaires - The Investor’s Podcast Network
TIP693: The Power Law: Unlocking Venture Capital's Secrets w/ Clay Finck

We Study Billionaires - The Investor’s Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2025 79:52


In this episode, Clay explores The Power Law by Sebastian Mallaby and uncovers the secret behind venture capital's astonishing success. The Power Law is a fundamental law of the universe that explains why just a handful of disruptive companies, like Google and Tesla, generate the lion's share of returns. To win in the world of venture capital, investors must seek out bold, unconventional founders to back the next big idea. Tune in to learn how understanding the Power Law can transform your perspective on investing and help you spot tomorrow's breakout winners. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN: 00:00 - Intro 01:53 - The critical role of the Power Law in venture capital and why a few outliers drive most of the returns. 30:54 - How venture capitalists identify and back bold, unconventional founders like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. 30:54 - The fascinating history behind the rise of venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital and their game-changing investments. 36:22 - Why early-stage companies delay going public and the shift in bargaining power from VCs to founders. 01:06:47 - Insights into the mistakes investors make when exiting too early or dismissing "crazy" ideas that turn into trillion-dollar companies. 01:08:16 - Lessons for public equity investors on spotting disruption and understanding the potential of emerging innovators. And so much more! Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Stig, Clay, Kyle, and the other community members. Mallaby's book: The Power Law. Jim Sinegal's interview with the Motley Fool. The Science of Hitting Blog. Email Shawn at shawn@theinvestorspodcast.com to attend our free events in Omaha or visit this page. Related Episode: Listen to TIP481: Our Story w/ Stig Brodersen & Clay Finck. Related Episode: Listen to TIP686: Big Tech Stocks w/ Adam Seessel. Related Episode: Listen to TIP417: The Incredible Story of the PayPal Mafia w/ Jimmy Soni. Related Episode: Listen to TIP667: Why Most Stocks Will Lose You Money w/ Hendrik Bessembinder. Follow Clay on Twitter. Check out all the books mentioned and discussed in our podcast episodes here. Enjoy ad-free episodes when you subscribe to our Premium Feed. NEW TO THE SHOW? Get smarter about valuing businesses in just a few minutes each week through our newsletter, The Intrinsic Value Newsletter. Check out our We Study Billionaires Starter Packs. Follow our official social media accounts: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here. Try our tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance Tool. Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors: Hardblock Found Unchained Fintool The Bitcoin Way Onramp Bluehost Vanta PrizePicks Fundrise TurboTax HELP US OUT! Help us reach new listeners by leaving us a rating and review on Spotify! It takes less than 30 seconds, and really helps our show grow, which allows us to bring on even better guests for you all! Thank you – we really appreciate it! Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish
#212 Alfred Lin: How to Think (and Work) Like a World-Class Investor

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 21, 2025 133:14


Alfred Lin shares strategies for navigating startup challenges, building resilient teams, and creating long-lasting value. Lin explores lessons from companies like Zappos, Airbnb, DoorDash, and Amazon, offering actionable insights on topics like hiring for potential, managing crises, and fostering innovative cultures. Learn how first-principles thinking, customer focus, and disciplined growth can transform challenges into opportunities, even in the face of unprecedented disruptions. Lin is a partner at Sequoia Capital. He represents Sequoia on boards like Airbnb and DoorDash. From January 2005 to December 2010, he served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Operating Officer of Zappos. He has a Bachelors in Applied Mathematics from Harvard and a Masters in Statistics from Stanford. Newsletter - The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it's completely free. Learn more and sign up at https://fs.blog/newsletter/ -- Upgrade — If you want to hear my thoughts and reflections at the end of the episode, join our membership: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://fs.blog/membership/⁠⁠ and get your own private feed. -- Follow me: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://beacons.ai/shaneparrish⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -- Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tkppodcast

Training Data
Kumo's Hema Raghavan: Turning Graph AI into ROI

Training Data

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 21, 2025 52:06


Hema Raghavan is co-founder of Kumo, a company that makes graph neural networks accessible to enterprises by connecting to their relational data stored in Snowflake and Databricks. Hema talks about how running GNNs on GPUs has led to breakthroughs in performance as well as the query language Kumo developed to help companies predict future data points. Although approachable for non-technical users, the product provides full control for data scientists who use Kumo to automate time-consuming feature engineering pipelines. Mentioned in this episode: Graph Neural Networks: Learning mechanism for data in graph format, the basis of the Kumo product Graph RAG: Popular extension of retrieval-augmented generation using GNNs LiGNN: Graph Neural Networks at LinkedIn paper  KDD: Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Conference Hosted by: Konstantine Buhler and Sonya Huang, Sequoia Capital

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career
Behind the founder: Drew Houston (Dropbox)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2025 97:36


Drew Houston is the co-founder and CEO of Dropbox. Under his leadership, Dropbox has grown from a simple idea to a service used by over 700 million registered users globally, with a valuation exceeding $9 billion. Drew has led Dropbox through multiple phases, from explosive viral growth, to battling all the tech giants at once, to reinventing the company for the future of work. In our conversation, he opens up about:• The three eras of Dropbox's growth and evolution• The challenges he's faced over the past 18 years• What he learned about himself• How he's been able to manage his psychology as a founder• The importance of maintaining your learning curve• Finding purpose beyond metrics and growth• The micro, macro, and meta aspects of building companies• Much more—Brought to you by:• Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want• Explo—Embed customer-facing analytics in your product• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-drew-houston-dropbox—Where to find Drew Houston:• X: https://x.com/drewhouston• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhouston/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Drew and Dropbox(04:44) The three eras of Dropbox(07:53) The first era: Viral growth and early success(14:19) The second era: Challenges and competition(20:49) Strategic shifts and refocusing(29:36) Personal reflections and leadership lessons(40:19) Unlocking mindfulness and building support systems(43:14) The Enneagram test(50:35) The challenges of being a founder CEO(58:11) The third era: Rebooting the team and core business(01:22:41) Lessons and advice for aspiring founders(01:27:46) Balancing personal and professional growth(01:42:38) Final reflections and future outlook—Referenced:• Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/• Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/• Paul Graham's website: https://www.paulgraham.com/• Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/• Arash Ferdowsi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arashferdowsi/• Sequoia Capital: https://www.sequoiacap.com/• Pejman Nozad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pejman/• Mike Moritz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmoritz/• TechCrunch Disrupt: https://techcrunch.com/events/tc-disrupt-2024/• Dropbox viral demo: https://youtu.be/7QmCUDHpNzE• Digg: https://digg.com/• Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/• Hadi and Ali Partovi: https://www.partovi.org/• Zynga: https://www.zynga.com/• Steve Jobs announces Apple's iCloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilnfUa_-Rbc• Dropbox Carousel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropbox_Carousel• Dropbox Is Buying Mega-Hyped Email Startup Mailbox: https://www.businessinsider.com/dropbox-is-buying-mega-hyped-email-startup-mailbox-2013-3• 5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-strategy-roger-martin• Intel: https://www.intel.com/• Gordon Moore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Moore• Netscape: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape• Myspace: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace• Bill Campbell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Campbell_(business_executive)• Enneagram type descriptions: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions/• The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: https://www.themyersbriggs.com/en-US/Products-and-Services/Myers-Briggs• Brian Chesky's new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach• Ben Horowitz on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz• Why Read Peter Drucker?: https://hbr.org/2009/11/why-read-peter-drucker• GitLab: https://about.gitlab.com/• Automattic: https://automattic.com/• Dropbox Dash: https://www.dash.dropbox.com/• Welcome Command E to Dropbox: https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/company/welcome-command-e-to-dropbox-• StarCraft: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarCraft_(video_game)• Procter & Gamble and the Beauty of Small Wins: https://hbr.org/2009/10/the-beauty-of-small-wins• Teaching Smart People How to Learn: https://hbr.org/1991/05/teaching-smart-people-how-to-learn—Recommended books:• Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business: https://www.amazon.com/Guerilla-Marketing-Inexpensive-Strategies-Business/dp/0618785914• Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Strategy-Really-Works/dp/142218739X• High Output Management: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884/• Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company: https://www.amazon.com/Only-Paranoid-Survive-Exploit-Challenge/dp/0385483821• Zone to Win: Organizing to Compete in an Age of Disruption: https://www.amazon.com/Zone-Win-Organizing-Compete-Disruption/dp/1682302113• Warren Buffett's books: https://www.amazon.com/warren-buffett-Books/s?k=warren+buffett&rh=n%3A283155• Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger: https://www.amazon.com/Poor-Charlies-Almanack-Essential-Charles/dp/1953953239• Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos: https://www.amazon.com/Invent-Wander-Collected-Writings-Introduction/dp/1647820715/• The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable: https://www.amazon.com/15-Commitments-Conscious-Leadership-Sustainable-ebook/dp/B00R3MHWUE—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. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Podcast Notes Playlist: Latest Episodes
Micky Malka - Building Ribbit - [Invest Like the Best, EP.400]

Podcast Notes Playlist: Latest Episodes

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 22, 2024


Invest Like the Best: Read the notes at at podcastnotes.org. Don't forget to subscribe for free to our newsletter, the top 10 ideas of the week, every Monday --------- My guest today is Micky Malka. Micky is the founder of Ribbit Capital, a global venture capital firm that focuses exclusively on financial technology investments. He is a renowned investor for his adaptability and visionary approach and a believer in killing the thing that got you to where you are in pursuit of what's next. We discuss his perspective on fintech's evolution and why his firm boldly declares that “fintech is dead.” We dive into his theory of the "grid," which examines how knowledge, wealth, and power are being transformed by technological changes, particularly through the rise of AI, cryptocurrency, and network states. And we also explore Micky's deep interest in digital art and NFTs, which he sees as early indicators of broader cultural and technological shifts. You'll soon hear how he is truly taking a generative approach on all fronts. Please enjoy this in-depth conversation with Micky Malka.  My guests today For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. — This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:37) The Rebel Spirit of Ribbit (00:07:36) Ribbit's Unique Structure and Philosophy (00:08:07) The First Fund and Institutional Partners (00:09:03) Founding Principles and No Labels Approach (00:13:44) Early Investments and the Crypto Angle (00:16:42) The FinTech Evolution and Market Dynamics (00:22:30) Navigating Challenges: The Robinhood Story (00:28:57) The Global Digital Grid Concept (00:36:09) The Future of Digital Identity and Tokenization (00:41:00) The Role of Stablecoins in the Modern Economy (00:50:16) The Challenge of Adaptability (00:53:05) The Role of Heart in Business (00:55:19) The Walmart Partnership Story (01:00:07) Lessons from NuBank (01:02:49) Building a Strong Team (01:09:28) The Importance of Brand (01:11:52) Art and Its Future (01:17:20) The Impact of Better Money (01:19:27) Reflections and Future Plans (01:28:03) Handling Crises and Embracing Movement (01:31:40) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Micky

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Micky Malka - Building Ribbit - [Invest Like the Best, EP.400]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2024 92:02


My guest today is Micky Malka. Micky is the founder of Ribbit Capital, a global venture capital firm that focuses exclusively on financial technology investments. He is a renowned investor for his adaptability and visionary approach and a believer in killing the thing that got you to where you are in pursuit of what's next. We discuss his perspective on fintech's evolution and why his firm boldly declares that “fintech is dead.” We dive into his theory of the "grid," which examines how knowledge, wealth, and power are being transformed by technological changes, particularly through the rise of AI, cryptocurrency, and network states. And we also explore Micky's deep interest in digital art and NFTs, which he sees as early indicators of broader cultural and technological shifts. You'll soon hear how he is truly taking a generative approach on all fronts. Please enjoy this in-depth conversation with Micky Malka.  My guests today For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. — This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:37) The Rebel Spirit of Ribbit (00:07:36) Ribbit's Unique Structure and Philosophy (00:08:07) The First Fund and Institutional Partners (00:09:03) Founding Principles and No Labels Approach (00:13:44) Early Investments and the Crypto Angle (00:16:42) The FinTech Evolution and Market Dynamics (00:22:30) Navigating Challenges: The Robinhood Story (00:28:57) The Global Digital Grid Concept (00:36:09) The Future of Digital Identity and Tokenization (00:41:00) The Role of Stablecoins in the Modern Economy (00:50:16) The Challenge of Adaptability (00:53:05) The Role of Heart in Business (00:55:19) The Walmart Partnership Story (01:00:07) Lessons from NuBank (01:02:49) Building a Strong Team (01:09:28) The Importance of Brand (01:11:52) Art and Its Future (01:17:20) The Impact of Better Money (01:19:27) Reflections and Future Plans (01:28:03) Handling Crises and Embracing Movement (01:31:40) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Micky

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Chetan Puttagunta and Modest Proposal - Capital, Compute & AI Scaling - [Invest Like the Best, EP.399]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2024 95:07


My guests today are Chetan Puttagunta and Modest Proposal. Chetan is a General Partner at venture firm Benchmark, while Modest Proposal is an anonymous guest who manages a large pool of capital in the public markets. Both are good friends and frequent guests on the show, but this is the first time they have appeared together. And the timing couldn't be better - we might be witnessing a pivotal shift in AI development as leading labs hit scaling limits and transition from pre-training to test-time compute. Together, we explore how this change could democratize AI development while reshaping the investment landscape across both public and private markets. Please enjoy this discussion with Chetan Puttagunta and Modest Proposal. My guests today For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:30) Introduction to LLM Scaling Challenges (00:07:25) Synthetic Data and Test Time Compute (00:08:53) Implications of Test Time Compute (00:11:19) Public Tech Companies and AI Investments (00:16:58) Small Teams and Open Source Models (00:29:02) Strategic Positioning of Major AI Players (00:35:49) AGI and Future Prospects (00:46:50) AI Application Layer and Investment Opportunities (00:54:18) The Paradigm Shift in AI Reasoning (00:55:34) Investing in AI-Powered Solutions (00:58:46) Economic Impacts of AI Advancements (01:00:19) The Future of AI and Model Stability (01:02:52) Private Market Valuations and Compute Costs (01:05:05) Infrastructure and Utilization in AI (01:12:50) The Role of Hyperscalers and GPUs (01:18:02) The Evolution of AI Applications (01:27:56) Philosophical Questions on AGI and ASI (01:34:31) The Importance of Innovation Hubs

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Ronnie Fieg - Building Kith - [Invest Like the Best, EP.398]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2024 85:38


My guest today is Ronnie Fieg, founder and CEO of Kith. At age 13, Ronnie started working at David Z., an iconic New York shoe store, where he sold Timberland boots to Jay-Z and Wallabies to Wu-Tang Clan. He worked his way up from the stockroom and earned his first collaboration in 2007, when he worked with ASICS on new Gel-Lyte 3s. That collection sold out in a day after being featured in The Wall Street Journal, catching the attention of Adidas's president and launching his reputation as a cultural icon. In 2011, he founded Kith, which has become one of the most influential brands in footwear, fashion, and culture. The business sells a unique curation of products that includes exclusive Nike sneakers, Armani suits, Versace robes, watches, cars, and even $10 ice creams. Our conversation is one of the best examples of life's work I've ever recorded - it explores how Ronnie's pure love of product has shaped everything from a campaign with Jerry Seinfeld to his creative direction for the New York Knicks. Please enjoy this excellent conversation with Ronnie Fieg. Sign up for the Alphasense panel discussion hosted by Patrick. My guests today For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:10) The Journey to Shoot Jerry Seinfeld (00:09:44) Understanding Consumer Desires (00:12:04) The Queens College Project (00:15:51) The Evolution of Kith Stores (00:18:03) Ronnie's Early Passion for Collecting (00:21:56) From David Z to Kith: The Retail Journey (00:41:36) The Birth of Kith: Friends and Family (00:46:40) Origins of Kith: From Concept to Brand (00:47:18) Building Community and Relationships (00:47:51) The Birth of Kith Stores (00:48:43) Footwear Passion and Store Design (00:49:59) The Evolution of Kith Products (00:50:52) Storytelling Through Film (00:57:01) Collaborations and Iconic Partnerships (01:03:38) The Influence of Travel on Design (01:09:15) Balancing Business and Creativity (01:16:06) Reflections and Future Aspirations

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Gabe Whaley - Building MSCHF - [Invest Like the Best, EP.397]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2024 76:53


My guest today is Gabe Whaley, the founder and CEO of MSCHF. What began with viral internet pranks in 2014 has evolved into one of the most singular creative companies in modern culture. MSCHF's work ranges from microscopic handbags—the size of a grain of salt—to tax software that helps you file your returns by going on virtual dates with anime characters. Every two weeks, they release something new that challenges our assumptions about art, commerce, and culture. MSCHF is hard to define but Gabe says their goal is to “monopolize a feeling” and subversion is the rare constant. Their most viral creation, the Big Red Boot, took over the internet in 2023. Our conversation explores how a West Point dropout built a company that thrives on breaking rules, but it's also about something bigger - the power of unbridled creative expression and what happens when you build a business around it. I hope it inspires you to think about what your version of mischief could be. Please enjoy this fascinating discussion with Gabe Whaley. Sign up for the Alphasense panel discussion hosted by Patrick. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:50) Defining Mischief's Unique Creativity (00:11:09) The Origin Story of Mischief (00:12:53) Early Digital Projects and Virality (00:20:33) Transition to Physical Products (00:33:07) Navigating the Art World with Mischief (00:39:52) Entering the Fashion World (00:42:37) Mischief's Creative Process (00:44:51) Structured Brainstorming and Idea Vetting Process (00:46:38) The Role of Rules and Boundaries in Creativity (00:48:39) Interacting with Venture Investors (00:51:07) The Big Red Boots Phenomenon (00:54:48) Supply and Demand in Creative Projects (00:58:08) Protecting Creativity and Overcoming Challenges (01:00:11) Lessons from West Point (01:05:25) Fashion as Utility and Fantasy (01:09:47) Recruiting and Team Dynamics (01:11:56) Navigating Crossroads and Future Goals

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Brad Jacobs - Think Big and Move Fast - [Invest Like the Best, REPLAY]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2024 85:33


Today, we are replaying my conversation with Brad Jacobs. Brad's resumé is remarkable. He has founded seven companies, all of which are billion-dollar or multibillion-dollar businesses. He has done 500 M&A transactions and raised $30 billion dollars of debt and equity capital. Currently, he is the Executive Chairman of XPO, a commercial trucking company that he started in 2011 and has grown into one of the largest logistics businesses in the world. He has also written a book that will be out in January, titled “How to Make a Few Billion Dollars”. Brad's energy is infectious and our conversation unpacks his strategies for M&A, his propensity for speed, and methods for earning team buy-in. Please enjoy my great conversation with Brad Jacobs. Sign up for the Alphasense panel discussion hosted by Patrick. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:07:11) Identifying key factors in a market before investing (00:10:07) Gleaning insights from early acquisition experiences (00:13:43) Delving into the seller's mindset during a business sale (00:17:51) Weighing pre-built against organic growth strategies in acquisitions (00:27:49) Engaging constructively with Wall Street (00:29:36) Discussing the substantial buyback of XPO shares (00:33:16) Ambition as a recurring theme in entrepreneurial success (00:35:17) Emphasizing the need to facilitate team agility (00:37:35) Highlighting the joys of post-acquisition integration (00:41:09) Drawing lessons from Ludwig Jesselson's principles (00:45:34) Comparing the risks and rewards of early versus late adoption (00:49:09) Reflecting on errors made in trend analysis (00:53:59) Strategies for implementing new technologies in enterprises (00:56:59) The significance of thought experiments in strategic decision-making (01:01:00) Recalling transformative events from his early years (01: 02:22) Outlining what makes a meeting 'electric' (01: 06:53) Sharing experiences with exemplary leadership (01:12:37) Deciding the right time to step away from a business (01:23:45) Philosophies for leading a fulfilling life (01:27:53) The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Brad

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Ernie Garcia - Steering Carvana Through a 99% Drawdown - [Invest Like the Best, EP.396]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2024 72:56


My guest today is Ernie Garcia. Ernie is the co-founder and CEO of Carvana. Ernie joined me on Founder's Field Guide in 2021 and despite all that the business has gone through since that conversation, you'll hear how he has the exact same demeanor and crystal clear vision for the business and its operations today. Carvana is one of the most remarkable business turnaround stories in recent history, and Ernie gives us a raw and candid explanation of navigating through a 99% stock price decline and ultimately emerging stronger on the other side. I don't know many leaders who could survive this. He credits his team of A players again and again for successfully weathering the storm and maintaining morale. We discuss leading through crisis, building for the long term, and a focus on ruthless prioritization and efficiency gains. Please enjoy my conversation with Ernie Garcia.  Check out our new print publication Colossus Review. My guests today For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:00) Carvana's Journey (00:07:38) Facing the COVID-19 Challenge (00:08:12) The Rise and Fall: Carvana's Rollercoaster (00:10:05) Leadership and Resilience in Tough Times (00:14:32) Handling Drawdowns and Communication (00:16:58) Maintaining Calm and Leadership (00:18:19) The True Story of Carvana's Journey (00:20:36) Navigating Market Challenges (00:23:40) Learning to Say No (00:30:35) Project Management and Accountability (00:34:22) The Importance of Player-Coach Leadership (00:35:53) The Importance of Vertical Integration (00:40:43) Customer Experience and Vertical Integration (00:41:41) Navigating Economic Variables (00:43:52) Building Resilience in Business (00:45:27) Balancing Personal and Professional Life (00:48:57) Efficiency and Growth in Carvana (00:59:02) Insights on Investors and Entrepreneurship (01:02:42) Lessons from Family and Origins of Carvana (01:11:22) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Ernie

DealMakers
Gaurav Misra On Raising $100 Million To Develop AI-Powered Tools For Video Editing And Creation

DealMakers

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2024 28:37


In the AI industry, where innovation evolves at lightning speed, some founders set the pace by combining a unique cultural perspective with a relentless drive to create groundbreaking technology. Gaurav Misra, founder and CEO of Captions, is one of these visionaries. Captions has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Adobe Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Jared Leto.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Andrew Homan & Chris Miller - Redefining Semiconductor Progress - [Invest Like the Best, EP.395]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2024 86:23


My guests today are Andrew Homan and Chris Miller. Andrew has spent two decades at Maverick Capital and is a managing partner at Maverick Silicon, where he leads the firm's technology investments. Chris is a professor at Tufts and the author of the New York Times best-selling book “Chip War,” which details the geopolitical battle to control the semiconductor industry. Together we get into a comprehensive discussion on the semiconductor ecosystem and the silicon backbone of our digital age. Andrew and Chris share insights on how venture capital is navigating this complex industry and what it means for the future of computing. We discuss the AI-driven revolution in chip demand, the geopolitics of semi-manufacturing, and the next wave of innovation beyond NVIDIA. Please enjoy my conversation with Andrew Homan and Chris Miller. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:28) Intel's Historical Success and Current Challenges (00:08:22) The Paradigm Shift in Technology (00:11:44) AI and the Future of Semiconductors (00:19:02) Political and Economic Considerations in Chip Manufacturing (00:29:28) Investment Perspectives and Market Dynamics (00:45:46) The Mobile Paradigm Shift: Apple vs. AT&T (00:46:49) Corporate Strategies in the AI Transition (00:48:02) NVIDIA's Dominance and Potential Vulnerabilities (00:51:27) The Future of Edge AI (00:57:02) Powering the Data Centers of Tomorrow (00:59:42) The Semiconductor Startup Ecosystem (01:05:08) The Role of Government and Global Dynamics (01:07:28) Investment Strategies and Market Dynamics (01:10:57) The Future of the Semiconductor Industry (01:25:52) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Chris And Andrew

Unchained
The Chopping Block: 2024 Election Debate feat. Mike Novogratz & Shaun Maguire - Ep. 729

Unchained

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 3, 2024 62:43


Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner slice into the juiciest topics in crypto. This week, Robert Leshner welcomes two special guests: Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy, and Shaun Maguire, general partner at Sequoia Capital, for a one-of-a-kind debate on how the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election could shape the future of crypto. With the stakes higher than ever, they explore what a Harris or Trump presidency could mean for crypto regulation, market infrastructure, and the populist undercurrents driving the industry forward. From blockchain voting possibilities to the macroeconomic forces impacting Bitcoin and stablecoins, the conversation pushes beyond policy to the heart of crypto's role in tomorrow's world. This episode delivers crucial insights on the political forces that could redefine crypto's trajectory in the U.S. and beyond. Show highlights

Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw
A Former Never Trumper Makes the Case for Trump 2024 | Shaun Maguire

Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2024 86:42


Shaun Maguire is a venture capitalist, tech entrepreneur, and Caltech physics PhD. He joined Rep. Crenshaw to talk about his journey from Never Trumper in 2016 to supporting President Trump in 2024. Shaun makes the analytical case for why Trump's method for foreign policy makes sense. Namely, Trump's ability to flex American power in a language that Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and China understand. Shaun also explains why parts of Silicon Valley are moving right, why our defense industrial base is in dire need of repair, and the physics of how black holes work.       Becoming a Reformed Never Trumper       Revelations About the Trump-Russia Hoax       Recruited by DARPA – War in Afghanistan       Narrative Violations – Trump at NATO       The Hunter Biden Laptop       Trump's ‘Peace Through Strength' Doctrine       Trump's Record of Countering Russia       Deep Undercover Russian Spies       How to Negotiate with the East       Tips to Avoid Broken Brain Syndrome       Has X Been Good for Free Speech?       Politics in Silicon Valley       Defense Startups + DoD Procurement       tHe MiLiTaRy InDuStRiAL cOMpLeX       The Deepest Mysteries in Physics       Black Holes and the Beginning of the Universe       Quantum Gravity, Bottled Water, and “The Bulk”       Known Unknowns in Physics       How LIGO Detects Gravitational Waves (for Dummies) Shaun Maguire is a partner at the venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital. He has founded two companies (one in space technologies and another in global internet security) and holds a PhD in physics from Caltech. Shaun also previously worked at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He was deployed to Afghanistan for three months and his team received a Joint Meritorious Unit Award for their work. Follow him on X at @shaunmmaguire.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Boyd Varty - Becoming A Meaning Maker - [Invest Like the Best, EP.394]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 29, 2024 62:08


My guest today is Boyd Varty. Boyd is a lion tracker, life coach, and storyteller who grew up in the South African wilderness, living amongst and tracking wild leopards. This is his fourth time on Invest Like the Best but the first in six years. Boyd is a perfect follow-up to my episode with Lulu Meservey unpacking the intricacies of storytelling and why it's such an essential for founders. Boyd walks us through different mechanisms of cultivating storytelling and becoming a meaning-maker. He encourages everyone to become somebody who stories happen around and be a character who finds characters. We discuss his concept of “story hunting,” leveraging stories in business, and continuously finding new meaning in life. Please enjoy my discussion with Boyd Varty. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:27) The Power of Storytelling (00:06:08) Lessons from Safari Stories (00:08:37) Finding Meaning and Purpose (00:09:18) Becoming a Story Hunter (00:13:27) The Role of Fear in Storytelling (00:15:31) Crafting and Sharing Your Narrative (00:17:04) Building a Strong Culture Through Stories (00:23:42) The Importance of Storytelling in Business (00:32:41) Meeting Chris Bacchus (00:34:14) Living Authentically: Following Your Internal Pulls (00:35:34) The Tension of Reinvention: Beyond Your Greatest Hits (00:36:46) The Art of Self Reinvention (00:39:49) Crafting a Great Story: Key Components (00:41:45) Solitude and Self-Knowledge: The Path to Originality (00:45:00) The Role of High Stakes in Finding Meaning (00:47:49) The Endurance Hunt: A Journey with the Kalahari Bushmen (00:52:56) Simplicity and Abundance: Lessons from the Bushmen (00:54:37) Becoming a Character: Traits of Remarkable People (00:59:35) Life's Work: Expressing Yourself in Service of Others

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Tobi Lütke - Building Islands of Innovation - [Invest Like the Best, EP.393]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2024 66:49


My guest today is Tobi Lutke, the co-founder and CEO of Shopify. I have spoken to Tobi on this podcast twice before, first in 2020 and then again in 2022. Needless to say, a lot has changed since we last spoke, and we start by talking about the biggest change of all: AI. But I'll remember this conversation for the next set of ideas we discuss: Founder mode, raising the temperature of an organization, and the importance of building on an island that's distinct from the mainstream. Tobi embodies the concept of Life's Work that I believe so much in, and this episode is a shining example of it. He, along with nine other leaders we believe are doing their life's work, will also be featured in the first issue of an upcoming print publication we've been working on. If you're interested in hearing first when pre-orders go on sale, head to joincolossus.com/print. For now, please enjoy this great conversation with Tobi Lutke. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best  (00:05:38) Technological Innovations and AI (00:07:13) Experimenting with AI in Real-World Scenarios (00:15:04) The Role of Founders and Company Culture (00:24:24) Navigating Business Changes and Strategic Decisions (00:31:15) The Concept of Islands in Innovation (00:36:38) The Essence of Open Source Marketplaces (00:37:10) Building Shopify: From Personal Project to Public Company (00:38:42) Philosophy of Product Development (00:42:38) Marketing and Mainstream vs. Island Approach (00:46:52) The Glory of Entrepreneurship (00:54:17) AI and the Future of Human-Computer Interaction (01:00:30) Trust and Principles in Organizational Culture (01:04:31) Investor Insights and Long-Term Vision

Honestly with Bari Weiss
The Democrats Voting for Trump

Honestly with Bari Weiss

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2024 90:32


A few weeks ago, we had Sarah Longwell and David French, two prominent conservatives, on Honestly to explain why they're supporting Vice President Kamala Harris this presidential election.  There are a lot of people like them—conservatives who are so staunchly never Trump that they are supporting the Democratic candidate. What's less common—or, at least, less talked about—are the Democrats who are voting for Donald Trump. Maybe there are fewer Democrats crossing the aisle to vote for Trump in 2024, but I'd guess that there are more who are just not willing to speak up because of the stigma.  Today, we are talking with three people, all of whom have spent their lives identifying as liberal or progressive and are voting for Trump this year—and are loud and proud about it. Shaun Maguire is a partner at the VC fund Sequoia Capital and has previously started five companies himself. In 2016, he said he was terrified of Trump winning and actively supported Hillary Clinton. But this year, Shaun gave Trump $300,000, saying he believes that “the Biden administration has had some of the worst foreign policy in decades.”  Maud Maron is a lifelong progressive. She's dedicated her career to those causes. She was a Planned Parenthood escort and worked for Kathleen Cleaver, the former Black Panther and professor, who called Maud her “excellent research assistant.” She worked for many years as a public defender at The Legal Aid Society until she was canceled by the organization for “wrong think.” Maud ran for NYC's City Council in 2021 and then for Congress in 2022 as a moderate Democrat. She says she's no longer a Democrat and will vote Republican for the first time in a presidential election because of, among other things, the Democratic Party's fixation on race over merit. Shabbos Kestenbaum is a recent graduate of Harvard, who's currently suing his alma mater for its failure to combat antisemitism. He says he disagrees with former president Trump on most issues, but on the most important ones, he's in lockstep with him. Shabbos supported Bernie Sanders and Jamaal Bowman in the past, but has moved right because he has seen firsthand how the excesses on the left have impacted college campuses—and particularly Jewish students—for the worst.  There are a lot of people who are deeply dissatisfied with the options in this year's presidential race, and are planning to write in someone on that line of their ballot. Shaun, Maud, and Shabbos are not doing that. They've gone the full 180 and are supporting the candidate they once hated. Why? On today's episode, how these three former Democrats got so disaffected with their party, how they grapple with the antisemitism on the right, how they contend with Trump's questionable character, how they square Trump and J.D. Vance's comments on Ukraine with their hawkish foreign policy views, and much, much more. Quick note: We are calling on all Free Press readers, listeners, commenters, and lurkers: we want to learn more about you and what you're craving from The Free Press. Click here to complete a quick survey to help us make our work (even) better. Plus: everyone who completes the survey will be entered in a raffle to win Free Press swag. If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Matt Perelman & Alex Sloane - The Art of Franchise Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.392]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2024 101:21


My guests today are Matt Perelman and Alex Sloane, Co-founders and Managing Partners of Garnett Station Partners. GSP invests in the trillion-dollar franchise and consumer services industries. Matt and Alex started the firm in 2014 as MBA students when they bought 23 Burger King restaurants. Since then, they've invested in 26 other multi-unit businesses, from gyms to car washes to funeral homes. GSP is now a leader in its field. This discussion is a masterclass in franchise investing. We explore GSP's playbook for creating value, the power of Matt and Alex's partnership, and their approach to scaling businesses for successful exits. This conversation is special for another reason. For the last year, we've been working on a print publication that will share the very best of what we've encountered and learned every quarter. GSP, along with many others, are profiled in our first issue to be revealed next month. We are going to print a limited edition of them to start, so if you are interested in hearing first when pre-sale launches, go to joincolossus.com/print.  Please enjoy this excellent and incredibly fun discussion with Matt Perelman and Alex Sloane.  For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:07:02) The KFC Rejection and Burger King Opportunity (00:08:36) Living with Ray Meeks and Business Growth (00:12:08) Understanding Franchise Economics (00:16:12) Challenges and Lessons Learned (00:38:37) Navigating COVID-19 (00:54:37) Challenges of Rollups and Integration (00:56:01) The Importance of Culture in Business Consolidations (00:58:01) Strategies for Successful Exits (01:01:49) The Fun and Challenges of Partnership (01:09:53) Innovation in Business Operations (01:13:44) Real Estate and Financial Engineering (01:16:34) Managing Labor and Turnover (01:19:36) Investment Themes and Criteria (01:23:36) Selling to Larger Private Equity Firms (01:27:11) Maintaining Culture and Sourcing Deals (01:33:41) The Importance of Cycles and Capital Structure (01:37:18) Partnership Dynamics and LP Relationships (01:40:26) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Matt & Alex

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Kareem Zaki - Small Ideas Attract Competition - [Invest Like the Best, EP.391]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2024 86:34


My guest today is Kareem Zaki. Kareem is a General Partner at Thrive Capital and has been at the firm for a decade. In an episode last year, Thrive's founder, Josh Kushner, told me he is the best healthcare investor in the world. Kareem has co-founded three healthcare businesses worth over one billion dollars. He also has expertise in financial services, where he's led the firm's investments in companies like Ramp and Robinhood. It's a timely moment to have this discussion, with Thrive announcing a new $5 billion fund in August. We talk about how Thrive identifies category-defining companies, what concentration means to them, and how startups should approach the healthcare industry. Please enjoy this great discussion with Kareem Zaki. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:02) Early Days and Consistent Strategy (00:07:10) Personal Journey and Reconnecting with Josh (00:08:36) Investing Philosophy and Strategy (00:11:04) Building a Supportive Structure (00:12:10) Generalist Approach and Market Trends (00:13:45) Life Cycle Investing and Concentration (00:16:16) The Builders Mentality (00:17:52) Raising a Huge Fund and Its Implications (00:20:40) Understanding Category Defining Companies (00:37:48) The Changing Nature of Investment Categories (00:49:03) Evaluating Business Durability and Market Quality (00:51:30) Understanding Healthcare Challenges (00:53:46) Approaching Healthcare Innovation (00:59:18) The Role of Competition in Healthcare (01:04:17) AI's Transformative Potential (01:07:35) Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs (01:09:46) Thrive's Investment Philosophy (01:22:55) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Kareem

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Ray Ozzie - The Future of Intelligent Machines - [Invest Like the Best, EP.390]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2024 94:28


My guest today is Ray Ozzie, one of the great technologists, software developers, and entrepreneurs of our time. Ray is perhaps best known as the creator of Lotus Notes, a collaboration tool that revolutionized business communication in the 1990s. He later succeeded Bill Gates as Chief Software Architect at Microsoft, where he played a key part in the development of Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform. Ray's work has earned him numerous accolades, including induction into the Computer History Museum Hall of Fellows and the National Academy of Engineering. Throughout his career, Ray has been at the forefront of technology innovation and paradigm shifts, founding multiple companies, including Iris Associates, Groove Networks, and most recently, Blues Wireless, which focuses on connectivity in the physical world. His insights on cloud computing, collaboration tools, and the future of technology have shaped the industry for decades. In our conversation, we explore Ray's journey through the evolving landscape of software development, his perspectives on the current state of technology, and his vision for the future of connectivity and collaboration. Please enjoy this fascinating discussion with Ray Ozzie. Subscribe to Glue Guys! For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. 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. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Introduction to Ray's Story (00:06:44) The Role of Technology in Modern Warfare (00:10:26) The RadNote Device Explained (00:15:32) The Origin of SafeCast (00:22:26) Challenges in Building Intelligent Machines (00:32:23) The Evolution of IoT and Blues (00:39:01) The Future of Connected Machines (00:46:03) Technology Paradigm Shifts and Azure (00:50:56) The Birth of Azure (00:52:08) The Unique Dynamics of Bill and Steve (00:56:54) AI and the Future of Use Cases (00:59:00) Real-world Applications of IoT (01:05:31) The Evolution of AI and IoT (01:20:03) The Importance of Systems Thinking (01:28:52) Advice for Young Entrepreneurs (01:32:55) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Ray