Podcasts about thrive capital

P.M. Edition for Aug. 27. What happened to the Republican effort to prosecute Dr. Anthony Fauci? White House Correspondent Natalie Andrews discusses why some Trump administration officials are skeptical of the contempt of Congress case against Fauci. Plus, the FAA moves to fire two air-traffic controllers who left work early before a deadly collision at LaGuardia Airport in March. And President Trump signed an executive order to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America.” Sabrina Siddiqui hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Plus: European soccer officials seek to subpoena Joshua Kushner as part of possible criminal action against FIFA president Gianni Infantino in Switzerland. And private equity firm KKR has agreed to a record settlement over DOJ allegations it withheld and altered premerger filing documents. Pierre Bienaimé hosts. Sign up for WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“Everyone has dry powder for sports,” Ashley Cullins heard while reporting her recent look at the private equity firms circling Hollywood. It's a truism Bob Iger and Josh Kushner‘s Thrive Capital proved, buying the Los Angeles Lakers for $12.5 billion. But sports is only part of the story. With billions in undeployed capital sitting on the sidelines, where else is private equity looking to spend — and what kinds of Hollywood companies still look attractive amid lofty valuations, delayed exits and fears of an AI bubble? Ashley joins Elaine Low and Sean McNulty to break down the biggest players, the sectors they're chasing and the deals that could come next — plus the bigger question hanging over all of it: Is private equity actually good for Hollywood? Plus: David Ellison turns up the pressure in the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery fight, threatening to move the company out of California as Rob Bonta calls it “blackmail” — even as both sides signal there may still be a path to a negotiated settlement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Disney CEO Bob Iger and Thrive Capital founder Josh Kushner are set to buy the Los Angeles Lakers, marking a major shakeup for one of sports' most valuable franchises. Then Goldman Sachs Chief U.S. Economist David Mericle breaks down the latest CPI report and what it means for inflation and the Fed. Plus, Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston joins the show after earnings to discuss demand for the optical technology powering the AI infrastructure boom. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

El Mundial de este verano en Norteamérica ha batido todos los récords de audiencia, asistencia e ingresos. En persona vieron los partidos casi siete millones de personas y por televisión más de 5.000 millones. Todo eso es dinero, mucho dinero, tanto como 15.000 millones de dólares para la FIFA, muy por encima de las previsiones más optimistas que había hecho su presidente, Gianni Infantino. Quizá por eso mismo guardaba en la recámara un plan muy ambicioso y también un tanto temerario. El plan, que se filtró a la prensa, consistía en segregar los derechos comerciales de sus campeonatos más rentables y traspasarlos a una empresa de nueva creación, FIFA Forward Enterprise, que se encargaría de las retransmisiones, los patrocinios, las entradas, las licencias y la la organización de los Mundiales. En torno al 20% de esa empresa, que estimaban que podría valer 20.000 millones de dólares, sería propiedad de inversores privados. La alegría duró sólo tres días. El primer problema fue la compañía elegida. Al frente del grupo inversor figuraba Thrive Capital, la firma de Joshua Kushner, hermano de Jared, el yerno de Donald Trump. El parentesco bastó para enfadar a los críticos, ya irritados con la familiaridad que muestra Infantino con Trump allá donde se encuentran. Todo lo habían preparado en secreto durante meses, con JPMorgan tasando la operación y sin que el consejo de la FIFA, las confederaciones ni las 211 federaciones nacionales supieran nada. Infantino pensaba presentarlo este mes con medio mundo de vacaciones, hasta que la filtración del informe de JPMorgan lo estropeó todo. El modelo no es nuevo, y ahí saltaron las alarmas. Uno de los arquitectos, Greg Maffei, ya reconvirtió hace unos años la Fórmula 1 en una máquina de hacer dinero. El otro precedente, el del PGA Tour de golf, servía de advertencia de que al final los inversores privados terminan decidiéndolo todo. La promesa de más dinero para todos seguramente trajese Mundiales reservados solo a los países ricos, muchas más competiciones y entradas más caras. Que la FIFA jurase que iba a mantener el control absoluto era difícil de creer en un organismo que semanas antes se había plegado a Trump para revisar una tarjeta roja en un partido. La UEFA rechazó el plan de plano. Sus 55 federaciones, España incluida, acordaron boicotear todas las competiciones de la FIFA mientras la propuesta siguiera viva. Como el próximo Mundial se juega en España y Portugal, eso equivalía a cancelar la próxima cita mundialista. Se sumaron otras voces, desde el primer ministro británico Andy Burnham hasta el desacreditado Sepp Blatter, erigido curiosamente ahora en guardián de la pureza del fútbol. A todos les vino a la cabeza la Superliga de 2021, tras la que también estaba JPMorgan y que se desinfló en muy poco tiempo. El viernes por la noche, 72 horas después de la filtración, Infantino tiró la toalla. Pero lo que le decidió no fueron los ataques externos, sino el fuego amigo. Dimitió Carlos Cordeiro, su enlace con la Casa Blanca. El director de operaciones de la FIFA, Kevin Lamour, llegó incluso a acusar a su jefe de impulsar un proyecto de una sola persona y de haberles engañado a todos. La retirada no resuelve el fondo del asunto, solo lo aplaza. La idea de sacar más partido al fútbol sigue intacta. Infantino, blindado por el voto de las pequeñas federaciones, no tiene hoy rival. Este fracaso le ha demostrado que existen límites, pero marcados no tanto por la lógica financiera como por la vieja política del fútbol, capaz todavía de decir que no. Por ahora. En La ContraRéplica: 0:00 Introducción 4:15 Infantino y los límites de la FIFA 34:00 Incentivos migratorios 43:26 La reclamación de las Malvinas · Canal de Telegram: https://t.me/lacontracronica · “Contra el pesimismo”… https://amzn.to/4m1RX2R · “Hispanos. Breve historia de los pueblos de habla hispana”… https://amzn.to/428js1G · “La ContraHistoria del comunismo”… https://amzn.to/39QP2KE · “La ContraHistoria de España. Auge, caída y vuelta a empezar de un país en 28 episodios”… https://amzn.to/3kXcZ6i · “Contra la Revolución Francesa”… https://amzn.to/4aF0LpZ · “Lutero, Calvino y Trento, la Reforma que no fue”… https://amzn.to/3shKOlK Apoya La Contra en: · Patreon... https://www.patreon.com/diazvillanueva · iVoox... https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-contracronica_sq_f1267769_1.html · Paypal... https://www.paypal.me/diazvillanueva Sígueme en: · Web... https://diazvillanueva.com · Twitter... https://twitter.com/diazvillanueva · Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/fernandodiazvillanueva1/ · Instagram... https://www.instagram.com/diazvillanueva · Linkedin… https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernando-d%C3%ADaz-villanueva-7303865/ · Flickr... https://www.flickr.com/photos/147276463@N05/?/ · Pinterest... https://www.pinterest.com/fernandodiazvillanueva Encuentra mis libros en: · Amazon... https://www.amazon.es/Fernando-Diaz-Villanueva/e/B00J2ASBXM #FernandoDiazVillanueva #FIFA #infantino Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

El Mundial de este verano en Norteamérica ha batido todos los récords de audiencia, asistencia e ingresos. En persona vieron los partidos casi siete millones de personas y por televisión más de 5.000 millones. Todo eso es dinero, mucho dinero, tanto como 15.000 millones de dólares para la FIFA, muy por encima de las previsiones más optimistas que había hecho su presidente, Gianni Infantino. Quizá por eso mismo guardaba en la recámara un plan muy ambicioso y también un tanto temerario. El plan, que se filtró a la prensa, consistía en segregar los derechos comerciales de sus campeonatos más rentables y traspasarlos a una empresa de nueva creación, FIFA Forward Enterprise, que se encargaría de las retransmisiones, los patrocinios, las entradas, las licencias y la la organización de los Mundiales. En torno al 20% de esa empresa, que estimaban que podría valer 20.000 millones de dólares, sería propiedad de inversores privados. La alegría duró sólo tres días. El primer problema fue la compañía elegida. Al frente del grupo inversor figuraba Thrive Capital, la firma de Joshua Kushner, hermano de Jared, el yerno de Donald Trump. El parentesco bastó para enfadar a los críticos, ya irritados con la familiaridad que muestra Infantino con Trump allá donde se encuentran. Todo lo habían preparado en secreto durante meses, con JPMorgan tasando la operación y sin que el consejo de la FIFA, las confederaciones ni las 211 federaciones nacionales supieran nada. Infantino pensaba presentarlo este mes con medio mundo de vacaciones, hasta que la filtración del informe de JPMorgan lo estropeó todo. El modelo no es nuevo, y ahí saltaron las alarmas. Uno de los arquitectos, Greg Maffei, ya reconvirtió hace unos años la Fórmula 1 en una máquina de hacer dinero. El otro precedente, el del PGA Tour de golf, servía de advertencia de que al final los inversores privados terminan decidiéndolo todo. La promesa de más dinero para todos seguramente trajese Mundiales reservados solo a los países ricos, muchas más competiciones y entradas más caras. Que la FIFA jurase que iba a mantener el control absoluto era difícil de creer en un organismo que semanas antes se había plegado a Trump para revisar una tarjeta roja en un partido. La UEFA rechazó el plan de plano. Sus 55 federaciones, España incluida, acordaron boicotear todas las competiciones de la FIFA mientras la propuesta siguiera viva. Como el próximo Mundial se juega en España y Portugal, eso equivalía a cancelar la próxima cita mundialista. Se sumaron otras voces, desde el primer ministro británico Andy Burnham hasta el desacreditado Sepp Blatter, erigido curiosamente ahora en guardián de la pureza del fútbol. A todos les vino a la cabeza la Superliga de 2021, tras la que también estaba JPMorgan y que se desinfló en muy poco tiempo. El viernes por la noche, 72 horas después de la filtración, Infantino tiró la toalla. Pero lo que le decidió no fueron los ataques externos, sino el fuego amigo. Dimitió Carlos Cordeiro, su enlace con la Casa Blanca. El director de operaciones de la FIFA, Kevin Lamour, llegó incluso a acusar a su jefe de impulsar un proyecto de una sola persona y de haberles engañado a todos. La retirada no resuelve el fondo del asunto, solo lo aplaza. La idea de sacar más partido al fútbol sigue intacta. Infantino, blindado por el voto de las pequeñas federaciones, no tiene hoy rival. Este fracaso le ha demostrado que existen límites, pero marcados no tanto por la lógica financiera como por la vieja política del fútbol, capaz todavía de decir que no. Por ahora. En La ContraRéplica: 0:00 Introducción 4:15 Infantino y los límites de la FIFA 34:00 Incentivos migratorios 43:26 La reclamación de las Malvinas · Canal de Telegram: https://t.me/lacontracronica · “Contra el pesimismo”… https://amzn.to/4m1RX2R · “Hispanos. Breve historia de los pueblos de habla hispana”… https://amzn.to/428js1G · “La ContraHistoria del comunismo”… https://amzn.to/39QP2KE · “La ContraHistoria de España. Auge, caída y vuelta a empezar de un país en 28 episodios”… https://amzn.to/3kXcZ6i · “Contra la Revolución Francesa”… https://amzn.to/4aF0LpZ · “Lutero, Calvino y Trento, la Reforma que no fue”… https://amzn.to/3shKOlK Apoya La Contra en: · Patreon... https://www.patreon.com/diazvillanueva · iVoox... https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-contracronica_sq_f1267769_1.html · Paypal... https://www.paypal.me/diazvillanueva Sígueme en: · Web... https://diazvillanueva.com · Twitter... https://twitter.com/diazvillanueva · Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/fernandodiazvillanueva1/ · Instagram... https://www.instagram.com/diazvillanueva · Linkedin… https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernando-d%C3%ADaz-villanueva-7303865/ · Flickr... https://www.flickr.com/photos/147276463@N05/?/ · Pinterest... https://www.pinterest.com/fernandodiazvillanueva Encuentra mis libros en: · Amazon... https://www.amazon.es/Fernando-Diaz-Villanueva/e/B00J2ASBXM #FernandoDiazVillanueva #FIFA #infantino

World football governing body FIFA dropped a bombshell earlier this week, announcing the creation of FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a new commercial subsidiary that will manage the rights to the World Cup and the Club World Cup. FIFA president Gianni Infantino plans to sell a 20–30% stake to private investors, with Thrive Capital, led by Joshua Kushner, among the key investors. This has caused widespread uproar among football fans, confederations and other stakeholders, who argue that football should not be treated as a commodity to be sold to private investors. UEFA has since announced plans to boycott future FIFA tournaments, with CONCACAF also rejecting the proposal. We unpack FIFA's bold plan, the furore it has created, and whether it will truly materialise.Image Credit: Taljat David / Shutterstock.com

Today's Headlines: Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear issued Mitch McConnell an ultimatum — prove you can serve or resign — pointing out that if Mitch can chat with Scott Jennings for 20 minutes he can call into a Kentucky news station. Lindsey Graham's memorial service at the Capitol brought together an unlikely guest list including Zelensky and Netanyahu, both of whom used the funeral as an opportunity for behind-closed-doors Trump meetings — Netanyahu called it "one of the best conversations I've had with Trump, and Zelensky said it was "good" and they discussed Patriot missiles and Ukraine diplomacy. In other Trump adjacent news, FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced plans to sell a $20 billion stake in the World Cup to private investors led by Thrive Capital, owned by Jared Kushner's brother Joshua Kushner and his wife Karlie Kloss, because of course it is, with reactions from FIFA's 211 member associations being nearly universally negative. On the AI beat, AI companies are now buying rare books in bulk and destroying them to scan the pages for model training, because they've run out of internet content that isn't their own slop. Additionally, Elon Musk is suing the state of Minnesota over its ban on AI nudification, arguing that generating non-consensual sexual images of people without their knowledge is "free speech." Finally, ICE agents are going undercover at at least 15 airports nationwide to arrest foreign nationals with expired visas while traveling — including spouses of American citizens — using airline data shared through TSA, and the administration simultaneously created a new rule channeling nearly half a million asylum seekers directly into deportation proceedings without a hearing, because due process is apparently optional now. Resources/Articles mentioned: Axios: Speak or resign: Beshear ups demand for McConnell health status AP News: Lindsey Graham eulogized as an 'American original' with global reach CNBC:Netanyahu, Zelenskyy come to DC for Graham's funeral, meetings with Trump amid wars WSJ: FIFA Explores Stake Sale in New $20 Billion Entity Futurism: AI Companies Are Buying Antique Books, Ingesting Their Contents to Train Models, and Then Destroying Them at Incredible Scale KARE 11: Elon Musk's X.AI sues to block Minnesota's AI nudification ban, calling it a 'ban on free speech' NYT: ICE Arrests Surge at Airports, Opening New Front in Deportation Drive WaPo: Asylum seekers could be sent directly to deportation court under new rule Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Andrei Serban of Console, a San Francisco-based startup that provides an AI-powered IT Service Management platform that automates routine internal support requests and IT tasks directly through platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams. Learn more at www.console.com In this episode, we discuss the acquisition of Andrei's previous company, Fuzzbuzz, by Rippling and he shares tips for managing the exit process. We then discuss what Console does and why he started the company. Following that, Andrei shares the story of raising capital from Thrive Capital, DST Global and prominent angels, how he ran a really tight 2 week process, how he used AI and an Investor Memo in the process, tips for who to target at a VC fund, why he likes to hire ex founders, and more. Andrei is a repeat guest of the show -- to catch the original episode when he was building Fuzzbuzz, click here: https://soundcloud.com/user-2586856/ep-106-how-i-raised-it-with-andrew-serban-of-fuzzbuzz Console has raised $29M from Thrive Capital and DST Global, with backers including Ramp's founders, Box CEO Aaron Levie, and Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com

AI in healthcare may be entering a new chapter, one where the biggest question is no longer whether the technology works, but who is willing to deploy it, measure it, and take responsibility for the risk.This week, Steve sits down again with Eric Larsen to revisit his predictions from last year's Webby-winning episode on generative AI in healthcare. Eric argues that the first wave of AI has been inflationary, reinforcing the old payer-provider payment model, but that the next wave could be deflationary as automation moves into revenue cycle, administrative work, clinical reasoning, and drug development. They discuss why incumbents still have a narrow window to co-develop the future, why clinical AI may move faster outside the US, and why liability may become the deciding factor in who wins.We cover:Why healthcare is still the sector most exposed to AI-driven changeHow AI has reinforced fee-for-service dynamics so far, and why that may soon reverseWhat makes some healthcare work more automatable than othersWhy liability may determine how fast clinical AI gets adoptedWhich health systems, payers, and life sciences companies are moving fastestWhat will change across providers, payers, and pharma over the next year—

Plus - Bob Iger rejoins Thrive Capital as advisor after Disney exit; Meta signs deal for millions of Amazon AI CPUs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A structural shift is underway in the managed services sector as venture capital firms move beyond traditional software and vendor investments to fund MSPs directly. This change is exemplified by investments from firms like Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and Thrive Capital into MSP-specific companies such as Treeline, Titan, and SHIELD. The driving mechanism is the perceived profit potential at the intersection of advanced AI technology and service delivery, with investors targeting AI-native operational models rather than standard rollups or inorganic growth strategies. The episode's primary evidence centers on Andreessen Horowitz's $25 million investment in Treeline, marking its entry alongside previously funded firms Titan (with $74 million from General Catalyst) and SHIELD (over $200 million from Thrive and ZBS Partners). According to Speaker A, Treeline employs proprietary AI-driven service desk automation and reports resolving 98% of help desk requests with AI, altering the economics and labor requirements for traditional MSPs. Unlike rollups, Treeline is focused on organic growth, leveraging targeted acquisitions primarily for talent rather than client base expansion. Supporting developments include the parallel strategies of Titan and SHIELD, which also integrate Silicon Valley AI expertise and homegrown tooling to drive operational efficiency. While these companies currently deploy AI internally for service automation, Treeline distinguishes itself by offering customer-facing AI-powered MDR and compliance services immediately. All three firms reflect the shift towards vertically integrated models where software, service automation, and client-facing solutions are developed and deployed in-house, creating potential competitive pressure for both traditional MSPs and larger private equity-backed consolidators. Operationally, these developments introduce risks around increased pricing pressure, labor model disruption, and a potential skills gap for MSPs reliant on off-the-shelf tooling. The focus on organic growth and deliberate scaling by new entrants like Treeline signals that the transition for incumbents is not immediate, but the need for MSPs to evaluate their AI adoption strategy is acute. Relationships alone are unlikely to differentiate providers in the long term; practical safeguards must include closing operational efficiency gaps, building internal AI capability, and considering cooperative models to maintain autonomy while reducing risk of margin erosion or client loss. Supported by: Zero NetworksCometBackup

Plus: Goldman Sachs report predicts artificial intelligence will displace 6% of the US workforce. And Verizon has discussed revising or exiting its NFL partnership as part of a company-wide push to reduce costs. Danny Lewis hosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stripe, the programmable financial services company, has signed agreements with investors to provide liquidity to current and former Stripe employees through a tender offer at a $159B (€135B) valuation. While the majority of funds for the tender offer are being provided by investors including Thrive Capital, Coatue, a16z, and others, Stripe will also use a portion of its own capital to repurchase shares. Stripe also published its 2025 annual letter to the Stripe community, detailing a strong year for businesses on Stripe and the internet economy overall. Businesses running on Stripe generated $1.9 trillion in total volume, up 34% from 2024, and equivalent to roughly 1.6% of global GDP. Beyond payments, Stripe's Revenue suite (comprising Stripe Billing, Invoicing, Tax, and more) is on track to hit an annual run rate of $1 billion this year. In the letter, cofounders Patrick and John Collison wrote: "Our programmable financial services now power more than 5 million businesses directly or via platforms, including all of the top AI companies, many of the largest blue-chip companies (90% of the Dow Jones Industrial Average), most of the biggest tech companies (80% of the Nasdaq 100), and a significant fraction of freshly minted startups (25% of all Delaware corporations are now created with Stripe Atlas) […] Stripe remained robustly profitable, allowing us to continue investing heavily in product development (with more than 350 product updates last year) as well as acquisitions. […] All in all, 2025 was a strong year for the internet economy, and we're delighted to see so many of Stripe's customers do so well." Kareem Zaki, partner at Thrive Capital, said: "After a decade of partnership and seeing their work up close, we believe Stripe has built the premiere financial infrastructure stack for the internet economy, relied on by the fastest growing companies for payments, billing, fraud prevention, tax, and more. While their core business has never been stronger, we believe their most transformative chapters are being written right now. We believe Stripe's lead will only expand across the future of money movement due to their leadership in agentic commerce, stablecoins, and more." New businesses on Stripe are scaling at record speed The 2025 cohort of new businesses on Stripe is the highest performing in the company's history. More new companies joined Stripe in 2025 than ever before, with more than half (57%) based outside the US. Businesses in the 2025 cohort grew around 50% faster than the 2024 cohort. The number of companies reaching $10 million ARR within 3 months of launch was double the 2024 count. Companies incorporated via Stripe Atlas are also monetising sooner: in 2025, 20% of Atlas startups charged their first customer within 30 days, up from 8% in 2020. Businesses on Stripe are increasingly global by default Over the last few years, the country-by-country expansion model has melted away. The "domestic market" for a new generation of internet businesses is the internet itself. Nearly every recognisable AI product launched globally by default, including ChatGPT, Claude, Replit, Lovable, Base44, Vercel, Cursor, Midjourney, and many more. Among Stripe businesses with mostly international revenue, 30% of that revenue comes from countries that are neither their home market nor one of the top 10 global economies. "This isn't merely about incremental revenue from a 'long tail' of international users. In many cases, the 'long tail' is much of the dog," the Collisons wrote. Building the economic infrastructure for AI Agentic commerce has moved into a phase of building and real-world experimentation. As with the early internet, the future success of agentic commerce is contingent on universal interoperability. To that end, Stripe has been working with a broad set of partners across AI labs, retailers, and leading ecommerce platforms to lay the groundwork for this generational shift: With OpenAI, Stripe developed the Agentic Comm...

This is my second conversation with Josh Kushner, founder and managing partner of Thrive Capital. I recorded this conversation in October after publishing the Colossus cover story about him and Thrive. Given the overwhelming response, we created some breathing room before releasing it. Josh started Thrive in 2011. The firm now manages approximately $50 billion with a very small investment team. What makes Thrive different is how concentrated they are and how involved they get with their portfolio companies. We cover the iconic investments that defined Thrive: Instagram, Stripe, GitHub, and spend a lot of time on OpenAI. Josh explains how Thrive thinks about investing today and the three categories they're currently focused on. Josh also talks about building the firm, why they keep the team small, and what he's learned from A24 about enabling artists to do their best work. He shares personal stories that shaped him, including his grandmother's experience surviving the Holocaust, and lessons from Stan Druckenmiller, Jon Winkelried, and others at formative moments in Thrive's history. Please enjoy my great conversation with Josh Kushner. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  ----- Become a Colossus member to get our quarterly print magazine and private audio experience, including exclusive profiles and early access to select episodes. Subscribe at ⁠colossus.com/subscribe⁠. ----- ⁠Ramp's⁠ mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ramp.com/invest⁠⁠ to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Trusted by thousands of businesses, ⁠Vanta⁠ continuously monitors your security posture and streamlines audits so you can win enterprise deals and build customer trust without the traditional overhead. Visit ⁠vanta.com/invest⁠.  ----- ⁠WorkOS⁠ is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. Visit⁠⁠ ⁠WorkOS.com⁠⁠⁠ to transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. ----- ⁠Rogo⁠ is an AI-powered platform that automates accounts payable workflows, enabling finance teams to process invoices faster and with greater accuracy. Learn more at ⁠Rogo.ai/invest⁠. ----- ⁠Ridgeline⁠ has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Visit⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ridgelineapps.com⁠. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠). Timestamps: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:02:43) Intro: Josh Kushner (00:03:46) How Thrive Has Changed Since 2023 (00:05:18) Thrive's Entrepreneurial Culture (00:12:22) The Power of Small Teams (00:13:35) Sponsors (00:14:35) Concentration as Differentiation (00:16:16) The Github Deal (00:18:08) Lesson from Stan Druckenmiller (00:20:37) Leading Stripe's $50 Billion Round (00:23:16) Instagram: Doubling an Investment in Days (00:25:43) Isomorphic: Thrive as an Enabling Technology (00:27:04) Thrive & A24 (00:28:19) OpenAI: The Product Josh Couldn't Unsee (00:32:09) Pricing the OpenAI Investment (00:33:40) OpenAI and Power (00:35:26) Finding Joy in Hard Work (00:39:15) Inside View of the Tech & AI Landscape (00:42:28) Three Investment Categories Thrive is Focused On (00:44:37) Thrive Holdings: Inside-Out Disruption (00:48:54) Competition in Venture (00:50:49) Sponsors (00:51:48) Thrive's Immutable Values (00:54:21) A Family Story of Survival (00:56:43) The American Dream (00:58:03) What Artists Can Teach Investors (01:00:26) Never Compromise Your Values (01:01:33) The Story Behind Josh's Forever Watch

SpendRule, launched last summer, is an AI-powered platform that helps healthcare systems track their spending. Mistral AI has agreed to buy Koyeb, a Paris-based startup that simplifies AI app deployment at scale and manages the infrastructure behind it. Thrive Capital just raised $10 billion for its new fund-- nearly double the size of its last fund. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jim Siders, former CIO of Palantir Technologies, has been appointed CEO of Shield Technology Partners, a new IT services company launched by Thrive Holdings with over $100 million in initial funding. Shield acquires and supports IT services companies, providing them with AI technology and engineering resources, and allows these companies to retain equity. Shield currently works with seven companies, expects over $100 million in revenue this year, and plans to expand its portfolio. Thrive Holdings, which also operates in the accounting sector, recently partnered with OpenAI, which has taken an ownership stake and will embed teams within its portfolio companies.Learn more on this news by visiting us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to AI Unraveled, your strategic daily briefing on the business impact of artificial intelligence. It is Monday, December 1st, 2025, and the industry has just crossed two historic thresholds.First, the balance of power in the 'Open AI Economy' has officially flipped—with Chinese developers overtaking the US in market share for the first time. Second, Black Friday has proven that the age of 'search' is dead, replaced by the age of 'prediction,' as AI agents drove nearly $12 billion in sales.We are also covering DeepSeek's new math-crushing model, Runway's victory over Google, and why memory chips are about to become the most expensive resource on earth.Let's unravel the news.Strategic Pillars & Topics

OpenAI could now be the world's most valuable startup, ahead of Elon Musk's SpaceX and TikTok's parent company ByteDance, after a secondary stock sale designed to retain employees at the ChatGPT maker. Current and former OpenAI employees sold $6.6 billion in shares to a group of investors, pushing the privately held artificial intelligence company's valuation to $500 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the deal who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. The investors buying the shares included Thrive Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group and T. Rowe Price, along with Japanese tech giant SoftBank and the United Arab Emirates's MGX, the source said. The valuation reflects high expectations for the future of AI technology and continues OpenAI's remarkable trajectory from its start as a nonprofit research lab in 2015. But with the San Francisco-based company not yet turning a profit, it could also amplify concerns about an AI bubble if the generative AI products made by OpenAI and its competitors don't meet the expectations of investors pouring billions of dollars into research and development. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has sought to dismiss those concerns when he toured a massive data center complex being built to run the company's AI systems in Abilene, Texas. "Between the ten years we've already been operating and the many decades ahead of us, there will be booms and busts," Altman said after being asked about a bubble. "People will overinvest and lose money, and underinvest and lose a lot of revenue." He added that "we'll make some dumb capital allocations" and there will be short-term ups and downs, but that "over the arc that we have to plan over, we are confident that this technology will drive a new wave of unprecedented economic growth," along with scientific breakthroughs, improvements to quality of life and "new ways to express creativity." A few weeks ago, the company launched two different business ventures, one a partnership with Etsy and Shopify for online shopping through ChatGPT and another a social media app, Sora, for generating and sharing AI videos. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

In this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins tackle a packed agenda: from the fairness of Binance's listing fees to the ways in which DeFi didn't perform well during the “Black Friday” crash, why Tempo's $500 million raise might have been a political ploy, and the growing war over stablecoin dominance. The trio debates whether Bitcoin is undervalued compared to gold, why Ethereum's 10-year track record gives it an edge, and whether today's Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) are just froth, or the permanent backbone of institutional crypto. Plus: Austin makes a bold prediction about the stablecoin that will dominate by 2040. Sponsors: Mantle Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Links: Binance Listing Fee Drama Unchained:  Binance Listing Fee Fight: What's a Fair Price to List on the Top Crypto Exchange? Binance Claims It Does Not Profit From Token Listings Jesse Pollak (Base) chimes in Tempo & Dankrad Fortune: Exclusive: Stripe-backed blockchain startup Tempo raises $500 million round led by Joshua Kushner's Thrive Capital and Greenoaks Ethereum core dev Dankrad Feist joins Tempo Reactions: Ryan Adams (Bankless): Tempo will optimize for itself, not ETH. Nick Almond: Not a death sentence for ETH Breadguy: Big loss. Dankrad was a major L1 scaling advocate. Black Friday Dan Wilson: 3 big lessons post-crash Gold vs. BTC GOLD/BTC up ‎23.5% in past month Bitcoin Is Undervalued vs. Gold DATs Bloomberg: Huobi Founder Li Lin Set To Launch $1 Billion Ether Accumulator - Bloomberg CoinDesk: Ripple Set to Enter Corporate Treasury Business With $1B Acquisition of GTreasury Timestamps:

Do Skills for Claude represent a new sort of user paradigm for AI? Battlefield 6 seems to be doing what EA needs it to do. Nintendo seems to be killing it. Is Wikipedia in trouble because it's losing human users? Now Uber drivers can earn new money thanks to AI. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Anthropic turns to ‘skills' to make Claude more useful at work (The Verge) Claude Skills are awesome, maybe a bigger deal than MCP (Simon Willison) Steam just broke its concurrent user record with 41.6 million gamers (TweakTown) Nintendo Aims to Make 25 Million Switch 2s to Set Gaming History (Bloomberg) Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors (404media) Uber Launches Data Tasks as Option for Some US Drivers to Earn Money (Bloomberg) Apple and F1 reach 5-year media deal, bringing all races to Apple TV streaming in the U.S. (CNBC) Weekend Longreads Suggestions AI Data Centers, Desperate for Electricity, Are Building Their Own Power Plants (WSJ) Joshua Kushner, Thrive Capital, and the American dream (Colossus) How Sam Altman Played Hollywood (The Hollywood Reporter) TiVo Has Sold Its Last DVR. These People Refuse to Let Go. (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

OpenAI is dropping a visual agent builder

Google says hackers associated with a prolific ransomware group are sending extortion emails to executives at “numerous” large organizations after claiming to have stolen their sensitive information from a suite of business software products developed by Oracle. Also, OpenAI has sold 6.6 billion dollars in shares held by current and former employees, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The sale pushed OpenAI's total valuation to 500 billion dollars, the highest ever achieved by a privately held company. Purchasers included SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital, MGX, and T. Rowe Price, the report said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's podcast:1) White House Budget Director Russell Vought is planning to swiftly dismiss federal workers, a sign that Republicans will lean into hardball tactics to pressure Democrats to cave to end a government shutdown. Vought told House lawmakers Wednesday that some federal agencies will move to terminate workers within one to two days, according to people familiar with the remarks, who requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that layoffs would happen within “two days, imminent, very soon” but declined to give any details about what agencies or positions would be targeted. Meantime, the Trump administration is planning to cancel billions of dollars earmarked for hydrogen projects in California and the Pacific Northwest, as well as $18 billion in infrastructure funding for the New York metro region.2) Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said a lack of official data while the US government is shut down will make it harder for central bankers to interpret the economy. Goolsbee reiterated concerns about a recent pickup in services inflation, which he said could mean price pressures are persistent in parts of the economy least impacted by tariffs.3) OpenAI has completed a deal to help employees sell shares in the company at a $500 billion valuation, propelling the ChatGPT owner past Elon Musk’s SpaceX to become the world’s largest startup. Current and former OpenAI employees sold about $6.6 billion of stock to investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group Corp., Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX and T. Rowe Price, a person familiar with the transaction said. That boosted the US company’s price tag well past its previous $300 billion level during a SoftBank-led financing round earlier this year.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Miles Grimshaw is a Partner at Thrive Capital, an investment firm that builds and invests in internet, software, and technology-enabled companies. Thrive recently closed on $5BN in new funds and also announced Thrive Holdings, a permanent capital vehicle to invest in, acquire, and operate businesses for the long term with the strategic application of technology.During his time at Thrive, Miles has led investments in companies like Airtable, Monzo, Benchling, Lattice, and more recently Cursor, a code editor built for programming with AI, which you'll hear us chat about. That team raised a $900 million round at a $9.9B valuation in June.Prior to Thrive, Miles was a General Partner at Benchmark, where he led seed investments, most notably in LangChain.We spoke about trillion dollar companies, silicon valley as an idea, business genetics, practicing scales, and Swedish House Mafia.0:00 - Intro2:14 – “The Era of Doing”6:15 – Startup Capital Intensity in the Age of AI9:14 – The Rise of Trillion Dollar Outcomes15:11 – Silicon Valley as an Idea21:04 – Physics vs Biology-Style Investing25:41 – Business Genetics and Compounding33:04 – Dying of Indigestion and Going Multi-Product35:55 – Co-Pilots, Command Centers, and Defensibility40:07 – Investing Stage Agnostically44:29 – When is VC a Good Capital Instrument?49:18 – Thrive's Core Beliefs53:57 – A Bet vs a Commitment57:49 – The Few Ideas Miles Takes Seriously59:47 – Doing a Few Big Things vs a Million Little Things1:03:54 – Practicing Scales1:06:22 – What Should More People Be Thinking About?

My guest today is Peter Lacaillade. Peter is the Chief Investment Officer for Private Investments at SCS Financial and has built one of the most respected private equity allocation platforms in wealth management, overseeing $50 billion for ultra-high-net-worth families and earning the same access as top-tier endowments. He shares how SCS's pooled vehicle structure enables them to compete with institutional giants for the best funds, avoiding the adverse selection that plagues most wealth platforms. Peter shares his investment philosophy across lower middle market buyouts, emerging independent sponsors, and early bets on category-defining managers like Thrive Capital and Shore Capital. We discuss what separates exceptional private equity managers, the evolution of the industry toward AI-powered strategies, and private markets going mainstream. Please enjoy this conversation with Peter Lacaillade. 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 (00:04:31) Advantages of Private Equity Over Public Markets (00:08:59) Talent Acquisition and Growth at SCS (00:10:28) SCS's Wealth Management Strategy (00:19:51) Challenges and Risks in Private Equity (00:26:06) The Future of Wealth Management (00:12:42) Trends in Private Equity (00:20:14) Challenges and Risks in Private Equity1 (00:22:58) Building Successful Private Equity Partnerships (00:26:06) The State of the Wealth Management Industry (00:35:07) Lower Middle Market Buyouts and Independent Sponsors (00:49:38) Introduction to Long Lake and Its Innovative Approach (00:50:21) AI-Powered Tools for Homeowners Associations (00:52:46) Permanent Capital Vehicles vs. Drawdown Funds (00:54:26) The Rise of Holding Companies (00:57:03) Emerging Trends in Venture Capital 01:05:44) The Role of Endowments and Liquidity Solutions (01:10:40) Jake and Frank's Partnership (01:13:57) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Peter

In this special edition of KP Unpacked, Jeff and KP dive into the heart of KP's viral Sunday Scaries post: Brackish Waters – The Startup Survival Zone.KP breaks down why traditional lines between VC and PE are blurring — and what it means for how startups should build, fund, and scale in today's climate. From hybrid capital models to real-world disruption via AI and robotics, this episode is a must-listen for founders, investors, and corporate leaders alike.You'll hear:What “brackish waters” really mean for capital strategyWhy VC volatility and PE predictability are no longer your only optionsHow firms like General Catalyst and Thrive Capital are changing the gameCase studies like Lumina's new playbook for AI-powered M&AWhy this might be the most important episode we've ever recorded

With a catalog full of art house favorites like The Witch, Spring Breakers, Moonlight, and Uncut Gems, it's hard to deny that A24 occupies a unique position in the zeitgeist. In a Hollywood landscape that can feel like it's becoming more risk-averse by the year — see our recent episode with Andrew Dewaard on his book Derivative Media — the artist-forward distributor and studio has become synonymous with a dream that, to many American cultural producers, feels increasingly remote: the conviction that one can doggedly put quality art out into the marketplace and see it actually succeed.But is A24 singlehandedly saving American cinema, or is that just a carefully crafted illusion, more a testament to the importance of smart brand positioning than to the actual quality of the films in its catalog? We brought on the Las Vegas-based writer and critic Nicholas Russell, author of an excellent essay for Dirt called “​​The Popular Alternative: the State of A24,” to discuss how the company evolved from an upstart indie film distributor to a studio and lifestyle brand in the mold of Disney — albeit one for adults who pride themselves in being savvy cultural consumers.We talk about how the company successfully commodified the idea of being “a cinephile,” the similarities between the A24 cap and the New York tote, and what Nicholas describes as the longstanding “tension between A24 the studio and A24 the startup” — one recently complicated by a $100 million cash injection from Josh Kushner's Thrive Capital, a major investor in OpenAI. We also try to break down the ineffable A24 “feel” (including the aesthetic elements and political themes the company tends to foreground, and shy away from) and consider the rise of Neon — the distributor behind movies like Parasite, Anora, and How to Blow Up a Pipeline — as the “other popular alternative.”Follow Nicholas on X and SubstackRead more by Nicholas hereRecommended reading about A24 and the Hollywood system from Nicholas:"The Life and Death of Hollywood" by Daniel Bessner (Harpers)"A24's Risky Hollywood Moment" by Felix Gillette (Bloomberg)Hollywood: The Oral History by Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson (Harper Collins) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe

Patrocinado por Fleet:Fleet simplifica la gestión IT con equipos bajo suscripción, MDM, soporte global y renovación fácil. Ya confían +2000 empresas.https://fleet.co/esEn este episodio desde la cafetería de Itnig, comentamos las tendencias que están marcando el mundo tech: inteligencia artificial, venture capital…Jordi Romero regresa de una gira intensa por VivaTech en París, el Founders Forum en Reino Unido y reuniones privadas con inversores en Nueva York. Jordi su visión sobre el rol cada vez más activo del capital europeo, el auge de fondos como Thrive Capital y cómo Nueva York está desplazando a Silicon Valley como epicentro de innovación.También hablamos de la disrupción total provocada por OpenAI: productos que hacen desaparecer startups enteras, APIs que dejan obsoletos a los notetakers, y empresas que ya están sustituyendo empleados por bots de voz.Debatimos sobre el riesgo de métricas infladas, el rol de los design partners, el storytelling en fundraising, y los incentivos millonarios que está ofreciendo Meta para fichar talento.

Send us a textMiguel Armaza interviews Steve Stagner, CEO of Crete, an AI-powered roll-up deploying $500+ million to modernize the accounting industry. Backed by Thrive Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and others, Crete is acquiring US accounting firms and transforming them with OpenAI-powered tools. Steve brings battle-tested insights from building Mattress Firm from a single $1,300 franchise to a $3.8 billion Fortune 500 giant.In this episode, we discuss (1) Why "People, Process, Technology" - in that exact order - is the only formula that works for AI transformation; (2) How Crete's partner equity model differs from traditional PE roll-ups, letting firms keep their culture while accessing enterprise-grade AI tools; (3) Why firms that don't embrace AI will lose and how Crete has already seen 30-50% efficiency gains through AI-powered trial balance normalization and audit testing... and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today's global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 80,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

US healthcare has more unproductive labor and more unstructured data than any other industry, making it both vulnerable to disruption from generative AI and especially unprepared for it.That's the provocative thesis of Eric Larsen, president of TowerBrook Advisors. In this episode, he joins host Steve Kraus to explain why generative AI is unlike any other technology we've seen—and why the $4.9 trillion healthcare sector is uniquely exposed.We cover:

Krithika Shankarraman was the first marketing hire at OpenAI and Stripe and led marketing at Retool. At OpenAI, she established marketing foundations for ChatGPT for consumers and enterprises, as well as their developer API platform. While at Stripe, she spent over eight years building and scaling their marketing function from scratch. An engineer turned marketer, Krithika brings a uniquely analytical approach to marketing. She currently serves as Entrepreneur in Residence at Thrive Capital, where she helps portfolio companies on all things marketing.What you will learn:1. Why do most marketing playbooks often fail, and what's a better way?2. Which marketing lever should I pull first?3. Why is trying to be better than competitors usually a losing strategy?4. How do I craft positioning that actually converts?5. What makes messaging stick with developers, enterprises, and consumers?6. What pricing experiments actually move revenue?7. What is working at OpenAI really like?8. Why does consistency and quality matter more than speed?—Brought to you by:Eppo — Run reliable, impactful experimentsAirtable ProductCentral—Launch to new heights with a unified system for product developmentLinkedIn Ads—Reach professionals and drive results for your business—Where to find Krithika Shankarraman:• X: https://x.com/krithix• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krithix/• Website: https://krithix.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Krithika(04:22) Early marketing lessons from OpenAI(11:17) Diagnosing marketing needs(15:06) The DATE framework and why being cheaper is a race to the bottom(17:11) Marketing strategies at Retool(22:29) Insights from marketing at Stripe(32:33) The importance of consistent marketing communication(39:55) Criteria for hiring a marketing expert(41:43) “Capital M” vs. “lowercase m” marketing(43:05) ChatGPT vs. Claude: market dominance(45:31) The future of AI and its societal impact(47:09) Work-life balance(48:41) Transitioning to Thrive(52:35) Career advice for marketers(55:00) The importance of taste and creativity in the AI era(01:00:04) AI product pricing(01:03:21) AI tools in marketing(01:05:17) Failure corner(01:08:46) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• OpenAI: https://openai.com/• Stripe: https://stripe.com/• Retool: https://retool.com/• Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/• Sam Altman talks about his business model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLnyjxgFxew• The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-art-and-science-of-pricing-madhavan• Pricing your SaaS product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/saas-pricing-strategy• Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/• Stripe Connect: https://stripe.com/connect• John Collison on X: https://x.com/collision• Patrick Collison on X: https://x.com/patrickc• Cristina Cordova on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinajcordova/• Hackpad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackpad• Building Wiz: the fastest-growing startup in history | Raaz Herzberg (CMO and VP Product Strategy): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-wiz-raaz-herzberg• Wiz: https://www.wiz.io/• Thrive Capital: https://thrivecap.com/• Brian Chesky's new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach• Claude: https://claude.ai/new• ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/• Lessons from scaling Stripe | Claire Hughes Johnson (former COO of Stripe): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-scaling-stripe-tactics• Databricks: https://www.databricks.com/• Everyone's an engineer now: Inside v0's mission to create a hundred million builders | Guillermo Rauch (founder and CEO of Vercel, creators of v0 and Next.js): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/everyones-an-engineer-now-guillermo-rauch• Tobi Lütke's leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook• OpenAI's CPO on how AI changes must-have skills, moats, coding, startup playbooks, more | Kevin Weil (CPO at OpenAI, ex-Instagram, Twitter): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/kevin-weil-open-ai• April Dunford on product positioning, segmentation, and optimizing your sales process: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/april-dunford-on-product-positioning• A step-by-step guide to crafting a sales pitch that wins | April Dunford (author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-step-by-step-guide-to-crafting• Severance on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/severance/• Granola: https://www.granola.ai/• Some people think AI writing has a tell—the em dash. Writers disagree: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/04/09/ai-em-dash-writing-punctuation-chatgpt/—Recommended books:• Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning So Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It: https://www.amazon.com/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers/dp/1999023005• Circe: https://www.amazon.com/Circe-Madeline-Miller/dp/0316556327/—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. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Jason Lemkin is one of the leading SaaS investors of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Algolia, Talkdesk, Owner, RevenueCat, Saleloft and more.  Rory O'Driscoll is a General Partner @ Scale where he has led investments in category leaders such as Bill.com (BILL), Box (BOX), DocuSign (DOCU), and WalkMe (WKME), among others. In Today's Episode We Discuss: 04:23 What is Wrong with Billionaires on Twitter: Are They Depressed? 08:49 Why Does product Market Fit Mean Less Than Ever 11:50 Why is Venture Capital More Risky Than Ever and No One is Discussing It 16:17 Will Private Equity Save a Generation of SaaS Companies and VCs 23:53 a16z's $20BN Fund: Seriously? 31:29 Why Josh Kushner and Thrive Capital are Masters of the World 38:21 Why is Seed Investing for Suckers 45:49 Why Are $50 Million Seed Funds Useless 46:21 Founders Fund Raises $4.6BN: Analysis 52:00 How WIll LPs Change Their Approach to Venture in the Next Five Years 59:53 When Will IPOs Comeback? 01:09:15 Why Does it Not Make Sense for the Best Companies to IPO 01:09:51 Lost Ethics and Morals in Founder Secondaries and Term Sheets 01:22:58 Quickfire: OpenAI, Cursor, Deel vs Rippling      

Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years published once a month. These are N of one conversations with N of one people. This is a rare opportunity to hear from one of the best investors of the past decade—Josh Kushner, founder and managing partner of venture firm, Thrive Capital. Josh started Thrive in 2010 and launched its first institutional fund in 2011. That first institutional fund was $40 million and, in it, Thrive led Warby Parker's Series A, invested in Instagram, and incubated a business, which Josh co-founded, called Oscar. Their portfolio is stage agnostic and their track record includes many of the best known businesses from the past decade, including Spotify, Unity, Stripe, and Twitch among many more. Please enjoy my great conversation with Josh Kushner. 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 WorkOS. WorkOS is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. With a single API, developers can implement essential enterprise capabilities that typically require months of engineering work. By handling the complex infrastructure of enterprise features, WorkOS allows developers to focus on their core product while meeting the security and compliance requirements of Fortune 500 companies. Visit WorkOS.com to Transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. ----- This episode is brought to you by Passthrough. Passthrough streamlines subscription documents, KYC, and AML compliance, so you can focus on running your fund, not managing paperwork. New SEC Update 31 CFR hits investment firms in under a year, and managers are getting ready for it now. If you think basic OFAC screening is enough, think again. You'll need continuous monitoring of your investors and all their beneficial owners across multiple watchlists, plus a comprehensive anti money laundering program. Passthrough has already processed 50,000 LPs and built the complete solution. Don't risk SEC deficiency letters, fines, or regulatory enforcement. Visit passthrough.com to get compliant now. ----- 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 (00:05:14) Why do this podcast (00:08:14) The development of taste and quality  (00:12:20) CS Lewis tweet; The Inner Ring (00:18:14) Overview the founding story of Oscar Health (00:25:18) Learning to identify good problems and creating a business to solve it (00:27:43) The birth story of Thrive Capital (00:32:14) Lessons learned from creating the first three Thrive funds (00:39:44) Talent, recruiting and seeing potential in younger generations of people (00:47:40) Investments he made during the early foundation of Thrive that had significant impact (00:51:12) His analogy for investing in early versus late stage and styles of real estate investing (00:56:22) The current macro environment (01:00:57) Why he sold small stakes of Thrive (01:05:10) His philosophy on what makes a good product (01:10:10) His absence from crypto and why he refrained during the boom in 2021 (01:12:33) Thoughts about the opportunity set in FinTech today writ large (01:15:39) Lessons learned from his time spent with Marc Andreessen (01:17:43) Lessons learned from Stan Druckenmiller, Henry Kravis, and David Geffen (01:22:09) Firm values he thinks are very important (01:31:15) Vision as a key ingredient for founders (01:34:19) His view of the investment industry in the world today writ large  (01:44:48) The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Eric and Madeline unpack the biggest “deal that wasn't” story of Elon Musk's unsolicited offer to purchase OpenAI for $97.4 billion. WIth Sam Altman flat-out rejecting the offer on X, this feels less like an offer and more of a statement about Musk's frustration with OpenAI's continued conversion to a for-profit company that competes with him. Pressures have been mounting on engineers to look for greener pastures, though, if Thrive Capital's Joshua Kushner's urging speech for talent to stay put is any indication. Then, they turn to Eric's reporting on Lightspeed Venture Partners' new fundraising documents, where the megafirm showed stronger returns on earlier funds ahead of its next big capital raise. They also unpack the AI Action Summit's 180-degree swing from an AI safety forum to a conference dominated by CEOs and accelerationist world leaders. They close with a breakdown with a who's who on the cap table of legal-tech Harvey's latest Series D, and Mercury's rumored new Sequoia-backed fundraise.Produced by Christopher GatesMusic by Suno

This series aims to demystify Medicaid, starting with insights from federal and state agencies, FQHCs, and managed care organizations, before exploring successful founders' strategies. Readour primers on the key players and innovations here, and stay tuned for upcoming posts featuring interviews with key opinion leaders, purchasers, and startup founders.Cityblock Health is a value-based healthcare provider focused on the complex clinical, behavioral health, and social needs of dually eligible and Medicaid recipients. Cityblock offers the only fully integrated and multi-modal solution that directly delivers clinical care to one of the most at-risk and hardest-to-reach populations. Powered by advanced technology that provides its care team with a data-driven understanding of member needs and risks, Cityblock has demonstrated industry-leading engagement, member retention, meaningful reductions in avoidable hospital readmissions, and reduced total cost of care.Founded in 2017, spun off by Sidewalk Labs, and based in New York, Cityblock has raised nearly $900M to date from investors such as SoftBank, Tiger Global, Maverick Ventures, General Catalyst, Thrive Capital and 8VC, among others. It is now valued at $5.7B. Cityblock currently serves more than 100,000 members, and partners with four national Medicaid health plans and several health systems in 15 cities across seven states.Mike's career has spanned both legal and healthcare leadership roles, starting as a commercial litigator before joining UnitedHealth Group as National Vice President of Medicaid Policy and Product. He went on to serve as CEO of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Ohio, then as Chief Transformation Officer and President of Government Programs for Optum BH Solutions, and later as Chief Growth Officer and SVP of Growth and Product at UnitedHealth Community and State. In 2024, he joined Cityblock as President to help drive the company's next phase of growth.Mike holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, a JD from Notre Dame Law School, and attended an Executive Education Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business.In this episode, we learn about how health plans evaluate startups, the complexities of improving access for Medicaid and dual-eligible populations, and Cityblock's innovative approach to building trust and engagement.

Kareem Zaki shares the founding and development of Thrive Capital, emphasizing their strategy of opportunism combined with a focus on category-defining companies, their unique approach to talent cultivation and company-building in various sectors, especially healthcare, and their intentional media minimalism. — 

"In this episode of The Newcomer Podcast, Eric Newcomer and Madeline Renbarger unpack how tech elites are reacting to the early days of the Trump presidency. They discuss Sam Altman and Masayoshi Son's new venture to build AI data centers dubbed “Project Stargate” and make the case for business leaders to abide by important ethical norms. They also break down fresh performance data from UTIMCO, calling out Thrive Capital's standout returns and examining the broader struggles for many funds amid the post-2021 downturn. They close by discussing Brookfield's billion-dollar acquisition of Divvy Homes—once valued at over $2 billion—and unpack the implications for proptech employees left empty-handed."

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 Jared Kushner. Jared has lived more lives than just about anyone I know his age. He ran Kushner companies for years, investing in real estate in and around New York City. He owned the New York Observer. He was a senior advisor to President Trump in his first term. He now runs Affinity Partners, which we discuss in detail, a private equity firm built to find and execute unique investments around the world that stem from Jared's unique set of experiences in business and government. This is one of our longest episodes ever because there was so much to discuss. We cover real estate, negotiation, geopolitics, his work in prison reform, Operation Warp Speed, and the Abraham Accords in the Middle East, business, investing, his family, and everything in between. Jared told me I could ask him about anything--and I really enjoyed doing so. Please enjoy my conversation with Jared Kushner. 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 Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. –- 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 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. ----- 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 (00:08:45) Jared's Philosophy on Challenges and Success (00:13:38) Real Estate Ventures: The 666 Fifth Avenue Story (00:20:31) Lessons from New York Real Estate (00:30:04) Diplomacy and the Middle East (00:37:03) Leadership and Change (00:41:14) Geopolitical Landscape and Future Prospects (00:47:53) Affinity Partners: Vision and Strategy (00:52:42) Navigating Market Shifts (00:54:39) Case Study: Mexico Investment (00:58:34) Global Investment Strategies (01:02:42) Investment Philosophy and Principles (01:07:04) Challenges and Problem-Solving (01:23:14) Government Efficiency and Bureaucracy (01:34:57) Stepping into the Spotlight (01:37:19) Manifesting Success with Partners (01:38:05) Learning from Brad Jacobs (01:42:09) Middle East Economic Development (01:46:08) The Qatar-Saudi Reconciliation (01:52:25) Perceptions of Key Middle Eastern Countries (02:07:34) Preparing for Trump's Return (02:14:36) Early Days of Thrive Capital (02:16:56) Helping Entrepreneurs and Building Thrive (02:24:51) Lessons from My Father (02:37:47) Future Vision and AI (02:48:45) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Jared

My guest today is Jared Kushner. Jared has lived more lives than just about anyone I know his age. He ran Kushner companies for years, investing in real estate in and around New York City. He owned the New York Observer. He was a senior advisor to President Trump in his first term. He now runs Affinity Partners, which we discuss in detail, a private equity firm built to find and execute unique investments around the world that stem from Jared's unique set of experiences in business and government. This is one of our longest episodes ever because there was so much to discuss. We cover real estate, negotiation, geopolitics, his work in prison reform, Operation Warp Speed, and the Abraham Accords in the Middle East, business, investing, his family, and everything in between. Jared told me I could ask him about anything--and I really enjoyed doing so. Please enjoy my conversation with Jared Kushner. 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 Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. –- 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 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. ----- 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 (00:08:45) Jared's Philosophy on Challenges and Success (00:13:38) Real Estate Ventures: The 666 Fifth Avenue Story (00:20:31) Lessons from New York Real Estate (00:30:04) Diplomacy and the Middle East (00:37:03) Leadership and Change (00:41:14) Geopolitical Landscape and Future Prospects (00:47:53) Affinity Partners: Vision and Strategy (00:52:42) Navigating Market Shifts (00:54:39) Case Study: Mexico Investment (00:58:34) Global Investment Strategies (01:02:42) Investment Philosophy and Principles (01:07:04) Challenges and Problem-Solving (01:23:14) Government Efficiency and Bureaucracy (01:34:57) Stepping into the Spotlight (01:37:19) Manifesting Success with Partners (01:38:05) Learning from Brad Jacobs (01:42:09) Middle East Economic Development (01:46:08) The Qatar-Saudi Reconciliation (01:52:25) Perceptions of Key Middle Eastern Countries (02:07:34) Preparing for Trump's Return (02:14:36) Early Days of Thrive Capital (02:16:56) Helping Entrepreneurs and Building Thrive (02:24:51) Lessons from My Father (02:37:47) Future Vision and AI (02:48:45) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Jared

Send us a textMiguel Armaza interviews Daragh Murphy, CEO & Co-Founder of Imprint, a fast-growing and leading fintech in the co-branded credit card space that has raised $200 million from Thrive Capital, Ribbit, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Stripe, and a many more great investors.In this episode, we discuss:Challenges and lessons building Imprint, including pivoting and finding product-market fitWhy a great Return on Equity (ROE) is what really matters when building a companyUsing heuristics to find values-aligned talent at ImprintA cautionary tale on the fragility of life and a reminder to live fully… and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today's global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Databricks is announcing an eye-popping $10 billion funding round at a $62 billion dollar valuation, one of the largest in Silicon Valley history. Investors include Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz as Databricks looks well positioned in the next phase of AI generative AI adoption. We look at what the ballooning Silicon Valley funding rounds mean amid Wall Street's IPO drought.

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

OpenAI closes the largest venture capital deal in history, raising $6.6 billion at a $157 billion valuation. Learn how this record-breaking round positions OpenAI as one of the most valuable private companies worldwide. Plus, details on the investors involved, including Thrive Capital, Microsoft, and Nvidia, and how OpenAI plans to use this massive influx of capital. Also, hear about Nvidia's new partnership with Accenture and what it means for the future of AI agents in the workplace. Concerned about being spied on? Tired of censored responses? AI Daily Brief listeners receive a 20% discount on Venice Pro. Visit ⁠⁠⁠https://venice.ai/nlw⁠⁠⁠ and enter the discount code NLWDAILYBRIEF. The AI Daily Brief helps you understand the most important news and discussions in AI. Subscribe to the podcast version of The AI Daily Brief wherever you listen: https://pod.link/1680633614 Subscribe to the newsletter: https://aidailybrief.beehiiv.com/ Join our Discord: https://bit.ly/aibreakdown

This My Climate Journey podcast episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Ion during Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week. Zach Dell is the Co-founder and CEO of Base Power Company. Base aspires to build a reliable and affordable home energy service powered by distributed batteries. Their technology supports the grid during times of peak need and protects customers during outages. They claim to do this at a fraction of the cost of other solutions. Base is serving live customers in Texas and claims to be the only electricity provider to offer a home battery, monthly energy service, and installation, all in one with no requirement of rooftop solar.MCJ is a proud investor in Base via our venture capital fund. The company recently raised a $68 million Series A round via Valor Equity Partners, Thrive Capital, and others in which we participated. In this episode, we dig into Zach's journey, the origins of Base, and what he sees as the path ahead for distributed storage and home energy as he builds a vertically integrated business in this enormous space.In this episode, we cover: [2:47] Zach's background and journey into entrepreneurship, with a focus on solving energy and climate problems[7:57] How he landed on batteries and met his co-founder, Justin Lopas[14:05] Base's residential approach in Texas [22:00] The company's business model and role in the energy market [25:03] Base's ideal customer [27:30] The battery's current and future manufacturing strategy [31:00] Zach's key learnings from starting a business[32:18] Base's company culture and who they're looking to hire[36:46] How Base could grow into other energy sectors [40:00] Zach's vision for the futureEpisode recorded on Sept 10, 2024 (Published on Oct 3, 2024) Get connected with MCJ: Cody Simms X / LinkedInMCJ Podcast / Collective / YouTube*If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a review! You can also reach us via email at info@mcj.vc, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Send Everyday AI and Jordan a text messageWhat is OpenAI raising $6.5 billion for? Apple Intelligence is out! Kinda... California and the White House are trying to lead on AI safety, but will it even matter? We'll tackle those topics and a WHOLE lot more for this week's AI news that matters.Newsletter: Sign up for our free daily newsletterMore on this Episode: Episode PageJoin the discussion: Ask Jordan questions on AIUpcoming Episodes: Check out the upcoming Everyday AI Livestream lineupWebsite: YourEverydayAI.comEmail The Show: info@youreverydayai.comConnect with Jordan on LinkedInTopics Covered in This Episode:1. AI Partnerships and Investments2. Salesforce AI Training Initiative3. White House AI Global Safety Summit4. California's AI Legislations5. Lionsgate and Runway Partnership6. OpenAI's New Model and Funding7. Apple IntelligenceTimestamps:02:20 Thrive Capital leads $1.25B investment in OpenAI.05:23 Apple launches AI features in new operating system.10:01 White House to host global AI safety summit.14:35 California mandates social media remove deceptive content.15:47 Jony Ive, Sam Altman collaborate on AI hardware.21:02 AI models generate storyboards, animations, and effects.24:56 Microsoft revitalizing 3 Mile Island for AI data.28:54 Salesforce launches free AI training initiative, $50M investment.29:55 Salesforce waives AI training fees until 2025.34:07 OpenAI's O One model reached internal stage 2.36:18 OpenAI update pressures competitors to release updates.40:07 Limited access to o1 model impacts productivity.Keywords:AI Applications in Hollywood, Runway Gen 3 Alpha Turbo, Luma Labs Dream Machine, AI video generation, Microsoft and BlackRock AI investment, AI infrastructure, AI energy consumption, Alibaba's Quinn 2.5, Salesforce AI Training Initiative, White House AI Global Safety Summit, California deepfake legislation, Jony Ive and Sam Altman AI project, WorkLab Podcast, Lionsgate and Runway partnership, OpenAI funding, Apple Intelligence, AI and job impact, OpenAI's "o one" model, AI in customer support, AI in marketing, AI Upskilling, AI model limitations, AI-legislation, AI-enhanced operating systems, AI in film industry, generative AI, AI's impact on elections, AI-altered advertising, advanced AI features, AI training resources.

OpenAI's latest funding round is set to raise $6.5 billion, with a valuation reaching $150 billion. Major investors such as Microsoft, Nvidia, and Apple are participating, with Thrive Capital leading the round. The minimum investment requirement has been set at $250 million. This video covers the significance of this raise, the investors involved, and the implications for the AI industry. Learn how OpenAI's new models are influencing its growth and shaping the future of artificial intelligence. Learn how to use AI with the world's biggest library of fun and useful tutorials: https://besuper.ai/ Use code 'youtube' for 50% off your first month. Concerned about being spied on? Tired of censored responses? AI Daily Brief listeners receive a 20% discount on Venice Pro. Visit ⁠⁠⁠https://venice.ai/nlw⁠⁠⁠ and enter the discount code NLWDAILYBRIEF. The AI Daily Brief helps you understand the most important news and discussions in AI. Subscribe to the podcast version of The AI Daily Brief wherever you listen: https://pod.link/1680633614 Subscribe to the newsletter: https://aidailybrief.beehiiv.com/ Join our Discord: https://bit.ly/aibreakdown

Will Gaybrick joined Stripe as CFO after investing in the company at Thrive Capital. Over the past 9 years, now as President, he's helped grow Stripe's into one of the world's largest private startups. In this episode, we explore his impressive career journey—from Harvard Math to software engineering, Yale Law, venture capital, and now his leadership role at Stripe. Will shares key insights on capital allocation, crypto, AI, investing, leadership, and more. Some takeaways:(00:00) Intro(01:09) From Academia to Venture Capital(02:01) Joining Stripe: The Unexpected Journey(02:09) Career Philosophy and Decision Making(05:23) Building Hack Yale and Teaching(08:15) The Role of a Polymath at Stripe(09:31) Learning Techniques and AI Insights(16:15) Operational Shifts and Growth Strategies(20:36) Hiring and Leadership at Stripe(28:08) Organizational Systems and Processes(31:40) Migrating Users to New API Versions(32:07) Challenges in API Refactoring(33:57) The Rise of Stablecoins(34:07) Stripe's History with Crypto(35:51) Stablecoins: Use Cases and Adoption(41:30) AI and Machine Learning at Stripe(47:59) Risk Management and Compliance(53:21) Empowering Innovation with AI(57:14) Decision-Making Frameworks at Stripe(01:04:07) Stripe's Product Evolution(01:09:31) Exploring the Fun and Challenges of Product Space(01:10:20) Stripe's Organizational Structure and Strategy(01:12:12) The Importance of Technical Unification(01:13:13) User Demands and Capital Allocation(01:14:18) The Role of ROI in Early Projects(01:15:53) Stripe's Unique Approach to Titles and Levels(01:18:36) Insights on Organizational Design(01:21:36) Effective Leadership and Decision-Making(01:24:18) Reflections on Influential Leaders(01:33:25) The Value of Venture Capital(01:38:29) Future Prospects and Motivation at Stripe  Executive Producer: Rashad AssirProducer: Leah ClapperMixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA

A federal judge has ruled that Google acted illegally to maintain its monopoly status in search. The consequences of the case could reshape the search and mobile industries. WSJ reporter Miles Kruppa joins host Zoe Thomas to discuss how the outcome could affect Google, its partners and its competitors. Plus, Thrive Capital raises its largest-ever pair of venture-capital funds showing the optimism for artificial intelligence.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the ever-evolving landscape of tech startups, few stories are as compelling as Rick Nucci's journey from founding Boomi to launching Guru. A serial entrepreneur with a track record of success, Rick's career is a masterclass in leveraging market opportunities and navigating the complexities of scaling a business. Rick's company, Guru, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like FirstMark Capital, Emergence Capital, MSD Capital, Slack, and Thrive Capital.