Podcasts about thrive capital

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

Anysphere, known for its Cursor application, raised $900 million at a $9 billion valuation, led by Thrive Capital, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Accel. In December, Anysphere secured a $105 million Series B at a $2.6 billion valuation, following a $60 million Series A. Since its founding in 2022, the company raised $1.1 billion in total. Investors show interest in artificial intelligence-powered coding tools that enhance developer productivity. OpenAI is negotiating to acquire AI coding tool Windsurf for $3 billion, marking its largest potential acquisition. OpenAI previously considered acquiring Anysphere. AI sector attracted $59.6 billion in venture funding in the first quarter of 2025, representing 53% of global funding.Learn more on this news visit us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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      

Isomorphic Labs raised $600 million in its initial external funding round to enhance artificial intelligence applications in drug development. Thrive Capital led this round, supported by Google Ventures and existing investor Alphabet. Isomorphic Labs, formed from Google DeepMind in 2021, aims to advance its AI drug design engine and clinical programs. This funding follows significant raises in the AI-driven biotech sector, including Xaira Therapeutics, which secured $1 billion, and Formation Bio, which raised $372 million. Thrive Capital, co-founded by Joshua Kushner, has also led major investments in Databricks and OpenAI.Learn more on this news visit us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

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.

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

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."

"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

Invest Like the Best Key Takeaways  “In life, you learn very little when things go right. You learn a lot when things go wrong.” – Jared Kushner You cannot worry about the things that you cannot change; have radical acceptance and focus on the things that you can do to understand the problem better Focus on being long-term greedy: Create win-wins by convincing your counterparts, who have more leverage, to do something that you want to do by catering to their interests more than their sympathies or fearsFocus on the next deal instead of the last dollarTo understand what a person wants, you have to listen! Find the smartest people you can who have a vested interest in the situation, and ask them about their perspective“I wouldn't die for my beliefs because my beliefs might be wrong.” – Unknown Practice humility and always recheck your assumptionsTo be successful, you have to make three good decisions per yearThe foundational question Jared asks himself when faced with a challenging problem:“How would you want to be a role model for your children?” “Ultimately, I think the topic that will probably be the most impactful of the next four years will be how President Trump deals with artificial intelligence and what could be AGI or superintelligence, and how this is coming very rapidly.” – Jared Kushner Work should not be distributed; when you find something worthwhile, go all in on it Four investing principles: (1) Identify the big macro trends (2) Back phenomenal people and teams (3) Invest in businesses with structural advantages or moats (4) Be selective in where and who you invest withThe two most important questions to ask yourself are: What do you want and what are you solving for? Give everyone the benefit of the doubt; you never know what people are going through in a given moment Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMy 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.

OpenAI is in talks to close a new funding round at a $100 billion valuation, which would be one of their biggest infusions of capital. They have already raised $86 billion and allowed employees to sell shares in the company. OpenAI is on track to lose about $5 billion by the end of the year, despite generating $3.4 billion in annualized revenue. They have burned $8.5 billion in AI training and staffing. Thrive Capital and Microsoft are expected to participate in the funding round, and there are rumors that Nvidia and Apple may also contribute. My Podcast Course: ⁠https://podcaststudio.com/courses/⁠Discount Code: AICHAT Get on the AI Box Waitlist: ⁠⁠⁠https://AIBox.ai/⁠⁠⁠ Join my AI Hustle Community: ⁠https://www.skool.com/aihustle/about⁠

OpenAI is in talks to close a new funding round at a $100 billion valuation, which would be one of their biggest infusions of capital. They have already raised $86 billion and allowed employees to sell shares in the company. OpenAI is on track to lose about $5 billion by the end of the year, despite generating $3.4 billion in annualized revenue. They have burned $8.5 billion in AI training and staffing. Thrive Capital and Microsoft are expected to participate in the funding round, and there are rumors that Nvidia and Apple may also contribute. My Podcast Course: ⁠https://podcaststudio.com/courses/⁠Discount Code: AICHAT Get on the AI Box Waitlist: ⁠⁠⁠https://AIBox.ai/⁠⁠⁠ Join my AI Hustle Community: ⁠https://www.skool.com/aihustle/about⁠

AI startup Physical Intelligence achieved a valuation of $2.4 billion and reached unicorn status after raising $400 million. The company launched its first general robot model, π₀, which assists with tasks like table clearing and clothes folding. Investors include Jeff Bezos, OpenAI, and Thrive Capital. Physical Intelligence aims to integrate general-purpose AI into robotics. The development of the π₀ model took eight months. Demonstrations show its ability to fold clothes, load a coffee grinder, and sort waste. The robot remains in early development, with initial results indicating potential for AI in robotics.Learn more on this news visit us at: https://greyjournal.net/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in its latest funding round, increasing its valuation to approximately $157 billion. Thrive Capital led the investment, with participation from Fidelity and SoftBank. OpenAI transitions to a for-profit benefit corporation, which allows co-founder Sam Altman to gain equity. The funding includes convertible notes, enabling investors to withdraw if structural changes are not met within a set timeframe. In the AI sector, Poolside announced a $500 million Series B round, resulting in a $3 billion valuation. Kailera Therapeutics secured $400 million in Series A financing to develop treatments for chronic weight management. Aktis Oncology raised $175 million in Series B funding for research on alpha radiopharmaceuticals for cancer treatment. Impulse Space obtained $150 million for developing orbital transfer vehicles. Nusano and Triveni Bio each raised $115 million for healthcare innovations, reflecting strong investment trends in biotech and medical technologies.Learn more on this news visit us at: https://greyjournal.net/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

SoftBank plans to invest $500 million in OpenAI as part of a $6.5 billion funding round. This investment may result in a valuation of OpenAI at $150 billion. This marks SoftBank's first investment in OpenAI, following a strategic shift by founder Masayoshi Son towards aggressive investment in artificial intelligence. Son identifies recent AI advancements as motives for renewed interest in technology investments. Thrive Capital is expected to lead the funding round, with possible participation from entities like Tiger Global Management, Khosla Ventures, Microsoft, and Nvidia. Apple has withdrawn from this funding opportunity.Learn more on this news visit us at: https://greyjournal.net/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Zuckerberg,de topman van Meta, heeft zijn vermogen alleen al dit jaar zien stijgen met meer dan 73 miljard dollar (66 miljard euro), tot 201 miljard dollar. Dit blijkt uit een ranglijst van miljardairs opgesteld door Bloomberg. Joe van Burik vertelt erover in deze Tech Update. Zuckerberg is daarmee nu de op drie na rijkste persoon ter wereld en het meest recente lid van de 200 miljard dollar-club. Verder hebben alleen Tesla-topman Elon Musk (272 miljard dollar), Amazon-oprichter Jeff Bezos (211 miljard dollar) en LVMH-directeur Bernard Arnault (207 miljard dollar) een geschat vermogen van meer dan 200 miljard dollar. Zuckerberg heeft het zijne te danken aan de stijging van het aandeel van Meta, het moederbedrijf van onder meer Facebook en Instagram. Dit aandeel is dit jaar al 64 procent gestegen. Verder in deze Tech Update: Apple trekt zich terug als mogelijke nieuwe investeerder in OpenAI; Thrive Capital krijgt als leider van deze veelbesproken investeringsronde juiste een extra lucratieve deal Elon Musks social-mediaplatform X mag pas weer online in Brazilië als alle boetes betaald zijn, waaronder een nieuwe, waardoor de teller om omgerekend meer dan 5 miljard dollar staat See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 *Pushing Boundaries: James Cameron's AI Vision, OpenAI's Massive Funding, and Jony Ive's New AI Hardware*---#### In This Episode:Get ready for an episode packed with cutting-edge innovations in tech and AI! We dive into James Cameron's bold move into the AI world, OpenAI's latest record-breaking funding round, and Jony Ive's exciting new venture to create a game-changing AI-powered device. Join us as we explore how these developments are set to revolutionize industries and redefine the future of technology.---### Featured Stories:**1. James Cameron Joins Stability AI's Board**- *James Cameron* has been a pioneer in pushing the boundaries of technology for decades. Now, he's joining the board of *Stability AI*, the company behind *Stable Diffusion*, a leading generative AI model in visual effects.- Cameron believes the intersection of **generative AI and CGI** will revolutionize filmmaking and visual storytelling.- *Stability AI*, under the leadership of CEO *Prem Akkaraju* and Executive Chairman *Sean Parker*, recently raised **$80 million** and aims to drive artistic innovation by merging AI with cutting-edge CGI.> *James Cameron*: "The convergence of AI and CGI will unlock storytelling possibilities we never imagined."**2. OpenAI's Record-Breaking Funding Round**- *OpenAI* is on track to raise an unprecedented **$6.5 billion**, valuing the company at **$150 billion**. Led by *Thrive Capital* with a **$1.25 billion commitment**, OpenAI is attracting interest from major players like Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft.- Despite operating for nearly a decade without turning a profit, investors are betting on OpenAI's massive growth potential. CEO *Sam Altman* has his sights set on **AI that interacts with the physical world**, leading some to envision a trillion-dollar valuation.- This funding round could set a new industry standard, surpassing the previous record held by xAI in May.  > *Why it matters*: OpenAI's rapid expansion highlights the growing belief in AI's untapped potential to reshape industries beyond software—possibly into hardware and robotics.**3. Jony Ive and Sam Altman's New AI-Powered Device**- Legendary designer *Jony Ive*, known for creating the iPhone, has teamed up with *Sam Altman* of *OpenAI* to design a new AI-driven hardware device aimed at being less intrusive than smartphones.- The project, backed by *Emerson Collective* and *LoveFrom*, Ive's design firm, aims to integrate AI into users' lives seamlessly—whether it's for **message summarization**, **task management**, or **object identification**.- With a small but powerful team of former Apple designers, Ive and Altman plan to secure **$1 billion** in funding by year-end and redefine the AI hardware landscape.> *What to expect*: This project could signal the dawn of a new era in consumer technology, where AI becomes a more natural, integrated part of everyday life.---### Key Takeaways:- James Cameron is once again at the forefront of innovation, this time combining the power of AI and CGI to shape the future of visual storytelling.- OpenAI is breaking records with its $6.5B funding round, which could revolutionize AI's role in both digital and physical realms.- Jony Ive and Sam Altman are developing an AI-powered device that could be the next step in the evolution of personal tech, moving beyond smartphones.---### Stay Tuned:Be sure to subscribe to our podcast for more deep dives into the latest tech innovations, AI advancements, and the minds shaping our future.Get intouch with Myles at mylesdhillon@gmail.com

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

Send us a text00:15 - OpenAI to $1.0 trillion valuation?17:11 - Fly United with Starlink?26:39 - Broker-dealers ever offer crypto?[1] OpenAI in Talks for $6.5B Funding Round at $150B Valuation-Does OpenAI have potential to be a $1.0 trillion company? 6.7x return from here.-OpenAI in discussions to raise $6.5B at a $150B valuation (primary round)-Previous valuation: $86B earlier in 2024-Seeking $5B in debt via revolving credit facility-Key investors include Thrive Capital, Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, and UAE-backed MGX fund-30x revenue multiple on $5b Dec 2024 forward ARR-Appears only 29% of revenue is B2B; $1b ARR vs $3.4b ARR total as of Q2ish 2024[2] United Airlines to Offer Starlink Wifi-Does the type/quality of wifi determine which airline you use?-United focused on premium and business travelers-Adding power outlets, back seat screens, and now Starlink WiFi-United says Starlink is faster, more reliable, can be used over oceans, and allows travelers to use more than one device at a time-Release in late 2025-No cost to use Starlink Wifi-Starlink already has deals with Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airlines-Delta uses Viasat, American uses Intelsat[3] eToro Settles with SEC, Limits Crypto Offerings in the U.S.-If you're a broker-dealer or RIA how do you approach crypto now? Just stick with the ETFs?-Retail brokerage company-Agreed to $1.5M penalty with SEC over operating as an unregistered broker and clearing agency-U.S. users can trade only Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ether; 180-day window to sell/withdraw other tokens-38M registered users globally, offering over 100 cryptoassets outside the U.S.-Secondary market valuation: $7.3B (+107.7% vs Mar 2023 round)

Send us a textSubscribe to AG Dillon Pre-IPO Stock Research at agdillon.com/subscribe;- Wednesday = secondary market valuations, revenue multiples, performance, index fact sheets- Saturdays = pre-IPO news and insights, webinar replays00:06 | SpaceX Sets New Record in Civilian Space Travel- Space payload delivery and satellite internet company- Polaris Dawn mission: first commercial spacewalk, civilian crew led by Jared Isaacman- Crew spent 20 minutes outside SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule- Reached 870 miles above Earth, setting a civilian space travel record- Tested new EVA suits, conducted 40 experiments- Secondary market valuation: $223B (+6.3% vs Jul 2024 round)01:20 | OpenAI Launches New AI Model, "OpenAI o1"- AI large language model business- Announced "OpenAI o1," focusing on enhancing reasoning abilities in math, coding, and science- Achieved 83% on International Mathematical Olympiad exam (up from 13% with prior models)- Available to ChatGPT Plus and Team users- Competitors like Google and Anthropic developing similar AI models01:59 | OpenAI in Talks for $6.5B Funding Round at $150B Valuation- OpenAI in discussions to raise $6.5B at a $150B valuation (primary round)- Previous valuation: $86B earlier in 2024- Seeking $5B in debt via revolving credit facility- Key investors include Thrive Capital, Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, and UAE-backed MGX fund02:55 | OpenAI's ChatGPT Hits 10M Paying Subscribers- ChatGPT: 10M paying subscribers, 1M on higher-priced business plans- Generates $225M in monthly revenue, or $2.7B annually- Projected $4B in annual revenue in the next 12 months (up from $1.6B in late 2023)- Valuation at $150B, 37.5x forward revenue03:48 | Glean Raises $260M Series E, Valued at $4.6B- Enterprise AI solutions company- Raised $260M in Series E, valuing Glean at $4.6B (primary)- Competes with Microsoft Copilot and Amazon's chatbot- Global generative AI spending expected to rise to $143B by 202704:30 | Klarna Cuts Losses and Integrates AI Across Operations- Consumer credit and payments company- Severed ties with Salesforce and Workday, focusing on AI automation- 2023 losses dropped to $241M (from $1B in 2022)- AI-powered customer service assistant handled 2.3M interactions in its first month- Headcount reduced from 4,500 to 3,800, aiming for 2,000- Secondary market valuation: $10.1B (+50.4% vs Jul 2022 round)05:33 | Poolside in Talks to Raise $500M, Potential $3B Valuation- AI solution for software developers- In talks to raise $500M, potentially valuing the company at $3B (primary)- Co-founded by former GitHub CTO Jason Warner and Eiso Kant- Secured $126M in seed funding; secured Nvidia GPUs with Iris Energy Ltd06:17 | eToro Settles with SEC, Limits Crypto Offerings in the U.S.- Retail brokerage company- Agreed to $1.5M penalty with SEC over operating as an unregistered broker and clearing agency- U.S. users can trade only Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ether; 180-day window to sell/withdraw other tokens- 38M registered users globally, offering over 100 cryptoassets outside the U.S.- Secondary market valuation: $7.3B (+107.7% vs Mar 2023 round)07:05 | Anduril Launches Modular, Autonomous Barracuda Air Vehicles- Defense contractor- Introduced Barracuda family of autonomous air vehicles with three versions- Barracuda-100, 250, and 500 models: ranges from 85 to 500 nautical miles- Systems are 30% cheaper and 50% faster to produce than competitors- Secondary market valuation: $17.0B (+21.5% vs Aug 2024 round)08:10 | Pre-IPO Stock Market Weekly Performance09:08 | Pre-IPO Stock Vintage Index Wee

Noticias Económicas y Financieras Mientras la mayoría de la gente comenzaba a despertarse de sus camas, había un par de personas que estaban haciendo historia al caminar. La primera caminata espacial privada de la historia fue realizada por los astronautas civiles Jared Isaacman y Sarah Gillis, dos miembros de la misión Polaris Dawn de cuatro personas que se lanzó a la órbita terrestre a principios de esta semana. Una vez más, fue posible gracias a SpaceX $SPACE, que claramente se ha convertido en el líder en la floreciente industria espacial comercial después de la última debacle de Boeing $BA. Según informes recientes, OpenAI, que cuenta con el respaldo de Microsoft, está negociando una ronda de financiación de $6.5B con inversores. La mayor startup de inteligencia artificial del mundo valoraría la empresa en unos $150B, lo que supone casi el doble de la valoración de OpenAI de $86B a principios de este año. La ronda estará liderada por Thrive Capital, con la participación de Microsoft $MSFT, mientras que Apple $AAPL y Nvidia $NVDA también han estado negociando la posibilidad de invertir en la startup. OpenAI también está sopesando una línea de crédito renovable de $5B, ya que sigue invirtiendo fuertemente para mantener su ventaja en la carrera de la IA. El miércoles, los operadores reforzaron sus apuestas a que la Fed recortará las tasas de interés en un cuarto de punto la próxima semana en lugar de un enorme movimiento de 50 puntos básicos. Si bien la cifra principal del IPC estuvo en línea con las expectativas, los datos de inflación básica fueron ligeramente mejores de lo esperado. Los mercados cayeron inicialmente con la noticia, pero luego terminaron la sesión volátil al alza, lo que "pareció ser una respuesta a que el mercado favoreciera la perspectiva de un recorte de tasas", según el líder del SA Investing Group, Daniel Jones. El índice de precios al productor también se publicará esta mañana, mientras que se espera que el BCE recorte las tasas nuevamente hoy, ganándole a la Fed. El presidente de la Reserva Federal de Atlanta, Raphael Bostic, violó las restricciones comerciales del banco central, según reveló su organismo de control interno en un informe , pero señaló que no había evidencia de que hubiera realizado operaciones basadas en información privilegiada. Bostic creó una "apariencia de actuar sobre la base de información confidencial" del FOMC luego de la ejecución de 154 operaciones en su nombre desde 2018 durante los llamados períodos de bloqueo del comité. Esto, a su vez, creó una "apariencia de conflicto de intereses", y la escala y el momento de sus operaciones, no obstante, generaron inquietudes.

OpenAI's valuering bij de nieuwe, langverwachte investeringsronde, loopt nóg verder op. Er zou in totaal meer dan 11 miljard dollar worden binnengehaald tegen een waardering van 150 miljard dollar. Joe van Burik vertelt erover in deze Tech Update. OpenAI is vooral bekend van ChatGPT en werkt sinds afgelopen december al aan een nieuwe intesteringsronde. Eerder werd lang gesproken over een valuering van 86 miljard dollar daarbij, onlangs liep dat op tot 100 miljard dollar en nu moeten we zelfs uitgaan van 150 miljard dollar, aldus bronnen tegen Bloomberg. Daarmee zou het zowat de hoogst gewaardeerde start-up ter wereld worden. Met die waardebepaling zou in elk geval 6,5 miljard concreet opgehaald worden bij investeerders, waaronder Apple en Nvidia volgens eerdere berichten van Bloomberg, onder leiding van Thrive Capital. Maar dat is nog niet alles, wat OpenAI wilt nóg eens 5 miljard dollar binnensleuren aan leningen bij de bank. Een beursgang wordt nog altijd niet besproken bij OpenAI, al lijkt dat na deze investeringsronde een kwestie van tijd. Verder in deze Tech Update: BEUC, de Europese koepelorganisatie voor consumenten, doet zijn beklag over gamebedrijven die kinderen te veel verleiden om echt geld uit te geven in hun spellen Oudere web-pagina's bezoeken op internet kan nu weer een stuk gemakkelijker met dank aan Google, dat de Wayback Machine van Internet Archive in de zoekmachine verwerkt See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An in-depth look at Thrive Capital, exploring its investment strategies and moves that are shaping OpenAI with Apple and NVDIA. We also examine BYD's expansion into Mexico, analyzing how China's electric vehicle giant is positioning itself to dominate the Latin American market and what this means for the global EV landscape. Finally, we offer a comprehensive deep dive into Uber stock, giving an example of a top-down one sheet of the company. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rickerandbon/support

OpenAI is in talks to close a new funding round at a $100 billion valuation, which would be one of their biggest infusions of capital. They have already raised $86 billion and allowed employees to sell shares in the company. OpenAI is on track to lose about $5 billion by the end of the year, despite generating $3.4 billion in annualized revenue. They have burned $8.5 billion in AI training and staffing. Thrive Capital and Microsoft are expected to participate in the funding round, and there are rumors that Nvidia and Apple may also contribute. My Podcast Course: https://podcaststudio.com/courses/Discount Code: AICHAT Get on the AI Box Waitlist: ⁠⁠https://AIBox.ai/⁠⁠ Join my AI Hustle Community: https://www.skool.com/aihustle/about

Karim Atiyeh is the co-founder and CTO of Ramp, a finance automation platform that helps businesses spend less time and money. Founded in 2019, Ramp powers the fastest-growing corporate card in America and enables billions of dollars of purchases each year on the heels of nearly 10x year-over-year growth. Valued at $8.1 billion two years after launch, Ramp has raised hundreds of millions in equity from backers including Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Redpoint Ventures, Thrive Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Spark Capital, Coatue Management, Iconiq, Goldman Sachs, and Stripe. A Lebanese entrepreneur, Karim previously built and sold Y Combinator-backed Paribus to Capital One in 2016. This episode is brought to you with the support of Netsuite, download their guide at netsuite.com/scale --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/uncharted1/support

Given everything you've already heard about AI, you may not be surprised to learn that Google is among other outfits beginning to use sound signals to predict early signs of disease.  How? According to Bloomberg, Google has trained its foundation AI model with 300 million pieces of audio that included coughs, sniffles, and labored breathing; Nvidia and Apple are reportedly in talks to contribute to OpenAI's next fundraising round — a round that could value the ChatGPT maker at $100 billion. Per its sources, the New York Times says earlier OpenAI investor Thrive Capital would lead the deal should it happen; It seems that the Ministry of Truth has been busy at Tesla. Some sharp-eyed folks, including reporters at Electrek, noticed that Tesla has deleted all of its blog posts prior to 2019; Gmail users on Android devices can now chat directly with Google's AI assistant, Gemini, about their emails in the Gmail app. Google rolled out the new feature, Gmail Q&A, on Thursday to users who pay for Gemini, according to a blog post, and announced the feature would be coming to iOS devices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, could be in talks to raise a massive tranche of cash. The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI may be close to closing a fundraising round led by Thrive Capital, a previous investor, that'd value the AI company at over $100 billion; One-click checkout tech company Bolt is still waiting to find out if shareholders will sign off on a proposed funding round with stipulations that founder Ryan Breslow would return as CEO; Apple released the new developer betas for iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS 15.1 Sequoia. With this update, the company is launching new Apple Intelligence features including the ability to remove objects from photos; New Enterprise Associates is getting back into the secondaries game.  The Silicon Valley-based VC raised more than $468 million for NEA Secondary Opportunity Fund, according to an SEC filing. The fundraise closed on July 3, according to a source familiar with the matter, but hasn't received much attention Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple is discussing investing in OpenAI in a new fundraising round that could value the ChatGPT maker at over $100 billion. Venture capital firm Thrive Capital is leading the round, with Apple and Microsoft expected to participate. This move would strengthen Apple's AI initiatives, particularly its integrating OpenAI technology into Apple Intelligence, which enhances Siri … Continue reading Apple Considers Major Investment in OpenAI Amid AI Race #1763 → The post Apple Considers Major Investment in OpenAI Amid AI Race #1763 appeared first on Geek News Central.

OpenAI engages in negotiations to raise over $100 billion in funding, led by Thrive Capital. This new valuation surpasses $100 billion, rising from $86 billion, establishing a record for AI startups. Thrive Capital plans to invest approximately $1 billion, while Microsoft and other potential contributors like Khosla Ventures, Infosys, and Y Combinator may participate. This funding round is OpenAI's largest since receiving nearly $10 billion from Microsoft in January 2023. OpenAI's annual revenue has exceeded $3.4 billion, but the company may incur losses of nearly $5 billion by the year's end, having spent $8.5 billion on AI training and staffing.Learn more on this news visit us at: https://greyjournal.net/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apple is discussing investing in OpenAI in a new fundraising round that could value the ChatGPT maker at over $100 billion. Venture capital firm Thrive Capital is leading the round, with Apple and Microsoft expected to participate. This move would strengthen Apple's AI initiatives, particularly its integrating OpenAI technology into Apple Intelligence, which enhances Siri … Continue reading Apple Considers Major Investment in OpenAI Amid AI Race #1763 → The post Apple Considers Major Investment in OpenAI Amid AI Race #1763 appeared first on Geek News Central.

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.

A reminder for new readers. That Was The Week includes a collection of my selected readings on critical issues in tech, startups, and venture capital. I selected the articles because they are of interest to me. The selections often include things I entirely disagree with. But they express common opinions, or they provoke me to think. The articles are snippets sized to convey why they are of interest. Click on the headline, contents link, or the ‘More' link at the bottom of each piece to go to the original. I express my point of view in the editorial and the weekly video below.Hat Tip to this week's creators: @reidhoffman, @dougleone, , @credistick, @rex_woodbury, @NathanLands, @ItsUrBoyEvan, @berber_jin1, @cityofthetown, @keachhagey, @pmarca, @bhorowitz, , @signalrank, @steph_palazzolo, @julipuli, @MTemkin, @geneteare, @lorakolodny, @jasminewsun, @JBFlint, @asharma, @thesimonetti, @lessinContents* Editorial: * Essays of the Week* Crossing The Series A Chasm* The Consumer Renaissance* The Creator Economy on AI Steroids* AI Is Transforming the Nature of the Firm* The Opaque Investment Empire Making OpenAI's Sam Altman Rich* Video of the Week* The American Dream - Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz* AI of the Week* SignalRank Version 3 Improves Performance Again* How Long Can OpenAI's First-Mover Advantage Last?* OpenAI Employees Warn of Advanced AI Dangers* A Right to Warn about Advanced Artificial Intelligence* Nvidia hits $3tn and surpasses Apple as world's second-most valuable company* VCs are selling shares of hot AI companies like Anthropic and xAI to small investors in a wild SPV market* News Of the Week* Crunchbase Monthly Recap May 2024: AI Leads Alongside An Uptick In Billion-Dollar Rounds* Elon Musk ordered Nvidia to ship thousands of AI chips reserved for Tesla to X and xAI* Introducing video to Substack Chat* Instagram's Testing Video Ads That Stop You From Scrolling Further* Startup of the Week* NBA Nears $76 Billion TV Deal, a Defining Moment for Media and Sports* X of the Week* Doug Leone - I am supporting Trump. * Reid Hoffman - I am supporting BidenEditorialI woke on Tuesday to Doug Leone of Sequoia Capital on X saying:I have become increasingly concerned about the general direction of our country, the state of our broken immigration system, the ballooning deficit, and the foreign policy missteps, among other issues. Therefore, I am supporting former President Trump in this coming election.Doug has the right to support Trump. It is also clear that the immigration system is broken, the deficit is ballooning, many things are wrong with foreign policy, and there are “other issues.” Trump as the solution is less obvious. But there it is—hot on the tails of Chamath Palihipitaya and David Sacks announcing a fund-raiser for Trump on the All-In podcast (they said they would do the same for Biden).Reid Hoffman followed up a day later with:On one level, this is a straightforward choice, but any literate attempt to analyze Leone's issues might arrive at the following conclusions:* Like many Western nations, the USA is aging rapidly and has a shrinking working-age population across all skill sets. Immigrants are needed, and pro-immigration leadership is needed, creating a path to entry for large numbers of skilled and unskilled workers to fill empty jobs as we get close to full employment.* The deficit is large, and there are many palliatives available. Selling more to China would help, but both party leaders are protectionist. Taxes to reduce the divide between the 1% and the rest would help a bit. However, what would help the most is economic growth, which requires investment in technology and productivity. Neither leader seems too focused on innovation and investment.* Foreign Policy - well, sheesh, it's a big issue. However, saber-rattling about Taiwan and provoking China seems to be a hobby shared by both parties and does not seem smart. Ukraine and the future of Europe are better in Biden's hands, but not by a lot. Europe looks very shaky. The US is increasingly isolationist. The appetite for world leadership is on the decline. Again, the solution would focus on economic growth, which seems absent.Voting for Trump is a big no-no for me. But voting for Biden is, at best, a lesser evil instinct, not a belief system. The election will not be where the future is built, but it is important. Politicians are collectively disappointing.This week's video of the week from Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz is called “The American Dream” and champions their view about American Dynamism. And I must confess that this comes closer to a vision of the future than either political outfit. Their vision requires political support, massive government financial commitment, and private capital investment. I see no evidence of those happening.The real winning effort seems to be happening on the ground. This week, Nvidia hit $3 trillion, eclipsing Apple as the world's second-most valuable company. This is even though Apple has 7 times the revenue of Nvidia.This week's first essays also focus on prospects for boom time. Rex Woodbury's ‘The Consumer Renaissance' examines the impact of consumer spending on our lives. In ‘The Creator Economy on AI Steroids, ' Nathan Lands focuses on how emerging tools will transform creativity. But in ‘AI Is Transforming the Nature of the Firm, ' Evan Armstrong gets closest to a future vision.”AI is the first universally flexible technology. It can interact with our digital environments in similar ways to humans, so it can have all the flexibility that we do. In that way, it may be the last technology we ever need.This seems to be the crux of hope in a world where dreams and nightmares are strangely devoid of detail. What the world needs (not only America) is hope. And hope is born from optimism. Optimism is born from success. The most likely success of the next decades will result from specific uses of AI that improve human life.I know and like Doug Leone. I know and like Reid Hoffman. Doug's bar for success needs to be higher. Voting for Trump is not right, and even if it were, it would not be sufficient.Reid also needs a higher bar. Voting for Biden will not be sufficient even if it is right.Let's focus on where success can be found, grow optimism, and breed hope. There is a need for a broad technical revolution and the social rebirth it enables. Silicon Valley and its friends globally need to invent the next version of human existence to the benefit of all. The social rebirth requires a conscious effort; technology will not magically bring it about. More in this week's video.Essays of the WeekCrossing The Series A ChasmDan GrayDan Gray, a frequent guest author for Crunchbase News, is the head of insights at Equidam, a startup valuation platform, and a venture partner at Social Impact Capital.June 5, 2024As we get deeper into 2024, there is increasing concern about the state of Series A fundraising. The bar for investment appears much higher, and fewer startups are reaching it.This is a problem for founders, and investors like Jenny Fielding, managing partner of Everywhere Ventures, who said, “Every Seed investor's dilemma: All my Series A buddies want to meet my companies early! All my companies are too early for my Series A buddies.”To attach some data to this, we can see that the median step-up in valuation from seed to Series A has gone from $19.5 million in Q1 2022 to $28.7 million in Q1 2024. Series A firms seem to be looking for much stronger revenue performance, with targets of $2 million to $3 million in ARR, compared to $1 million to $2 million just a few years ago.The outcome is that while 31.8% of Q1 2020 seed startups closed their Series A within two years, that fell to just 12% for Q1 2022 — which should worry everyone.Why are Series A investors so much more demanding?Today's Series A investors are looking at startups that raised their seed between 2021 and 2023, which identifies the root of the problem: it spans the Q2 2022 high-tide mark for venture capital.For example, there were 1,695 seed rounds of more than $5 million in 2021, rising to 2,248 in 2022, then falling to 1,521 in 2023. As a comparison, there have been just 137 so far in 2024.The result is two categories of startups that are looking to raise their Series A today:* Pre-crunch startups that raised generous seed rounds and stretched the capital out as far as they could, to grow into inflated valuations.* Post-crunch startups that raised modest seed rounds on more reasonable terms, with shorter runways and less demonstrable growth.Strictly speaking, neither is more appealing than the other; the first group has less risk, the second offers more upside, and both are adapted to current market realities. It shouldn't cause a problem for investors, provided they can distinguish between the two.The cost of market inefficiencyVenture investors have a market-based lens on investment decisions, which means looking fairly broadly at trends in revenue performance and round pricing to determine terms, e.g. a typical Series A is within certain bounds of revenue performance and valuation. While that approach may be serviceable and efficient under ideal conditions, the past few years have been far from ideal.Without distinguishing between the two cohorts, investors are now looking at the performance of Series A candidates that spent more than $5 million on a war chest for two to three years of growth alongside the valuations of candidates that raised around $2 million to prove scalability. It just doesn't work as an average, and thus the unreasonable expectations...MoreThe Consumer RenaissanceFrom Predicting Consumer AI Applications to Analyzing Consumer SpendREX WOODBURY, JUN 05, 2024“Consumer” has become something of a bad word in venture capital circles.We see this reflected in the early-stage markets: recent data from Carta showed that just 7.1% of Seed capital raised last year went to consumer startups. That's less than half the share from 2019 (14.3%).But I think consumer is actually a great place to be building and investing. Whenever something is out of favor, that's a sign it's probably a good place to spend time: this is an industry built on being contrarian, not built on following the herd. We're entering a compelling few years for consumer entrepreneurship.First, I'd argue that consumer is too narrowly defined. When people think consumer, they often think consumer social (a tough category) or consumer brands (a tough fit for venture compared to internet and software businesses, with typically lower return profiles). But consumer is broader. Consumer encompasses businesses that sell to consumers and those that rely on consumer spending. This means the obvious names—apps on our phones like Uber, Instacart, Spotify—and the enablers: Shopify, for instance, powers online retail; Faire powers offline retail; Unity powers game development. Each of the latter three is B2B2C, in its own way, but I would categorize each is also a consumer technology business.The wins in consumer can be massive. The biggest technology businesses in history began as consumer businesses—Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon. The original companies comprising FAANG—with Microsoft conspicuously absent—were allconsumer.And some of the best returns of the last five years have stemmed from consumer tech IPOs. At Daybreak, we invest ~$1M at Pre-Seed and Seed. Here's how much a $1M investment in the Seed round of five recent consumer IPOs would yield:Big consumer wins compare favorably to big enterprise wins—relative to Snowflake's market cap, Uber is ~3x in size, Airbnb is ~2x in size, and DoorDash is roughly equal. (Snowflake is the biggest enterprise IPO of the last decade.) The last few years produced a windfall of consumer outcomes, yet investors today almost write off the category.At Daybreak, we don't focus exclusively on consumer; my view is that you need to balance more binary consumer outcomes with B2B SaaS and B2B marketplaces. But we do approach investing through the lens of the consumer—how people make decisions. The buyers of products like Figma and Ramp, after all, are people, and software companies are increasingly selling bottom-up into organizations. The line between consumer and enterprise has been blurring for years.This week's Digital Native makes the argument that consumer tech is a compelling place to build and invest. We'll look at the data to back up this argument, then delve into three categories of consumer that I'm particularly interested in right now:* Checking in on Consumer Spend* Consumer Tech: The Data Doesn't Lie* What to Watch: AI Applications* What to Watch: Shopping* What to Watch: Consumer Health* Rule of Thumb: Follow the SpendThis week we'll cover #1-3, and next week in Part II we'll tackle #4-6.Let's dive in

Miguel Armaza interviews Mike Seckler, CEO of Justworks, one of the largest platforms for SMBs providing HR, Tax, and payroll services in the US and Internationally.Founded in 2012 in NYC, Justworks recently crossed $300 million in annual revenue and is backed by some of the best NY-based VCs, including Bain Capital Ventures, FirstMark, Thrive Capital, Union Square Ventures, Index, and Redpoint.We recorded this conversation live in the heart of NYC at Barclays Rise, as part of New York Fintech Week. Mike was outstanding and he delighted a room full of 100 fintech entrepreneurs and builders. I'm sure you'll be delighted as well.We discuss:The secret to success of great entrepreneursHow to run a functional board of directorsThe power of focusing on one product for a long timeSuccessfully managing a pre and post-merger integrationWhy doing something great requires tons of pressure… 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 65,000+ 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 

Josh Miller is CEO and co-founder of The Browser Company, which is building a new internet browser. He explains why effective hiring requires caring a lot and trusting your taste and why Arc Search, a default mobile browser, could be The Browser Company's next act. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:35) Working for Obama (00:03:55) Giving up 8-figures in Meta stock (00:08:19) Barack Obama's favorite web browser (00:09:02) Why Arc released a mobile browser (00:10:03) How Josh met Josh Kushner (00:11:26) Becoming an EIR at Thrive Capital (00:12:09) How The Browser Company got started (00:15:51) Why they named it The Browser Company (00:18:49) Pivoting to consumer when COVID hit (00:20:37) Leaving Thrive to join as a Co-founder in February 2020 (00:21:05) Why COVID made browsers relevant (00:22:42) How to hire a great team (00:25:02) Hiring Josh Lee to edit their videos (00:26:52) The biggest difference between Josh as a first-time and second-time founder (00:28:46) Learning to delegate (00:34:03) Why Thrive gave up double-digit equity back to the founders (00:40:18) Launching (00:40:52) Why build a web browser (00:42:17) This history of browsers (00:43:36) Why they've gotten worse over time (00:50:26) The reasons people use Arc (00:53:23) How Arc will make money (00:56:45) Why Arc's existential question is getting people to care about their browser (00:59:47) The story behind Arc Search (01:00:45) Arc's potential growth flywheel (01:09:17) Why Arc bet big on building in public on YouTube (01:10:16) The publisher backlash to Arc Search (01:11:33) Why praising your team publicly is so important (01:13:39) How Josh hired Nate Parrott More on The Browser Company: https://thebrowser.company/ https://arc.net/https:// www.youtube.com/c/TheBrowserCompany Where to find Josh: Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshm LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-miller-b31259106 Where to find Turner: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak/ Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it/

Today on the pod, Mary Ann and Alex dug into a whole mess of news, including:Mews' massive new round is proof that vertical SaaS + payments remains a great way to build a big business, and earn a unicorn valuation at a time when those are growing rarer.The global companies taking on Carta, including QuotaLab in South Korea. An acquisition has helped QuotaLab expand its product remit to founders, investors and their LPs.Deel's purchase of Africa's PaySpace got us talking about how acquisitive the HRtech company has been lately. We also dug into news that Deel crossed the $500 million ARR mark, a feat that other companies in its market have managed, like Gusto. (Remofirst also raised more capital, showing just how competitive Deel's market is today.)Venture capital musical chairs: One Founders Fund investor has left the firm to go back to building things, while Benchmark lost a partner to their prior home at Thrive. Expect more, similar moves this year as venture resets from its last boom.We have an interview coming out tomorrow that we're stoked about, and will be back on Monday. Talk soon!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity's Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders and more! Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

My guest today is Chris Paik, who is a General Partner at early-stage venture firm, Pace Capital. Before Pace, Chris spent eight years building and investing alongside last week's guest, Josh Kushner, at his firm Thrive Capital. During that time, he sat on the board of Twitch. Our conversation explores Chris' frameworks for investing, from atomic value swaps to business model product fit and the seven deadly sins. We also discuss different consumer trends like the rise of virtual YouTubers, Apple's Vision Pro, and why everyone graduates off YouTube. Please enjoy my conversation with Chris Paik. Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don't want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won't find anywhere else. And they don't stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can't be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:00) - (First question) - The history of humanity as a data storage and transfer problem and how that relates to new kinds of computer interfaces (00:14:47) - Investing strategies; knowing when to invest in new technology (00:16:39) - Assessing the gray areas of a potential investment (00:22:13) - CodeMiko and VTubing (00:32:51) - An explanation of atomic value swap (00:39:55) - The 7 deadly sins and the degrees to which each sin is monetizable  (00:45:05) - Evaluating the people behind new technologies (00:50:03) - The Reddit Revolt - the current changes happening at Reddit   (00:53:09) - Business model alignment; the steps to take when determining a business' value capture mechanism  (01:03:52) - The investment decision that Chris is most proud of  (01:08:14) - The consumer investing landscape today (01:11:19) - Chris' methods for finding new content, technology and potential investments on the internet (01:14:06) - The fundamentals of value creation   (01:15:06) - The dark side of tech, how can it be more than just friction reduction (01:17:22) - Chris' opinion on why so many innovations come from the US (01:20:37) - Defining market places and how to start and grow a successful one (01:23:23) - Chris' thoughts on opportunities with bad business models (01:26:19) - A breakdown of Chris' analogy “Sculptors versus painters” (01:29:34) - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for Chris