Latest Interviews
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The 4th Estate: How Media is Changing in Washington, D.C.
Katherine Boyle, Chris Best, Jim VandeHei, Bari Weiss, Tanya Cushman
CEOs Barry Weiss of Common Sense, Jim Vande Hei of Axios, and Chris Best of Substack discussed how a surge in distrust toward legacy outlets like the New York Times is driving a market shift toward subscription-based, direct-to-audience media models. The panelists warned that most traditional local newspapers and cable stations face imminent decline, predicting a future where professional journalism relies on rigorous fact-checking and editorial independence rather than the "Wild West" of unverified social media content. Their collective outlook emphasizes that sustainable success in this new ecosystem depends on prioritizing reader trust and high-quality curation over algorithmic engagement.
- Goldman Sachs29 min
How Retail Investors Are Shaping Markets
John Marshall, Greg Tuorto, David Jeria, Allison Nathan
Retail participation in U.S. equity markets surged to a dominant 30% share of trading volume by 2021 before undergoing a sharp reversal characterized by systematic profit-taking and a structural shift from speculative individual stocks to passive ETFs and energy sectors. This behavioral divergence between active day traders and "buy and hold" investors has altered market liquidity dynamics, driving significant order flow off-exchange and increasing transaction costs for institutional players while prompting SEC Chairman Gensler to explore regulatory reforms aimed at improving price discovery. Despite these structural changes and elevated risks in single-stock herding, analysts project a stable market baseline supported by automatic investment flows, with future retail activity primarily contingent on broader macroeconomic factors such as inflation relative to wage growth.
- All-In Podcast23 min
#AIS: The Lanby's Tandice Urban on solving healthcare's customer service problem
Tandice Urban, Chamath, Calacanis, Friedberg
The speaker identifies systemic inefficiencies in US healthcare caused by a fee-for-service model that prioritizes volume over patient experience, resulting in an average Net Promoter Score of just 3 for primary care providers. To address this dysfunction, the presentation advocates for a shift toward direct-to-consumer and value-based models, exemplified by Lanby, a New York-based membership service utilizing a three-person care team to treat patients as customers rather than cases. This approach aims to align financial incentives with health outcomes, potentially preventing 40% of top-cause annual deaths through improved access to preventive care and hospitality-style service standards.
- All-In Podcast29 min
#AIS: MP Materials CEO James Litinsky on rare earths, supply chain, and energy independence
Jim Latinsky's fund orchestrated a transformative turnaround of the distressed Mountain Pass rare earth mine, evolving it from a bankrupt asset into a $6.5 billion public company that now supplies critical magnet materials to General Motors. This revival addresses a global supply chain deficit where China controls the vast majority of production, creating a strategic imperative for U.S. domestic manufacturing in the face of a predicted five-year shortage of essential minerals for electrification. Concurrently, the speaker warns that downstream automotive OEMs face a "musical chairs" collapse due to these resource gaps, urging a bipartisan regulatory shift to accelerate domestic mining projects while balancing environmental standards with national security needs.
- All-In Podcast38 min
#AIS: Pear VC’s Mar Hershenson on making successful founders
Mar Hershenson, Chamath, Calacanis, Friedberg
PairVC founder Mara Hershenson argues that while some entrepreneurial success is innate, high-performing peer environments act as catalysts capable of transforming character and ambition to accelerate startup outcomes. Her educational experiments, including the Stanford Startup Simulation and a specialized female founders program, demonstrate that structured exposure to failure and peer friction can replicate the "PayPal Mafia" effect, yielding billions in raised capital and multiple unicorns. Consequently, Hershenson advocates for early interventions and robust founder networks to desensitize individuals to risk and cultivate the resilience required for high-stakes entrepreneurship.
- All-In Podcast39 min
#AIS: Glenn Greenwald & Matt Taibbi discuss the new political divide, moderated by David Sacks
Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, David Sacks, Chamath, Calacanis, Friedberg
Formerly prominent journalists Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi argue that mainstream liberalism has devolved into a coercive orthodoxy that reclassifies dissenters as enemies, a shift driven by Donald Trump and the Democratic establishment's adoption of authoritarian narratives. This ideological fracture has realigned American politics along class and educational lines, leaving the working class alienated by a neoliberal consensus shared by both major parties while media outlets prioritize partisan outrage over objective reporting. The result is a stagnant political system where bipartisan elites protect ruling-class interests, effectively silencing class-based debate and creating conditions for potential systemic instability.
- All-In Podcast34 min
#AIS: Antonio Garcia Martinez & Glenn Greenwald debate Ukraine, moderated by David Sacks
Antonio Garcia Martinez, Glenn Greenwald, David Sacks, Chamath, Calacanis, Friedberg
Antonio Garcia-Martinez and Glenn Greenwald, moderated by David Sack, engaged in a contentious debate regarding U.S. involvement in the Ukraine war, contrasting reports of overwhelming Ukrainian societal mobilization with skepticism about American motives and global consensus. Garcia-Martinez argued that U.S. policy should support Kyiv's territorial integrity without direct intervention to avoid nuclear escalation, while Greenwald contended that Washington is weaponizing the conflict to weaken Russia as a great power, citing NATO expansion and historical U.S. hypocrisy as evidence. The discussion highlighted a fundamental divide over whether the war is a legitimate defense of democracy or a geopolitical maneuver that risks World War III, leaving the definitions of victory and moral credibility heavily contested.
- Goldman Sachs40 min
Eric Adams, Mayor of New York City
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is redefining the city's governance by forging a corporate covenant to accelerate economic recovery and establishing strict performance metrics for agencies like the FDNY and Department of Buildings to reduce bureaucratic delays. To create a foundation for prosperity, his administration is simultaneously addressing public safety through a dual strategy of enforcement and root-cause intervention while launching major infrastructure initiatives such as a new onshore wind port and a Brooklyn-based Cyber Command Center. Anchored in his former law enforcement experience, Mayor Adams aims to transform the city into a globally business-friendly hub that balances fiscal innovation with social cohesion and public health resilience.
- Milken Institute36 min
Permanent Disruption: Navigating the Road Ahead
Dan Carol, Michael Piwowar, Tammie Arnold, Elaine Buckberg, Maurice Jones, Mike Pivovar
The Milken Institute's 2022 Public Finance Forum convened virtual cross-sector innovators to address the $4 trillion public finance sector through infrastructure deployment, ESG integration, and adaptive public-private partnerships. General Motors Chief Economist Elaine Buckberg outlined a resilient U.S. economic outlook marked by 3.9% growth and easing inflation, while OneTen's Maurice Jones highlighted a critical need to dismantle credential barriers to advance Black employment and close the racial wealth gap. Complementing these social and economic themes, the event featured commitments from major automakers toward electrification and Alpha Ledger's introduction of blockchain technology to modernize municipal bond markets for greater efficiency and equity.
- Milken Institute30 min
Managing Through Change: Mayors Weigh In
Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, Michael Hancock, Quinton Lucas
Accelerator for America President Mary Ellen Reeder-Wohl facilitated a public finance forum with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Kansas City Mayor Quentin Lucas to discuss leveraging federal funds for systemic urban transformation. The mayors detailed strategies for redesigning major infrastructure corridors, such as Denver's Colfax Avenue and Kansas City's I-70, to prioritize equitable housing, transit, and business opportunities while preventing community displacement. By framing local projects as regional assets, both leaders emphasized a shared commitment to moving beyond reactive budget maintenance toward proactive solutions for inequality and economic resilience.
- Milken Institute31 min
Show Time for Infrastructure: Accelerating Shovel Worthy Infrastructure Projects
Stacy Swann, Christine Harada, Nathaniel Keohane, Collin O'Mara, Jim Pass
Under the Paris Agreement, the U.S. aims to cut economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 50–52% below 2005 levels by 2030 while addressing a projected $10 trillion infrastructure gap through coordinated federal and private sector investment. Recent multi-agency announcements have accelerated clean energy deployment targets, including 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 and grid modernization initiatives, alongside efforts to unify financial standards and streamline permitting to unlock necessary capital. This strategy relies on bipartisan support for natural climate solutions and the passage of comprehensive legislation like the Build Back Better Act to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 while creating an estimated 1.5 million jobs annually.
- Milken Institute36 min
Equity and ESG for Munis: Risks, Disclosure, and Adoption
Caitlin MacLean, Olivia Albrecht, Lourdes Germán, Gary Hall, Mark Kim, Zoila Jennings
The municipal ESG bond market currently lacks a consistent pricing premium despite $43 billion in outstanding labels, driven by challenges in quantifying social metrics and a reliance on self-verification by 61% of issuers. To address these data gaps and standardization issues, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is launching the Emma Labs analytics platform while seeking enhanced disclosures, and a new $4 million consortium is developing unified racial equity frameworks for municipal financing. Consequently, market participants are being urged to align with international standards and demand greater transparency from asset managers to harmonize taxonomies and improve access for smaller communities.
- Milken Institute30 min
City CFOs Report from the Frontlines of Public Finance
Lois Scott, Brendan Hanlon, Jennie Huang Bennett, Elizabeth Reich, Jenny Bennett
Chicago, Dallas, and Denver successfully navigated post-pandemic fiscal crises by balancing structural deficits with strategic recovery plans, though each city faced distinct challenges regarding pension funding, sales tax volatility, and personnel costs. While Chicago directed $1.2 billion toward community safety and tech-sector growth, Dallas expanded its general fund reserves to 74 days of operations, and Denver prioritized mental health investments to address downtown vacancy rates that peaked at 30%. All three municipalities also adopted proactive cybersecurity frameworks and leveraged federal infrastructure funds to mitigate long-term risks without permanently compromising service levels.
- Y Combinator21 min
Where Do Great Startup Ideas Come From? – Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel
Dalton Caldwell, Michael Seibel
This presentation analyzes how Airbnb, Coinbase, and Stripe succeeded by disrupting mature markets with superior solutions despite facing intense skepticism from investors regarding market viability, regulatory hurdles, and founder inexperience. Each case study highlights how founders leveraged direct personal pain points to identify critical flaws in existing competitors, ultimately overcoming initial rejections through contrarian product strategies and unexpected timing factors like the 2008 financial crisis. The discussion concludes that successful ventures often begin with grossly underestimated market sizes, expanding significantly as new use cases emerge beyond the founders' initial vision.
- Goldman Sachs36 min
Is China Investable?
Allison Nathan, David Lee, Fred Hu, George Magnus, Jude Blanchett
Chinese equities have suffered a $1.5 trillion market capitalization loss since mid-February as regulators aggressively enforce President Xi Jinping's quality growth mandate and reassert Communist Party dominance prior to the 2022 National Party Congress. Experts like George Magnus and Jude Blanchett characterize this shift as a structural move where regulatory bodies prioritize top-down political decisions over consultative processes, creating a bifurcated market that rewards "hard tech" innovation while penalizing "soft tech" consumer internet sectors. Analysts advise that while long-term growth drivers remain robust, investors must navigate increased volatility and political opacity by adopting compliance-focused strategies that separate business decisions from sensitive cultural and media domains.