Latest Interviews
Showing 691–705 of 1,573 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Goldman Sachs22 min
The outlook for global deal-making
Stephan Feldgoise, Mark Sorrell, Alison, Stefan
Goldman Sachs projects a moderate 10–15% year-over-year increase in 2025 M&A activity, driven by falling interest rates and post-pandemic portfolio repositioning rather than a sudden market surge. While private equity capital deployment is recovering and Europe leads a global acceleration in deal volumes, significant headwinds persist due to limited exit options for large assets and lingering geopolitical risks. Strategic consolidation remains the dominant theme across energy, healthcare, and technology sectors as firms prioritize scale and generative AI infrastructure, with the IPO market's revival viewed as critical for capital recycling.
- Goldman Sachs39 min
Navy SEAL turned NASA Astronaut: Chris Cassidy’s journey from sea to space
Chris Cassidy, a former NASA Chief Astronaut and three-time spacewalker, is currently leading a $285 million fundraising campaign to construct a Museum, Monument, and Institute in Arlington, Texas, dedicated to honoring the 3,500 recipients of the Medal of Honor. Scheduled to open on March 25, the facility aims to educate the public on the "service above self" ethos of these recipients by showcasing stories of ordinary individuals performing extraordinary acts, drawing from Cassidy's unique perspective gained through two Navy SEAL deployments and three spaceflights. By shifting the focus from traditional military history to personal narratives of valor, the foundation seeks to make the achievements of Medal of Honor recipients as culturally prominent as those of professional athletes while addressing the broader challenge of fostering national appreciation for these sacrifices.
- Goldman Sachs27 min
Will China’s policy stimulus be enough?
Hui Shan, Michael Pettis, Alison Nathan
Following a disappointing 2023 GDP growth of 5.2% and weakening domestic demand in 2024, Chinese policymakers approved a 10 trillion RMB local government debt swap in November to address fiscal shortfalls while shifting strategy away from infrastructure investment toward consumption-led growth. Experts like Michael Pettis argue that this debt restructuring primarily transfers liabilities to the banking system without solving fundamental imbalances, and that true recovery requires difficult structural adjustments to increase the household sector's share of GDP. Amidst geopolitical risks from potential U.S. tariffs and uncertainty regarding future stimulus, the central government continues to centralize power and manage local asset liquidation to stabilize the economy.
- The Economist22 min
Scholz fired: Germany calls snap election
Scholz, Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Tom Nuttall, Leo Morani, Vingeru Nkandawire
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote following his coalition's collapse, triggering a snap election on February 23rd where opposition leader Friedrich Merz leads in projections to replace him with a platform favoring tax cuts and stricter migration policies. The campaign centers on contentious issues including the constitutional debt break, potential US tariff impacts from the incoming Trump administration, and differing approaches to Ukraine's defense and NATO membership. Meanwhile, domestic challenges such as India's projected solid waste crisis and the resilience of British retailer Fortnum & Mason against rising labor costs highlight concurrent global economic pressures.
- Milken Institute38 min
Harnessing the Rising Tide of Digital Finance | Middle East and Africa Summit 2024
Nicole Valentine, Olugbenga (GB) Agboola, Melvin Deng, Gal Krubiner, Caroline D. Pham
Moderated by Nicole Valentine of the Milken Institute, a panel featuring QCP's Melvin, Pagaya's Gal, Flutterwave's Gb, and CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham examined the convergence of digital assets, AI-driven lending, and African payment infrastructure. The discussion highlighted a strategic shift from skepticism to innovation, featuring QCP's GCC expansion, Pagaya's $25 billion private credit impact, and Flutterwave's development of interoperable cross-border systems that position Africa as a global payment hub. Commissioner Pham further outlined the CFTC's new digital asset taxonomy and regulatory partnerships designed to facilitate 24/7 settlement and align US policy with global financial standards.
- The Economist27 min
Off-side: Georgians reject new president
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Sarah Larniuk, Tim Cross, Maria Vilcek
In Tbilisi, escalating protests driven by democratic demands and opposition to oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili have forced the Georgian government to shift from violent crackdowns to legal intimidation following a contested presidential election and EU accession delays. Meanwhile, the incoming US administration faces complex political inertia in potentially slashing the $93 billion NASA Artemis program, as cost inefficiencies clash with entrenched congressional support for the Space Launch System across multiple states. Concurrently, the classic martini cocktail is experiencing a cultural resurgence due to its historical resilience and adaptability, with modern consumers favoring high-quality, home-mixable versions over declining general alcohol consumption trends.
How Lucy Guo Is Building A Creator Empire with Shaq, Kygo & Olivia Dunne | Passes
Lucy Guo, Shaq, Kygo, Olivia Dunne, Molly
Founder Lucy has relocated to Los Angeles to oversee the expansion of Passes, a creator economy platform now operating from a 20,000-square-foot facility designed to support direct fan-to-creator monetization. The company, which recently secured approximately $50 million in funding led by Crossbeam Ventures, currently retains a diverse talent roster including Shaq and Kygo while leveraging granular CRM data to optimize subscription tiers and niche market verticals. Passes aims to achieve a $1 billion valuation and a potential IPO within the decade by prioritizing high-engagement super fans and introducing fintech solutions alongside its core content creation infrastructure.
- Milken Institute42 min
Energy Transition: Critical Minerals, Climate Tech, & Policy Shifts | Middle East and Africa Summit
John Defterios, His Excellency Majid Al Suwaidi, Lucie Berger, Frank Fannon, Oskar Lewnowski, Bob Wilt, Majid Al Suwaidi
Launched by the UAE, the $30 billion Alira Initiative seeks to mobilize $250 billion in private capital by 2030 to bridge the investment gap in the Global South, where 85% of current transition funding flows to the North. The program targets critical bottlenecks in the energy supply chain, specifically addressing the decade-long permitting delays and geopolitical concentration of critical minerals that currently hinder gigafactory development. By combining a de-risked investment structure with a focus on modernizing the mining sector's public image, the initiative aims to secure a resilient, technology-driven future for clean energy while challenging the dominance of existing supply chains.
- Y Combinator38 min
2024: The Year the GPT Wrapper Myth Proved Wrong
Jared Harge, Diana, Harj, Lily Yang, Cheng Cheng, Suk Peng, Yiu, Francesc Campoy Flores, Priyanka Vergadia, Anan, Mark Mandelbaum, Melanie Warrick, Mark Mirchandani, Gary Miles, Leslie Kendrick Magnuson, Harjit
The 2024 startup landscape shifted toward capital-efficient growth, where companies like Opus Clip and Perplexity achieved tens of millions in revenue with under $5M in funding by leveraging open-source models and vertical-specific applications. Enterprise adoption accelerated as AI agents attained enterprise-scale reliability, driving a record-breaking aggregate weekly growth rate of 10% for YC batches while converting pilots to revenue at unprecedented speeds. This ecosystem revival was fueled by regulatory relief, a resurgence of in-person Silicon Valley activity, and a strategic pivot from model monopoly to multi-model orchestration that prioritized product execution over raw compute ownership.
- a16z40 min
Building a $20B+ Open Source Business with MongoDB and Viam's Eliot Horowitz
Elliot Horowitz outlines a transformative go-to-market strategy that prioritizes organic developer adoption and open-source stability to drive enterprise sales in the database sector. By combining guerrilla marketing, immediate value demonstrations, and a "bottom-up" approach where engineers validate technology before executive buy-in, this model bypasses traditional sales cycles to secure long-term viability. The resulting framework leverages cloud-based consumption pricing and community education to scale from hobbyist projects into critical, mission-critical enterprise infrastructure.
- The Economist22 min
Minds blown: are we getting dumber?
Rosie Bloor, Mark Johnson, Duncan Weldon, Anne Rowe
A decade-old OECD survey reveals that one-fifth of adults globally lack functional skills needed for employment, with Finland leading rankings while cognitive scores decline in the US and Italy. Meanwhile, Russia's economy grew by 3.6% despite sanctions, forcing its central bank to raise interest rates to 21% to curb inflation and stabilize the falling ruble against the Chinese yuan. In a historical note, Shalom Nagar, the Israeli prison officer who executed Adolf Eichmann in 1962, has died after suffering severe trauma from the act before finding spiritual solace through Jewish concepts of good deeds.
- Goldman Sachs33 min
Investing in Sports: Women’s Sports and the Future
Nicole Pullen Ross, Stacy Sonnenberg, Willow Bay
Goldman Sachs' Stacey Sonnenberg attributes the surging valuation of women's sports to decades of Title IX investment and rising media rights, projecting that WNBA and NWSL franchises could match men's league peers within two decades through patient capital. High-profile acquisitions like Angel City FC's $250 million sale to Bob Iger and Willow Bay highlight strategic shifts toward direct-to-consumer revenue and global expansion to address current market gaps. As ownership groups prioritize facility upgrades and diverse sponsorship activations, the industry anticipates converging growth rates despite a persistent valuation gap between current women's and men's teams.
- a16z25 min
Mastering Your Data with Sajith Wickramasekara
Sajith Wickramasekara, Jorge Conde, Jay Rughani
Founded in 2012 by a software engineer before CRISPR's mainstream adoption, Benchling has scaled into a platform serving over 200,000 scientists across 32 countries with $200 million in annualized revenue. The company evolved from a productivity tool into an essential data infrastructure provider, addressing the critical lack of structured data required to unlock AI's potential for accelerating drug discovery and manufacturing. Future strategies focus on unifying this aggregated data into a cohesive ecosystem to optimize therapeutic development from molecule design through clinical approval.
- The Economist26 min
Intel in slide: a chipmaker on the ropes
Jason Palmer, Shailesh Chitnis, Sarah Lorniuk, John Fasman
Following a $16.5 billion quarterly loss and a 60% stock decline, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger faces potential removal as the semiconductor giant struggles with missed technological inflection points and a failed foundry restructuring strategy. While the company seeks over $100 billion in public and private funding to maintain its role in advanced chip manufacturing, legal and political hurdles complicate potential acquisitions or spin-offs amid geopolitical tensions with China. Simultaneously, the International Criminal Court is examining a Lithuanian referral alleging crimes against humanity by the Belarusian regime, a move that could set a legal precedent for investigating non-signatory states while viral food trends continue to disrupt global supply chains and reshape the culinary entertainment industry.
- a16z32 min
How Zapier Became Profitable in 3 Years and Scaled to $5B with Wade Foster
Founded in 2011 by Wade Foster, Brian, and Mike while at Veterans United, Zapier emerged from a hackathon to help non-technical users integrate SaaS tools like Salesforce and MailChimp. The team achieved early traction by manually engaging forum users, securing their first paying customer Andrew Warner through rapid custom development, and eventually validating demand to gain entry into Y Combinator. By prioritizing a functional, "hand-to-hand" customer obsession over polished products, the founders built a repeatable growth engine that allowed them to scale from a Missouri side project to a national success without traditional venture capital.