Latest Interviews
Showing 61–75 of 541 transcripts.
Clear all filters- a16z27 min
How to Reorg After AI Changes Everything | Block's Owen Jennings on the a16z Show
Block reduced its workforce by over 40% with a specific focus on engineering and product roles to transition from a hierarchical model to an agentic, squad-based structure. This strategic pivot leverages proprietary tools like the "Goose" harness and autonomous "Builder Bot" to achieve productivity gains of up to 100x while maintaining P0 reliability and an intact compliance team. The company aims to redefine its competitive moat through deep domain data expertise and generative UI, anticipating a market expansion that offsets the reduction in traditional development headcount.
- Milken Institute30 min
Leading Through Volatility: Strategies for Agility and Resilience | Global Investors' Symposium 2026
Laura Deal Lacey, Rania Al-Mashat, Kenneth Gaw, Michael Smith, Kenny Ga
Panelists at a high-level economic forum analyze how a cascade of geopolitical shocks in early 2026, including US military interventions and strained alliances, has fundamentally altered the global investment landscape. Experts like Kenny Ga and Michael Smith detail a strategic pivot toward diversified "China plus one" industrial real estate, distressed corporate assets in Hong Kong, and infrastructure critical for AI resilience. The discussion concludes that future economic success relies on balancing rapid agility with strategic patience while navigating a multipolar technology environment where energy security and human capital define competitive advantage.
- Milken Institute30 min
A Look Inside Winning Strategies: The New Business of Sports | Global Investors' Symposium 2026
Emily Chan Tan, Marc Lasry, Oliver Weisberg
Blue Pool Capital's inaugural $1 billion fund and panelists Mark Lazzari and Oliver Weisberg address the transformation of the global sports industry into a formal asset class driven by institutional private equity and soaring franchise valuations. The discussion outlines investment strategies targeting undervalued teams, the exponential growth potential in women's sports and Asian markets, and the operational shift toward integrating AI while leveraging real estate synergies. By contrasting the financial return horizons of private equity funds with the competitive priorities of controlling owners, the event highlights how professionalization and technology are reshaping a sector currently valued at $2.3 trillion.
- Milken Institute44 min
Global Overview: Capital in a Changing World | Global Investors' Symposium 2026
Chery Kang, Aaron Costello, Christopher Ganis, Kevin Lu, Hoi Tung
A panel of global investment leaders, including Hoi Han-Wee and Kevin Schneider, reassessed portfolio strategies by pivoting away from heavy U.S. exposure toward ASEAN and China amidst geopolitical volatility and a thaw in investment sentiment. The discussion highlighted structural opportunities in China's advanced manufacturing and biotechnology sectors while warning that Middle East tensions and AI market corrections require a shift toward energy security, infrastructure, and diversified private credit assets. Ultimately, the group consensus points to a long-term deployment of capital into raw material proximity and regional supply chains to mitigate geopolitical fragmentation and capture returns in "boring" but predictable sectors.
- Milken Institute37 min
Prediction Markets: New Players, New Rules | Future of Finance 2026
Lydia Beyoud, Keli Callaghan, JB Mackenzie, Sean Patrick Maloney, Patrick McHenry
Panelists and regulators discussed the 300x growth of prediction markets as a mainstream tool replacing traditional polls, emphasizing the need for a unified federal framework under the CFTC to prevent a fragmented regulatory landscape. While addressing consumer protection and recent geopolitical contract controversies, the industry advocated for treating event contracts as financial products rather than gambling and supported legislation like Congressman Richie Torres' bill to ban insider trading by government officials. Future developments are projected to shift from binary betting toward AI-driven non-binary liquidity pools and global expansion, driven by technological convergence and a focus on hedging for small businesses rather than sports wagering.
- Milken Institute41 min
The Genius Effect: Stablecoins Take the Stage | Future of Finance 2026
Daniel Gorfine, Lauren Belive, Robin Cook, Michael Greenwald, Eugene Ludwig, Caroline D. Pham, Carol Engfam
The recent panel explored the intersection of the newly enacted "Genius Act," which establishes a prudential stablecoin framework while restricting direct issuer interest, and emerging market dynamics where institutions are increasingly adopting stablecoins for settlement and collateral. Speakers including Robin Cook of Coinbase and Michael Greenwald from AWS highlighted how AI-driven agentic payments and secure cloud infrastructure are driving a projected $1 trillion market by 2030, while simultaneously positioning tokenized dollars as a geopolitical tool for global reserve status. Despite consensus on the integration of digital assets into traditional finance, experts diverged on regulatory timelines, with some predicting amendments to allow issuer interest by 2027 while others remained skeptical of immediate legislative shifts.
- Milken Institute22 min
Global Economic Outlook: A Conversation with Dan Katz | Future of Finance 2026
The IMF warns that escalating Gulf conflict introduces significant inflation and growth risks by disrupting energy markets and straining fragile economies, necessitating cautious monetary responses based on the duration of the instability. Simultaneously, the Fund highlights excessive global external imbalances, specifically criticizing the United States' large current account deficit and China's reliance on weak domestic consumption, while urging structural shifts to reduce trade tensions. In parallel, the IMF addresses the emerging stablecoin ecosystem, noting its potential for financial inclusion alongside risks of banking disintermediation, and reaffirms the US dollar's enduring central role in the international monetary system despite recent market deleveraging.
- a16z32 min
Palantir CEO on Iran, AI Weapons and American Domination | a16z American Dynamism Summit
Palantir CEO Alex Karp outlines a new global reality defined by the U.S. victory in Operation Epic Fury and the subsequent death of Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei, framing the conflict as a binary struggle where American success relies on integrating AI and software into warfighting technology. Karp warns Silicon Valley that prioritizing job automation over national defense could trigger government nationalization of the tech sector, urging the industry to align with Palantir's meritocratic, anti-surveillance philosophy to avoid state intervention. Ultimately, he asserts that preserving American liberties requires a cultural shift where tech leaders and the public recognize the existential stakes of the AI race and fully support the military institution.
Thomas Laffont, Coatue - Anthropic, Citrini Paper, AI Volatility & Next Mag 7
Thomas Lafont and the Kotu firm, managing over $100 billion in assets, predict that private AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic will dominate the next major market indices as SaaS valuations face re-rating pressures from decelerating growth. While anticipating significant IPOs within 24 months and a shift toward "Big Fucking Ideas" that expand total addressable markets, Lafont argues that AI will enhance engineering productivity rather than reduce headcount, following a historical model of market expansion similar to the introduction of ATMs. The firm actively applies these insights by integrating coding-first AI tools into their due diligence while advocating for democratized access to private equity to capture the exponential growth of early adopters like Clock Code.
- Milken Institute27 min
Conversation with SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig | Future of Finance 2026
Paul Atkins, Michael Selig, Michael Piwowar
SEC Chairman Atkins and CFTC Chairman Selig are dismantling a fragmented regulatory landscape by establishing a joint taxonomy and "truce" to clearly distinguish tokenized securities from digital commodities while preventing duplicative enforcement. The agencies are simultaneously modernizing capital formation through disclosure streamlining, approving perpetual crypto futures, and accelerating on-chain settlement to reverse declining IPO trends. These collaborative initiatives aim to provide statutory durability in a post-Loper Bright environment by fostering a single primary regulator framework that retains global liquidity and innovation.
- Goldman Sachs23 min
Sentiment Shifts on AI Capex Spend
Tony Pasquariello, Joshua Schiffrin, Dominic Wilson, Josh
Global equity markets are diverging as overseas regions, particularly Japan and South Korea, surge to new highs while U.S. indices trade sideways amid intense skepticism regarding AI profitability and debt-fueled capital expenditure. This rally is driven by a structural expectation that artificial intelligence will ultimately induce disinflation, prompting investors to reallocate capital into non-U.S. assets even as the Federal Reserve holds rates steady through mid-year. Currency and bond markets are simultaneously adjusting to anticipated policy normalization, with a weakening U.S. dollar and steepening yield curves reflecting a consensus that growth in Asia will dominate the coming macro regime.
- Milken Institute43 min
Demystifying Korea and Japan: Parallel Paths and Practical Partnerships | Asia Summit 2025
Avril Hong, Chee Kong Choun, James Kim, Kenji Kobayashi, John-Paul (Jaeho) Yun
Amidst shared demographic challenges and intense competition from China, Japanese and South Korean firms are forging strategic alliances to leverage complementary strengths in manufacturing and soft power. These cross-border partnerships prioritize deploying AI within localized vertical industries rather than competing in foundational models, while simultaneously pursuing M&A consolidation and expansion into the US, ASEAN, and European markets to secure global capital and growth. Private sector leaders are driving this transformation to bypass domestic stagnation, aiming to monetize decades of accumulated industrial data and establish a unified front against US and Chinese tech dominance.
- Milken Institute44 min
Global Real Estate: Repricing Risk, Rethinking Strategy | Asia Summit 2025
Curtis S. Chin, Michelle Martin, Stuart Crow, Goodwin Gaw, Kishore Moorjani, Hsueh Ling Ng
Global real estate capital is rapidly migrating from traditional office space to invisible infrastructure like data centers and battery storage, driven by AI compute demands and supply chain regionalization strategies. While distress in the office sector and record interest rates are forcing asset re-purposing and wealth consolidation, innovative financing models including private credit and tokenization are unlocking new liquidity for investors. Market experts highlight specific opportunities in Asia-Pacific hubs, Hong Kong's gateway role, and the residential living sector as the primary engines for future yield and resilience amidst shifting geopolitical and technological landscapes.
- Milken Institute24 min
A Conversation with BTG Chairman, André Esteves | Global Investors' Symposium São Paulo 2025
André Esteves, Christiane Pelajo, Cris
Global market volatility driven by US policy shifts and a K-shaped economic divergence has elevated Brazil's strategic position as a neutral food and data hub leveraging its clean energy matrix. While AI capital expenditures are reshaping the industrial landscape, the speaker projects Brazilian interest rates to fall from 15% to a 7–11% range provided the government implements a 2% of GDP fiscal adjustment to resolve macroeconomic contradictions. Ultimately, the nation's future prosperity hinges on replacing social aid with formal labor incentives and utilizing deep capital markets to fund infrastructure independent of external geopolitical luck.
- Milken Institute30 min
Progress with Purpose | Asia Summit 2025
Martin Soong, Hadi Badri, Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara
Dubai's leadership identifies organizational inertia as a primary risk, responding with a rapid adaptation strategy that combines three-year plans with daily data-driven adjustments to maintain a high-performance standard. Amidst a fragmented global economy marked by rising nationalism and supply chain reconfiguration, the emirate has secured a 60% year-over-year surge in foreign direct investment by positioning itself as a permanent global hub for talent and capital. This growth is further accelerated by a robust artificial intelligence framework prioritizing small language models and regulatory agility, alongside progressive visa policies that have established the UAE within the top ten globally for AI talent density.