Latest Interviews
Showing 1051–1065 of 1,932 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- Y Combinator21 min
The Hard Conversations Founders Don't Want to Have
Michael Seibel, Dalton Caldwell
This session outlines the critical shift from superficial validation to high-stakes, uncomfortable dialogue between YC partners and founders, emphasizing that true advisory value lies in delivering honest feedback that prevents catastrophic errors. The discussion details how to navigate common "questions behind the questions" in founder interactions, manage co-founder conflicts through adapted communication styles, and maintain transparency with employees to prevent relationship fractures. Ultimately, the event establishes that effective leadership requires partners to leverage their own past mistakes to guide startups through difficult decisions without relying on infallible authority.
- Goldman Sachs31 min
Are we on the cusp of a generative AI revolution?
Eric Sheridan, Kash Rangan, Allison Nathan
Goldman Sachs experts predict a rapid 12 to 18-month acceleration in consumer-facing generative AI, shifting technology from predictive forecasting to autonomous content creation that drives enterprise productivity and labor market transformation. This evolution will consolidate market power among established cloud infrastructure giants while redefining search and software interfaces through conversational models and automated workflows across supply chain management and creative sectors. Although high development barriers and ethical safeguards will shape the landscape, the sector is projected to expand its global economic share by replacing traditional information retrieval with actionable, natural-language solutions that augment rather than solely replace human labor.
Zach Lawryk: The Ultimate Guide to Sales Engineering | E980
The evolving sales landscape necessitates a strategic pivot from controlling the process to buyer enablement, requiring Sales Engineers to act as technical experts who tie solutions to business value while Account Executives manage the final close. Organizations typically hire their first Sales Engineer when sales teams reach five to seven representatives or when deal complexity exceeds the sales rep's technical capacity, establishing a 5:1 ratio with a 70/30 compensation split to align incentives. Success in this model depends on hiring candidates who blend technical depth with sales empathy and adopting short-form, multi-channel content strategies to capture attention in a saturated digital environment.
- Goldman Sachs36 min
Emma Grede, CEO and Co-founder of Good American with Kim Posnett
Emma Greed leverages early-career naivety and a customer-centric strategy to co-found Good American and Skims, successfully filling a $10 billion market gap for inclusively sized apparel while prioritizing rigorous product quality over celebrity endorsements. As Chairwoman of the 15% Pledge, she mandates non-negotiable diversity across operations and supply chains, generating billions in opportunity for Black-owned businesses and driving record-breaking revenues like Skims' $100 million in six months. Greed's leadership philosophy rejects traditional work-life balance in favor of immediate community feedback and a resilient board structure, ensuring that corporate citizenship and inclusive sizing remain central to long-term brand survival.
- Goldman Sachs36 min
Why investors are leaning into alternatives: Apollo’s Marc Rowan
Apollo Global Management CEO Mark Rowan details the firm's strategic integration with its subsidiary Athene, a move that created the world's largest retirement services business and positioned Apollo to double its investment-grade credit business within five years. Facing a structural shift where institutional investors supply over 80% of debt capital, the firm is scaling capacity to replace waning bank liquidity while targeting $1 trillion in assets under management by 2026. This transition is driven by a culture of intellectual insubordination and deep mentorship, aiming to capture returns in alternative asset classes that are becoming increasingly dominant as public market alpha diminishes.
- a16z21 min
Autonomy & Defense Policy in the 21st Century
Chris Brose, Mike Gallagher, Jacob Helberg
Chris Burrows and Gallagher argue that the wars in Ukraine and emerging threats in Asia necessitate a rapid industrial shift from expensive manned systems to scalable, expendable autonomous technologies to avoid strategic depletion against adversaries with superior economic capacity. They highlight critical vulnerabilities in the U.S. defense industrial base, specifically regarding unsustainable munitions consumption, reliance on Chinese-controlled supply chains for energetics and semiconductors, and the urgent need to modernize manufacturing through tools like the Defense Production Act. With the 2020s identified as a decade of maximum danger, particularly concerning Taiwan, the speakers advocate for immediate stockpiling, AUKUS collaboration on energetic materials, and policy reforms to bridge the capability gap before key strategic assets become operational in the late 2020s.
- Goldman Sachs24 min
A Conversation With Will Ahmed, Founder and CEO of WHOOP
Founded by Will Ahmed at Harvard's Innovation Labs, Whoop utilizes a wearable sensor capturing up to 1,000 times more physiological data than competitors to generate recovery scores that track metrics like heart rate variability and sleep quality. This continuous monitoring has enabled medical breakthroughs in predicting preterm birth and detecting COVID-19 infections before symptoms appear, while the company's subscription model and endorsement-free strategy secured adoption by elite athletes such as LeBron James. By shifting healthcare from a curative to a preventative model, the technology now guides users toward lifestyle improvements and has facilitated life-saving interventions for conditions like heart attacks through early anomaly detection.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
Will Guidara, Restaurateur and Former Co-Owner of Make It Nice Hospitality Group
Over an eleven-year tenure from 2006 to 2017, Will Guidara elevated Eleven Madison Park from a two-star brasserie to the world's number one restaurant by pioneering his "unreasonable hospitality" philosophy that prioritizes guest emotional connection over culinary perfection alone. Guidara dismantled rigid hierarchies and implemented radical operational strategies, such as the "Dream Weaver" role and a proactive dessert trolley, which drove a 300% increase in dessert sales and secured a four-star rating from critic Frank Bruni. This transformative leadership not only navigated the 2008 recession through community building but also established a cultural framework that continues to redefine industry standards by empowering staff to create personalized guest experiences.
The Ultimate Guide for Building a Two-Sided Marketplace | a16z's Jeff Jordan
This event analyzes the critical mechanics of successful marketplaces, emphasizing how aggregating fragmented supply creates defensible moats while avoiding the channel conflicts inherent in owning inventory. Participants examine unit economics and capital efficiency, contrasting sustainable models with long payment-to-execution cycles against capital-inefficient strategies that fuel destructive price wars. The discussion further details how specific cohort retention metrics and strategic timing can determine whether a platform overcomes the cold start problem or succumbs to negative network effects.
- Goldman Sachs27 min
As China reopens, what’s ahead for commodities in 2023?
Goldman Sachs economists project a 43% rally in commodities during 2023, driven by a convergence of China's economic rebound, persistent supply constraints, and a structural underinvestment cycle that mirrors the bullish conditions of 2007. Key demand drivers include a surge in Chinese oil and copper consumption alongside Europe's urgent need for energy capacity, while OPEC's pricing power remains elevated due to limited spare production outside the Gulf region. Consequently, the report positions the complex as a superior hedge against inflation and market volatility, with copper offering a steadier risk-adjusted return compared to the higher volatility expected in oil markets.
- Goldman Sachs31 min
What’s ahead for economies and markets in 2023?
Jan Hatzius, Dominic Wilson, Alison Nathan
Goldman Sachs projects a 35% probability of a U.S. recession in 2023 despite a baseline forecast for positive growth driven by cooling inflation and a labor market correction via reduced job openings. The firm anticipates Federal Reserve funds rates peaking between 5% and 5.25% by May, followed by a pause and potential cuts in late 2024 as inflation targets 3%. While U.S. equity valuations remain constrained by tight labor and rich pricing, emerging markets and Europe offer deeper discounts supported by anticipated global growth recovery and a structurally weakening dollar.
- Y Combinator29 min
The Secrets To Setting Smarter Goals
Michael Seibel, Dalton Caldwell, Michael Saibo
Founders who establish goals lacking strategic substance or rely on vanity metrics often incur "stupid prizes" such as loss of control, unsustainable burn rates, and irreversible reputational damage. The event details how aggressive targets, fake success narratives, and unethical shortcuts lead to catastrophic outcomes including board intervention, mass layoffs, and customer fraud. Conversely, the analysis emphasizes that disciplined, reality-based goal setting transforms founders into effective execution machines while fostering a culture of genuine organizational growth.
- Goldman Sachs22 min
M&A in 2023: A complex but optimistic outlook for deal-making
Stephan Feldgoise, Mark Sorrell, Alison Nathan, Stefan Felgoys
The 2022 M&A market experienced a sharp downturn in the second half driven by rising interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty, which caused private equity activity to slow while strategic deals and mega-transactions remained resilient due to strong balance sheets. As valuation gaps widened between public and private sectors, boards shifted their focus from growth multiples to cost of capital, prompting a surge in structured transactions and increased activism targeting operational improvements. Looking toward 2023, Goldman Sachs projects a recovery fueled by record private capital liquidity and attractive valuations, provided financing markets stabilize enough to allow debt syndication without prolonged deal delays.
- Y Combinator24 min
Critiquing Startup Websites With Webflow CEO
Aaron Group conducted a comprehensive audit of four diverse startups—Oda Studio, Flycode, Colossian, and Artifact—to evaluate how effectively their digital messaging communicates value to target audiences. The analysis highlighted critical successes in using immediate demos for AI services like Colossian and emotional storytelling for Artifact, while identifying recurring failures in audience confusion and unclear value propositions at Oda Studio and Flycode. Based on these findings, the review established a framework prioritizing above-the-fold clarity, functional demonstrations, and consolidated narratives to optimize conversion and trust across the product landscape.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
What’s next for crypto regulations?
Jay Clayton, Timothy Massad, Marcel Kasumovich, Gary Gorton, Alison Nathan
Following the collapse of major industry players like FTX, former SEC Chair Jay Clayton and former CFTC Chair Timothy Massad advocate for immediate joint standards and a self-regulatory organization to address jurisdictional gaps while enforcing existing laws. This proposed framework aims to balance innovation with investor protection by establishing common rules for asset custody and fraud prevention, despite ongoing debate over whether the current regulatory environment suffers from a lack of clarity or inadequate federal oversight. While experts agree on the resilience of underlying blockchain technology, consensus is shifting toward the imminent introduction of stablecoin regulations and potential Central Bank Digital Currencies to mitigate systemic financial risks.