Latest Interviews
Showing 1411–1425 of 1,548 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Y Combinator26 min
Announcing Work at a Startup
Jared Friedman, Matt Long, Craig Cannon
Scheduled for July, the Work at a Startup conference reunites Y Combinator partners Justin Kahn and Sam Altman with over 80% of the accelerator's hiring companies for a scaled event featuring 35 pitches across software, robotics, and deep tech. Attendees will engage directly with startups ranging from unicorns like Instacart to early-stage hardware firms offering roles in AI, DevOps, and co-founder positions, while also viewing live hardware demonstrations from entities such as Starsky Robotics. The gathering addresses critical market trends including remote work expansion, equity transparency, and the shifting definition of startup engineering to counter traditional compensation gaps.
- Goldman Sachs45 min
Paul Tudor Jones: Investing in a More “JUST” World
Paul Tudor Jones, Lloyd Blankfein
Hedge fund legend Henry Jones, following his 1980 founding of Tudor Investment Corp, warns of impending market corrections driven by derivative structures, negative real interest rates, and unsustainable fiscal policies that mimic the 1987 crash. Leveraging his insights on economic volatility, Jones has shifted his focus to social impact by launching the Robin Hood Foundation and co-founding Just Capital to redefine corporate success through public-prioritized metrics like employee treatment and customer care. His research demonstrates that companies adhering to these "just" principles outperform traditional benchmarks while simultaneously addressing wealth inequality and poverty, proving that ethical practices can generate superior financial alpha.
- Goldman Sachs23 min
Darren Star: From "Sex and the City" to "Younger": Coming of Age on Television
Speaker Aaron established a transformative television legacy by creating *90210*, *Melrose Place*, and *Sex and the City*, which collectively shifted network standards to embrace serialized storytelling, diverse representation, and female-centric narratives. His production strategy consistently prioritized controversial content and "found families" to challenge industry norms, directly influencing the cultural landscape and forcing *90210* to evolve from an issue-of-the-week format into a character-driven soap opera. Currently, he applies these foundational principles to *Younger*, leveraging streaming platforms to craft bingeable content that explores generational divides and encourages creative risk-taking in the modern media environment.
- Goldman Sachs35 min
Oskar Eustis: From "Hair" to "Hamilton": The Promise of The Public Theater
For thirteen years, Artistic Director Oskar Justus has guided The Public Theater to democratize storytelling, championing works like *Angels in America*, *Fun Home*, and *Hamilton* that bridge social divides through shared human narratives. By commissioning visionary artists such as Tony Kushner and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Justus fostered productions that transformed specific cultural moments into universal experiences, proving that theater can intervene in the national conversation by building identity across class and ethnic lines. This institutional legacy reflects Justus's evolution from radical protest to sustainable arts leadership, prioritizing the power of story to connect diverse audiences regardless of their background.
- Goldman Sachs23 min
Jeremy Lin on His Unconventional Brand and Basketball Career
Brooklyn Nets guard Jeremy Lin is returning to the NBA after a two-year hiatus, explicitly framing his comeback through the lens of his Asian-American underdog identity and a strategic rejection of polarized media expectations. Drawing on a foundation built by his family's financial sacrifices and his own conversion to authenticity, Lin leverages social media to challenge stereotypes while balancing his athletic career with a commitment to Christian faith and future philanthropy focused on women's empowerment and education. Although he acknowledges ongoing physical uncertainties, the former Harvard graduate aims to sustain a public persona that integrates his diverse interests, including gaming and design, to advocate for global issues beyond his time on the court.
- a16z22 min
In Conversation: Netflix' Ted Sarandos and Marc Andreessen
During an exploration of Netflix's evolution from a domestic DVD service to a global streaming giant, the interviewee details the strategic tension between Silicon Valley data metrics and Hollywood creative instincts. Under Reed Hastings' guidance, the company pioneered a model that treats showrunners like startup founders, granting autonomous control to greenlight approximately 220 original projects annually with a rejection rate of 99%. This approach has enabled the production of authentic local content from 19 countries, successfully countering fears of cultural homogenization while managing the inherent risks of "false negatives" in an industry where successful adaptations often diverge significantly from their original pitches.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
Eric Schmidt: The Artificial Intelligence Revolution
Goldman Sachs accelerates its cloud migration to leverage superior cybersecurity and specialized hardware for AI workloads, while the broader industry shifts toward data-driven deep learning that prioritizes scale over algorithmic provability. This transition enables "savant systems" in fields like healthcare and finance to automate trial-and-error processes, supported by a global talent market increasingly dominated by computer science graduates. Although these technologies promise to democratize expert-level capabilities through on-device and cloud computing, their adoption faces monetization hurdles and ongoing geopolitical competition, particularly from China.
- Goldman Sachs21 min
Diana B. Henriques: “A First-Class Catastrophe”: Lessons Learned from Black Monday
Diana B. Henriques, Sharmin Mosavaramani
This analysis juxtaposes the 1987 Black Monday crash, driven by opaque portfolio insurance strategies and fragmented regulation, with modern market vulnerabilities amplified by trillion-dollar asset managers and enduring regulatory silos. It further examines the psychological profile of Bernie Madoff, highlighting his pathological fear of failure and the spontaneous nature of his fraud's collapse, while detailing the HBO film "Wizard of Lies" production that secured Robert De Niro's casting through authentic in-prison dynamics. Together, these case studies illustrate how historical market failures and individual pathologies continue to inform contemporary debates on financial transparency and systemic risk.
- Goldman Sachs20 min
John A. Farrell: The Life, Legacy and Lessons of Richard Nixon
John A. Farrell, Richard Nixon, Jake Seward, Jack Farrell
Journalist Jack Farrell's biography reexamines Richard Nixon by contrasting his resilient childhood trauma and early friendship with John F. Kennedy against his calculated ambition and the fatal "Chennault Affair." The narrative details how Nixon's secret taping system and subsequent admission of Watergate involvement transformed a political scandal into an unprecedented impeachment crisis fueled by his "uncontrolled cruelty" during the final days of his presidency. Farrell ultimately frames Nixon's arc as a Shakespearean tragedy where a tragic flaw derived from his humble origins and a vow to never be out-cheated again led inevitably to his downfall.
- Goldman Sachs20 min
Josh Silverman: The Future of the “Etsy Economy”
Amidst stock pressure and executive departures, CEO Josh Silverman restructured Etsy by consolidating operations into twenty-six high-priority initiatives while reducing the workforce by twenty percent to accelerate execution. The company abandoned fragmented metrics in favor of Gross Merchandise Sales as the sole success indicator, prioritizing immediate market expansion over short-term profitability. This turnaround strategy utilized rigorous risk management and a mission-driven culture to address growth deceleration, positioning Etsy to defend its marketplace moat against orthogonal competitors.
- Goldman Sachs30 min
Chris Hughes on Founding Facebook and Fighting Inequality
Former Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes is launching the "Fair Shot" initiative to provide $500 monthly payments to 60 million working adults earning under $50,000 annually, aiming to eradicate poverty without dismantling existing social safety nets. Funded by a 50% marginal tax rate on the targeted demographic and capital gains, this policy shifts the economic paradigm from charity to a guaranteed income floor designed to counteract the destabilizing effects of automation and income inequality. Simultaneously, Hughes leverages his history as a tech executive to advocate for strict data rights legislation and a user-owned data dividend, positioning his campaign as a dual front against both corporate monopolies and systemic poverty.
- Y Combinator28 min
Kieran Snyder of Textio at the Seattle Female Founders Conference
Founded in 2014 by linguists and Microsoft veterans Kieran Snyder and Jensen Harris, Textio has developed a machine-learning platform that analyzes 350 million job postings to predict engagement and reduce bias. The company recently pivoted its pricing to a flat-fee enterprise model and formed data partnerships with major clients like Amazon and Johnson & Johnson to accelerate revenue growth. With a workforce that is 50% female or non-binary, Textio aims to expand its "augmented writing" capabilities beyond HR to eventually challenge major office software providers in a planned IPO within seven years.
- a16z27 min
Shifting Risk Mindsets, from Tech to Bio
Jorge Conde, Vijay Pande, Jeff Low, Jeffrey Lowe
Bio-hybrid startups face critical challenges in translating novel technologies to traditional biological partners and avoiding the "death by a thousand pilots" trap through strategic deal structures. Founders must carefully position their platforms to capture value in high-impact areas like Phase III failure prediction while isolating asset risks via legal separation to prevent resource drain. Successful execution requires a hybrid approach to funding and partnership, where founders bridge the linguistic gap between tech and bio communities to align reimbursement models with long-term investor expectations.
- Goldman Sachs41 min
Sir Richard Branson: Leading with Vision and Taking on Challenges
Sir Richard Branson, David Solomon, John F.W. Rogers, Kevin McCarthy, Tyler Perry, Danny Meyer, Sarah Kauss, Wilbur L. Ross, Sara Blakely, Michael Bloomberg, Gina Raimondo, Rick Snyder, Marco Rubio, Lloyd Blankfein, Warren Buffett
Richard Branson founded Virgin Group in the 1970s by launching Student magazine and Virgin Records despite operating within a state-dominated British economy, eventually pivoting from retail and aviation to space exploration and sustainable energy. Under his leadership, the conglomerate expanded into major ventures like Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Galactic, and Virgin Orbit while simultaneously addressing global challenges through Virgin Unite and geothermal initiatives in the Caribbean. Branson's strategy combines aggressive risk mitigation, such as lease clauses for aircraft returns, with a people-centric corporate culture that prioritizes employee well-being and entrepreneurial problem-solving.
- Goldman Sachs29 min
A Conversation with Lloyd Blankfein
Lloyd Blankfein, Dr. Gail Mellow, John F.W. Rogers, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Tyler Perry, Danny Meyer, Sarah Kauss, The Honorable Wilbur L. Ross, Sara Blakely, Michael Bloomberg, Gov. Gina Raimondo, Gov. Rick Snyder, Senator Marco Rubio, Sir Richard Branson, Warren Buffett
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein discussed the "10,000 Small Businesses" initiative, a partnership with LaGuardia Community College that has assisted 6,700 entrepreneurs by combining community accessibility with institutional resources. Drawing on his own journey from public housing to the firm's top leadership, Blankfein outlined key strategies for business resilience, emphasizing the need for talent acquisition, capital access, and active political engagement to overcome regulatory hurdles. He concluded by advising business owners to separate personal crises from professional duties while noting that current economic conditions require a careful balancing act by the Federal Reserve to avoid aggressive rate hikes.