Latest Interviews
Showing 1–7 of 7 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute34 min
A Conversation with US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker | Middle East & Africa Summit 2025
Matthew Whitaker, Michael Milken, Matt Winokur, Mike
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Winokur outlines a strategic pivot toward equalizing allied defense spending and accelerating the adoption of autonomous, low-cost warfare systems to counter escalating threats from Russia, China, and North Korea. He emphasizes a shift from high-cost legacy platforms to scalable drone technology and calls for a societal readiness model inspired by Nordic nations to manage volatility in the Arctic and the volatile Sahel region. Looking ahead, Winokur frames President Trump's agenda as a bid for "durable peace" driven by "peace through strength," aiming to end the Ukraine conflict while establishing free trade and dialogue with historic adversaries.
- Y Combinator42 min
Vertical AI Agents Could Be 10X Bigger Than SaaS
Gary, Jared Harge, Diana, Mark Mandelbaum, Aaron Cannon, Mike, Brett Taylor, Parker Conrad, Matt McGinnis, Salient, VAPI, Rippling, Speedy Brand, OpenAI, Claude, Melanie Warrick, Nico, A Priori, Capital.ai, PowerHelp, Giga ML, Zepto, Mementic, Rainforest QA, Triplebyte, Outset, Vector Shift, Mark Benioff, Paul Graham, Travis, Jake Heller, Flo Cravello, Tia, Hashi Roginio, Mark Mirchandani, Francesc Campoy Flores
Jared Harge projects that vertical AI agents will trigger a $300 billion+ market surge by displacing human labor in specialized enterprise functions, mirroring the historical success of B2B SaaS where general-purpose incumbents cannot master niche domain complexities. While competitors like Mark Mandelbaum note exceptions such as Rippling's horizontal platform strategy, startups are advised to target high-value, repetitive workflows—from automated recruiting to debt collection—rather than competing in obvious consumer applications where incumbents like Google retain dominance. This shift from basic software wrappers to full-stack agents is expected to expand organizational leadership span and create unicorns ten times larger than previous software predecessors by integrating complex domain knowledge directly into autonomous decision-making tools.
- Milken Institute32 min
Conversation with Senator Joe Manchin, Jigar Shah, & Chevron CEO Michael Wirth | Global Conference
Joe Manchin, Jigar Shah, Michael Wirth, David Westin, Mike
Debate leaders, including Senator Manchin and LPO Director Jigar Shah, examined the $500 billion federal energy investment framework while clashing over the pace of EV subsidies, hydrogen regulation, and the necessity of government loans to de-risk private capital. Key figures emphasized that despite rapid solar deployment, permitting bottlenecks and conflicting agency signals threaten grid stability and the timely retirement of fossil assets. The discussion concluded by highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive permitting reform to align domestic economic incentives with global net-zero trajectories before the current funding authority expires.
- Goldman Sachs42 min
A Conversation with David Solomon - Goldman Sachs 2020 Investor Day
David Solomon, Julian Wellesley, Brennan, Mike, Kiana Wilson, Doug, Christian Bolu, Glenn, Betsy, Devin, Steve, John, Gerard Cassidy, Matt O'Connor, Jeff Hart
Goldman Sachs is executing a strategic pivot to diversify its Global Markets client base and expand Consumer and Wealth Management operations, specifically targeting a $1.3 billion expense reduction while simultaneously building toward $125 billion in deposits. CEO David Solomon and leadership team emphasized a "One Goldman Sachs" ethos to break internal silos, with management deferring specific payout ratios in favor of a CET1 target of 13% to 13.5% to fund accretive growth. The firm projects a three-to-four-year J-curve for new lending and transaction banking initiatives, planning to report progress against these capital allocation and efficiency milestones on an annual basis rather than quarterly.
- Milken Institute34 min
A Conversation with PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi
Indra Nooyi, Michael Milken, Andrew, Mike
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi transformed the beverage and snack giant through "Performance with Purpose," a strategy that integrated social and environmental sustainability into core operations while shifting the revenue portfolio toward healthier product lines. This cultural overhaul was driven by scientific leadership under Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Mahmood Khan and reinforced by tying executive compensation to specific nutritional and environmental goals. Nooyi further extended the company's impact by forging partnerships with healthcare institutions to improve access for underserved veterans and advocating for systemic policy changes to address chronic disease and nutritional equity.
- a16z21 min
Jason Mars
Jason Mars, Lingjia Tang, Johann Haswell, Mike
Co-founded by University of Michigan professors Jason Mars and Lingjia Tang, the Clarity Lab spun out into Clarity Lab Inc. to commercialize its open-source voice and vision platform, originally named Sirius and later renamed Lucida by Apple. The company now offers end-to-end AI solutions like the Gin deep learning appliance and a banking-specific assistant for BankJoy, addressing a two-order-of-magnitude scalability gap in mobile personal assistants. By leveraging GPUs and FPGAs to reduce algorithmic latency by roughly ten times, these technologies transition academic research into enterprise-grade products for intelligent automation.
- Milken Institute31 min
A Conversation with Steven Mnuchin, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Steven Mnuchin, Mike, Marie, Maria
The administration is pursuing a comprehensive tax reform agenda that seeks to accelerate economic growth to 3% annually by consolidating the tax code into a flat 15% corporate rate, eliminating most deductions, and removing the SALT deduction to broaden the tax base. While maintaining a stated goal of not cutting taxes for the wealthy through the Mnuchin Rule, the Treasury Department is negotiating with legislative leaders on the remaining details and preparing to use Senate reconciliation if bipartisan support cannot be secured. This fiscal strategy is complemented by parallel efforts to deregulate financial and energy sectors, reform GSEs to remove taxpayer risk, and advance reciprocal trade policies to support long-term revenue generation.