Latest Interviews
Showing 946–960 of 1,595 transcripts.
Clear all filters- The Diary Of A CEO1h 14m
Bear Grylls: Man VS Failure, Anxiety & Imposter Syndrome | E155
Bear Grylls redefines resilience and confidence in his new book *Never Give Up* by framing both as developed through repeated failure and honest vulnerability rather than innate talent. Drawing on personal traumas ranging from severe military injuries to the loss of his father, he argues that true strength requires balancing high-performance ambition with a commitment to family and mental well-being. Grylls uses these experiences to advocate for a cultural shift where "doing your best" replaces the pressure to win, emphasizing that a life built on connections and authentic struggle is ultimately more sustainable than a pursuit of superficial fame.
Henri Pierre-Jacques: How I Founded Harlem Capital; Our $134M Fund | 20VC #901
Founded in 2018 by former investment bankers Henri and Jared, Harlem Capital operates a $134 million Fund II dedicated to backing early-stage ventures led by women and diverse founders. The firm employs a distinct "diverse camp" strategy targeting 30 to 45 portfolio companies while maintaining strict ownership targets and leading 80–90% of deals to ensure institutional control. By overcoming initial skepticism through a demonstrated diversity multiplier effect and implementing rigorous operational protocols like the human-first LP selection process, the firm has scaled its impact to support thousands of underrepresented entrepreneurs across the venture ecosystem.
- All-In Podcast1h 4m
#AIS: Palmer Luckey on Anduril
Palmer Luckey, Jason Calacanis, Zach, Kara Swisher, Austin Peter Smith, Ian Thompson
Anduril founder Palmer Luckey defends his career and critiques the U.S. defense industry's reliance on legacy contractors and Silicon Valley's ideological resistance to modernizing military technology. The speech details Luckey's personal grievances against Jason Calacanis regarding past accusations of moral failings while outlining Anduril's strategy to deploy autonomous systems in response to geopolitical threats from China and Russia. Despite the tense confrontation, both parties conclude the dialogue by affirming their shared commitment to American national security and the strategic necessity of integrating commercial innovation into defense capabilities.
Mire CRO Zhenya Loginov: Hiring Tips for Sales; Why Dropbox Lost Enterprise | 20VC #900
Mire CRO Zhenya Loginov, Zhenya Loginov
The speaker synthesizes critical strategic lessons from Dropbox, Segment, and Miro to define a robust framework for scaling sales teams and integrating product-led growth with enterprise strategies. Emphasizing that successful expansion requires a cultural shift where the entire organization prioritizes sales, the discussion outlines a rigorous hiring process focused on passion over exact title matches and establishes a hybrid motion to align self-serve and high-touch revenue streams. Ultimately, the analysis provides actionable guidelines on sales playbooks, global timing, and organizational structure to navigate the complexities of moving from early product-market fit to sustained multi-year growth.
- Goldman Sachs47 min
Investing with Altimeter Capital’s Brad Gerstner
Brad Gerstner, Katie Koch, Alison Nathan
Altimeter Capital founder Brad Gerstner forecasts a deep global recession followed by a deflationary shift, positioning the current market dislocation as a historic buying opportunity for high-quality private and public technology assets. He outlines a concentrated investment strategy that prioritizes secular AI and data trends over cyclical volatility, specifically highlighting undervalued opportunities in Meta, Snowflake, and the broader enterprise cloud migration. Beyond portfolio performance, Gerstner advocates for structural wealth inequality solutions through the "Invest America" initiative, which proposes universal investment accounts to democratize ownership of the American economy.
- The Diary Of A CEO1h 14m
Example: The Dark Side Of Money & Fame | E152
Example, Steven, Stephen Bartlett, Elliot
Elliot, a musician with a background in working-class London and Asperger's syndrome, has transitioned from a decade of substance abuse and industry marginalization to a prioritization of family and mental well-being following a relationship reset in 2011. He is now preparing for his eighth album, which blends Drum and Bass, UK Garage, and Drill styles, while strategically shifting his career focus from chart-dependent radio play to global live touring and streaming loyalty. Despite facing frustration from gatekeepers who label him "retired" due to his absence from major airplay, Elliot aims for a final chart validation while building a sustainable legacy through health-focused living and his dedicated fanbase.
Adam Fishman: Takeaways from Lyft and Patreon; How to Build Viral Loops | 20VC #897
Adam outlines a framework for building high-velocity growth functions by prioritizing speed, customer respect, and the distinction between quantitative data and qualitative feedback based on his leadership at Lyft and Patreon. He details the structural requirements for defining growth loops, hiring "player-coach" leaders, and executing rebranding strategies while warning against premature scaling or misclassifying non-loop activities. Finally, the discussion emphasizes that sustainable expansion relies on managing failure through documented post-mortems and aligning organizational culture with the fundamental psychological drivers of user acquisition and retention.
HubSpot Founder Dharmesh Shah: The Ultimate Guide to Company Culture | E896
Dharmesh Shah, Harry Stebbings
HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh Patel recounts the company's origins from an MIT Sloan connection to its mission of serving small businesses, emphasizing a leadership philosophy rooted in transparency, humility, and the critical management of "culture debt." Patel details strategic lessons on avoiding premature enterprise expansion, pricing for optionality rather than maximum willingness to pay, and the necessity of "all-in" bets for secondary products to sustain growth. Finally, he outlines his angel investing framework designed to minimize time commitment and his conviction that the current intermediary data model is broken, urging creators toward direct monetization.
- The Diary Of A CEO1h 25m
What No One Tells You About Success And Mental Health! - Building A $240M Dollar Empire!
Jane Wurwand, Stephen Bartlett
In 1986, Jane Sowerby and her husband Raymond Werwand founded Dermalogica, a skin-care brand that challenged industry norms by combining pharmaceutical-grade formulations with a distinct "piss off 80%, please 20%" positioning strategy. Leveraging their shared visa loophole to establish operations in both South Africa and the US, the couple built the International Dermal Institute to bridge global licensing gaps before successfully exiting the business through a 2015 acquisition by Unilever. Sowerby's leadership philosophy, rooted in overcoming childhood trauma and prioritizing decisiveness over perfection, emphasized direct staff accessibility and operational hygiene while she eventually reframed her personal narrative from shame to pride through therapeutic intervention.
Ruchi Sanghvi: My Job Interview with Mark Zuckerberg; Deep Dive on DAOs | 20VC #895
Ruchi Sanghvi, Mark Zuckerberg, Harry
South Park Commons, founded by former Facebook and Dropbox executive Ruchi Gandhi, operates as a peer-learning collective that supports technical founders through a nine-month pre-seed phase focused on problem validation before deploying a $50 million fund to back 50 to 60 early-stage investments annually. The organization innovates within the venture capital landscape by launching a hybrid governance structure via its Founder Fellowship DAO, which distributes tokens to investors and non-investing contributors to secure liquidity and maintain long-term portfolio commitment. By prioritizing deep founder-market fit and adapting its capital strategy to navigate both traditional and decentralized Web3 environments, the group aims to bridge the gap between chaotic idea generation and scalable enterprise development.
- The Diary Of A CEO1h 20m
The Marketing Genius Behind Nike: Greg Hoffman | E150
Greg Hoffman, Stephen Bartlett
Former Nike Chief Marketing Officer Greg, an adopted half-Black child who recently reunited with his birth family, leverages his journey of identity and nearly three decades of corporate innovation to redefine brand leadership. Drawing on his personal history of overcoming racial adversity and his professional experience fostering "radical creative collaboration" at Nike, he argues that organizations must prioritize human emotion over data optimization to build authentic cultural impact. His framework unites the disciplines of art and sport through principles of empathy, curiosity, and courage, urging brands to reject trend-chasing in favor of resolving genuine societal needs through courageous storytelling.
Kayvon Beykpour: How to Structure and Manage the Best Product Reviews | 20VC #894
Kayvon Beykpour, Scott Belsky, Harry
Kayvon Beykpour recounts Periscope's evolution from an investor-rejected prototype to a low-latency platform that redefined live streaming as a "teleportation" experience through Scott Belsky's pivotal early funding. Beykpour details the operational frameworks and hiring strategies used to balance rational data with irrational passion, while highlighting a critical retrospective lesson where misaligned product defaults nearly undermined the core ephemeral value proposition. Ultimately, the narrative emphasizes the necessity for leaders to ignore conflicting market signals when pursuing a validated vision and to rigorously structure feedback loops to prevent organizational paralysis.
Tony Fadell: Product Marketing Lessons I Learned from Steve Jobs | 20VC #884
Tony Fadell, the creator of the iPod and iPhone, outlines his thirty-year product philosophy by contrasting the risks of data-driven rigidity with the necessity of human opinion in his book *Build*. Through detailed case studies like the Nest screwdriver and the Philips color screen failure, he demonstrates how prioritizing emotional connection and unboxing experiences over short-term metrics drives long-term brand success. The event concludes with Fadell launching his "Build Climate Fund," dedicated to reinvesting book proceeds to mentor the next generation of climate-focused entrepreneurs.
Q-Commerce in Emerging Markets with the CEOs of Airlift, JOKR, & Zepto | 20VC #892
Usman Gul, Ralf Wenzel, Aadit Palicha
Executives from Airlift, Joker, and Zepto outlined how quick-commerce ventures in emerging markets leverage high population density and lower labor costs to achieve profitability faster than Western counterparts. These companies are pivoting from pure delivery models to vertically integrated operations that control supply chains, optimize unit economics through reduced wastage, and generate significant revenue via proprietary advertising platforms. By capitalizing on local ad-hoc purchasing habits and navigating unique infrastructure challenges, the sector is transitioning toward "e-commerce 3.0" with a focus on free cash flow generation rather than capital-intensive growth.
- The Diary Of A CEO1h 26m
Strava Founder: How I Motivated 100 Million People To Stay Active: Michael Horvath | E148
Michael Horvath, Stephen Bartlett
Strava CEO Michael Horvath steers the platform, which now boasts 99 million registered athletes, by grounding its 100-year strategy in values that prioritize balance and community over rapid exits. Following a personal crisis and a 2019 financial turnaround marked by strategic layoffs and a pivot to subscriptions, Horvath has expanded the company's workforce globally while navigating post-pandemic hybrid work models. Ultimately, the narrative emphasizes how Horvath's formative experiences with displacement and grief shaped a leadership philosophy that separates corporate identity from personal well-being to ensure sustainable organizational health.