Latest Interviews
Showing 1771–1785 of 1,990 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Y Combinator27 min
David Lee at Startup School NY 2014
David Lee and SV Angel, having backed pioneers like Airbnb and Twitter, prioritize founder execution and adaptability over static business ideas in today's vibrant startup ecosystem. The firm advises entrepreneurs to value investors who offer mentorship, such as PayPal's Max Levchin, and to leverage new funding channels while understanding that reputation is their most critical long-term asset. Lee emphasizes that while the principles of leadership and communication are straightforward, successful execution requires persistent listening, strategic adaptation to market signals, and the willingness to pay the steep price of building a company.
- Y Combinator26 min
Office Hours at Startup School NY 2014
Sam Altman, Garry Tan, Ghazbeh, Chet Haasey, Cheng Yengxiu, Margaret, Jason
Three startups presented distinct early-stage ventures, with Salary Fairy leveraging 9,000 users to crowdsource salary predictions while investors recommended narrowing scope to individual employees and engineering viral growth loops. Pair Up's food waste marketplace transitioned from email pilots to a mobile app prototype after demonstrating 48% open rates, prompting advice to hyper-focus on specific neighborhoods and replace door-to-door sales with consultant partnerships. Meanwhile, the Couples Expense Splitter app pivoted from a general group tool to a niche for couples by automating credit card transaction splitting for its 40 private beta users, receiving critical guidance to prove organic traction beyond friend networks.
- Y Combinator23 min
Apoorva Mehta at Startup School NY 2014
Founded by former Amazon engineer Apoorva Mehta, the San Francisco-based platform Instacart operates as a software-only service connecting customers with crowdsourced shoppers to facilitate rapid grocery delivery without owning inventory or logistics infrastructure. The company validated its model through intense manual execution, including founder-led deliveries and manual store cataloging, which enabled admission to Y Combinator and fueled a twenty-week streak of 10% week-over-week growth. Today, Instacart serves ten U.S. cities with hundreds of thousands of dollars in daily revenue, having recently closed a $44 million funding round while solving complex operational challenges to offer same-day delivery for retail partners.
- Milken Institute59 min
Why Tomorrow Won't Look Like Today: Things that Will Blow Your Mind
Eric Anderson, John Kelly, Eric David, Richard, Michael, Dr. John Kelly III
Representatives from Planetary Resources, Organovo, and IBM outlined a synergistic future where autonomous asteroid mining provides raw materials, 3D bioprinting creates regenerative medical tissues, and cognitive computing manages the data complexity of both sectors. The panel highlighted specific milestones, including near-term propellant depot launches in 2016, commercial drug-testing liver models, and AI systems designed to personalize cancer treatments. Validated by major investors like Larry Page and Richard Branson, these converging technologies aim to fundamentally transform global resource availability, healthcare outcomes, and the economics of deep-space exploration.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
The Upside of Aging: A Conversation in the Pavilion
Mike Morseberger, Barry Rand, Frida Lewis, Steve Knapp, Mark Friedman, Hasi Cohen, Henry Cisneros, Bob Wheelan, Brooke, Jeff Schatz, Andrew, Rita, Gary, Britta
This panel identifies the global demographic shift toward an aging population as a critical challenge comparable to climate change, highlighting that current societal structures fail to utilize the substantial human capital of older adults. Experts argue that sustainable solutions require integrating age-friendly urban planning, reforming higher education to serve lifelong learners, and implementing financial policies that secure retirement and workforce participation. Ultimately, the discussion advocates for a cultural transition from viewing aging as decline to recognizing it as a generative force, with predictions of widespread adoption of "village" support networks and expanded health technologies within the next decade.
- Milken Institute59 min
What's Silicon Valley Got to Do With It?
Alec Ellison, Andrew Auerbach, Eric Drummond, Kate Mitchell, John Ruffalo, Eric Schmidt, Andrew Lovett
A panel consensus establishes that while Silicon Valley remains the global leader in technology clustering and venture capital, its unique managerial ecosystem is difficult to replicate, forcing other regions to leverage distinct local assets rather than attempting direct imitation. Success outside the Valley depends on aligning specific industry strengths—such as clean tech in Colorado, agtech in St. Louis, or software in Provo, Utah—with appropriate capital types and a culture that tolerates risk and embraces immigration. Looking ahead, the innovation center of gravity is shifting toward life sciences and regional verticals, with emerging hubs in the Rocky Mountains, New England, and Israel positioned to capitalize on these specialized sectors and evolving government tax policies.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
The Natural Gas Economy
Brian Sullivan, Ralph Eads, John Hickenlooper, Stephen Green, Fred Krupp
This industry forum examines the U.S. shale gas sector's critical pivot toward wet gas extraction and LNG exports while addressing the economic and regulatory challenges posed by price volatility and fragmented state laws. Participants discussed the necessity of balancing environmental mandates, such as Colorado's strict methane limits, with the political imperative to maintain thousands of high-paying jobs and ensure affordable energy for consumers. The consensus among energy leaders and policymakers emphasizes that a stable, transparent regulatory compact is essential to unlock the industry's remaining potential and facilitate a natural gas transition from coal.
- Milken Institute59 min
Four Ways Stem Cells Will Change the Face of Medicine
John Thomas, Eugene Brandon, Paula Cannon, Jill Helms, Alison Watry
Established in 2010 via Proposition 71, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has allocated over $2.2 billion to fund 65 entities, effectively bridging the "Valley of Death" between speculative research and commercial viability for incurable diseases. Recent breakthroughs include Dr. Eugene Brandon's encapsulated stem cell therapy for Type 1 diabetes, Dr. Paula Cannon's HIV-editing gene therapy trials, and Dr. Jill Helms's bone regeneration protocols using Wnt3a protein. Despite surging public support and promising clinical timelines for 2020 and beyond, the initiative faces a critical sustainability challenge as its $3 billion fund approaches depletion within three years while the NIH withdraws early-stage regenerative support.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
Food Security: How to Feed an Ever-Hungrier World
Glenn Yeager, Ken Quinn, Akinwumi Adesina, Claudia Garcia, Doron Gow, Mark Kahn, Mike Vellings
Organized by the Milken Institute and the World Food Prize, this high-level panel convened global leaders to strategize on feeding 9 billion people by 2050 through policy shifts, technological innovation, and private capital deployment. Key presentations detailed Nigeria's success in attracting $4 billion in private investment, highlighted the resource efficiency of aquaculture and genetic advancements like non-GMO polyploidy, and emphasized the critical role of venture capital in scaling ag-tech solutions. Ultimately, the discourse underscored the necessity of integrating digital interventions, infrastructure improvements, and nutritional science to overcome climate volatility and bridge the gap between current production and future global demand.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
China in Transition: Still a Land of Opportunity?
Henry Paulson, Cheryl Wu Dunn, Bob Iger
A high-level panel convened by Disney and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson analyzed China's critical transition from an export-driven economy to one reliant on domestic consumption and market forces. While Disney announced a $5.5 billion expansion of its Shanghai resort to capitalize on a growing middle class, experts warned that unresolved issues like environmental degradation, local government debt, and political control pose significant risks to long-term stability. The discussion concluded that accelerating financial reforms and international integration through trade agreements like the TPP are essential to prevent an unsustainable future despite China's current economic resilience.
- Milken Institute59 min
Disruptors
Kimball Musk, Will.i.am, Ryan Cavanaugh, Abe Byrds, Nancy Liu
A diverse panel of industry disruptors including Ryan Cavanaugh, Will.i.am, Kimball Musk, Nancy Liu, and Abe Byrds outlined strategies for dismantling antiquated business models across media, entertainment, education, and biotech through radical operational simplification and direct community engagement. These leaders advocate for bypassing traditional gatekeepers to build anti-fragile organizations that prioritize tangible user value and data ownership, predicting a future where legacy firms face a median lifespan of just nine years compared to the thirty-five years of the past. The consensus emphasizes that sustainable innovation requires a fusion of technical and creative talent to solve critical societal challenges in sectors ranging from vaccine logistics to cannabis markets while resisting the traps of hype-driven valuation.
- Milken Institute1h 9m
Investing for Impact: What's in Your Portfolio?
Matthew Bishop, Michael Schlein, Tracy, David Kwong, Robb Boydston, John Hempton, Alex Friedman, Sean Green
A high-level panel of industry leaders, including Jean Case and Michael Schlein, convened to define impact investing as a scalable economic driver capable of delivering market-rate returns while solving systemic social problems like poverty and recidivism. The discussion highlighted the rapid evolution of financial instruments such as Social Impact Bonds and microfinance, citing successful pilots like the New York reentry program and the Husk Power Systems project in India as proof that private capital can effectively absorb risk to generate public good. With support from the G8 Task Force and major financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, the sector is poised for a tipping point where standardized measurement and policy reforms will integrate social solutions into mainstream capital markets.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
YesWeCode: Training NextGen Technologists
Van Jones, Laura Weidman Powers, Trabian Shorters, Mitch Kapoor, Joey Ito, Chris Tucker, Prince, Amy Henderson, David Robertson, Pamela Hodges, Jamie
A skills mismatch has created a paradox where the tech sector faces a shortage of qualified workers while low-opportunity communities remain excluded despite possessing significant untapped talent. To address this, the "Yes We Code" initiative is aggregating existing community programs to unify training pipelines and connect diverse candidates with major tech employers, a strategy endorsed by figures like Van Jones and Prince. The program aims to launch a coordinated campaign on July 4th to bridge the gap between competency-based education and hiring practices, leveraging support from organizations like Ford Foundation and Facebook to diversify the workforce and alleviate poverty.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
A Conversation with Ken Griffin and Steve Schwarzman
Ken Griffin, Steve Schwarzman, Mike Milken, Kenneth Griffin, Stephen Schwarzman
Ken Fisher, Steve Schwarzman, and Ken Griffin identify educational deficiencies, excessive regulation, and a mismatch between workforce skills and modern economic demands as primary threats to U.S. competitiveness. These leaders advocate for structural reforms in public schooling, support initiatives like the Schwarzman Scholars Program to bridge global talent gaps, and call for deregulation and energy independence to stimulate small business growth. Furthermore, they contrast the U.S. reliance on capital markets with Europe's bank-centric model, urging immediate action on entitlement reform and fiscal policy to restore long-term human capital and drive job creation.
- Milken Institute1h 3m
Chasing Cures: Reinventing the Business of Medicine
Melissa Stevens, John Noseworthy, Francis Collins, Mark Rothera, Melinda Richter, Monsef Slaoui
A panel of industry leaders and NIH officials advocates transforming biomedical research through open innovation models like the Accelerating Medicines Partnership, which pools $30 billion in funding to address major diseases by sharing data across pre-competitive collaborations. The discussion highlights a strategic shift toward patient-centric trials using real-world evidence and wearable technology to accelerate discovery while redefining value to include safety and patient-defined outcomes over mere cost containment. Looking ahead, experts anticipate breakthroughs in bio-electronic medicine and precision therapies, driven by regulatory reforms for orphan drugs and non-traditional partnerships that prioritize patient access over traditional discovery-to-commercialization silos.