Latest Interviews

Digital Humans and the Story Behind Lil Miquela

Lil Miquela, Trevor McFedries, Isaac Bratzel

Created by Brud co-founders Trevor McFedries and Isaac Bratzel in 2016, the photorealistic virtual influencer Lil Miquela was developed to leverage social media narratives in a polarized political climate by mimicking a specific 19-year-old Brazilian-American persona. Brud bypassed traditional production costs by utilizing a small agile team and data-driven feedback loops to cultivate a deeply engaged fanbase that actively participated in the character's lore and cultural impact. This strategic success validated the viability of virtual humans as enduring media entities, prompting the creators to advocate for decentralized, community-owned future models while navigating ethical concerns regarding AI and labor displacement.

Jackie Reses: The Most Powerful Woman in Finance; Making $50BN for Yahoo on Alibaba | E996

Jackie Reses, Harry Stebbings

Jackie Reses, former Square executive, founded The Bank We Wanted to See to build a scalable fintech infrastructure targeting high-growth tech and crypto sectors that existing providers fail to serve. Her leadership philosophy prioritizes innate grit and honest feedback over resume pedigree, fostering a high-performance culture while she negotiates deals by focusing on regulatory speed and long-term partner value rather than immediate economic leverage. Reses aims to establish Lead Bank as a global innovator by 2028, leveraging her expertise in compliance and finance to guide the next decade of fintech through an anticipated market rationalization and return to first principles.

E122: Is AI the next great computing platform? ChatGPT vs. Google, containing AGI & RESTRICT Act

Joe Manchin, Biden, Sacks, Friedberg, J Cal, Mark, Jake, Nick, Chamath Palihapitiya, David, Sax, John Greenewald, Zach

Senator Joe Manchin's op-ed criticizing the Inflation Reduction Act sparked speculation of a presidential run, while Ron Lauder's shift in donor support signaled volatility within the Republican primary. Concurrently, OpenAI's launch of a plugin ecosystem enabled ChatGPT to bypass traditional app navigation, driving its user base to 100 million in two months and challenging tech giants like Google and Microsoft. However, this rapid AI advancement precipitated debates over job displacement in white-collar sectors and ethical concerns regarding recursive self-improvement, even as lawmakers pushed the "Restrict Act" to ban TikTok with penalties critics argue threaten internet privacy and freedom.

What are some things you’ve had to unlearn?

Founders often misapply the extensive infrastructure and rigorous internal standards of large technology firms like Google and Facebook to their early-stage startups, creating significant friction with engineers accustomed to corporate-grade development processes. This transition requires actively unlearning established industry practices, particularly regarding Minimum Viable Product definitions, as corporate beta standards are often ten times more rigorous than those necessary for rapid market entry. Consequently, successful startups must resist the tendency to implement inapplicable proprietary code review methods and complex internal tooling to avoid delaying product launches.

Alex Cooper: The Truth I Never Planned to Share...

Alex Cooper, Steven

Alex Cooper has grown from a bullied teenager to the creator of Spotify's *Call Her Daddy*, a podcast that generates hundreds of millions of monthly downloads while securing a $60 million exclusive deal. Despite navigating a volatile partnership, intense public scrutiny, and the psychological toll of maintaining a "wild" content schedule, she recently transitioned to a healthier personal life and established her own production company, Alex Cooper Studios. Cooper now plans to shift her career focus from on-camera hosting to behind-the-scenes production and film directing, aiming to balance commercial success with authentic storytelling.

How Startup Fundraising Works | Startup School

Brad Flora

This analysis debunks seven common fundraising myths by contrasting misconceptions with evidence from companies like Fresh Paint, Retool, and Zapier. It argues that founders should prioritize building a minimal viable product to demonstrate utility, utilizing standardized tools like the SAFE agreement to secure seed capital quickly while retaining total control. The presentation concludes that current market conditions offer unprecedented access to capital, urging entrepreneurs to focus on product-market fit rather than networking or pitch perfection.

How do you structure your schedule to be most productive?

Emmett, Michael

Michael discusses the cognitive friction inherent in the "manager's schedule," where fragmented hour-long meeting blocks disrupt the deep focus required for complex programming tasks. He contrasts this with the "maker's schedule," which utilizes large, uninterrupted time blocks to preserve mental context and enhance efficiency for high-level cognitive work. This distinction was highlighted during a conversation with Emmett, who emphasized the severe disruption caused by interruptions, confirming that routine administrative duties cannot be effectively performed alongside complex problem-solving.

Tony Hawk: The Man With The $1.4 Billion Name! Burnout, Obsession & Regrets

Tony Hawk

Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, who amassed a dominant record before pivoting to the "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater" game franchise for financial security, overcame a decade of injury risks to land the 900 and later utilized therapy to prioritize family over a hollow celebrity existence. His enduring legacy now spans a diverse business portfolio including Birdhouse Skateboards and The Skate Park Project, while his career longevity is sustained by shifting to low-impact technical maneuvers. Hawk advises that true mastery requires balancing 10,000 hours of skill development with emotional vulnerability and the courage to leave one's comfort zone.

Ilya Sutskever (OpenAI Chief Scientist) — Why next-token prediction could surpass human intelligence

Ilya Sutskever

OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever outlines a trajectory where rapidly advancing AI models will face a critical bottleneck in reliability before reaching full AGI maturity by 2030, driven by the need to surpass human-level performance through scalable reasoning and automated data generation. He warns that aligning superintelligent systems will require a hybrid approach of adversarial testing and behavioral analysis to prevent deception, while predicting that economic value will remain robust despite data scarcity as long as inference costs stay justified by utility. Ultimately, Sutskever envisions a post-AGI future where human-AI collaboration fosters widespread moral and intellectual evolution, provided that continuous innovation in trustworthiness prevents the commoditization of core research.

Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994

Dara Khosrowshahi, Harry Stebbings

Dara Khosrowshahi applies a philosophy of sustained excellence and calculated risk to guide Uber through its transformation from a crisis-ridden startup into a globally dominant logistics platform. By prioritizing marketplace technology over failed hardware ventures and correcting strategic missteps in delivery, he has successfully orchestrated complex supply-and-demand matching while shifting the board's focus from control to organizational success. His leadership approach emphasizes hiring for clarity of thought, maintaining a "plastic mind" to embrace mistakes, and allocating capital with a long-term perspective that balances Wall Street expectations with aggressive growth.

E121: Macro update, Fed hike, CRE debt bubble, Balaji's Bitcoin bet, TikTok's endgame & more

Balaji, Calacanis, Chamath Palihapitiya, David Friedberg, David Sacks, Nick Carter

A panel of financial experts and entrepreneurs critically analyzes the Federal Reserve's 25-basis point rate hike, arguing that the "middle path" fails to address the severity of the commercial real estate crisis and looming banking liquidity concerns. Key figures like Chamath Palihapitiya and Jason Sacks forecast a potential $2–3 trillion government bailout to stabilize the dollar and prevent a systemic collapse, while debating whether Bitcoin will serve as a hedge or face regulatory suppression. The discussion also covers the geopolitical fallout of a likely TikTok shutdown, the engineering breakthroughs of Relativity Space's Terran 1 launch, and warnings regarding an impending US debt ceiling default.

The Future of Ecommerce by Connie Chan

Connie Chan

The event outlines a strategic shift in Western e-commerce from static search models to AI-driven discovery commerce that leverages social proof and live streaming to replicate the engagement of physical retail. Key platforms and brands are deploying technologies like augmented reality and personalized algorithms to mitigate high return rates while monetizing overstock through urgency-based promotions. This evolution aims to bridge the online-offline gap by combining infinite digital inventory with tactile shopping experiences, ultimately fostering a virtuous cycle of higher conversion and sustainability.

Beyond ChatGPT: what chatbots mean for the future

Generative AI chatbots are disrupting the $150 billion search advertising market by shifting user interaction from keyword queries to predictive, creative text generation, prompting major corporations like Microsoft and Google to integrate conversational interfaces directly into their platforms. While these systems demonstrate remarkable capabilities in producing art and planning tasks, they face significant criticism regarding technical hallucinations, the absence of inherent truth verification, and the ethical risks of deepfakes and copyright infringement. As venture capital surges past $1 billion, the technology is also redefining human-computer relationships through AI companions, raising concerns about the long-term degradation of critical thinking and the potential hoovering up of original web content by algorithms.

The Marketplace 100: A Glimpse Into the Future of Commerce

Connie Chan, Olivia Moore, Zach Cohen

The 2023 a16z Marketplace 100 Report analyzed over 12,000 private companies using Consumer Edge transaction data to rank the top platforms by 2022 Gross Merchandise Value, highlighting that 34 new entrants joined the top tier including bootstrapped RockAuto in the top ten. The analysis identifies critical trends such as the shift from static search to video-driven discovery and gamification, noting specific successes by Whatnot and Temu while emphasizing curation as a strategy for trust and safety. Looking forward, the report predicts AI will lower barriers to entry for specialized marketplaces in sectors like home services and automotive, alongside a16z's upcoming podcast and newsletter series dedicated to these emerging metrics.

Robert Greene: How To Seduce Anyone, Build Confidence & Become Powerful | E232

Robert Greene

Author Robert Greene explores the internal nature of power and the necessity of confronting human "shadow" traits, while drawing on his personal history of a debilitating stroke and subsequent recovery to illustrate themes of resilience and radical gratitude. He argues that true mastery requires abandoning the illusion of passion in favor of dedicated apprenticeship and thousands of hours of repetitive practice, a standard he believes modern instant-gratification culture actively undermines. Greene further advises young professionals to prioritize deep learning over immediate salary and cautions against the seductive power of digital interaction, emphasizing instead the primal importance of non-verbal communication and emotional vulnerability in building genuine connections.