Latest Interviews
Showing 4156–4170 of 5,628 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute1h 22m
Toward a Healthier Future
Will Durant, Mike Milken, Tanisha Carino, Michael Milken, Francis Collins, Susan Desmond-Hellmann, Bernard J. Tyson, Seema Verma, Sue Desmond-Hellman
Representatives from the Gates Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, CMS, and NIH converged to outline a unified strategy shifting global health systems from reactive treatment toward proactive prevention and precision medicine. Leaders highlighted specific breakthroughs in gene therapy, AI-driven neural decoding, and data interoperability while proposing structural reforms to align financial incentives with long-term population wellness and disease eradication. The consensus among these major institutions emphasizes that future economic prosperity and reduced healthcare costs depend on integrating community infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and innovative financing models to address challenges ranging from mental health crises to rare genetic disorders.
- Y Combinator1 min
Does YC Fund Solo Founders? - Jared Friedman
Y Combinator actively funds solo founders, reserving at least 10% of its batches for single-leader ventures despite a general preference for co-founding teams. History supports this inclusion, as successful entities like Dropbox and Zenefits were solo-led upon application before later acquiring co-founders. Although the program advises that co-founders improve success odds, joining with a partner after acceptance remains optional rather than mandatory.
- Y Combinator42 min
Jeremy Rossmann of Make School on Income Share Agreements and the Future of College
Jeremy Rossmann, Craig Cannon, William Triska, Vikram Malhotra, Evan Ward
MakeSchool, an accredited San Francisco institution founded by Rossman, delivers an accelerated two-year Bachelor of Science in Applied Computer Science through a project-based curriculum featuring live mentorship and an income share agreement that eliminates upfront tuition. This model targets lower-to-mid-income students by combining technical training with liberal arts skills to secure placements at major tech firms like Google and Tesla, contrasting with traditional four-year degrees and self-directed learning. By operating under new outcome-based regulations and validating its approach with five years of operational data, the school aims to reshape higher education incentives and prepare graduates for a future of lifelong learning.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
Envisioning the Future of Media and Entertainment
Julia Boorstin, Jeffrey Hirsch, Gale Anne Hurd, Charles D. King, Asif Satchu, Jeremy Zimmer, Jeff Hirsch
Industry leaders project a fragmented streaming landscape where major consolidators like Netflix and Disney+ coexist with premium add-on services, driven by a shift in creator leverage toward aggressive upfront deals over traditional backend participation. While writers face income compression due to shortened production cycles and structural residual gaps, the market is simultaneously evolving toward data-driven meritocracy that could reinstitute performance-based royalties. This evolution extends globally, with content featuring underrepresented demographics and non-U.S. productions becoming central to international revenue growth alongside a compressed theatrical window strategy.
- a16z21 min
How to Get the Most from Your Board
This presentation analyzes the critical dynamics of long-term venture capital relationships, emphasizing the need for entrepreneurs to align with board members who serve as strategic stewards rather than mere financial backers. It details how diverging economic interests and fiduciary duties influence three distinct exit scenarios: distress management through recapitalization, acquisition negotiations involving management carve-outs, and IPO processes where pricing conflicts arise. Ultimately, the discussion advises founders to rigorously assess investor incentives and liquidation structures to maintain alignment and build durable, independent public companies.
- a16z27 min
How to Understand and Choose a Venture Investor
David Swenson's endowment model and subsequent regulatory shifts enabled institutional investors to allocate significant capital to venture capital as a means of generating uncorrelated, power-law distributed returns. The industry now operates on structures requiring massive "home run" exits to offset frequent failures, while firms increasingly compete by providing operational expertise rather than just financial access. Looking forward, the sector faces intensified competition and a blurring of lines between private and public markets as companies stay private longer and secondary trading expands.
- a16z33 min
How to Raise Money from a Venture Investor
This comprehensive overview details critical foundational strategies for early-stage startups, emphasizing the adoption of Delaware C-Corporations and rigorous intellectual property protection to mitigate employer ownership claims. It further outlines optimal fundraising mechanics, advocating for Series Seed equity rounds over convertible notes to ensure clear ownership dilution while navigating valuation risks and specific term sheet economics like 1x non-participating liquidation preferences. Finally, the guidance addresses long-term governance and equity structures, recommending the strategic inclusion of independent board directors and the extension of stock exercise windows to align with modern private market tenures.
- Y Combinator8 min
Should You Move Your Company to Silicon Valley? - Eric Migicovsky, Pebble Founder
Founders should relocate to Silicon Valley only when physical proximity to early customers is essential, as the region's dense network and peer pressure accelerate product-market fit through rapid iteration and benchmarking against high-velocity peers. While the area offers unparalleled access to experienced talent and spontaneous collaboration, the strategy is complicated by exorbitant living costs, aggressive big-tech recruitment, and significant barriers for startups relying on local customer bases or specialized university research. Consequently, external founders are advised to either spend a year building networks and savings in the Bay Area first or leverage remote accelerator programs to access these critical resources without the immediate burden of permanent relocation.
- Milken Institute56 min
The City for All Ages: Harnessing the Promise of Longevity
James Anderson, Dan Buettner, Carol Coletta, Rodney Slater, Jan Vapaavuori, Jim Anderson
Leading urban experts and policymakers converge to address the unprecedented demographic shift where the global population over 65 now exceeds those under 5 by advocating for built environment interventions over individual behavioral changes. Drawing on longevity strategies from Blue Zones and Helsinki's intergenerational housing models, the panel proposes that mayors and civic leaders actively redesign cities to make healthy choices the default option through walkability, social integration, and regulatory nudge policies. These initiatives aim to transform the "silver economy" into a catalyst for civic innovation, ensuring that aging populations remain healthy, employed, and socially connected while reducing the strain on healthcare systems.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
The Age of Private Equity and Credit
Jim Moglia, Glenn August, Victor Khosla, Greg Lippmann, Virginie Morgon, Raymond Svider
Leading alternative asset managers including Oak Hill Advisors, Strategic Value Partners, and BC Partners are redirecting capital from public markets to private credit to secure higher yields amid a 45% decline in public U.S. companies. Panelists highlight that rising institutional return targets, combined with tight investment-grade spreads, are driving a $5.7 trillion migration into private capital while disintermediating traditional commercial banks. Despite late-cycle valuation concerns, these firms are expanding direct lending capabilities and integrating ESG and diversity frameworks to mitigate liquidity risks and maintain long-term operational competitiveness.
- Y Combinator50 min
Tracy Young on Scaling PlanGrid to 400+ People with YC Partner Kat Manalac
Tracy Young, Kat Manalac, Craig Cannon, Fredi Fernández, Seyed Rasoul Jabari, Holly
Founded in the 2012 Y Combinator batch by Tracy Young and Ryan Sutton, PlanGrid digitized construction workflows by deploying an iPad-based platform that utilizes overlay technology and version control to prevent blueprint errors. The company bypassed traditional enterprise sales channels by targeting field workers directly, growing organically to 450 employees before being acquired by Autodesk. Now integrated into Autodesk's 1,200-person construction division, the startup focuses on international expansion to eliminate billions in annual industry waste while maintaining a founder-led culture centered on authenticity and role clarity.
- Milken Institute59 min
Common Sense from Uncommon Investors
Michael Milken, Jonathan Coslet, John Danhakl, Mitchell Julis, Brian Sheth, Steven Tananbaum, Mike Milken
Industry leaders from Leonard Green & Partners, Canyon Partners, Vista Equity Partners, GoldenTree Asset Management, and TPG convened to discuss evolving strategies in private equity, corporate debt, and technology investing. These executives detailed critical shifts in their operational frameworks, ranging from Canyon's resistance to AI in bespoke financial structuring to Vista's data-driven talent acquisition and GoldenTree's transformation of CLOs into fund structures. The dialogue further examined the necessity of aligning investor and management interests through diverse ownership models and the strategic preference for absolute value over relative metrics in a shifting macroeconomic environment.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Blockchain Technology: What Is It Good for, Really?
Staci Warden, Elad Gil, Sandra Ro, Stefan Schulz, Bill Tai, Tomicah Tillemann
Milken Institute moderator Stacey Worden led a panel including Elad Gil, Sandra Rowe, and Bill Tai to define blockchain's superior utility in scenarios requiring trustlessness, open ledgers, privacy, or programmability, while arguing that centralized databases remain optimal for all other applications. The discussion highlighted transformative real-world adoptions ranging from Power Ledger's peer-to-peer energy trading and Bill Tai's $35 million real estate tokenization to Estonia's governance models and New York City's digital benefit wallets. Panelists concluded that overcoming regulatory fragmentation and data integrity risks is essential as the industry shifts from financial speculation toward building a global infrastructure for financial inclusion and automated asset management.
- The Economist21 min
Why Jeremy Hunt thinks he'll be Britain's next prime minister
Jeremy Hunt, Donald Trump, Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, Theresa May, Anne
Contender Jeremy Hunt warns that failing to deliver Brexit will lead to a Labour victory and political extinction, arguing that a no-deal outcome remains a necessary negotiation lever to overcome parliamentary blockades. To ensure the EU trusts the UK's delivery capacity, he proposes a unified government team including the DUP and ERG while rejecting a second referendum as undemocratic. Hunt further outlines his economic strategy of corporate tax cuts, asserts that NHS ownership will not be sold in US trade talks, and emphasizes that 5G decisions must prioritize national interest over foreign dependency.
- a16z36 min
What's Next for Esports Startups
Bennett Carroccio, Frank Chen, Andrew Chen, D'Arcy Coolican, Darcy Kulikin
Global esports viewership has surged past 450 million, generating over $1 billion in revenue driven by sponsorships and media rights that now rival traditional North American sports leagues. The industry distinguishes itself through a younger demographic, a cultural shift that integrates celebrities with gaming, and infrastructure optimized for digital engagement rather than just gameplay. Strategic investment is increasingly focusing on the underlying "picks and shovels" infrastructure and B2D2C models to capitalize on this rapid growth while publishers continue to define league standards and capture value.