Latest Interviews

David Allemann: How I founded On Running; Working with Roger Federer; Brand Marketing Tips | E1021

David Allemann, Roger Federer, Harry Stebbings

Founded in 2009 by Olivier Bernhard and two partners, ON Technology launched a revolutionary running shoe utilizing hollow Cloud elements to balance cushioning and responsiveness despite early retailer rejection. The company accelerated its trajectory from a Swiss startup to a global enterprise by securing a unique co-investment and design partnership with tennis legend Roger Federer in 2013 and successfully navigating a near-fatal production crisis through rapid supply chain restructuring. By prioritizing organic growth over venture capital and adhering to a philosophy of "form follows function," ON established itself as a profitable global brand with a core mission to ignite human spirits through movement.

How Generosity Built Tech Giants

Dalton Caldwell, Michael Seibel, Michael Saibo

The discussion establishes that sustainable software value arises when tools generate revenue or efficiency gains exceeding their cost, a principle exemplified by historical successes like Google Ads and foundational free software such as Linux. It advises founders to bypass the "grow at all costs" mentality by engaging in deep, non-scalable discovery work that delivers immediate economic leverage to early users rather than forcing premature product scaling. Ultimately, the analysis argues that prioritizing value creation through upfront generosity and industry-specific insights builds the necessary trust and problem definition required for future monetization and growth.

Beware of startup tarpit ideas.

The discussion draws a parallel between the biological trap of natural tar pits, where mimicking ponds and carcass odors lure successive waves of dying animals, and the startup ecosystem's "tar pit ideas." These ventures deceive founders by presenting compelling market needs and an apparent lack of competition, which creates a false sense of originality. Ultimately, this dynamic drives a cascade of entrepreneurs into saturated or unviable sectors, mirroring the self-reinforcing negative effect seen in nature.

Adam Besnivick: How to Invest in Pre-Seed & Seed Stage Companies; Looking Glass Capital | E1020

Adam Besnivick, Harry Stebbings, Chris Sacca

Looking Glass Fund's General Partner deploys capital from a $20 million second fund into 27 to 30 mission-driven companies across secondary U.S. hubs, prioritizing pre-seed rounds capped at $11 million post-money. The strategy emphasizes acting as a catalyst "lead investor" rather than a large check writer, aiming to secure 5.25% ownership while building a reputation that compels higher-quality deal flow. By targeting sectors like healthcare and climate, the fund seeks to generate strong returns despite a volatile market that has left later-stage venture capital in a "death zone."

Generative AI: what is it good for?

Alok Jha, Tom Standage, Abhi Burtix, Arjun Romani

Following the 2017 Transformer architecture and the historic 2022 adoption of GPT-3.5, large language models now process unlabeled internet data to excel at tasks ranging from medical licensing exams to code generation. Despite these capabilities, the technology remains a "black box" with complex, opaque weights that lack the transparency required for high-stakes fact-finding or full automation. Consequently, while economists project that generative AI will impact half of the daily tasks for 20% of the U.S. workforce, current deployment is expected to evolve as a human-AI collaborative workflow rather than an immediate replacement of human roles.

Editor Of Vogue (Edward Enninful OBE): How To Become No.1 In Your Industry Against All The Odds!

Steven, Edward Enninful OBE

Edward Enninful, the first Black Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue, overcame a childhood marked by authoritarian parenting, institutional racism, and professional isolation to transform the magazine's approach to diversity. His 2017 launch of the publication challenged industry prejudices by featuring Black models like Adwoa Aboah, successfully proving the commercial viability of inclusion despite facing immediate professional racism. This historic shift was underpinned by Enninful's personal journey through severe health crises, addiction recovery, and the cultivation of resilience following the loss of his mother, which fueled his mandate to dismantle exclusionary practices in fashion.

Neil Gershenfeld: Self-Replicating Robots and the Future of Fabrication | Lex Fridman Podcast #380

Neil Gershenfeld, Lex Fridman

MIT's Neil Gershenfeld challenges the physical separation of hardware and software in computing, arguing that true information processing requires the medium itself to store, process, and interact simultaneously. This philosophy drives the global Fab Lab network to democratize engineering through personal fabrication, shifting humanity from mass production to the creation of digital materials and self-replicating assemblers. By prioritizing the "ready, fire, aim" methodology of serendipitous discovery, Gershenfeld envisions a future where embodied AI and distributed manufacturing enable civilizations to bootstrap technological societies from local resources without reliance on centralized supply chains.

Tomer Cohen: Why LinkedIn Stories Failed; How LinkedIn's Feed Was Born; AI Startups | E1019

Tomer Cohen, Harry Stebbings

Tomer Cohen, former Chief Product Officer of LinkedIn, discusses the transition of AI from reconstructing existing information to generating entirely new scientific knowledge, a shift he views as transformative for the global economy. Drawing on his background in semiconductors and his tenure leading product strategy at LinkedIn, Cohen outlines how organizations must evolve by prioritizing quality over growth, redefining user "jobs-to-be-done," and integrating AI as a core leadership skill rather than a delegated function. He concludes that future success depends on fostering a growth mindset to navigate rapid skill obsolescence and leveraging bundled AI workflows to solve complex professional challenges.

E130: DeSantis's Twitter Spaces, debt ceiling, Nvidia rips, state of VC, startup failure & more

DeSantis, Calacanis, Friedberg, Chamath Palihapitiya, David Sacks, Nick

Governor Ron DeSantis launched his presidential bid in a historic Twitter Spaces event hosted by Elon Musk and David Sacks that briefly drew over one million listeners before crashing under the weight of its massive audience. While the technical meltdown prompted traditional media outlets to frame the incident as a fiasco, the episode succeeded in showcasing DeSantis's composure and allowing voters to engage with unfiltered candidate discourse. The broadcast also featured extensive analysis of the U.S. debt ceiling crisis, Nvidia's record-breaking AI earnings, and the diverging fortunes of Silicon Valley startups during the current investment climate.

Why the ‘great de-stocking’ in oil and commodities could pave the way for future gains

Jeff Currie, Alison Nathan

Goldman Sachs forecasts a market transition from a historic destocking phase to a substantial deficit by summer, projecting oil prices to reach $97 per barrel and gold to hit $2,050 by year-end. The firm attributes current low prices to the liquidation of 500 million barrels in physical and paper inventories while maintaining that resilient green infrastructure demand and OPEC+ supply constraints will drive a sharp price rebound if recession fears prove overpriced. Strategic analysis highlights copper as a long-term decarbonization play and suggests that commodity levels currently serve as an effective hedge against persistent inflation and elevated interest rates.

Heatwaves: how hot can it get?

Elliot, Oliver Morton

Global heat extremes driven by a 1°C rise in atmospheric temperatures are causing record-breaking mortality rates in South Asia, Europe, and the United States, with specific meteorological patterns like heat domes and jet stream blocking intensifying these events. Critical survival thresholds are being approached as wet bulb temperatures near lethal limits in vulnerable regions, while secondary factors such as sleep disruption and pre-existing health conditions accelerate heat-related fatalities. To mitigate these escalating risks, successful adaptation strategies modeled after France's post-2003 welfare interventions must be implemented alongside public education and urban policy shifts in areas lacking historical heat precedents.

The Rise of the Exponential Organization with Peter Diamandis and Salim Ismail

Peter Diamandis, Salim Ismail

The event defines Exponential Organizations as agile entities that leverage external assets, AI, and massive transformative purposes to deliver results ten times faster and cheaper than traditional competitors. Drawing on data showing a 40x difference in shareholder returns between high-scoring ExOs and incumbents, the presentation outlines specific frameworks like SCALE and IDEAS to guide companies through digital transformation or face extinction. Additionally, it proposes new executive roles and global initiatives, such as AI-driven education in Malawi, to navigate the impending shift toward a decoupled economy driven by automation and generative intelligence.

Jack Whitehall's Emotional Confession About His Dad, His Biggest Fear & His New Life!

Jack Whitehall, Steven

Jack Whitehall launches his "Settle Down" tour, a 40-date run designed to document his transition from a "man-child" to an expectant father while navigating professional anxieties and long-standing pressure to please his demanding father, Michael Whitehall. The comedian openly addresses his history of imposter syndrome and past attempts at inauthentic personas as he balances a packed schedule featuring an upcoming film and podcast commitments with the impending arrival of his first child. Ultimately, this event serves as both a career milestone and a personal reckoning where Whitehall intends to prioritize his growing family over the high-volume work ethic that has defined his public life.

Mark Carney's Expert Analysis: Assessing Climate Action - USA vs China

Mark Carney, Harry Stebbings

Mark Evans identifies the United States as the premier ten-year investment destination over China and Europe, citing superior skills pipelines, financial ecosystems, and accelerating climate policies. While European banking systems remain resilient and Australia is making decisive climate shifts, significant risks persist in China due to inconsistent property rights, and major Western governments like the UK still lag behind corporate leaders such as Walmart in implementing concrete decarbonization strategies. The analysis concludes that despite the "innovator's dilemma" preventing most incumbents from cannibalizing their own cash flows for new technologies, value will ultimately accrue to disruptors capable of leveraging distribution channels faster than established players can adapt.

Guy Podjarney: $7.4B Startup Founder; How to Analyse Market Size; Good vs Great Messaging | E1018

Guy Podjarney, Harry Stebbings

Guy Shapira, the founder of Snyk and former CTO of Akamai, leverages his background in Israeli cyber defense and serial entrepreneurship to apply first-principles thinking to application security and product-market fit. He outlines a strategic framework for founders that prioritizes iterative speed over traditional market definitions, emphasizing the critical distinction between developer adoption and commercial monetization. Shapira further advises caution against premature fundraising and "obvious" investment plays, advocating instead for structural moats and a team-oriented leadership culture that transcends emotional family dynamics.