Latest Interviews

E158: Global trade disrupted, Adobe/Figma canceled, realtors sued, Trump blocked

Trump, Jason, Ryan Petersen, Friedberg, Biden, Chamath Palihapitiya

Chamath Palihapitiya and David Sacks restructured the podcast's leadership into a dual CEO model while addressing a Red Sea crisis that is driving global freight costs up 300% and threatening regional escalation. The hosts also analyzed a surge in regulatory hurdles stifling M&A activity and a historic lawsuit that threatens to dismantle real estate commission monopolies. Finally, the group critiqued the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to remove Donald Trump from the ballot, arguing the ruling bypassed due process and risks exacerbating political polarization ahead of the election.

E156: Ivy League antisemitism, macro, SaaS recovery, Gemini, Figma deal delay + big Friedberg update

Jason, Friedberg, Chamath Palihapitiya, David Sacks

The panel analyzes a year of polarized media and economic tension, highlighting the viral reception of Tucker Carlson's interview and the subsequent debate over free speech at US universities facing anti-Semitism hearings. Simultaneously, the group dissects diverging economic realities where political tribalism masks underlying data, while venture capital markets undergo a severe valuation reset and a "software recession" formally concludes. Finally, the discussion evaluates the strategic implications of Google's Gemini launch and critiques the UK regulator's blocking of the Adobe-Figma deal as a destructive precedent for the global startup ecosystem.

Design Tips to Convert More Customers | Design Review

Aaron Epstein, Pete Koomen

Optimizely co-founder Pete Kuman analyzes how four distinct SaaS platforms manage their conversion funnels, contrasting Rivet's confused user experience caused by conflicting calls to action against Decoherence's successful strategy of minimizing friction through social proof and repeated "start free trial" prompts. While Decoherence excels at top-of-funnel acquisition, the discussion highlights critical gaps in onboarding guidance, whereas Solve Intelligence and InEvent illustrate how poor audience targeting, unclear value propositions, and buried features can severely hinder conversion despite strong social credentials. The episode concludes by emphasizing the necessity of mapping user journeys to eliminate redundant steps and guide visitors efficiently toward their "aha moment."

E148: McCarthy ousted, border chaos, Cruise's robotaxi "accident" & more

McCarthy, Cruise, Jason, Chamath, Calacanis, Friedberg, Webster, Chaffetz, Abbott, Biden, Trump, Adams, David Sacks

The hosts corrected prior financial estimates for Airtable, clarifying its current valuation sits between $7 and $8 billion with approximately $500 million in ARR after consulting CEO Howie Liu. The discussion also detailed Speaker Kevin McCarthy's ousting by a bipartisan vote seeking to replace continuing resolutions with twelve individual spending bills to curb federal debt. Further segments analyzed accelerating U.S. border encounters, advocating for a return to strict asylum vetting and satellite surveillance, while contrasting the public's low risk tolerance for autonomous vehicles against their proven safety potential.

E147: TED goes woke, Canada's Nazi blunder, AI adds vision, plus: who owns OpenAI?

Coleman Hughes, Sam Altman, David Sacks, Friedberg

Coleman Hughes describes a conflict with TED following his talk on colorblindness, alleging that staff censorship suppressed the video's visibility to appease ideological objections and prevent the release of a debate. He argues this incident illustrates how institutional capture occurs when employee values override leadership intent, leading to the marginalization of viewpoints like those regarding racial identity and policy. Additionally, the discussion expands to critique perceived incompetence in Western political leadership regarding historical contexts in Ukraine and analyzes emerging trends in AI, including OpenAI's valuation strategies and the potential for language models to replace traditional operating systems.

How Surbhi Sarna Built A $275M Biotech Company From Nothing

Surbhi Sarna, Ryan Briggs

Serby Serna founded Envision Medical to develop the first FDA-cleared device for early ovarian cancer detection, overcoming significant investor bias by securing seed funding before raising $20 million to advance the technology. The company achieved a $275 million acquisition by Boston Scientific after demonstrating clinical viability, marking a successful exit for Serna who previously faced rejections based on her lack of advanced degrees. Now a Group Partner at Y Combinator, Serna leverages her experience to advocate for biotech founders based on problem-solution fit rather than traditional academic credentials.

E146: Did the Fed break the VC model? Plus IPOs, M&A, revaluing unicorns & more

Chamath, Calacanis, Friedberg

Chamath Palihapitiya and David Sacks led the 2023 All In Summit, discussing personal health optimization, the evolving US political landscape, and a detailed analysis of the recovering IPO market amidst macroeconomic headwinds. The event featured critical assessments of recent venture exits, warnings about "zombie unicorns" facing equity dilution, and significant scientific breakthroughs in autoimmune therapies using inverse vaccines. With a focus on avoiding geopolitical catastrophe and navigating capital scarcity, the summit concluded that market forces will likely impose fiscal restraint rather than legislative action.

AI and our future with Yuval Noah Harari and Mustafa Suleyman

Yuval Noah Harari, Mustafa Suleyman

In a forecast for AI capabilities by 2028, Mustafa Suleiman and Yuval Noah Harari envision frontier models that will autonomously negotiate, execute multi-step actions, and interface with external APIs. While Suleiman frames these tools as engineered systems requiring deliberate constraints to prevent unintended agency, Harari argues that the technology's potential for independent idea creation marks the end of human-dominated history and introduces unique existential risks. To address these challenges, both speakers advocate for a "coalition of the willing" to enforce bans on harmful practices like human-impersonation bots, emphasizing the need for international cooperation over a geopolitical race to the bottom.

E141: State of Series A's, VC dry powder, IPO window opens + more with Bill Gurley & Brad Gerstner

Bill Gurley, Brad Gerstner, Calacanis, Friedberg, Chamath Palihapitiya, David Sacks, J. Cal

In this All-Star Summer episode, hosts J.C. Calacanis and David Sacks discuss venture capital dynamics and career strategy with guests Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley. The panel analyzes the post-2021 market correction, noting that Series A valuations have returned to 2019 levels while predicting a near-term distress cycle for overvalued late-stage companies. Additionally, the conversation explores investment discipline regarding AI mania, critiques of private market valuation opacity, and the accelerating global risks of climate change alongside historical performance benchmarks.

50 Founders Share How They Got Their First Customers

Founders validated their personal finance and ag-tech concepts through aggressive outbound strategies and viral inbound channels, generating nearly 1,000 waitlist sign-ups and converting early users into paying customers within days. By leveraging diverse acquisition tactics ranging from door-to-door pitches to Reddit launches, teams achieved significant metrics such as a 50-to-10,000 follower surge and immediate revenue from non-coded solutions. These early adopters now serve as the foundation for a demo day strategy, with founders actively pivoting job offers into sales opportunities and preparing targeted outreach to major industry executives.

Classroom 2050: Unleashing AI, XR, Gaming

Sal Khan, Romy Drucker, Allison Matthews, Steph, Anarupa

Facing a critical decline in U.S. math and literacy levels exacerbated by the pandemic, educational leaders are deploying generative AI, virtual reality, and gaming platforms to restore student proficiency without replacing educators. Tools like Khanmigo's Socratic AI and Prisms VR have achieved rapid teacher adoption by addressing cognitive gaps and fostering spatial reasoning, while shifting professional development focus from hardware mechanics to instructional design. With immediate execution and mastery-based grading models now prioritized, these innovations aim to scale personalized learning experiences that bridge equity gaps and prepare students for future STEM and problem-solving challenges.

60 Startup Founders Share How They Met Their Co-Founder

Diverse founder pairs established their startups through a wide array of pre-existing connections, ranging from long-term personal bonds and professional histories at companies like Airbnb and Bolt to modern matchmaking platforms and chance encounters during the pandemic. These teams strategically aligned complementary technical and non-technical skill sets, often leveraging decades of friendship or shared professional passions in sectors like decarbonization to overcome the risks of leaving stable employment. The resulting ventures, which span from formalizing side projects to launching full-scale decarbonization initiatives, were ultimately driven by mutual trust and verified operational delivery tracks that facilitated critical decision-making moments.

Inside El Salvador’s war on crime

Nayib Bukele, Robert Guest

El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele has implemented a nationwide security strategy that has imprisoned approximately 70,000 individuals, primarily young men detained on circumstantial evidence through group trials that bypass standard due process. This campaign has effectively dismantled democratic checks by purging the judiciary and gagging press coverage, yet it retains approval ratings between 80% and 90% by eliminating gang intimidation in exchange for a police state environment. Minister Gustavo Villatoro explicitly defended these measures as prioritizing citizen safety over human rights protocols while projecting a model where public popularity is sustained through the erosion of civil liberties.

Ignore the haters, and keep on building cool stuff.

The speaker argues that successful ventures must solve customer problems in an "amazing way" rather than relying on superficial "thin wrapper" strategies or cargo cult behavior around existing infrastructure. While acknowledging that some projects begin as simple toys, the advice warns founders to ignore backlash from critics if their model is merely a trend-chasing wrapper, emphasizing that genuine innovation is the only viable path for growth. This perspective frames the current market climate as an opportunity for optimism and building cool products, provided they evolve beyond weekend-build claims to offer real value rather than serving as mere capital-raising vehicles.

More Than a Game: Why Are We Obsessed With Sports?

Que Gaskins, Robin Arzón, Brandon Brown, Nan Wang

This discussion unites sports industry leaders to define "swagger" as the intersection of authenticity and greatness, while analyzing how the sector is shifting toward athlete empowerment, data-driven NIL monetization, and Web3 ecosystems. Participants detail operational breakthroughs from companies like Sleeper and Peloton, illustrating how social-first design and values-driven hiring can disrupt stagnant markets and redefine demographic engagement. By examining personal narratives of overcoming adversity alongside specific case studies on branding and technology, the dialogue highlights the transition from traditional performance metrics to holistic community building and creator-owned digital economies.