Latest Interviews
Showing 7411–7425 of 9,964 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute58 min
From Stigma to Treatment: Tackling the Global Mental Health Crisis
LaTese Briggs, Lynne Goldberg, Annalisa Jenkins, Elie Karam, Colin Lawlor
A global panel of experts, including Dr. Lattice Briggs, Annalisa Jenkins, and Colin Lawler, highlights a rising mental health crisis driven by chronic stress, sleep deprivation, and systemic barriers that threaten to cost the global economy $16 trillion by 2030. The discussion identifies ignorance, stigma, and an overreliance on institutional "sick care" as primary obstacles, while advocating for a shift toward community-based prevention, digital interventions, and emerging pharmaceuticals like psilocybin. Speakers emphasize that resolving this crisis requires treating mental health as a human rights issue and integrating preventative care into existing community infrastructure to sustain the future global workforce.
- Milken Institute58 min
Investing in Volatile Markets
Manus Cranny, Todd Boehly, Joshua Harris, Mike Novogratz, Amanda Staveley, Cornelia Meyer, Mary Daly, Tim Gosher, Yusuf Kutsy
Mike Novogratz, Joshua Harris, Amanda Stavely, and Todd Boehly convened to analyze a market landscape defined by impending political volatility from the Mueller report, a slightly inverted yield curve, and aggressive private equity leverage levels. The panelists distinguished between transitory trade tensions and a persistent tech war, while highlighting divergent investment strategies ranging from high-yield litigation funding and UK infrastructure to specific allocations in Bitcoin as a hedge against sovereign debt crises. Ultimately, the discussion concluded that despite dislocated assets and recessionary pricing, central banks retain sufficient firepower to stabilize the economy through future downturns.
- Milken Institute20 min
Across Sectors and Borders | Part 2: Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Social Investing
Rich Ditizio, Edgar Bronfman Jr., Richard D'Atizio
Bronfman outlines a transformative economic landscape where technology disrupts traditional music distribution, while the Endeavor Global network leverages mentorship to sustainably scale entrepreneurship across 33 countries. Simultaneously, he argues that addressing climate change requires moving beyond emission reduction to mass-scale Direct Air Capture, utilizing modular technology to economically sequester billions of tons of CO2 annually. Together, these strategies exemplify an impact investing philosophy that rejects the compromise between social good and profit, insisting that scalable solutions must generate financial returns to drive global transformation.
- Y Combinator1h 3m
Mike Knoop on Product and Design Processes for Remote Teams with Kevin Hale
Mike Knoop, Kevin Hale, Craig Cannon, Nina Mehta
Founded in 2012 by Mike Knoop and Brian Wade, Zapier emerged as a Y Combinator-backed solution to the integration gap between niche SaaS tools by pioneering a fully remote operational model before its first official funding. The company scaled to approximately 200 employees without a physical headquarters by enforcing written communication norms, implementing proprietary tools like the Async platform, and utilizing strategic pairings to maintain cross-functional collaboration. This approach allowed Zapier to achieve profitability through frugality while successfully pivoting from a manual "build it yourself" integration strategy to a partner-led ecosystem.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
World-class Healthcare: Investing in Biomedical Innovation
Tanisha Carino, Christopher Hite, Bryan Johnson, Sean Parker, D.A. Wallach
Moderated by Dr. Tanisha Carino in Abu Dhabi, this session analyzed the convergence of global biomedical innovation and market dynamics, highlighted by the historic $92 billion Bristol-Myers Squibb acquisition of Celgene as a catalyst for pipeline stability. The discussion detailed how falling hard science costs and platforms like Ginkgo Bioworks are compressing development timelines, while investment strategies increasingly favor foundational tools over singular disease treatments to address the translational gap between academic research and commercial viability. Despite concerns regarding venture capital concentration in oncology and systemic US healthcare incentives, the event projected that long-term pricing decreases and extended lifespans could emerge from global regulatory evolution and the integration of AI-driven data collection.
- 80,000 Hours3h 52m
Solving the alignment problem and handing off the future to AI | Paul Christiano
OpenAI researcher Paul Christiano outlines a technical framework for aligning artificial intelligence with human values, prioritizing "prosaic" approaches like iterated amplification over speculative future methods to address the risk of an AI-dominated economy. He argues that competitive market pressures will likely force a gradual "slow takeoff" over two decades, necessitating robust verification mechanisms to prevent a race to the bottom on safety standards. The discussion concludes with strategic recommendations for the field, emphasizing the need for institutional design, funding flexible high-risk research, and focusing on engineers who can scale safety theories within existing deep learning architectures.
- Goldman Sachs22 min
"Catch-Up With David": with Chief Executive Officer of Nextdoor, Sarah Friar
Former Square CFO Sarah Friar left her previous role to become CEO of Nextdoor, leveraging the platform's presence in over 90% of U.S. neighborhoods to bridge the gap between digital connectivity and tangible community health. Her strategy targets societal discord by fostering offline neighbor interactions while integrating local businesses to reinvest wealth back into communities, a mission shaped by her experiences with sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland and financial exclusion in South Africa. Friar applies rigorous financial discipline and people-first leadership principles to drive an ambitious goal of reaching one billion members while simultaneously championing capital allocation for women-founded businesses to address systemic funding gaps.
- Goldman Sachs19 min
Warby Parker Co-Founders and Co-CEOs Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa
Neil Blumenthal, Dave Gilboa, Rob Sweeney
Founded in 2008 by Wharton classmates Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa, Warby Parker disrupted the eyewear market by combining an omnichannel retail strategy with a proprietary social mission that has distributed millions of glasses globally. The company distinguishes itself through physical locations designed to drive organic engagement and technological innovations like virtual try-ons and remote prescription checks, which collectively maintain a Net Promoter Score of 86. By prioritizing human-centric store experiences and rigorous cultural documentation, the founders have scaled the business to over 88 stores while rejecting the notion that physical retail is obsolete in favor of a seamless digital-physical integration.
- Milken Institute51 min
The Emergence of Venture Capital Mega-Funds
Sumant Mandal, Ibrahim Ajami, Ron Cao, Fred Destin, Akshay Naheta
Masayoshi Son and Mubadala are reshaping global venture capital through massive capital deployment and a shift toward active, long-term partnerships that leverage sovereign wealth and private equity scales. Their strategies address evolving market dynamics by capitalizing on China's rapid technological expansion while restructuring traditional fund models to handle hyper-scaling companies and data-driven investment decisions. As the industry matures, these entities are prioritizing localized execution and ecosystem connectivity to navigate liquidity challenges and compete with increasingly sophisticated public market alternatives.
- a16z17 min
Security Markets: The Lay of the Land
This presentation critiques the current cybersecurity landscape as a flawed ecosystem where misaligned incentives and security-by-attachment fail to address root causes like human error and misconfiguration. Despite billions in venture capital, experts highlight that 93% of breaches stem from preventable mistakes rather than sophisticated malware, driving a market shift toward zero trust architectures and native security models exemplified by Apple and Google. Looking forward, the industry anticipates a transition to an all-cloud environment where traditional data centers shrink and blockchain facilitates threat intelligence sharing through standardized compliance and cyber insurance mechanisms.
- Milken Institute51 min
Sir Richard Branson and Michael Milken in Conversation with Kevin O'Leary
Sir Richard Branson, Michael Milken, Kevin O'Leary, Richard Branson
Speakers Richard and Michael analyze a sharp decline in Western faith in free enterprise driven by student debt, stagnant real estate returns, and wealth inequality, while contrasting this with optimism in emerging markets like Vietnam and China. They argue that successful entrepreneurship now relies on balancing visionary leadership with operational management to navigate deregulation, tax competitiveness, and global capital flows, noting that SMEs have become the primary engines of job creation. Furthermore, the discussion outlines solutions for systemic challenges, including a universal carbon tax to address climate change and for-profit space exploration to ensure both environmental sustainability and human survival.
- a16z21 min
What’s with All the Bio M&A in 2019?: A Quick Take
Kouki Harasaki, Nate Chang, Frank Chen
Driven by urgent patent cliffs and $150 billion in available capital, the 2019 biopharmaceutical landscape saw major corporations like Bristol-Myers Squibb and Takeda pursue $94 billion in M&A deals to secure platforms in gene therapy and manufacturing. Buyers increasingly favored strategic acquisitions that offer shared R&D infrastructure and supply chain security, while simultaneously utilizing early-stage licensing to mitigate risk before committing to late-stage assets. Startup executives are advised to secure internal champions and negotiate for standalone operational autonomy to align with shifting commercialization models that prioritize long-term value over traditional full integration.
- Milken Institute50 min
Blockchain and Cryptocurrency: What to Expect Next
Staci Warden, Eva Kaili, Mike Novogratz, Charles Noyes
Panelists Mike Novogratz, Charlie Noyes, and Eva Kali analyze the 2017-2018 crypto bubble as an inevitable retail-driven event that, despite regulatory delays and fraud, successfully mobilized capital for building Web 3.0 infrastructure. The discussion outlines a future ecosystem divided into Bitcoin as sovereign digital gold, enterprise-grade blockchain applications, and the tokenization of traditional assets, all driven by maturing custody and compliance solutions. Experts further identify digital identity and supply chain verification as critical use cases while debating whether Bitcoin's value stems from intrinsic scarcity or its function as a unique social coordination network.
- Y Combinator34 min
Karn Saroya on the Capital-Light Way to Start an Insurance Business
Co-founder Karn Soroya and his team launched Cover, a national property insurance entity that utilizes TensorFlow-based computer vision to automate underwriting and verify asset values through customer photography. The company strategically pivoted from failed e-commerce ventures to secure licenses in 49 states and partnerships with 30 carriers, avoiding balance sheet risk by operating as a capital-light distributor and underwriting filter. Cover achieved rapid market dominance by leveraging app-based acquisition strategies and utility-driven tools like defensive driving schools, ultimately raising $3.2 million at YC Demo Day in 2016 to scale its operations across the United States and Canada.
- Goldman Sachs32 min
Van Jones: A "First Step" in Criminal Justice Reform
Van Jones transformed his early disillusionment with media sensationalism into a decades-long crusade for criminal justice reform, leveraging grassroots activism in the Bay Area and high-level political alliances ranging from the Obama and Trump administrations to launch major policy victories like the First Step Act. Building on bipartisan support that secured overwhelming legislative passage and targeted the opioid crisis, he recently founded the Reform Alliance with $50 million in capital from co-founders Jay-Z, Meek Mill, and Robert Kraft to dismantle the probation and parole systems driving recidivism. His work continues to focus on removing employment barriers for formerly incarcerated individuals and expanding green job initiatives to reintegrate millions into the economy while reducing the racial disparities inherent in the current justice system.