Latest Interviews

Enterprise Sales | Startup School

Pete Koomen, Pete Kuhman

Optimizely co-founder Pete Kuhman outlines a rigorous enterprise sales framework for technical founders, emphasizing that selling before product-market fit requires experimentation with targeted prospecting and personalized outreach. The strategy prioritizes deep discovery during initial calls, uses product-specific narratives to demonstrate value during demos, and treats pricing as a signal of problem severity rather than a fixed metric. By actively managing implementation roadmaps to ensure customer adoption and navigating procurement hurdles with internal champions, founders can transform sales skills into a transferable superpower for fundraising and hiring.

Credit Outlook | Milken Institute Global Conference 2024

Michael Milken, James Keenan, Victor Khosla, Marc Lipschultz, Purnima Puri

Leading institutional investors from BlackRock, Blue Owl Capital, Strategic Value Partners, and J.P. Morgan Partners outlined a rigorous selection framework that targets only 2% to 5% of reviewed deals to navigate a "higher for longer" interest rate environment. Panelists emphasized that private credit offers superior covenant protection and recovery rates compared to public markets, positioning it as a permanent portfolio diversifier rather than a temporary boom as bank deleveraging drives capital toward asset managers. Looking ahead, industry leaders anticipate a multi-year opportunity in distressed debt and non-sponsor financing, where operational involvement and strict governance will define success amid projected $600 billion in annual maturities.

Addressing Antisemitism and Religious Bias Based on Facts | Global Conference 2024

Richard Sandler, Van Jones, Daniel Lubetzky, Arielle Mokhtarzadeh, David Wolpe

Rabbi David Wolpe, Van Jones, Daniel Lesetsky, and Ariel Macarza Day convened to analyze the post-October 7 surge in antisemitism, framing it as an ideological war driven by foreign influence and Marxist binaries that threatens the historic Black-Jewish alliance. The panel detailed specific campus realities, including the physical barring of Jewish students and the strategic use of anonymity by masked protesters, while contrasting Jewish fears of genocide with Black anxieties about police brutality to explain the current fragmentation. To counter these threats, the experts proposed a strategic "Five H's" alliance between Black and Jewish communities, advocating for institutional partnerships between HBCUs and Hillels and a shift from defensive posturing to active legal enforcement against hate crimes.

A Conversation with OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap | Global Conference 2024

Brad Lightcap, Julia Boorstin

OpenAI is accelerating enterprise adoption through strategic partnerships with entities like Stack Overflow and major publishers while demonstrating tangible operational efficiencies, such as Klarna's reduction of support ticket resolution times by 82%. Despite rapid integration into 92% of Fortune 500 companies, leadership warns that energy supply chain constraints and regulatory caution pose significant hurdles to scaling the infrastructure required for future multimodal models. The organization is shifting toward an iterative deployment strategy to smooth the transition from text-based tools to collaborative AI teammates, aiming to foster workforce familiarity while mitigating the risks of insufficient economic growth.

The Promise and Pitfalls of Private Equity | Global Conference 2024

Mark Thierfelder, Joe Baratta, Anne-Marie Fink, Patrick Healy, Jonathan D. Sokoloff, Pete Stavros

In a session highlighting the private equity sector's adaptation to post-2022 market volatility, leaders from Blackstone, KKR, and Hellman & Friedman detailed their strategic pivots toward longer holding periods and operational value creation amid elevated credit costs. To address liquidity constraints and shifting investor expectations, these firms are increasingly utilizing continuation vehicles, expanding into retail capital channels, and reforming stakeholder models to unlock value from the 90% of companies that remain private. The panelists concluded that while public market exits remain constrained, structural advantages in governance and targeted infrastructure investments will drive future growth as the industry transitions from a traditional buy-sell model to a sustained ownership framework.

A Conversation with Issa Rae & Sherrese Clarke Soares | Global Conference 2023

Issa Rae, Sherrese Clarke Soares, Ari Melber

Harborview Capital, in partnership with Apollo Global Management, leverages a "content is queen" thesis to direct up to $1 billion toward media assets led by people of color, specifically targeting Black women and diasporic communities in Newark, New Jersey. Issa Rae and Charisse Clark-Soros discuss a seismic industry shift where creators are reclaiming ownership and demanding data transparency to replace the opaque metrics of streaming platforms. The dialogue underscores a strategic pivot toward hyper-local authenticity, arguing that specific, culturally rooted storytelling drives global engagement and justifies redirecting capital to diverse entrepreneurs.

Proposals for Protecting the Free-Enterprise System while Closing the Wealth Gap | Global Conference

Michael Milken, John Hope Bryant, Brad Gerstner, Teresa Ghilarducci, Steven T. Mnuchin

On May 8, 2024, the Milken Institute convened a panel featuring Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, investor Brad Jacobs, and advocate John Hope Bryant to propose structural reforms that reconcile free enterprise with closing the wealth gap. The group outlined specific legislative and private-sector solutions, including the "Invest America Birth Account" to seed universal child savings and the Retirement Savings for Americans Act to automatically enroll workers in retirement plans. These initiatives aim to mitigate retirement insecurity and promote financial literacy by 2026, leveraging contributions from high-net-worth donors and private equity firms while avoiding wealth taxes that could stifle innovation.

The artistry is actually in that interface between the human and the technology itself.

The speaker argues that while artificial intelligence will significantly assist with backend development and API writing, it cannot fully automate the creative interface between humans and technology where true software artistry resides. By leveraging strongly typed systems and natural language to translate requirements into specifications, AI serves as a powerful tool that augments human productivity rather than replacing it. Ultimately, the event emphasizes that defining the fundamental scope of products remains a critical human responsibility that transcends mere code generation.

Countering Warning Signs | Global Conference 2024

Josh Barro, Mark Lindbloom, Raymond McGuire, Asutosh Padhi, Seema Shah, Jeffrey Solomon, Ray McGuire

Panelists led by Jeffrey Solomon and Ray McGuire conclude that structural shifts such as deglobalization and domestic infrastructure spending will sustain a "higher for longer" rate environment with nominal yields stabilizing between 4.25% and 4.75%. While consumer spending remains bifurcated with resilient high-income earners and distressed lower-income households, the economy continues to absorb higher costs due to robust corporate balance sheets and productivity gains driven by technology. Ultimately, investors must recalibrate valuations to account for persistent inflation and tail risks, recognizing that the labor market serves as the primary indicator before a potential systemic downturn or prolonged expansion occurs.

Institutional Investors: Staying the Course or Catching the Wave | Global Conference 2024

Christopher Ailman, Amy Diamond, Allison Hill, Molly Murphy, Bei Saville, Liz Tulach

Five female Chief Investment Officers from Boeing, QIC, Advance Family Office, Orange County Retirement System, and the USC Endowment convened to debate investment strategies spanning private markets, geopolitical risk, and emerging trends. The panelists detailed their specific approaches to navigating high volatility and sticky inflation while balancing rigid mandates with opportunities in artificial intelligence, private credit, and supply chain reshoring. Their collective dialogue highlighted a shift toward "staying the course" in innovation while actively managing liquidity constraints and diversifying portfolios through secondaries and co-investments.

The Cancer Diagnostics Revolution | Global Conference 2024

Gregory Simon, Kara Egan, Helmy Eltoukhy, Jody Hoyos, Larry Kessler, Anaeze Offodile, Greg Simon

Experts and industry leaders convened to discuss the technological evolution of liquid biopsies for early-stage, pan-cancer detection while addressing critical barriers regarding clinical efficacy, health equity, and reimbursement. The dialogue highlighted the necessity of randomized control trials to prove mortality benefits over simple downstaging, noting that false positives can trigger invasive diagnostic odysseys without extending life. Panelists from organizations like GARDEN and Teal Health outlined specific strategic goals, including securing Medicare coverage and developing at-home screening devices to reduce the 25% of women currently behind on recommended cancer screenings.

You should probably still learn how to code.

A recent analysis of Large Language Models reveals that their logical development stems from processing code repositories like GitHub, providing empirical proof for the long-suspected link between programming and increased human intelligence. While the ultimate goal of computing is to eventually eliminate the need for manual coding, experts argue that learning to write code remains essential today because the cognitive challenge of programming itself enhances intellectual capacity. This emerging data transforms a historical practitioner belief into a validated conclusion, urging continued education in coding despite advancements in AI-generated software.

Remarks by the President of Argentina Javier Milei | Global Conference 2024

Javier Milei, Conrad Kiechel

President Javier Milei assumed office in Argentina to confront a 200% inflation crisis and 41% poverty rate by implementing a libertarian platform that secured a 20-year-first fiscal surplus within five months. His administration reversed a historical trajectory of collectivism by cutting public spending, repearing hundreds of laws, and dismantling unnecessary agencies to unlock the nation's potential for economic convergence. Milei now positions Argentina as a global investment hub, urging international leaders to support free-market principles as the essential path to lifting 60% of the population out of poverty.

Ukraine: Present Perils and Future Prospects | Global Conference 2024

Gideon Rose, Dmitri Alperovitch, Bill Browder, Evelyn Farkas, Ilya Ponomarev, Liev Schreiber

Experts analyze a grinding land stalemate in Ukraine's war against Russia, where rapid mobilization and insufficient Western training cycles struggle against Russia's fully reoriented war economy and massive defense spending. The panel debates the strategic necessity of confiscating frozen Russian assets, long-range strikes on domestic infrastructure, and an oil embargo to break Russian resolve, while warning that a potential U.S. election victory for Donald Trump could severely cut aid and jeopardize NATO security. With credible peace negotiations deemed impossible under Vladimir Putin's current leadership, the outlook remains divided between a prolonged existential deadlock and a future resolution driven by internal Russian resistance or a fundamental shift in Western strategic posture.

The Asset Management Upheaval | Global Conference 2024

Matt Brown, Kamal Bhatia, Dan Bienvenue, Kathryn Koch, Jose Minaya, Tony Minella

Asset management leaders converge to analyze how persistent higher interest rates and a "higher-for-longer" environment are reshaping investment strategies toward senior secured lending and integrated public-private portfolios. The discussion highlights accelerating industry consolidation driven by the need for permanent capital through insurance partnerships, while simultaneously tracking the democratization of alternatives via 401(k) regulatory changes and a pivot toward outcome-based sustainable investing. Experts forecast a coming private credit distress cycle within 24 months that will separate top-tier managers from laggards, even as structural demographic shifts and AI-driven public market growth dominate long-term outlooks beyond short-term political cycles.