Latest Interviews
Showing 9511–9525 of 9,936 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Y Combinator24 min
Eric Migicovsky at Startup School SV 2014
Industrial design student Eric Migicovsky evolved a Nokia 3310 prototype into Pebble, a Kickstarter-funded wearable device that revolutionized the smartwatch market by raising over $10 million in 30 days. By pivoting from limited Blackberry compatibility to an open-source E-ink platform with cross-device interoperability, the company successfully challenged established tech giants like Apple and Sony. This strategic shift secured Pebble's place as a dominant, community-driven ecosystem focused on battery efficiency and developer integration rather than a closed proprietary system.
- Milken Institute1h 23m
MI Forum - Innovating Women - The Changing Face of Technology
Sharon Vosmek, Dane Stangler, Anousheh Ansari, Vivek Wadhwa, Farai Chideya, Mindy Silverstein
Moderated by Mindy Silverstein, a Milken Institute forum featuring Vivek Wadhwa, Anusha Ansari, Dane Stangler, and Sharon Vozmek dissected the systemic gender biases in Silicon Valley's venture capital ecosystem and the economic benefits of inclusive innovation. The panel highlighted how exclusionary networks and "pattern recognition" practices result in women founders accessing a fraction of available capital despite evidence that diverse teams outperform male-only counterparts by 64%, prompting Wadhwa to crowdsource his book *Innovating Women* to fund a Singularity University initiative. Addressing both global and local barriers, the speakers advocated for shifting from mandatory quotas to cultural normalization of diversity, early STEM mentorship, and increased angel investing by women to unlock the projected 6-9% GDP growth derived from full female economic participation.
- Goldman Sachs9 min
Inventor Dean Kamen & Goldman Sachs' Don Duet: Talks at GS Session Highlights
Dean Kamen, Don Duet, Calvin Lully
A self-taught entrepreneur who entered the healthcare sector to solve fundamental problems rather than make incremental improvements, the speaker cites the iBot wheelchair as a breakthrough that overcame both physical and social barriers for users like Calvin Lully. Challenging the notion that education lacks teachers or resources, the speaker argues that engagement requires packaging learning through entertainment and elevating tech innovators as cultural heroes. While employing 600 engineers to define new markets, the organization intentionally avoids direct manufacturing, instead partnering with global incumbents to scale rare, world-changing innovations despite a high rate of experimental failure.
- Bank of America32 min
Small Business Social Series: Women in Business: Rising Revenues, Optimism, and Power – How to Ta...
Carol Roth, Jill Calabrese Bain, Kimberly Weisul, Darla Beggs
Hosted by Bank of America, the Small Business Social Series convened Carol Roth, Jill Calabrese-Bain, Darla Beggs, and Kimberly Weisel to analyze the doubling rate of women-owned businesses and the strategic shift toward long-term corporate culture and succession planning. The panelists emphasized how empathy-driven leadership, digital tools like The Mentor Cloud, and a focus on specific personal branding attributes are dismantling entry barriers while capital access improves through crowdfunding and female investor support. With 70% of female entrepreneurs anticipating revenue growth, the discussion concluded that audacious goal-setting and organic mentorship are critical for navigating the transition from tactical execution to exponential expansion.
- Milken Institute59 min
Asia Summit 2014 - Global Overview: Geoeconomics vs. Geopolitics
Michael Milken, Tony Fernandes, Jamie Forese, Joshua Harris, Axel Weber
Citi's Jamie Dimon and industry leaders from Apollo Global Management convened in Singapore to analyze the structural shift of global economic gravity toward Asia, contrasting the region's high growth potential with the stagnation of European markets and the geopolitical risks of fiscal integration. The discussion highlighted specific investment dynamics, including the underutilization of private capital in Asian SMEs, the manufacturing renaissance driven by the US shale revolution, and the resilience of entrepreneurs like AirAsia in serving mass markets. Ultimately, panelists called for regulatory environments that prioritize long-term stability over short-term populism to facilitate sustainable capital flows and address the growing disparities between emerging and advanced economies.
- Milken Institute55 min
Asia Summit 2014 - Lunch Program: China Today and Tomorrow - English
Yang Yanqing, Liang Xinjun, Shen Ding Li, Cheng Yong Nian
A 2014-2015 panel analysis projected China's economic transition from a 7.5% GDP target to a sustainable 6-7% growth rate supported by sovereign assets and shifting from investment-driven to consumption-led models. Key structural reforms, including a decadal anti-corruption campaign and state-managed debt restructuring, aim to resolve interest rate disparities between private firms and state-owned enterprises while positioning the country for a #1 nominal GDP ranking by 2020. Strategic investments by entities like Fosun Group alongside geopolitical efforts in trade settlement and regional security further underscore a trajectory toward global resource integration and middle-class expansion.
- Milken Institute47 min
Asia Summit 2014 - Celebrating and Selling to the Growing Middle Class
Donald Tang, Achal Agarwal, Timothy Chen, Kevin Lu, Peter Tan, Arjun Agarwal
Industry leaders and investors convened to analyze the projected expansion of the global middle class, which is shifting decisively toward Asia by 2030 and fundamentally altering consumption patterns and investment flows. Executives from Kimberly Clark, Private Equity, and technology firms detailed strategic pivots toward localized innovation, digital engagement, and decentralized governance to capture this emerging demographic. The panel concluded that sustaining this growth requires a departure from Western consumption models, necessitating robust political stability, strict corporate governance, and a renewed focus on collective well-being over individual wealth accumulation.
- Milken Institute53 min
Asia Summit 2014 - Long-Term Impact: Multigenerational Commitment to Change
Richard Ditizio, Andrew Forrest, Grace Forrest, Laurence Lien, Mike Wiluan
At a Milken Institute session, family philanthropists Grace Forrest, Mike, and Lawrence detailed strategies for sustaining mission-driven impact through business-oriented approaches, structural innovation, and intergenerational governance reforms. Grace Forrest leveraged forensic supply chain audits to expose modern slavery within Fortescue Mines, while Mike shifted the Batam family foundation from direct employment to community-based fishery seeding to support 1.3 million people across Indonesia. Concurrently, Lawrence transformed the Lien Foundation from a tertiary education focus to radical early childhood interventions in Singapore, utilizing data-driven advocacy to replace government risk aversion with pilot programs that eventually became public policy. The panel concluded that the future of philanthropy requires adopting venture structures, competitive talent incentives, and technology integration to solve systemic issues where capital alone is insufficient.
- Milken Institute1h 5m
Asia Summit 2014 - Strengthening Asian Markets: Allocating Capital, Refining Policy
Christine Tan, David Bonderman, Piyush Gupta, Lim Chow Kiat, Michael Milken, Jonathan Nelson
Prominent investors and regulators, including Piyush Gupta and Mike Milken, identified a critical $500 billion capital shortfall and structural intermediation gaps preventing Asian markets from leveraging their massive savings surplus. The panel highlighted that while private capital is shifting toward the region due to superior risk-adjusted returns, significant barriers such as currency volatility, legal unpredictability, and fragmented regulatory frameworks continue to deter deep domestic investment. Looking ahead, experts project Asia will transition from financing the West to self-sufficiency within 15 years, driven by digital leapfrogging, RMB-denominated instruments, and a shift toward private infrastructure financing.
- Milken Institute55 min
Asia Summit 2014 - A Conversation with Robert Zoellick: U.S. Rebalancing Toward Asia
Robert Zoellick, Chan Heng-Chi, Manraj Sekh, Jared Carney Lightdale, Kevin Chen, Yanqing
Former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zellick addressed the strategic challenges of the current global order, analyzing the implications of Scottish independence on UK-US relations while advocating for a federalism model to counter insular fragmentation. He outlined a complex counter-ISIS strategy requiring local ground forces and regional partnerships to navigate the collapse of the Sykes-Picot system without overextending US domestic will. Furthermore, Zellick emphasized the necessity of advancing the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to secure US leadership, urging the integration of rising powers like China into reformed multilateral institutions rather than isolating them.
- Milken Institute52 min
Asia Summit 2014 - U.S. Capital Markets: Smooth Sailing, but in What Direction?
John Sokoloff, Samir Jain, Tom Fink
Managing Partners John Sokoloff, Samir Jain, and Tom Fink analyze a credit environment where historical valuation precedents suggest the current boom is unsustainable despite mid-cycle economic expansion. The panelists identify a strategic pivot toward dividend recapitalizations and secondary market acquisitions as private equity firms navigate rising interest rate risks and a projected market correction. While Asian markets offer long-term growth opportunities through institutional capital flows, the experts warn that rapid rate hikes could trigger a violent downturn that fundamentally alters exit multiples.
- Milken Institute51 min
Asia Summit 2014 - Prosperity and Risk in the Asia Pacific
Wayne, Tommy Koh, Victor Chu, Takeshi Niiname, Arfin Serega, S.S. Teo, Manu Bhaskaran, Sui Ling Chia, Peter Wayman
Chaired by Ambassador Tommy Koh, a panel of prominent Asian business leaders and economists assessed the region's economic trajectory, forecasting a stabilization of growth rates while identifying geopolitical instability and internal structural reforms as primary risks. The discussion detailed specific national outlooks, highlighting China's transition to domestic consumption, Japan's exit from deflation under Abenomics, and Indonesia's infrastructure-driven potential, alongside a strong commitment to realizing the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. Despite the consensus that economic interdependence fosters prosperity, the panelists concluded that robust leadership and legal mechanisms remain essential to manage territorial disputes and ensure long-term regional stability.
- Goldman Sachs24 min
Congressman John Lewis & Lloyd Blankfein: Talks at GS Session Highlights
Former civil rights leader John Lewis traces his journey from a sharecropper's son in rural Alabama to a central figure in the 1960s nonviolent movement, detailing his collaboration with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and pivotal events such as the Freedom Rides, the 1963 March on Washington, and the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" confrontation in Selma. These struggles directly catalyzed landmark federal legislation including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which Lewis credits for enabling the presidencies of Carter, Clinton, and Obama while warning that the unfinished work of racial and LGBTQ+ justice demands continued vigilance against modern legal setbacks.
- Goldman Sachs32 min
John C. Whitehead & Tom Brokaw: Talks at GS Session Highlights
John C. Whitehead, Tom Brokaw, Peter van de Ven
Goldman Sachs senior partner John Whitehead shared his classified D-Day experience where, to save his crew, he disobeyed orders and maneuvered his landing craft through enemy fire, a sacrifice he concealed for decades to avoid court-martial. This hidden act of courage foreshadowed his post-war humanitarian airlifts to Hungary and his unique consensus-based leadership philosophy at Goldman Sachs, which prioritized moral responsibility and team cohesion over rapid decision-making. Tanya Cushman's book *The Greatest Generation* finally brought these suppressed stories to light, revealing how the extreme pressures of World War II forged the ethical frameworks that defined Whitehead's public and private life.
- Milken Institute1h 20m
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
Ed Catmull outlines a leadership philosophy at Pixar that prioritizes building resilient teams and protecting vulnerable creative concepts over immediate commercial safety or rigid IP protection. Through mechanisms like the unfiltered "Brain Trust" and the strategic separation of Disney and Pixar operations, Catmull cultivated a culture where iterative failure and the balancing act between production demands ("the hungry beast") and artistic development ("the ugly baby") drive long-term innovation. This approach, which evolved from Catmull's own early misconceptions about self-managing talent and Steve Jobs' leadership transition, ultimately sustained a unique organizational environment capable of consistently delivering high-risk, high-reward animated films.