Latest Interviews

Part 2: Global Capital Markets

Mohamed El-Aryan, Thomas Fink, Scott Miner, Arunma Otec, David Solomon

Prominent financial leaders including David Solomon, Mohamed El-Erian, and Arunma Otec discuss post-election market volatility and the critical need for tax reform and deregulation to sustain reflationary growth. The panel emphasizes that while current optimism is high, success depends on reconciling strong equity performance with weak GDP data and executing complex legislative compromises on corporate tax rates and regulatory frameworks like the Volcker Rule. Furthermore, experts warn that long-term prosperity requires addressing structural challenges such as the digital divide, workforce readiness for automation, and coordinated global monetary policies to manage currency dynamics amidst geopolitical instability.

Talks at GS – Eddie Huang: Food, Culture, Identity

Eddie Huang

Executive Producer and author Nahnatchka Khan reflects on her memoir *Fresh Off the Boat* and the television adaptation as pivotal moments in transitioning from defensive survival mechanisms to intentional identity formation. She critiques the show for diluting authentic Asian experiences into universal white narratives while rejecting the "model minority" stereotype through her personal journey of culinary preservation and leadership at her restaurant, Bauhaus. Ultimately, she advocates for a cultural shift that prioritizes shared humanity over differences, utilizing a management philosophy that blends high performance with deep personal care to foster genuine employee loyalty.

Scaling Growth | Gustaf Alstromer, YC Partner (formerly Airbnb) & Ed Baker (formerly Uber)

Gustaf Alstromer, Ed Baker

Ed Arons and Gustav Sorensen discuss their experience scaling growth teams at Uber, Airbnb, and Facebook, contrasting early viral tactics that exploited platform loopholes with sustainable strategies focused on retention and marketplace liquidity. The speakers detail how successful scaling requires aligning product and engineering functions, adapting paid acquisition to local constraints, and replacing short-term viral hacks with long-term investments in SEO, data science, and user experience optimization. Furthermore, they emphasize the necessity of institutionalizing experimentation to challenge assumptions, citing specific examples like copy adjustments in Japan and WeChat integration in China, while advocating for unified operational models that track acquisition, churn, and re-engagement separately.

The Impact Investing Summit

Matthew Bishop, Lisa Ashford, Mark Campanale, Mark Goldring, Lutfey Siddiqi, Matthew Spencer, Tristram Stewart, Rod Schwartz, Arthur Wood, Mel Tam

In an Oxford-style debate regarding the primary agent for climate action, Lisa Ashford and Mark Campanali argued that investors and bankers can bypass political inertia to drive rapid decarbonization, while Matthew Spencer and colleagues contended that social movements and government policy are essential to establish the regulatory frameworks that make green investment viable. Despite pro-market arguments citing market failures and capital efficiency, the opposition team successfully countered by highlighting historical precedents where moral pressure and state intervention preceded financial shifts. Ultimately, the side opposing the motion won by persuading the audience to view political and social activism as the necessary "generals" that guide the "cavalry" of private capital.

Scaling Product | Fireside with Joe Gebbia and Reid Hoffman

Joe Gebbia, Reid Hoffman

Airbnb achieved product-market fit by abandoning scalable code solutions in favor of manual, non-scalable actions, such as founders personally photographing listings to overcome trust barriers and reduce user friction. To sustain hyper-growth while maintaining culture and empathy, the company institutionalized practices like hiring for future needs, training core values interviewers, and mandating that employees regularly experience the platform as travelers and hosts. This strategic focus on deep user connection and operational realism eventually enabled the expansion from a simple room-rental service to a comprehensive travel ecosystem featuring Experiences and a global network of professional photographers.

Fake News: Negotiating Politics and Society in a Post-Truth World

Willow Bay, Rebecca Blumenstein, Campbell Brown, Stephen Hayes, Scott McClellan, Jon Steinberg

A panel of industry leaders and academics convened to analyze the drivers of the fake news crisis, attributing its proliferation to Facebook's engagement-focused algorithms, the decline of local journalism jobs, and a polarized political culture that normalizes dishonesty. In response, the tech giant has pivoted its mission to support authentic reporting by launching the Facebook Journalism Project, removing over 30,000 malicious accounts, and committing to a workforce of 3,000 content managers to surpass the staff sizes of major news organizations. While rejecting government regulation in favor of market-based solutions and advertiser pressure, the group emphasized a multi-pronged strategy involving new revenue models, mandatory media literacy education, and collaborative product development to restore public trust and combat misinformation.

How to Raise Money with Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, and Parker Conrad (HtSaS 2014: 9)

Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Parker Conrad

SV Angel outlines a venture capital philosophy centered on investing in outlier founders with extreme strengths rather than balanced profiles, emphasizing that seed rounds of $1M to $2M at caps near $9M offer the highest probability of success. The firm prioritizes companies that have already peeled away risk through revenue generation and traction, viewing the investor-founder relationship as a long-term partnership where dilution limits and board governance are managed through covenants rather than formal votes. By leveraging a high-selectivity process where only one in thirty referrals receive funding, SV Angel targets leaders who can articulate clear value propositions within minutes while avoiding conflicts that limit future portfolio flexibility.

10,000 Small Businesses UK Participants Share Experiences of Time on Programme

Launched in 2012, this intensive program guided struggling entrepreneurs through a rigorous diagnostic process that identified critical financial leaks and strategic pivots from B2B to B2C models. By pairing founders with growth experts and fostering a transparent cohort of vetted peers, participants transformed their ventures from loss-making entities into cash-positive businesses generating up to £1.5 million in revenue. The initiative delivered a transformative return on investment, enabling companies to hire strategically, secure major capital projects, and establish a lasting support network that continues to drive long-term operational efficiency.

Q&A with YC Partners at Startup School SV 2016

Kat, Adora, Tim, Jaredy, Michael, Dalton, Kirsty

This event delivers a comprehensive strategic guide for startup founders, covering critical phases from immediate idea validation and co-founder selection to operational tooling and the YC application process. Key insights emphasize prioritizing genuine passion over impressiveness, balancing product perfection with growth based on specific retention thresholds, and leveraging community support rather than isolating oneself. The session concludes with logistical details for a reception in the sunken garden, offering a direct forum for continued dialogue with the YC partners and staff.

Investing in Emerging Markets: Out of the Rabbit Hole?

Jonathan Wheatley, Hedi Ben Mlouka, Scott Mackin, Arvind Rajan, Nicolas Rohatyn

A panel of investment experts analyzes the structural shift in emerging markets where domestic politics and capital flows now outweigh global macro factors, urging a move away from generic strategies toward country-specific analysis of debt evolution and political risk. Despite short-term market mismatches and liquidity constraints, the discussion highlights compelling valuations and high-growth potential in sectors like infrastructure, citing specific opportunities in Egypt, Vietnam, and Russia while warning of volatility in Turkey and China. By prioritizing long-term capital commitments and rigorous due diligence over quarterly reviews, investors can mitigate these risks to capture the 75% of global GDP growth projected to originate from these regions over the next decade.

Rewarding Employees & Giving Back to Your Local Community

Carol Roth, Sharon Miller, Steve Strauss, Cali Williams Yost

This analysis of the 2016 Bank of America Small Business Owner Report reveals that post-election optimism has surged as entrepreneurs leverage flexibility and community engagement to enhance employee retention and local economic stability. Key figures including Steve Strauss, Sharon Miller, and Callie Williams-Yost outline strategic resolutions for 2017 that emphasize diversifying profit centers, formalizing remote work policies, and establishing long-term charitable partnerships to drive sustainable growth. The event underscores that balancing operational adaptability with personal well-being is essential for small businesses navigating an uncertain economic landscape.

Britain's EU Exit: What's Next for London?

Adrian Wooldridge, Nicholas Candy, Peter Flint, Howard Shore, Julian Skan, Carmen Zechner

A diverse panel of financial experts and housing strategists evaluates the impending "hard Brexit" and its potential to trigger regulatory restructuring within London's financial services sector, which relies heavily on global talent. While major banks plan minimal physical relocation, the discussion highlights that rising housing costs and immigration restrictions pose a more immediate threat to the city's competitiveness than the departure from the EU itself. The group concludes that a successful post-Brexit economic strategy requires accelerating modular construction, diversifying investment into regional hubs, and leveraging deregulation to support SMEs and FinTech innovation.

Global Capital Markets: New Risks, New Opportunities

Michael Milken, Marisa Drew, Luke Ellis, Thomas Finke, Nobel Gulati, Jonathan Nelson

Leading investment executives from Providence Equity Partners, Two Sigma, Credit Suisse, Man Group, and Barings convened to analyze how technology-driven innovation and regulatory shifts are reshaping capital markets. Participants emphasized that while true uncorrelated alpha has become scarce, firms are increasingly relying on organizational alpha, data science integration, and collaborative cultures to generate returns across media, private equity, and direct lending sectors. The consensus highlighted a critical transition where traditional finance models must evolve to incorporate scientific methods and address systemic risks associated with the rapid growth of non-bank lending.

Immigration in Europe: Balancing Politics, Security and Compassion

David Goodhart, Percy Barnevik, Sir Paul Collier, Begüm Doğan Faralyali, Dominik Hangartner

Former ABB CEO Percy Barnevik, Turkish media magnate Begum Doğan, and Oxford professor Sir Paul Collier convened to debate solutions for the European immigration crisis, emphasizing a shift from humanitarian aid to economic autonomy and source-region development. Panelists criticized the failure of current asylum systems for causing skill atrophy and highlighted the "Jordan Model" as a viable alternative that links job creation in refugee-hosting nations with EU market access. The discussion further analyzed the political risks of uncontrolled migration, noting that integration failures in countries like Sweden and the erosion of Turkey's border controls necessitate a strategy prioritizing private sector investment over traditional government-to-government aid.

Will EU Departure Strengthen Ties Between the UK and India?

Simon Long, Jitesh Gadhia, Mohit Joshi, Rain Newton-Smith, Manish Singh, Richard Templar, Matt McGrath

UK Prime Minister Theresa May's post-Brexit trade mission to India focuses on leveraging financial services and infrastructure investment to overcome economic shocks and structural gaps in both nations' capital markets. Key figures including Liam Fox and Nirmal Sitharaman have initiated a trade audit to explore bilateral agreements, targeting sectors such as insurance, Masala bonds, and the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund while addressing regulatory harmonization for bankruptcy and solvency. Despite concerns over tightening UK visa policies, the dialogue emphasizes utilizing India's JAM financial inclusion framework and the UK's service-sector expertise to establish a strategic economic partnership that could potentially bypass stalled multilateral EU negotiations.