Latest Interviews
Showing 1–2 of 2 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- a16z38 min
How Kong Was Born: APIs, Hustle, and the Future of AI Infrastructure
Augusto Marietti, Martin Casado, Aghi, Travis Kalanick, Sam Altman
Founders Auggie Azzurri and Marco pivoted MassShape to the open-source API gateway Kong after enduring a seven-year struggle with limited capital and visa restrictions, ultimately securing a Series B backed by Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt. This strategic shift from a failed marketplace to infrastructure allowed the company to scale to over $100 million ARR by dominating the microservices management space. Today, Kong is expanding its platform to address the emerging needs of AI agents, positioning itself as essential infrastructure for token management and LLM routing.
- a16z49 min
Sam Altman on Sora, Energy, and Building an AI Empire
Sam Altman, Ben Horowitz, Erik Torenberg
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman outlines a strategic shift toward extreme vertical integration, establishing a massive global infrastructure stack to support research, consumer products, and hardware while securing partnerships with Nvidia, AMD, and Oracle. The organization prioritizes scientific advancement and world model development, predicting that within two years AI systems will autonomously conduct complex research in physics and biology, though this rapid scaling necessitates new per-generation monetization models. Concurrently, Altman advocates for a measured regulatory approach focused only on superhuman capabilities to avoid stifling innovation, while emphasizing that the ultimate economic value of this infrastructure lies in the successful and gradual deployment of artificial general intelligence.