Latest Interviews
Showing 1–15 of 19 transcripts.
Clear all filters- The Economist8 min
Why this crypto crash is different
Amidst a regulatory landscape reshaped by the Trump administration's appointment of industry insiders and the removal of past constraints, the global crypto market has matured from a niche asset class into a multi-trillion dollar financial component. Despite significant political support and the launch of family-backed ventures like World Liberty Financial, the sector is currently grappling with a unique downturn where new investors face substantial losses even as Bitcoin trades near $90,000. This shift marks a departure from historical boom-bust cycles, signaling a transition where decentralized finance aligns with conservative anti-establishment sentiments while institutional adoption accelerates through ETFs and banking licenses.
- Milken Institute32 min
Conversation with Senator Joe Manchin, Jigar Shah, & Chevron CEO Michael Wirth | Global Conference
Joe Manchin, Jigar Shah, Michael Wirth, David Westin, Mike
Debate leaders, including Senator Manchin and LPO Director Jigar Shah, examined the $500 billion federal energy investment framework while clashing over the pace of EV subsidies, hydrogen regulation, and the necessity of government loans to de-risk private capital. Key figures emphasized that despite rapid solar deployment, permitting bottlenecks and conflicting agency signals threaten grid stability and the timely retirement of fossil assets. The discussion concluded by highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive permitting reform to align domestic economic incentives with global net-zero trajectories before the current funding authority expires.
- All-In Podcast1h 39m
#AIS: Bestie AMA with Valor's Antonio Gracias
Antonio Gracias, Chamath, Calacanis, Friedberg, TheZachEffect, David Sacks, Glenn Greenwald, Bill Lee, Jeff Skoll, Dave Goldberg, Tony Hsieh, Chase Coleman, Brad Gerstner, Vinod Khosla, Michael Schellenberger, Andrew Yang, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Tim Cook, Samantha, Bobbin, Science Boy, Ted, Mike, Chris, Sarah, Joanna, Kate, Aria, Kenneth Brown III, Sonny Lampa, Prem, Phil Deutsch, Jan, Matthew, Elizabeth Holmes
Antonio García Martínez and his investment partners argue that American manufacturing resilience depends on prioritizing Return on Invested Capital over revenue multiples, citing Tesla's operational necessity for onshoring as a counter to the short-term cost-cutting that drove industrial decline. This philosophy, forged through high-stakes poker networks and tested by a 2008 existential bet on Tesla and SpaceX, drives their current advocacy for a neutral energy policy and a macroeconomic outlook anticipating a brief recession followed by a capital market reset to pre-2020 valuation norms. By rejecting commoditized hardware markets and financial engineering in favor of high-barrier innovations, the group predicts a mini-retooling era where biomanufacturing and in-person collaboration define the next cycle of value creation.
- Goldman Sachs42 min
A Conversation with David Solomon - Goldman Sachs 2020 Investor Day
David Solomon, Julian Wellesley, Brennan, Mike, Kiana Wilson, Doug, Christian Bolu, Glenn, Betsy, Devin, Steve, John, Gerard Cassidy, Matt O'Connor, Jeff Hart
Goldman Sachs is executing a strategic pivot to diversify its Global Markets client base and expand Consumer and Wealth Management operations, specifically targeting a $1.3 billion expense reduction while simultaneously building toward $125 billion in deposits. CEO David Solomon and leadership team emphasized a "One Goldman Sachs" ethos to break internal silos, with management deferring specific payout ratios in favor of a CET1 target of 13% to 13.5% to fund accretive growth. The firm projects a three-to-four-year J-curve for new lending and transaction banking initiatives, planning to report progress against these capital allocation and efficiency milestones on an annual basis rather than quarterly.
- The Economist7 min
How science is changing the nature of families
Mike, Crystal Travis, Dr Danielle Lane, Dr Michelle Perugini, Dawn Hallett
Dawn and Mike Hallett, a Nova Scotia couple facing decades of infertility, overcame strict Canadian guidelines by securing a successful surrogacy in the unregulated market of Georgia, resulting in the birth of their daughter Audrey when the mother was 65. This personal milestone occurs amidst a rapidly expanding global fertility industry where egg freezing and advanced technologies, such as Dr. Michelle Paragini's AI-embryo selector, are increasingly enabling women to delay childbirth while improving success rates and reducing costs. Despite these medical and technological advancements, ethical debates persist among specialists like Dr. Danielle Lane, who maintain that pregnancy risks for women over 50 outweigh the benefits of such late-life conception.
- Y Combinator2h 28m
Work at a Startup Expo 2019
Ryan Choi, Geoff Ralston, Vijay, Tanay, Anjana Rajan, Jonathan, Greg, Julia, Daniele, Mike, David, Ning, Paul, Samir Maghani, Tarek, Lior, Chris Nguyen, Erica, Wei, Lyle Avery, Gregory Coburger, Adam McKenzie, Jacob, Parker Conrad, Ilya, Lester, Josh, Jordan, Marc Friedman, Hugh, Ethan, Hanan, Reese
Y Combinator hosted a high-stakes hiring expo featuring 40 funded startups, where founders pitched their missions and technical stacks to engineers in a rapid-fire, two-hour format. The event highlighted diverse sectors ranging from healthcare AI and fintech to autonomous logistics, utilizing a digital directory to match attendees with companies like Checkr, Glide, and Scale. By emphasizing rapid career growth and high-impact environments over corporate stability, the gathering successfully connected over 2,000 alumni founders with talent to advance products that currently serve millions of users.
- Milken Institute34 min
A Conversation with PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi
Indra Nooyi, Michael Milken, Andrew, Mike
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi transformed the beverage and snack giant through "Performance with Purpose," a strategy that integrated social and environmental sustainability into core operations while shifting the revenue portfolio toward healthier product lines. This cultural overhaul was driven by scientific leadership under Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Mahmood Khan and reinforced by tying executive compensation to specific nutritional and environmental goals. Nooyi further extended the company's impact by forging partnerships with healthcare institutions to improve access for underserved veterans and advocating for systemic policy changes to address chronic disease and nutritional equity.
- a16z21 min
Jason Mars
Jason Mars, Lingjia Tang, Johann Haswell, Mike
Co-founded by University of Michigan professors Jason Mars and Lingjia Tang, the Clarity Lab spun out into Clarity Lab Inc. to commercialize its open-source voice and vision platform, originally named Sirius and later renamed Lucida by Apple. The company now offers end-to-end AI solutions like the Gin deep learning appliance and a banking-specific assistant for BankJoy, addressing a two-order-of-magnitude scalability gap in mobile personal assistants. By leveraging GPUs and FPGAs to reduce algorithmic latency by roughly ten times, these technologies transition academic research into enterprise-grade products for intelligent automation.
- Milken Institute31 min
A Conversation with Steven Mnuchin, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Steven Mnuchin, Mike, Marie, Maria
The administration is pursuing a comprehensive tax reform agenda that seeks to accelerate economic growth to 3% annually by consolidating the tax code into a flat 15% corporate rate, eliminating most deductions, and removing the SALT deduction to broaden the tax base. While maintaining a stated goal of not cutting taxes for the wealthy through the Mnuchin Rule, the Treasury Department is negotiating with legislative leaders on the remaining details and preparing to use Senate reconciliation if bipartisan support cannot be secured. This fiscal strategy is complemented by parallel efforts to deregulate financial and energy sectors, reform GSEs to remove taxpayer risk, and advance reciprocal trade policies to support long-term revenue generation.
- Milken Institute59 min
Strategic Philanthropy: Investing in the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs
Rich D'Attizio, Mike, Tom, Igor
At a panel hosted by the Milken Institute, the newly established Center for Strategic Philanthropy advocates replacing passive check-writing with active, business-driven philanthropy that prioritizes accountability and sustainability. Speakers highlighted successful venture philanthropy models, such as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's royalty monetization and WorldQuant University's scalable free education, which leverage rigorous efficacy metrics to redirect funds from administrative duplication to high-impact areas like medical research and small business growth. The discussion concluded with a call for donors to prioritize talent acquisition and rapid deployment strategies over legacy building, urging the community to address systemic barriers while ensuring interventions do not create long-term negative consequences.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Health Care in the Digital Age
Anna, Mike, Patrick, Atul, Victor, John
A strategic partnership between BlackBerry and a biotech firm is addressing the critical security and infrastructure gaps in healthcare by developing a portable "passport" device for full human genome storage and a secure "mission control" center. This initiative supports a broader paradigm shift from organ-based medicine to molecular-level treatments, leveraging dynamic data and technologies like engineered natural killer cells to extend survival in aggressive cancers. Despite these advancements, the industry faces significant hurdles including a lack of interoperability, stringent FDA approval delays for biomarkers, and the need to bridge the digital divide for equitable patient empowerment.
- Milken Institute1h 4m
Women's Breakfast: Transformational Philanthropy
Mike, Wendy Kopp, Alexis, Precious, Margaret, Marissa Drew, Helena, Maria, Katie O'Reilly, Nancy Oseas
Leading economists, philanthropists, and corporate executives convened to address the critical role of human capital, highlighting that education and health constitute up to 90% of national assets while global leaders like Wendy Kopp and Margaret Chan outlined successful interventions for educational equity and disease prevention. The discussion detailed specific strategies to close gender and economic gaps, including the expansion of Teach for All across 35 countries, initiatives to boost female participation in STEM fields, and financial models designed to increase women-led business funding in Sub-Saharan Africa. Participants concluded that sustained, horizontal collaboration between the public and private sectors is essential to leverage technological solutions and ensure inclusive economic growth for the next generation.
- Milken Institute1h 17m
2014 London Summit - Capital Markets Outlook
Michael Milken, Madelyn Antoncic, Richard Byrne, John Calamos Sr., Elroy Dimson, Thomas Finke, Mike, Rich Byrne
Following post-2008 regulatory shifts that forced legacy banks to retreat from middle-market lending, non-bank alternative capital providers and Business Development Companies have rapidly absorbed the resulting $40 billion funding gap. This structural transition coincides with a global surge in cash held by sovereign wealth funds and corporations, who are increasingly favoring direct investments in equities and convertibles over traditional fixed income as the risk-free rate nears zero. Simultaneously, market participants are shifting focus toward underdeveloped regions in Africa and Asia to capitalize on emerging consumer demand while utilizing capital market mechanisms to address climate and health risks previously managed by traditional sovereign budgets.
- Milken Institute20 min
Overview 2011 State of the State Conference
The California Center, under the leadership of Kevin Clowden and advisory chair Scott Minard, recently presented a comprehensive analysis of the state's economic recovery, highlighting a job growth surge of 250,000 private sector positions and a rebound in manufacturing and construction driven by public infrastructure investment. The report emphasized California's sustained dominance in venture capital, which captured 57% of national placements in 2010, and its strategic export focus on Asia, while addressing challenges such as housing market stagnation and human capital retention. Concluding the session, the event honored Steve Jobs' legacy through a tribute to his integration of engineering and artistry, reinforcing the state's commitment to fostering innovation in technology and biomedical sectors.
- Milken Institute1h 3m
The Remarkable Potential of Precision Medicine
Jeff Bluestone, Jerry Brown, Chris Austin, Pradeep, Mike, Stephanie Dosnick, Keith
Led by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and supported by significant global investments, the precision medicine initiative seeks to dismantle siloed research by shifting disease classification from symptoms to shared molecular mechanisms. This strategy leverages rapidly dropping genomic sequencing costs and advanced tools like organ-on-a-chip technology to accelerate drug repurposing and eliminate the 99.9% failure rate of traditional development pipelines. California aims to solidify its role as the global headquarters for this transformation by fostering public-private partnerships that integrate vast health data with agile regulatory frameworks to deliver personalized, preventive therapies.