Latest Interviews
Showing 31–45 of 48 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Y Combinator4h 20m
Female Founders Conference - Mountain View
Kirsteen Nathoo, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Adora Chung, Christina, Tiffany, Ashley, Carolyn Levy, Alexandra Zatarain, Jess Lee, Holly Liu, Stephanie, Pat Piper
Hosted by Y Combinator partners Kirsteen Nathoo and Carolyn Levy, the five-year-old Female Founders Conference convened 350 women in Mountain View to discuss scaling strategies, fundraising, and product validation through sessions led by founders from Promise, Vanta, and Eight. The event featured critical insights on overcoming bias in venture capital from Sequoia Capital's Jess Lee and detailed case studies on pivoting and hiring from Kabam's Holly Liu, who shared lessons from her billion-dollar exit. Outcomes included actionable advice on "doing things that don't scale" for early traction, navigating government contracts, and shifting investor narratives from empathy to financial opportunity.
- Y Combinator3h 39m
Female Founders Conference - New York
Jessica Livingston, Kathryn Minshew, Alex Cavoulacos, Mariya Nurislamova, Reshma Shetty, Shan-Lyn Ma, Reham Fagiri, Tiffani Ashley Bell, Alana Branston, Katherine Minshew, Kirsty Nathoo, Adora, Stephanie, Holly Liu, Sharon Pope, Kat Mignolet, Matthew, Carolyn
Y Combinator and a diverse panel of founders, including Jessica Livingston and representatives from Zola and Scentbird, convened to discuss scalable startup strategies that prioritize values alignment, efficient hiring, and rapid product-market fit validation. The discussion highlighted critical insights such as the dangers of bias in "culture fit" evaluations, the necessity of avoiding "crappy yeses" during fundraising, and the importance of maintaining founder-led scrappiness even after significant capital deployment. By contrasting successful pivots in sectors ranging from wedding registries to virtual data science, the event underscored that sustainable growth relies on unique founder traits and disciplined metric management rather than traditional VC heuristics or rapid scaling alone.
- Y Combinator3h 42m
Startup Investor School Day 4 Live Stream
Andy Bromberg, Aaron Harris, Ron Conway, Jeff
The final day of Startup Investor School featured a comprehensive analysis of early-stage investment history by Andy Bromberg, behavioral standards for angel investors presented by Aaron Harris, and a founder-centric investment philosophy from Ron Conway. The session detailed the evolution from traditional venture capital to modern token offerings like ICOs while establishing a strict code of conduct emphasizing reputation, speed, and integrity in deal-making. Ultimately, the event equipped attendees with tools to model SAFE conversions and fostered a network committed to maintaining ecosystem transparency and supporting high-potential founders.
- Y Combinator4h 16m
Startup Investor School Day 3 Live Stream
Elad Gil, Pejman, Jeff Clavier, Andrea, Ali Partovi
Day 3 of the Startup Investor School convened five prominent investors, including Elad Gil, Pejman Nozad, Jeff Clavier, Andrea Zurlo, and Ali Partovi, to dissect critical strategies for market selection, team evaluation, and portfolio construction. The speakers emphasized that successful angel investing requires a 10-year horizon, strict risk discipline regarding net worth allocation, and a service-oriented mindset that prioritizes founder support over immediate financial gains. Key consensus points highlighted the necessity of investing in brilliant founders with big ideas regardless of initial market perceptions, maintaining long-term patience through early-stage losses, and building a personal brand rooted in integrity and operational availability.
- Milken Institute1h 38m
A Conversation with Ray Dalio and Michael Milken
Ray Dalio outlines his journey from a 1960s caddie to the architect of Bridgewater's "idea meritocracy," a philosophy forged after a costly 1982 sovereign debt mistake forced him to prioritize objective disagreement over ego. Drawing on historical cycles like the 1974 market crash and 1937 recession, Dalio warns of current parallels in wealth disparity and pension funding gaps while critiquing Bitcoin as a speculative bubble despite China's engineering strengths. His analysis concludes that future economic resilience depends on radical transparency, automation-ready skills, and recognizing that sustainable wealth is a byproduct of value creation rather than an end goal.
- Jane Street1h 38m
Yudkowsky vs Hanson — Singularity Debate
Eliezer Yudkowsky and Robin Hanson debated whether artificial superintelligence will emerge from a rapid, localized intelligence explosion or a gradual, decentralized accumulation across the global economy. While Yudkowsky argued that a small team could leverage hardware speed differentials to achieve a self-improving monopoly, Hanson countered that historical innovation patterns and the need for vast content would force AI development to remain integrated and shared. The post-debate audience vote shifted by seven voters to the "against" position, reflecting a narrow move toward Hanson's view that physical infrastructure and economic leakage prevent a single entity from instantly dominating the future.
- Y Combinator5h 9m
Female Founders Conference 2017
Avni Patel-Thompson, Emily Weiss, Laura Behrens Wu, Padmashree Warrior, Aileen Lee, Elizabeth Lyons, Vanessa Torridilla, Erica, Morgan de Bon, Diane Greene, Kirsty Nathoo, Carolyn Lebe, Anu Hariharan, Adora Chung, Jessica Livingston, Kat
The Female Founders Conference brought together prominent industry leaders like Avital Lee, Kate Winslet, and Aileen Lee to analyze the nine distinct factors that differentiate successful startups from unicorns. Prominent founders from companies such as Poppy, Glossier, and NIO shared case studies on overcoming funding rejections, pivoting from failure, and building inclusive cultures within male-dominated sectors. The event concluded with YC partners debunking common myths about early-stage investment while emphasizing that persistent storytelling and rigorous data preparation are essential for women founders navigating systemic bias.
- Milken Institute1h 31m
Agent of Change: The California-Israel Global Innovation Partnership
Professor Itzik-Peterborg, Jay Keesling, Uri, Nati, Mark Gold, Yoram Cohen, Clive Kabat-Zinnick, David Blumberg
The California-Israel Global Innovation Partnership, established via a 2014 agreement between Governor Jerry Brown and the Israeli Prime Minister, facilitates the cross-border transfer of expertise in water, energy, and biotechnology to help California transition from a startup-centric to a scale-up economy. Key figures including Prof. Jay Keasling, Prof. Itzik Peterborg, and executives from Netafim demonstrated how synthetic biology, digital health solutions, and precision irrigation can decouple agricultural output from resource constraints while addressing California's fragmented governance and water scarcity crises. This collaboration leverages financial protocols and bilateral fellowships to deploy proven Israeli technologies globally, aiming to create a carbon-negative bio-economy and implement real-time conservation incentives that bridge the gap between policy fragmentation and sustainable infrastructure.
- Milken Institute1h 45m
Priced out: Can high-density housing solve the affordability crisis? (KPCC Forum Series)
Dana Cuff, Ed DeMarco, Larry Gross, William K. Huang, Jeff Schaffer, Josie Huang, John Cohn, Kevin Clowden, Bill Davis, Josie Wong, Bill Huang
Co-presented by KPCC and the Milken Institute, the "Rescuing the California Dream" forum series convened experts to address Southern California's severe housing affordability crisis, noting that 30% of households cannot afford a median home amidst a deficit of 527,000 affordable units. Panelists identified root causes such as restrictive zoning, decimated state funding, and the exploitation of the Ellis Act, while proposing solutions including CEQA reform, adaptive reuse of vacant buildings, and transit-oriented development to increase density without relying solely on high-rises. The event concludes with a summary panel at the December Milken Institute California Summit, emphasizing the urgent need for a comprehensive state-level strategy to prevent deepening economic segregation and to ensure no net loss of existing affordable housing.
- Milken Institute1h 33m
Building a 21st Century Workforce and Market – What’s the Solution? (KPCC Forum Series)
Matt Horton, John Cohn, Ben Bergman, Kevin Clowden, Vontone Quinlevin, Jessica Goodhart, Russell Ragsdale
Presenters analyze California's severe economic challenges, including a 5.9% unemployment rate and housing unaffordability, alongside a critical workforce shortage driven by the decoupling of productivity and employment numbers. In response, local utilities like Southern California Edison and community colleges are piloting "earn while you learn" programs and expanding Career Technical Education to fill high-paying middle-skill roles in sectors ranging from solar energy to advanced manufacturing. The discussion concludes that future regional competitiveness depends on shifting toward a continuous retraining economy supported by micro-credentials and targeted government procurement to sustain local employment growth.
- Milken Institute1h 31m
Staying Afloat During the Drought: Using Technology to Reshape Our Relationship to Water
Steve Gregory, Kelly Sanders, Nick Haan, Lorcan O’Herlihy, David R. Pettijohn, Andrew Fahlund, Matt Horton
Co-hosted by the Milken Institute and KPCC, this forum convened experts to address California's unsustainable water reliance through strategies like the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's goal to cut imported water use by 50% by 2024. The discussion highlighted innovative approaches including decentralized neighborhood capture, the Singularity University global challenge for new water sources, and a shift toward treating energy and water as an interconnected system. Panelists ultimately identified conservation, recycled water, and agricultural efficiency as the most immediate solutions while noting persistent legal and structural barriers to implementing tiered pricing and direct potable reuse.
- Milken Institute1h 40m
Asia Summit 2015 - AIIB and the Evolving Multilateral Lending Landscape
Mike Milken, Lee Kuan Yew, Jin Li-chun, Tommy Koh, Jin Tong, Tadashi Maeda, Clive Kerner, Elena Okorochinko
At a Milken Institute discussion, AIIB President-designate Jin Li-chun outlined the bank's lean, clean, and green operational framework designed to complement existing multilateral development banks in addressing a global infrastructure financing gap of $2 trillion annually. With 57 provisional founding members approved and a target to operationalize by year-end, the institution plans to leverage a 2.5 gearing ratio to reach $250 billion in lending capacity while offering flexible financing stages to bridge the $8 trillion Asian infrastructure demand projected for 2030. Although major economies like the United States and Japan remain cautious, stakeholders including rating agencies and the IFC view the AIIB as a strategic partner capable of enhancing credit quality and mobilizing private capital for sustainable development.
- Milken Institute1h 42m
Asia Summit 2015 - Asias Future: Perspectives on Prospects and Challenges
Wing, Kirk Wager, Mike Milken, Cesar, Purisima, Kevin Sneader, Jing Ulrich, Tim Cofer, Achal Agarwal, Sam Fisher, Chris Wei
This event highlighted the United States' deepening strategic commitment to Southeast Asia, underpinned by a $220 billion cumulative investment in top ASEAN markets and projected to support a middle class growing from 525 million to 1.2 billion people by 2030. Key speakers detailed Indonesia's aggressive fiscal shifts, including a $32 billion subsidy cut and $22 billion infrastructure allocation, alongside the Philippines' demographic-driven growth fueled by its young, English-speaking workforce and expanding manufacturing sectors. Despite short-term currency volatility, the consensus among global corporations and government officials affirmed that Asia's unique blend of urbanization, digital innovation, and rising consumption will anchor the region as the primary engine of global economic expansion.
- Milken Institute1h 41m
Part 1- Jerry Brown and Kevin de León | Part 2-Trends in Global Entertainment
Jerry Brown, Kevin de León, Mike Milken, Julia Bernstein, Peter Rice
Governor Jerry Brown and Senator Kevin de León led a major California conference to announce an aggressive executive order mandating a 40% carbon reduction by 2030 while outlining a "50-50-50" framework for energy efficiency and petroleum use. Despite the last-minute cancellation of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the event featured a closing panel analyzing how Hollywood is adapting its financial models and content strategies to capture 70% of global revenue through international markets and direct-to-consumer platforms. These initiatives collectively reinforce the state's role as a subnational leader in climate policy and a driver of the global entertainment economy.
- Milken Institute1h 33m
What Would You Do to Make the World Better for Women and Girls? A Conversation and Call to Action
Diana Taylor, Michael Milken, Willow Bay, Susan McCaw, Shiza Shahid, Malala Yousafzai, Suna Saeed, Patricia Arquette, Helena Morrissey, Holly Gordon, Frida Pinto, Barbara Bush, Princess Rima Bent Bandar Al Saud, Paul Kagame, Faloruncho Alikija, Deborah Birx, Howard Taylor, Cherie Blair, Precious Molloy Motsepe
This event synthesized global data revealing that the marginalization of women directly correlates with poverty and instability, while highlighting specific strategies to reverse these trends, such as Rwanda's economic boom and the UK's rapid boardroom diversification. Speakers detailed urgent disparities in wages and health, including the severe motherhood penalty and HIV infection rates, alongside corporate and nonprofit interventions like Salesforce's pay equity audit and the Girl Rising campaign. The discussion concluded with a unified call for male allyship and systemic policy changes, asserting that closing the gender gap yields a 90% community reinvestment rate essential for long-term societal health.