Latest Interviews
Showing 2011–2025 of 2,502 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute24 min
A Conversation with Ben Carson, Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson applies a data-driven, surgical approach to dismantling bureaucratic hurdles and redefining the American Dream through integrated housing and workforce initiatives. Under his leadership, the agency has halved veteran homelessness via the HUD-VASH program and launched Envision Centers to consolidate resources for single parents, while prioritizing preventive health measures to mitigate lead exposure, mold-related asthma, and fall risks in aging communities. Looking toward 2025, the Secretary forecasts a strategic shift toward private-sector capital in Opportunity Zones and holistic community redevelopment models to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability amid a shifting demographic landscape.
- The Economist28 min
Reverend Curry on Meghan, Harry and America
Curry, Meghan, Harry, Anne McElvoy
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry leveraged his historic role as the first African-American bishop of the Episcopal Church to deliver a sermon at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, framing romantic love as a spiritual discipline of sacrificial living that transcends cultural divides. He extends this theology to address contemporary social fractures, urging the church to model pluralism amid internal disagreements on LGBTQ+ inclusion while publicly challenging the Trump administration's immigration policies as theological heresies. Ultimately, Curry projects a global vision where the church actively pursues the abolition of poverty and war, asserting that Christian love must drive both personal reconciliation and political justice.
- Y Combinator56 min
Helping African Businesses Get Paid, Shola Akinlade of Paystack
Shola Akinlade, Craig Cannon, Creative Joe, Paul Israel, Nelson, Nestor Ezeagu, Car Joyy, Achyut Shrestha, Jordan Jackson
Founded in 2016 by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, Paystack transformed into Africa's leading payments infrastructure provider by simplifying complex banking processes for merchants across Nigeria and expanding into Ghana. The company accelerated from processing $200 to over $20 million in monthly transaction volume within three years, supported by a Series A investment from Stripe and Visa that facilitated its strategic growth. Through a rigorous internal engineering bootcamp and a focus on localized product adaptation, Paystack continues to build the foundational layer for the continent's next generation of digital businesses.
- Y Combinator1h 1m
A Conversation on Hard Tech with Eric Migicovsky
YC partner and former Pebble CEO Eric von Hippel shares critical lessons on navigating the hardware startup lifecycle, emphasizing the dangers of the "frugality trap" where companies lose discipline after securing significant capital. He advises founders of hard tech ventures to prioritize early customer discovery and validate concepts through off-the-shelf hacks or niche communities before attempting large-scale manufacturing or inventory investments. Von Hippel further warns against over-reliance on patents, noting that network effects and data lock-in serve as superior competitive moats for deep tech companies seeking to scale efficiently.
- Y Combinator1h 4m
Cannabis Startup Founders David Hua and Vincent Ning on Legalization, Banking, and Industry Trends
David Hua, Vincent Ning, Craig Cannon
The cannabis industry is undergoing a rapid transformation driven by consumer demand for terpene-specific effects, the rise of microdosing, and the adoption of concentrates by expanding demographics including Baby Boomers. Despite regulatory fragmentation and high compliance costs in states like California, the market is shifting toward effect-based branding while facing consolidation threats from capitalized Canadian entities and federal limitations on interstate commerce. Simultaneously, social equity initiatives and local licensing hurdles continue to reshape the supply chain, creating a complex environment where smaller original advocates risk displacement by larger, well-funded operators.
- Y Combinator1h 0m
Startup Technology - Technical Founder Advice
Jared Friedman, Lillian Chou, Diana Hu, Calvin French-Owen, Ralph Gootee, Ralph Goody
Four technology leaders from Plain Grid, Segment, Azure Reality, and Second Measure detailed their divergent journeys from failed initial prototypes to successful pivots driven by rapid iteration and user feedback. The panel outlined the critical evolution of engineering practices, tracing a path from chaotic early development without tests to structured CI/CD pipelines and cross-platform strategies required for enterprise-scale security and trust. Additionally, the discussion highlighted co-founder dynamics and hiring philosophies, emphasizing the necessity of balancing rapid code output with institutional knowledge preservation to effectively manage technical debt during startup growth.
- Milken Institute38 min
The Stories We Tell Panel Discussion
Tracey Woon, Drue Kataoka, Frank Luntz, Jay Shetty, Drew
UBS-hosted panelists Frank Vassiliadis, Drew Shindler, and Jay explored the intersection of storytelling, technology, and mindfulness to address modern societal challenges ranging from cross-cultural values to the rise of "fake news." The speakers argued that true influence requires deep introspection and honest self-awareness, contrasting passive digital consumption with the critical engagement fostered by arts-integrated education and genuine social impact. Concluding with a guided meditation, the session emphasized that internal peace and parental modeling are essential foundations for navigating a media landscape increasingly dominated by superficial metrics.
- Y Combinator55 min
A Conversation with Elizabeth Iorns - Advice for Biotech Founders
Former University of Miami assistant professor Elizabeth Irins founded Science Exchange in 2011 to solve scientific market inefficiencies by creating a vetted B2B marketplace that manages over $100 billion in annual outsourced research spend. The platform mitigates information asymmetry and quality issues through rigorous provider vetting and a Reproducibility Initiative that validates experimental results for major pharmaceutical partners like Amgen. Currently serving as a Y Combinator partner, Irins leverages the company's transparent data infrastructure to reshape academic-commercial collaboration while advising a portfolio of hundreds of biotech startups.
- Y Combinator48 min
Mathilde Collin on Feature Prioritization and Employee Retention at Front
Mathilde Collin, Craig Cannon, Tuomas Grannas, Jordan Jackson, Tomas Granos, Mark Mandelmann, Gabrielle Tcheyani, KP
Front, a shared inbox collaboration platform founded by Gabrielle Tcheuyani and Laurent, transforms email into a team workflow tool by integrating individual inboxes and external applications like Salesforce and GitHub. The company achieved its initial market traction through content marketing and manual onboarding before securing product-market fit and reaching $1.5 million in ARR by the Series A round. Guided by a "Work Happier" mission, Front prioritizes radical transparency, employee well-being, and a unique product philosophy that discards legacy email structures in favor of fluid conversation threads and automation.
- Y Combinator1h 1m
A Conversation with Aileen Lee - Moderated by Geoff Ralston
Cowboy Ventures founder Aileen Lee leverages her background as a former Gap executive and Kleiner Perkins partner to advocate for an empathetic, mission-driven investment approach that prioritizes founder resilience over pedigree. Drawing on her seminal research on unicorns, Lee advises entrepreneurs to validate 10x product improvements and addressable markets between $5 billion and $10 billion while rigorously preparing their narratives for seed and Series A funding rounds. Furthermore, she emphasizes correcting industry biases by promoting diverse founder networks through initiatives like All Raise and encouraging investors to assess long-term leadership potential rather than just short-term execution.
- Y Combinator3h 6m
Female Founders Conference - Mountain View
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Adora Chung, Christina, Tiffany, Ashley, Alexandra Zadarin, Jess Lee, Holly Liu, Pat Piper
Founders and investors from companies including Promise, Vanta, Kabam, and Eight share evidence-based strategies for navigating criminal justice reform, cybersecurity automation, and hardware manufacturing while emphasizing the critical role of manual validation before scaling. Speakers like Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins and Holly Liu detail how relationship-driven sales and rapid, imperfect product launches drove their respective exits and market penetration despite significant operational hurdles. The session also addresses systemic challenges in fundraising and team building, with leaders such as Jess Lee advocating for mission-oriented narratives to secure capital and increase female representation in venture capital.
- 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.
- The Economist24 min
David Miliband on the future of liberalism
David Miliband, Zanny Minton Beddoes
David Miliband critiques the current global political landscape by diagnosing a triad of broken economic, cultural, and political contracts that have fueled populist movements across Europe and the United States. He advocates for a revitalized social democracy offering concrete solutions to inequality, while urging the West to maintain a unified front in managing relations with China and resolving refugee crises through enhanced international cooperation rather than isolationism. The discussion concludes with an assessment of the International Rescue Committee's operational challenges and a strategic call for "peacemaking" to address the root causes of modern displacement.
- The Economist35 min
Steve Bannon debate at The Economist #OpenFutures festival
Steve Bannon, Zanny Minton Beddoes, Julissa Arce, Daniel Franklin
Steve Bannon articulates a strategy of economic nationalism that prioritizes immigration restrictions and trade protectionism to reclaim American jobs, while defending European populist leaders like Viktor Orbán and Matteo Salvini as legitimate defenders of national sovereignty. He characterizes China as a totalitarian rival in an economic war and frames the Paris Climate Agreement as a geopolitical failure, arguing instead that the true threat to the working class lies in the convergence of automation and genetic engineering. This worldview drives a broader mission to deconstruct the administrative state and appoint conservative judges who can dismantle regulatory overreach, positioning Donald Trump as the essential vehicle to break the "medieval theology" of free trade.
- The Economist25 min
Tony Blair on the future of liberalism
Marking the 175th anniversary of *The Economist* and the 21st anniversary of New Labour, former Prime Minister Tony Blair reflects on the 1998, 2003, and 2004 policy decisions that contributed to modern societal fractures while outlining a renewal strategy for liberalism. Blair proposes addressing root causes of polarization through strict immigration controls without prejudice, a proactive technological policy agenda, and a return to positive-sum economic growth to counter the rise of populism. Urging the restoration of a rational political center, he suggests resolving the Brexit impasse via a second referendum and warns that without a centrist platform, the UK risks perpetual political paralysis between the extremes.