Latest Interviews

Mobile Is Eating the World, 2014

Benedict Evans

Presenting a comprehensive analysis of the global digital shift, the event details how rising smartphone adoption and plummeting hardware costs are driving near-universal connectivity while reshaping media consumption habits. It examines the resulting economic upheaval where mobile platforms now command nearly half of consumer electronics revenue, displacing traditional PC dominance and concentrating global tech value in the San Francisco Bay Area. The discussion concludes by redefining the industry's future trajectory, arguing that technology will eventually become an internalized utility for all enterprises rather than a distinct market category.

The Bitcoin Network Effect

The speaker advocates for viewing blockchain entities as autonomous software mechanisms rather than legal corporations, highlighting their distinct lack of liability and governance attributes. While Bitcoin dominates through strong network effects, successful altcoins must offer unique functional advantages to coexist, and regulatory pressure currently targets intermediaries rather than the decentralized protocol itself. Future adoption hinges on resolving transaction latency through layer-2 solutions and mitigating volatility, with international remittances identified as the primary catalyst for non-speculative utility alongside a reevaluation of monetary policy as a fixed-supply asset.

The Future of Software Development

Chris Granger

Driven by the limitations of legacy engineering in modern distributed ecosystems, the industry is reconverging with academic research to replace complex abstractions with mathematically simple foundations like CRDTs and immutable event logs. This paradigm shift is already transforming major technologies, including Facebook's React framework and Apple's Auto Layout, by prioritizing deterministic outcomes over manual state management. Ultimately, these innovations aim to democratize computation by stripping away systemic complexity to focus on solving user problems rather than managing infrastructure.

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.

Creating Meaningful Lives for the 21st Century Workforce: A Conversation with Top Executives

Andy Serwer, John Chambers, Denise Morrison, Tim Sloan, Mark Weinberger, Devin Wenig

Leaders from Cisco, eBay, Wells Fargo, Campbell's, and EY convened to establish that aligning workforce strategy with core social values is essential for navigating rapid technological shifts and a changing demographic landscape. These executives detailed specific outcomes, such as Wells Fargo's lowest turnover in thirty years following its listening campaign and compensation adjustments, and EY's record female retention rates driven by inclusive policies and a "better working world" mission. The panel further emphasized that addressing the critical skills gap through education reform, flexible work cultures, and continuous reskilling is necessary to sustain engagement and profitability in an era where traditional company lifecycles are shrinking.

The Coming U.S. Infrastructure Boom

Michael Burke, André Bourbonnais, Reed Cordish, Susan Gray, Terry McAuliffe, Elaine Chao, Mike Milken

The Trump administration proposes a $200 billion federal catalyst intended to unlock $1 trillion in total infrastructure investment over a decade, leveraging regulatory reforms to reduce approval timelines from ten years to two. Key figures including Secretary Elaine Chao and Governor Terry McAuliffe highlighted public-private partnerships as essential to closing state funding gaps, citing Virginia's success in lowering construction costs and accelerating projects like the Atlantic Gateway. To ensure viability, the plan mandates independent state funding, expands eligibility beyond transportation to include energy and broadband, and seeks to shift the U.S. infrastructure spending ratio toward global benchmarks by utilizing an infrastructure bank model and privatized operational structures.

Russia Revealed: Where Moscow and Washington Go from Here

Michael Crowley, Jane Harman, Daniel Russell, Andrew Weiss, Nikolai Zelenski, Laura Satrakian, Ben Weg-Prosser, Michael Bright, Kevin Ciccino, John

A 2017 expert panel analyzed the deterioration of U.S.-Russia relations, highlighting how election interference investigations and a dysfunctional Trump administration have eroded the trust necessary for diplomatic engagement. Experts including Jane Harmon, Andrew Weiss, and Daniel Russell cautioned that military miscalculations in Syria and Ukraine, combined with a stagnant Russian economy adapted to sanctions, create a volatile environment prone to accidental escalation. The consensus warned that without a cohesive national security strategy to replace incoherent policies, the risk of a strategic "collision" increases alongside fears of a "world war by accident."

Pacific Alliance: Leading Integration in Latin America

Julie T. Katzman, Gerónimo Gutiérrez, Carlos Pareja, Juan Carlos Pinzón, Juan Gabriel Valdés

Established by Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile, the Pacific Alliance functions as a minimalist, market-oriented bloc that has eliminated tariffs on 92% of intra-regional goods to form the world's eighth-largest economy. By leveraging 41% of Latin American foreign direct investment and hosting strategic forums with major economies like the US, EU, and China, the alliance is actively pursuing deeper supply chain integration and potential convergence with Mercosur. Despite challenges in labor mobility and low current intra-regional trade, the bloc is implementing structural reforms to formalize SMEs, expand student mobility, and solidify its geopolitical stance within the Asia-Pacific region.

Feeding the Future: The Changing Landscapes of Food and Agriculture

Paul Fribourg, Patrick Brown, John Hamer, Mehmood Khan, John Vikupitz, Selected, Ambassador Compson

Industry leaders from Impossible Foods, Monsanto, PepsiCo, and Netafim convened to address the divergent challenges of Western obesity and global food insecurity through a strategic pivot toward plant-based proteins, gene editing, and precision agriculture. The panel highlighted critical shifts in consumer trust and regulatory landscapes, emphasizing that solving future food needs requires deploying existing technologies like drip irrigation and data analytics alongside new inventions to reduce waste and optimize supply chains. With Silicon Valley investing billions into ag-tech and global demand for grain projected to rise by 50%, the consensus among these key figures is that a collective approach involving governments and NGOs is essential to scale sustainable solutions across emerging markets.

My Organization Has Been Hacked

Ray Rothrock, Heather Adkins, Dmitri Alperovitch, Daniel Ennis, Siobhan MacDermott, Dan Ennis

Following a paradigm shift from prevention-focused IT tasks to boardroom-level risk management triggered by major breaches like Target and Sony, this panel of cybersecurity leaders outlines a critical strategy prioritizing immediate legal privilege and crisis readiness. Key figures including Dmitri Alperovitch, Heather Adkins, and Dan Ennis emphasize that organizations must cultivate a culture of transparency and conduct regular non-technical tabletop exercises to effectively manage insider threats and navigate complex geopolitical adversaries. Ultimately, the discussion underscores that robust collaboration between public and private sectors, combined with strategic investments in AI and cyber insurance, is essential to mitigating the severe financial and operational impacts of future attacks.

IPOs for SMEs: Can Capital Markets Close the Financing Gap?

Staci Warden, Ana Carvajal, Ashish Chauhan, Siobhan Cleary, Nick Thadaney, Arumna Abdul, Daniel, Scott Birdwell

A high-level panel of global financial experts identified credit access as the primary barrier for Small and Medium Enterprises, proposing tiered exchange models from Canada's TMX Group and India's Bombay Stock Exchange as effective mechanisms to mobilize local capital while protecting investors through graded liquidity rules. The discussion detailed how proportional regulatory frameworks, market maker programs, and innovative instruments like securitized receivables can balance enforcement with the need for lower compliance costs, successfully transitioning hundreds of companies from junior markets to senior boards. Ultimately, stakeholders argued that sustainable SME ecosystems require shifting from isolated IPO promotion to holistic financing environments that integrate private equity exit routes and foster job creation without distorting market integrity.

Aligning Endowment Investments with Philanthropic Mission

Kerry Kennedy, Kim Lew, Brian O'Neil, Mark Suzman, Darren Walker, Shawn Wischmeier, Carrie Kennedy, Frank, Nelson, Daniel, Amy Christensen

Carrie Kennedy moderated a panel of foundation leaders, including Darren Walker of the Ford Foundation and Mark Sussman of the Gates Foundation, who detailed their strategies for aligning endowment capital with social missions through mission-related investments, program-related investments, and strict ethical screens. The discussion highlighted a divergence in approaches, with the Ford Foundation committing $1 billion to double-bottom-line strategies while Carnegie Corporation maintains a "do no harm" stance, though all participants agreed that integrating mission goals is financially viable and critical for institutional relevance. By addressing systemic biases through diversity initiatives and leveraging capital to build investment infrastructure, these organizations aim to transform the traditional fiduciary model to ensure endowments actively advance their charitable objectives rather than merely preserving wealth.

A Conversation with Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Department of the Treasury | Global Capital Markets

Steven Mnuchin, Maria Bartiromo, Mohamed El-Erian, Thomas Finke, Scott Minerd, Arunma Oteh, David M. Solomon

Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin presented a comprehensive tax reform plan designed to raise U.S. GDP growth from 2% to 3% by simplifying the code, lowering the corporate flat rate to 15%, and eliminating the alternative minimum tax. The administration anticipates these cuts may initially widen the deficit but projects long-term revenue gains of $2 trillion to offset costs, while simultaneously preparing to enforce reciprocal trade tariffs and expand sanctions on adversarial nations. Complementing these fiscal and foreign policy shifts, financial sector leaders warn that while deregulation could boost profitability, current market valuations may be ahead of actual legislative delivery and execution risks.

Retrospective: Lessons Learned from Leading Investors

Scarlet Fu, David Bonderman, William Ford, Joshua Friedman, Emmanuel Roman, Steven Tananbaum, Steve Tannenbaum, Bill Ford

Prominent investors including David Bonderman, Josh Friedman, and Steve Tannenbaum assess a unique financial landscape marked by an unsustainable thirty-year secular decline in interest rates and the resulting compression of credit spreads. The panel analyzes sector-specific risks in retail and energy while debating the structural advantages of active management and private equity over passive strategies in this volatile environment. Despite current complacency, experts emphasize the necessity of holding dry powder for eventual portfolio re-ranking driven by rising rates and warn that structural changes in market-making could precipitate radical price adjustments.

Cracking the Code of Addiction and Mental Health

Lynn Goldman, Thomas Insel, Gary Mendell, Richard Pops, Garen Staglin, Nora Volkow

A panel of experts from NIDA and public health organizations identifies the opioid crisis as a preventable epidemic driven by systemic healthcare failures, including aggressive pharmaceutical marketing and inadequate medical training, which have caused mortality rates among white non-Hispanic Americans to rise for the first time in history. To address this, the group advocates for mandating CDC prescribing limits, expanding access to proven medication-assisted treatments, and shifting workplace cultures to reduce stigma, emphasizing that the primary obstacle remains the implementation of existing evidence-based protocols rather than a lack of scientific knowledge. Despite these proposed solutions facing significant barriers such as insurance coverage gaps and reimbursement policies that delay care, the consensus holds that coordinated policy changes could reduce new addiction rates by half and reverse decades of escalating overdose deaths.