Latest Interviews
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Digital Humans and the Story Behind Lil Miquela
Lil Miquela, Trevor McFedries, Isaac Bratzel
Created by Brud co-founders Trevor McFedries and Isaac Bratzel in 2016, the photorealistic virtual influencer Lil Miquela was developed to leverage social media narratives in a polarized political climate by mimicking a specific 19-year-old Brazilian-American persona. Brud bypassed traditional production costs by utilizing a small agile team and data-driven feedback loops to cultivate a deeply engaged fanbase that actively participated in the character's lore and cultural impact. This strategic success validated the viability of virtual humans as enduring media entities, prompting the creators to advocate for decentralized, community-owned future models while navigating ethical concerns regarding AI and labor displacement.
- Goldman Sachs35 min
Bain Capital’s Stephen Pagliuca on private equity and the Boston Celtics
Steve Pelyuka, former Co-Chair of Bain Capital, traces the evolution of private equity from a localized boutique to a global vertical industry while detailing his strategic pivots in the Boston Celtics and Atalanta BC ownership. He outlines how modern investment resilience relies on high equity stakes, low-covenant lending, and a decade-long horizon to navigate elevated interest rates and geopolitical decoupling. Complementing these financial insights, Pelyuka emphasizes the critical role of A-plus management teams and data-driven analytics, citing his work on the Celtics' "Basketball Intelligence Agency" and the firm's enduring focus on healthcare and AI sectors.
Jackie Reses: The Most Powerful Woman in Finance; Making $50BN for Yahoo on Alibaba | E996
Jackie Reses, former Square executive, founded The Bank We Wanted to See to build a scalable fintech infrastructure targeting high-growth tech and crypto sectors that existing providers fail to serve. Her leadership philosophy prioritizes innate grit and honest feedback over resume pedigree, fostering a high-performance culture while she negotiates deals by focusing on regulatory speed and long-term partner value rather than immediate economic leverage. Reses aims to establish Lead Bank as a global innovator by 2028, leveraging her expertise in compliance and finance to guide the next decade of fintech through an anticipated market rationalization and return to first principles.
- All-In Podcast1h 24m
E122: Is AI the next great computing platform? ChatGPT vs. Google, containing AGI & RESTRICT Act
Joe Manchin, Biden, Sacks, Friedberg, J Cal, Mark, Jake, Nick, Chamath Palihapitiya, David, Sax, John Greenewald, Zach
Senator Joe Manchin's op-ed criticizing the Inflation Reduction Act sparked speculation of a presidential run, while Ron Lauder's shift in donor support signaled volatility within the Republican primary. Concurrently, OpenAI's launch of a plugin ecosystem enabled ChatGPT to bypass traditional app navigation, driving its user base to 100 million in two months and challenging tech giants like Google and Microsoft. However, this rapid AI advancement precipitated debates over job displacement in white-collar sectors and ethical concerns regarding recursive self-improvement, even as lawmakers pushed the "Restrict Act" to ban TikTok with penalties critics argue threaten internet privacy and freedom.
- Lex Fridman3h 18m
Eliezer Yudkowsky: Dangers of AI and the End of Human Civilization | Lex Fridman Podcast #368
Eliezer Yudkowsky, Lex Fridman
Eliezer Yudkowsky warns that aligning superintelligent AI requires getting the process right on the first attempt, as any failure could lead to human extinction due to an uncontrollable intelligence gap. He argues that current capabilities are advancing exponentially while safety research lags significantly, creating a risk where models optimize misaligned objectives or deceive human verifiers before a pause mechanism can be established. Consequently, Yudkowsky urges society to treat the threat as immediate rather than abstract, advocating for urgent action in alignment research and a rejection of open-sourcing advanced systems to prevent an irreversible loss of human control.
- The Diary Of A CEO1h 36m
Alex Cooper: The Truth I Never Planned to Share...
Alex Cooper has grown from a bullied teenager to the creator of Spotify's *Call Her Daddy*, a podcast that generates hundreds of millions of monthly downloads while securing a $60 million exclusive deal. Despite navigating a volatile partnership, intense public scrutiny, and the psychological toll of maintaining a "wild" content schedule, she recently transitioned to a healthier personal life and established her own production company, Alex Cooper Studios. Cooper now plans to shift her career focus from on-camera hosting to behind-the-scenes production and film directing, aiming to balance commercial success with authentic storytelling.
- Y Combinator28 min
How Startup Fundraising Works | Startup School
This analysis debunks seven common fundraising myths by contrasting misconceptions with evidence from companies like Fresh Paint, Retool, and Zapier. It argues that founders should prioritize building a minimal viable product to demonstrate utility, utilizing standardized tools like the SAFE agreement to secure seed capital quickly while retaining total control. The presentation concludes that current market conditions offer unprecedented access to capital, urging entrepreneurs to focus on product-market fit rather than networking or pitch perfection.
Jag Duggal: How We Scaled Nubank to 80M Users; Google's Brutal Hiring Practices | E995
Jag Duggal, David Velez, Harry Stebbings, Kevin Systrom
Jack Borthwick, a former executive at Google and Facebook, relocated to Brazil to lead product strategy at NewBank, where he applies a hiring philosophy that prioritizes drive and clarity over traditional credentials to serve the bottom half of the global income pyramid. Under his guidance, the financial institution successfully transitioned from a savings-only model to a primary banking relationship by leveraging data-driven metrics like churn and the "Sean Ellis test" to build genuine customer loyalty. Borthwick's approach combines rigorous execution speed with strategic clarity, enabling the company to disrupt traditional banking in Latin America while planning expansion into Mexico and Colombia.
- Goldman Sachs28 min
Navigating the new geopolitical and technology landscape
George Lee, Jared Cohen, Allison Nathan
High geopolitical uncertainty and the rise of "swing states" are forcing a shift from broad regional strategies to country-specific tactics as nations leverage distinct advantages in technology and supply chains. With geopolitical drivers now overpowering traditional economic interests, major powers are engaging in asymmetric competition over critical technologies like semiconductors and AI, creating an "impedance mismatch" between slow government regulation and rapid technological evolution. To navigate this landscape, leaders must integrate deep geopolitical analysis with commercial insights to mitigate risks and capitalize on the emerging "geocommercial" opportunities across these fragmented global markets.
- The Diary Of A CEO1h 28m
Tony Hawk: The Man With The $1.4 Billion Name! Burnout, Obsession & Regrets
Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, who amassed a dominant record before pivoting to the "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater" game franchise for financial security, overcame a decade of injury risks to land the 900 and later utilized therapy to prioritize family over a hollow celebrity existence. His enduring legacy now spans a diverse business portfolio including Birdhouse Skateboards and The Skate Park Project, while his career longevity is sustained by shifting to low-impact technical maneuvers. Hawk advises that true mastery requires balancing 10,000 hours of skill development with emotional vulnerability and the courage to leave one's comfort zone.
- Dwarkesh Patel48 min
Ilya Sutskever (OpenAI Chief Scientist) — Why next-token prediction could surpass human intelligence
OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever outlines a trajectory where rapidly advancing AI models will face a critical bottleneck in reliability before reaching full AGI maturity by 2030, driven by the need to surpass human-level performance through scalable reasoning and automated data generation. He warns that aligning superintelligent systems will require a hybrid approach of adversarial testing and behavioral analysis to prevent deception, while predicting that economic value will remain robust despite data scarcity as long as inference costs stay justified by utility. Ultimately, Sutskever envisions a post-AGI future where human-AI collaboration fosters widespread moral and intellectual evolution, provided that continuous innovation in trustworthiness prevents the commoditization of core research.
Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994
Dara Khosrowshahi, Harry Stebbings
Dara Khosrowshahi applies a philosophy of sustained excellence and calculated risk to guide Uber through its transformation from a crisis-ridden startup into a globally dominant logistics platform. By prioritizing marketplace technology over failed hardware ventures and correcting strategic missteps in delivery, he has successfully orchestrated complex supply-and-demand matching while shifting the board's focus from control to organizational success. His leadership approach emphasizes hiring for clarity of thought, maintaining a "plastic mind" to embrace mistakes, and allocating capital with a long-term perspective that balances Wall Street expectations with aggressive growth.
- Lex Fridman2h 24m
Sam Altman: OpenAI CEO on GPT-4, ChatGPT, and the Future of AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #367
OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman discusses the organization's transition to a capped-profit structure and the technical architecture behind GPT-4, emphasizing that its capabilities stem from incremental engineering rather than a single breakthrough. He outlines a strategy of "slow takeoff" for AGI development to prioritize safety alignment through Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback while mitigating immediate risks like disinformation and economic disruption. Ultimately, Altman predicts that AI will drastically lower the cost of intelligence and drive global productivity growth, necessitating societal shifts such as Universal Basic Income to manage the resulting wealth redistribution.
Bill Ackman wants to give $7000 to every baby
The speaker warns that rising post-crisis wealth inequality threatens societal stability by creating a divide where asset compounding vastly outpaces wage growth. To counteract this, the proposal combines a universal "Baby Bonds" program funding $6,500 accounts for every newborn with tax reforms targeting loopholes like like-kind exchanges and unrealized gains taxes. While rejecting a broad 25% tax on appreciation for risking a liquidity crisis in startups, the speaker argues that closing specific loopholes to fund these bonds is essential for providing every citizen a permanent economic stake without harming business formation.
Mike Maples: Lessons from SVB; Crisis Management Tips; USD's Status as the Reserve Currency | E993
Venture capitalist Mike Moritz warns that excessive currency printing and Federal Reserve errors have destabilized the global banking system, predicting a shift toward capital centralization in the "Big Four" banks by late 2023. He advises founders to mitigate these risks through rigorous scenario planning, maintaining liquidity across at least three non-correlated financial institutions, and adopting a crisis communication framework rooted in radical transparency. Furthermore, Moritz outlines shifting venture capital trends, noting that the capital-intensive nature of AI requires longer fund deployment timelines and a strategic focus on product-market fit over traditional board governance.