Latest Interviews
Showing 5086–5100 of 6,120 interview transcripts.
- Goldman Sachs13 min
Amb. Bruce Heyman and Vicki Heyman: Co-Authors, "The Art of Diplomacy"
Bruce Heyman, Vicki Heyman, Dena Powell
Former U.S. Ambassador Bruce Heyman navigated intense diplomatic friction with the Harper administration regarding the Keystone Pipeline delay, which resulted in his temporary exclusion from high-level Canadian meetings. To repair the strained relationship, Heyman and his wife Vicki launched extensive cultural diplomacy tours across Canadian provinces while simultaneously building "Uncharted," an organization dedicated to promoting the role of citizen ambassadors. Their collaborative efforts culminated in a published book that emphasizes the strategic necessity of the U.S.-Canada border and urges Americans to actively preserve the alliance through shared historical experiences and civic engagement.
- Y Combinator50 min
Tracy Young on Scaling PlanGrid to 400+ People with YC Partner Kat Manalac
Tracy Young, Kat Manalac, Craig Cannon, Fredi Fernández, Seyed Rasoul Jabari, Holly
Founded in the 2012 Y Combinator batch by Tracy Young and Ryan Sutton, PlanGrid digitized construction workflows by deploying an iPad-based platform that utilizes overlay technology and version control to prevent blueprint errors. The company bypassed traditional enterprise sales channels by targeting field workers directly, growing organically to 450 employees before being acquired by Autodesk. Now integrated into Autodesk's 1,200-person construction division, the startup focuses on international expansion to eliminate billions in annual industry waste while maintaining a founder-led culture centered on authenticity and role clarity.
- Goldman Sachs14 min
Ming Mei: Co-Founder and CEO of GLP
Founded in 2009 and led by co-founder Ming-Mei, GLP has evolved from a brick-and-mortar warehouse operator into the world's largest logistics solutions provider managing over $125 billion in combined assets. Under Ming-Mei's strategic direction, the company executed a pivotal shift to a private fund management model after taking itself public in 2010, a move designed to support its complex global expansion into emerging markets and technology-driven supply chain services. This transformation leverages early real estate insights and a "minimized regret" decision framework to deploy capital across diverse geographies, effectively turning physical infrastructure into a platform for financial innovation and operational efficiency.
- 80,000 Hours1h 36m
A year's worth of education for under $1 and other "best buys" in development | Rachel Glennerster
Rachel Glennerster, Dr Eva Vivalt, Keiran Harris, Rob Wiblin, Nathan Labenz
Rachel Glenister, Chief Economist at the UK's Department for International Development, outlines the evolution of development aid toward evidence-based policy while evaluating a family planning radio campaign in Burkina Faso. She argues that macroeconomic transformation yields superior poverty reduction compared to micro-interventions and critiques the overemphasis on unscalable social entrepreneurship and charter cities. Addressing methodological debates, Glenister contends that most variation in randomized control trial results stems from implementation quality rather than a lack of generalizable behavioral principles, urging a shift toward massive, scalable solutions that leverage cross-cutting economic insights.
- Lex Fridman1h 9m
Gavin Miller: Adobe Research | Lex Fridman Podcast #23
Adobe Research is advancing creative workflows by shifting from manual pixel manipulation to intent-based automation, exemplified by tools like Project Sky Replacement and Generative Fill that utilize deep learning to bridge the gap between human creativity and machine execution. The lab operates on a collaborative model where AI provides smart defaults and assistive suggestions, allowing human users to intervene for final quality assurance while leveraging vast data libraries to build context-aware educational features. Strategic initiatives including the Sensei platform and high-risk intern programs aim to centralize neural models and drive innovation, ultimately fostering a future where generative AI and immersive technologies enhance content velocity without compromising professional reliability or ethical standards.
- Goldman Sachs20 min
Niklas Zennström: CEO of Atomico and Co-Founder of Skype
Niklas Zennström, Cliff Marriott
Founded by Skype co-creator Nicholas Zennstrom in 2006, Atomico has evolved from addressing European capital gaps to investing in consumer giants like Spotify while pivoting toward enterprise solutions in healthcare and climate sectors. The firm now integrates ethical governance into its portfolio strategy, requiring founders to assess societal risks and implementing proactive diversity hiring programs to foster inclusive growth. Zennstrom guides this transformation by framing the next decade as a critical window for technology to solve environmental challenges and align commercial success with sustainable corporate purpose.
- The Economist21 min
Why Jeremy Hunt thinks he'll be Britain's next prime minister
Jeremy Hunt, Donald Trump, Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, Theresa May, Anne
Contender Jeremy Hunt warns that failing to deliver Brexit will lead to a Labour victory and political extinction, arguing that a no-deal outcome remains a necessary negotiation lever to overcome parliamentary blockades. To ensure the EU trusts the UK's delivery capacity, he proposes a unified government team including the DUP and ERG while rejecting a second referendum as undemocratic. Hunt further outlines his economic strategy of corporate tax cuts, asserts that NHS ownership will not be sold in US trade talks, and emphasizes that 5G decisions must prioritize national interest over foreign dependency.
- a16z36 min
What's Next for Esports Startups
Bennett Carroccio, Frank Chen, Andrew Chen, D'Arcy Coolican, Darcy Kulikin
Global esports viewership has surged past 450 million, generating over $1 billion in revenue driven by sponsorships and media rights that now rival traditional North American sports leagues. The industry distinguishes itself through a younger demographic, a cultural shift that integrates celebrities with gaming, and infrastructure optimized for digital engagement rather than just gameplay. Strategic investment is increasingly focusing on the underlying "picks and shovels" infrastructure and B2D2C models to capitalize on this rapid growth while publishers continue to define league standards and capture value.
- Goldman Sachs20 min
Dan Rosensweig: President and CEO, Chegg
Dan Rosenzweig leveraged a serendipitous net gain from his first layoff at Pitney Bowes to navigate a career defining the shift toward direct-to-consumer technology sales and later as Yahoo's COO, where he missed a pivotal opportunity to acquire a then-unprofitable Facebook. Following that tenure, he founded Chegg to address the higher education crisis marked by $1.5 trillion in student debt and obsolete four-year degree models, advocating for an on-demand, skills-based system aligned with employer needs. His work highlights the urgent need to reform curriculum and enrollment barriers to serve non-traditional learners and resolve the financial stagnation facing millions of American graduates.
- Y Combinator49 min
Simone Giertz on Her Robots and Returning to Work After Brain Surgery
Simone Giertz, Adam Savage, Craig Cannon, Ali, beep boop, Beste, Khawar Shehzad, Olaf Doschke, Johnathan Nader
Following a brain tumor diagnosis and subsequent surgery in the previous year, electronics engineer turned YouTuber Simone Yetch is diversifying her career by launching a product design company centered on a high-end, 365-day interactive calendar scheduled for a mid-June release. This strategic shift from viral "shitty robots" to serious hardware allows her to build independent revenue streams while maintaining a creative philosophy that prioritizes health boundaries, play, and the rejection of restrictive media contracts. Yetch currently balances multiple projects and recovery needs with a defined goal to step back from content creation entirely by age 55 to pursue alternative life paths.
- Lex Fridman1h 11m
Rajat Monga: TensorFlow | Lex Fridman Podcast #22
Launched by Google Brain in 2011, the TensorFlow ecosystem has evolved from a proprietary deep learning library into a globally adopted platform with over 41 million downloads and 1,800 contributors. The framework is currently transitioning to version 2.0, which defaults to eager execution and unifies its API around Keras to resolve developer confusion while preserving backward compatibility for enterprise systems. Driven by a distributed governance model and competition from alternatives like PyTorch, the project aims to democratize machine learning across diverse hardware, from mobile devices to cloud TPUs, by simplifying model development and addressing enterprise data organization challenges.
- 80,000 Hours2h 5m
Fast paths into high-impact ML engineering roles | Catherine Olsson & Daniel Ziegler
Catherine Olsson, Daniel Ziegler, Rob Wiblin
Former PhD candidates Daniel Ziegler of OpenAI and Catherine Olson of Google Brain detail a strategic pathway for transitioning into AI safety roles through the implementation of deep reinforcement learning papers and building robust software engineering skills. They emphasize that research engineering positions prioritize frustration tolerance and the ability to replicate code over formal theoretical mastery, effectively serving as a viable alternative to completing a traditional doctoral degree. This industry-focused approach enables professionals to contribute to critical alignment work and infrastructure development at leading labs without the requirement of a PhD, often supported by fellowship programs or targeted retraining grants.
- 80,000 Hours2h 50m
#46 - Prof Hilary Greaves on moral cluelessness & tackling crucial questions in academia
The Global Priorities Institute is recruiting for a four-year remote Head of Research Operations role with a salary ranging from £40,000 to £49,000 and a deadline of November 19. Director Hilary Graves leads the organization's shift from theoretical physics to moral philosophy, focusing on rigorous research into extinction risk, population ethics, and decision-making under moral uncertainty. The institute is also accepting applications for its Summer Research Visitor Program by November 30 and planning to launch new postdoctoral fellowships for philosophers and economists in September.
- Milken Institute57 min
Right or Left: Who's Best for Freedom?
Josh Barro, Kenneth Hersh, Rich Lowry, Gene Sperling, Felicia Wong
In a debate contrasting FDR's positive liberties with classical negative freedoms, Felicia Wong and Gene Sperling argue that true liberty requires protection from want and fear, while Rich Lowry and Kenneth Hirsch contend that freedom is strictly defined by the absence of government coercion. The panel further explores how economic policies like the Affordable Care Act and anti-discrimination laws either expand individual agency or threaten consumer choice, while noting that shifting political narratives now force conservatives to defend liberty against a backdrop of authoritarianism and rising public demand for government intervention. Ultimately, the discussion highlights a deep ideological divide over whether freedom entails securing material security and dignity through state action or preserving it through limited government and market competition.
- Milken Institute52 min
Inside a Blockbuster Franchise: "Avengers: Endgame"
Julia Boorstin, Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, David Levinson, John McCutchan
Directors Joe and Anthony Russo leveraged a unique back-to-back production strategy and a global day-and-date release to propel *Avengers: Endgame* to a record-breaking $1.2 billion opening weekend. Their collaborative "mastermind" approach, which integrated scientific consultation and disciplined ensemble management, transformed the film into a universal cultural phenomenon while reaffirming the distinct value of the theatrical experience. Building on this success, the Russo brothers are now expanding their AGBO production company to champion artist ownership and emerging talent with projects like *Cherry*, all while maintaining a format-agnostic commitment to both streaming and cinema.