Latest Interviews
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Clear all filters- a16z46 min
Crypto and Decentralization: Building Blocks
Chris Dixon, Ali Yahya, Devon Zuegel
Blockchain networks are emerging as new computing platforms that prioritize provable guarantees of ownership and immutable trust over traditional performance metrics, effectively replacing the adversarial relationships of centralized Web 2.0 with financially aligned ecosystems. While current infrastructure successfully establishes enforcement and incentive mechanisms, mass adoption and robust social collaboration remain hindered by unresolved challenges in identity verification, specifically the Sybil problem, and the need for scalable governance models. To address these limitations, the industry is advancing through cryptographic innovations like zero-knowledge proofs, decentralized storage solutions, and token-based business structures designed to shift data sovereignty back to users while enabling complex, trust-based applications.
- Goldman Sachs45 min
Tim Brown and Joey Zwillinger: Making Footwear Sustainable, Comfortable and Cool
Tim Brown, Joey Zwillinger, Kathy Elsesser
Founded in 2016 by Tim Brown and Joey Zwillinger, Allbirds operates as a certified B Corp that disrupts the footwear industry by prioritizing sustainable material science through its direct-to-consumer model. The company leverages a co-CEO leadership structure and a rigorous "one product at a time" philosophy to rapidly iterate designs based on direct customer feedback, successfully launching innovations like the Wool Runner and eucalyptus fiber while maintaining a flat price point. With plans to expand internationally and open physical retail locations for tactile testing, Allbirds aims to normalize sustainable manufacturing standards across the fashion sector.
- Goldman Sachs22 min
Amy Chozick: "Chasing Hillary"- Lessons from the Campaign Trail
Amy Chozick, Hillary, Jake Stewart
Journalist Amy Chosick details her decade-long coverage of Hillary Clinton's 2008 and 2016 campaigns in her book *Chasing Hillary*, contrasting the gendered media scrutiny faced by Clinton with Donald Trump's mastery of cable news and social media. The narrative analyzes the 2016 election collapse as a failure of major newspapers to prioritize ground-level field reporting and data models that ignored the "ground truth" of voter sentiment. Chosick further argues that the election exposed structural "no-win" dynamics for female candidates while warning against the political polarization and balkanization of the modern news ecosystem.
- Goldman Sachs34 min
Interns Meet Our Next Chairman and CEO, David Solomon, During an 'Explore GS' Session
Following a direct succession from Lloyd Blankfein, David Solomon assumes the CEO role at Goldman Sachs at age 56, becoming the firm's first non-partner leader since its 1999 public offering. Solomon is steering the 150-year legacy from a private partnership into a public corporation by targeting a 50% gap in corporate product offerings and integrating advanced data analytics to expand commercial banking services. Simultaneously, he prioritizes cultural evolution by framing diversity as a business imperative and advising talent to pursue long-term networking and patient career development over short-term acceleration.
- Goldman Sachs20 min
Dana Canedy: The Pulitzer Prizes and the Power of Storytelling
Dana Canedy, Sarah Marie Martin
Dana Kennedy, the first person of color to lead the Pulitzer Prizes and former New York Times partner, addresses critical shifts in journalism, including the industry's delayed progress on diversity and the transformative global impact of its MeToo reporting. She highlights the historic unanimous decision to award a Pulitzer to Kendrick Lamar as a pivotal moment for genre recognition while emphasizing the erosion of shared truth as the sector's most pressing modern challenge. Kennedy further connects these professional insights to her personal legacy as an author and producer, noting how her work adapting *Journal for Jordan* with Denzel Washington has inspired a broader movement among military fathers to document their stories for future generations.
- The Economist36 min
Tony Blair on Brexit's second referendum
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair advocates for a final Brexit referendum to resolve parliamentary gridlock, arguing that the public must judge a choice between a "soft Brexit" and a "clean break" based on two years of economic deterioration. Beyond the domestic impasse, Blair warns that Brexit has caused the UK to shift from the fastest-growing to the slowest G7 economy and framed the split as a geopolitical disaster that weakens Western unity against the rising influence of China. While proposing these immediate political solutions, Blair also outlines his global work through the newly consolidated Institute for Global Change, which employs 250 staff to advance center-left liberalism and address issues ranging from counter-extremism to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
- Y Combinator1h 24m
Jocko Willink and Mike Sarraille - Helping Veterans Transition into the Private Sector
Jocko Willink, Mike Sarraille, Craig Cannon, Alex Badalyan, Allen, Armando Neves, Ryan Carl Mercer, Spencer Clark
Launched on July 4th, Echelon Front Overwatch is a premium, industry-agnostic veteran transition service that rigorously vetts Special Operations Forces to place high-performing candidates in corporate roles while rejecting substandard performers. This initiative addresses systemic failures in standard military transition programs by offering a dedicated Corporate Skills Apprenticeship for certifications in fields like digital marketing and Agile management, all underpinned by a philosophy of extreme ownership. Complementing these services, co-founders Jocko Willink and Leif Babin are releasing *Dichotomy of Leadership* to teach balanced decision-making, while their sold-out "Muster" events provide intensive, accessible leadership training for businesses nationwide.
- Goldman Sachs23 min
Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee: Genetically Mapping the Future of Cancer
Siddhartha Mukherjee, Richard Manley
Dr. Siddharth Mukherjee outlines a paradigm shift in oncology where cancer is treated as a portfolio of distinct conditions managed through prevention, targeted early detection, and immunotherapy rather than a single curable entity. Advances in genetic engineering have moved the field from simply sequencing DNA to actively editing sequences, enabling cures for single-gene disorders and transforming historically lethal cancers like metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer into manageable chronic conditions. This revolution, driven by the ability to replace nucleotides and alter cellular environments, marks a historical transition comparable to the dawn of the computer age in its capacity to redefine human health.
- Goldman Sachs20 min
Ken Langone on Values, Culture and Founding The Home Depot
Following a Wall Street career marked by military service and the collapse of his first venture, Ken Langone co-founded Home Depot in 1974 with former J.C. Penney executives Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, providing the crucial $2 million seed capital and strategic guidance that propelled the retailer to a $230 billion market capitalization. Langone attributes the company's return of $110 billion to shareholders to an "inverted triangle" management philosophy that empowers frontline employees to drive innovation, a cultural model he continues to advocate for at NYU Langone Medical Center. This approach balances strict ethical accountability with a deep commitment to respect and recognition, allowing individual initiative—such as the successful implementation of store-level display experiments—to flourish without fear of punishment.
- Milken Institute59 min
View From the Top: Navigating a World in Transition
Robert Smith, Claire Hughes Johnson, David M. Solomon, John Thompson, Mark Weinberger, Devin Wenig, Ronnie Weisbrod
Executives from leading firms including Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and Stripe convened to address the tension between short-term economic optimism and long-term anxieties regarding technological disruption. The dialogue highlighted critical workforce transformations, such as the rapid shift toward data-driven roles and the imperative for flexible, purpose-led cultures to retain talent in an era where corporate lifespans are shrinking. Leaders further debated the strategic adoption of emerging technologies like AI and blockchain while offering guidance on navigating a rapidly evolving global economy.
- Goldman Sachs28 min
David Solomon Formally Announced as Lloyd Blankfein’s Successor
David Solomon, Lloyd Blankfein
Goldman Sachs announced that CEO and Chairman Lloyd Blankfein will retire at year-end, with David Solomon assuming immediate leadership of both roles as the firm enters a new strategic chapter. The transition coincides with a period of strong performance across investment banking and investment management, while Solomon pledged to uphold the firm's partnership culture and drive digital innovation through its Marcus and Clarity Money initiatives. With the firm aiming for its best fiscal year ever under the outgoing leadership, the move is presented as an evolution of the 149-year-old legacy designed to maintain competitive advantage in a changing regulatory and market landscape.
- The Economist6 min
Putin's Russia and the ghost of the Romanovs
On the centenary of the Bolshevik execution of the Romanov family, Russian President Vladimir Putin navigates a political dilemma by promoting a revisionist narrative that frames Russia as a continuous state under an all-powerful autocrat, thereby sidestepping the condemnation of the 1917 revolution that established the modern state. This approach leverages an alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church to legitimize Putin's centralization of power and domestic repression, contrasting sharply with the 1998 efforts to acknowledge the Tsarist murder as a crime. Despite the current stability of his regime through military conflicts and the erosion of the Duma's authority, historical precedents suggest the unpredictability of Russia's governmental systems.
- a16z40 min
An Intro to Crypto: Decentralization, the Big Picture
Chris Dixon, Elizabeth Stark, Jessica Verrilli, Lauren, Sierra Peterson
This discussion traces the evolution of cryptocurrency from the 1990s Cypherpunk movement's fight against cryptographic export bans to its current status as a reaction against centralized tech incumbents like Google and Amazon. Speakers highlight a structural shift toward community-owned digital services funded by native transaction layers, citing Lightning Labs' strategic decision to prioritize product development over speculative Initial Coin Offerings. The narrative concludes by identifying critical challenges in user experience and asset tokenization while asserting that the technology's long-term potential for decentralized ownership remains in its early infrastructure stage.
- a16z27 min
An Intro to Crypto: Building Companies, from People to Code
Kim Milosevich, Tina Bhatnagar, Preethi Kasireddy, Lily Liu, Preeti
Industry leaders Preeti and Tina analyze the maturation of the crypto sector by challenging absolute decentralization myths while advocating for a messaging shift from censorship resistance to consumer empowerment. The discussion highlights structural transformations in company formation, noting that token-based funding and community-driven governance enable entities like Binance to scale rapidly with minimal overhead. Furthermore, experts emphasize that navigating existential regulatory challenges and prioritizing user education are now critical prerequisites for integrating blockchain technology into mainstream institutional infrastructure.
- Y Combinator18 min
Mariya Nurislamova, Founder of Scentbird at the Female Founders Conference
Sunbird successfully transformed from a failed recommendation algorithm into a subscription fragrance rental service after pivoting to a $15 monthly model inspired by Y Combinator's Michael Seibel. The company overcame early operational hurdles and significant fundraising rejections by leveraging a scarcity strategy to secure $150,000, eventually achieving acceptance into Y Combinator and raising a total of $25 million in capital. This strategic evolution enabled the team to scale operations to 250,000 users and expand internationally while adopting a high-performance hiring philosophy.