Latest Interviews
Showing 1096–1110 of 3,136 interview transcripts.
- a16z41 min
Why AI Voice Feels More Human Than Ever
The rapid advancement of AI voice technology has enabled near real-time, emotionally nuanced interactions that are replacing human agents in high-volume sectors such as customer service, recruiting, and logistics. Market dynamics are shifting toward specialized vertical SaaS products that leverage proprietary data moats to offer opinionated, culturally adapted conversational experiences while moving beyond simple per-minute pricing models. As latency drops and capabilities expand, voice is predicted to become the primary consumer AI interface within the next year, driving a transition from labor substitution to augmented efficiency across financial, healthcare, and operational domains.
- Goldman Sachs15 min
Are credit investors nervous about recession risk?
Goldman Sachs Chief Credit Strategist Lotfi Karawi attributes recent corporate bond spread widening to a necessary realignment with macro volatility rather than a recessionary collapse, noting that fundamentals remain robust while investors demand higher risk premiums due to trade and policy uncertainties. The firm forecasts Investment Grade spreads to peak between 120 and 125 basis points as market sentiment normalizes, a move that remains far from the 200-basis-point levels required to signal true recessionary stress. Despite the repricing, total return outlooks stay positive supported by high treasury yields, prompting a strategic shift toward defensive, high-quality instruments like agency mortgages while reducing exposure to lower-rated carry trades.
- Y Combinator26 min
From A Pivot To Building A $9.6 Billion Payroll Company
Harj Taggar, Joshua Reeves, Hodge Tagger
Founded by three co-founders who pivoted from a failed expert advice marketplace, Gusto revolutionized the fragmented U.S. payroll industry by delivering a cloud-based, design-driven solution that replaced outdated manual processes used by major incumbents like ADP. The company initially targeted California startups with bare-bones tax filings before leveraging a landmark seed round from prominent tech founders to scale into benefits and compliance, ultimately positioning itself as an AI-powered back-office partner for small businesses. Today, Gusto continues to drive market growth by expanding its self-serve platform and launching a comprehensive compliance hub, aiming to increase the survival rate of new employers through proactive, pattern-matched operational guidance.
- The Economist24 min
Peace broken: war returns to Gaza
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Angel Pfeffer, Oliver Morton, Sarah Wu
Israel initiated extensive airstrikes in Gaza following the collapse of a fragile ceasefire, a move confirmed by the United States and coordinated with simultaneous operations against Houthis to pressure Iran. This military escalation, justified by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a response to rejected negotiation offers, also serves domestic political aims to stabilize his coalition ahead of a critical budget vote. Concurrently, Israel is preparing a larger ground offensive intended to fully dismantle Hamas's military capabilities, while international mediators explore potential pathways for a new interim agreement.
- Sequoia Capital51 min
Josh Woodward: Google Labs is Rapidly Building AI Products from 0-to-1
Josh Woodward, Ravi Gupta, Sonya Huang
Google Labs operates as an autonomous unit dedicated to rapidly prototyping frontier AI products, prioritizing market validation over immediate technological perfection. Key initiatives include Mariner, a computer-use agent currently targeting enterprise automation, alongside Veo, a generative video model solving physics constraints while shifting industry models toward pay-per-output. The organization accelerates innovation by blending veteran engineering with diverse creative talent to launch ideas within 50 to 100 days, ultimately aiming to replace passive consumption with steerable, asset-driven user experiences.
- Goldman Sachs13 min
10KSB Voices Rural Advocacy Conference in DC: David Solomon with Program Graduate & Punchbowl News
David Solomon, Anna Palmer, Jenny Steffensmeyer
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and small business owner Jenny Steffensmeyer discussed critical challenges facing the "10,000 Small Business Voices" program, including capital access, workforce shortages, and a significant rural artificial intelligence adoption gap. Solomon expressed optimism that a Republican-controlled administration will reduce regulatory burdens to stimulate growth, while Steffensmeyer highlighted that technological upskilling remains impossible without affordable financing. To address these disparities, the group urged Congress to deregulate small businesses, simplify SBA lending, and provide incentives to level the competitive playing field.
- a16z14 min
Why American Dynamism Is Just Getting Started
Katherine Boyle, David Ulevitch
Launched three years ago with a 2022 geopolitical catalyst, the "American Dynamism" thesis rapidly transformed the venture capital landscape by shifting founder focus toward physical-world technologies and critical national infrastructure. This movement mobilizes a broad coalition of investors and engineers to support companies serving federal agencies and sectors like defense, energy, and manufacturing, effectively overcoming Silicon Valley's earlier resistance to patriotic business narratives. By prioritizing tangible outcomes over digital ad optimization, the initiative has established a new industry standard for building meaningful supply chains and technologies aligned with U.S. government interests.
- The Economist20 min
In sickness and in stealth: threats to America’s CDC
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Rebecca Jackson, Josh Roberts, David Benin
Following the inauguration of the Trump administration, the CDC has faced severe operational disruption through Executive Orders targeting DEI initiatives, a mass termination campaign involving 750 employees, and the imposition of restrictive communication protocols by the acting director and DOGE-affiliated entities. Simultaneously, silver market dynamics have shifted as institutional demand surged with Russia adding reserves to holdings and industrial requirements for solar manufacturing drove a 50% increase in consumption, outpacing gold in recent returns. In the entertainment sector, a resurgence of live album releases has emerged among major artists like Dua Lipa and The Cure, driven by post-pandemic appreciation for raw performance energy and a strategic pivot away from the studio-centric production models that dominated the late 20th century.
- a16z1h 36m
Building the Next Generation of Conversational AI
Ankit Kumar, Anjney Midha, Maya
Sesame is developing a voice-first "companion" interface using a talent-dense team of fewer than fifteen engineers to prioritize natural conversational dynamics over general-purpose utility. The company has open-sourced its Conversational Speech Model base weights while withholding character-specific implementations, aiming to evolve toward a full duplex architecture capable of native audio understanding and real-time interruption handling. By targeting smart glasses as the optimal hardware form factor and employing qualitative human evaluation rather than standard metrics, Sesame seeks to build a long-term memory layer that acts as an emotionally resonant mediator for multi-step tasks.
- All-In Podcast1h 39m
Fixing the American Dream with Andrew Schulz
Andrew Schulz, Friedberg, Gavin Newsom, Trump, Jason Calacanis
In a May 3 Miami event featuring comedian Andrew Schulz, hosts Jason Calacanis and David Sack discussed advanced IVF technologies, the strategic implications of Governor Gavin Newsom's new podcast, and critiques of President Trump's tariff policies. The dialogue extended to economic solutions such as investing the Social Security Trust Fund in equities to prevent 2032 insolvency, while analyzing housing market distortions and the psychological drivers behind modern conspiracy theories. Panelists also shared personal investment origins, evaluated the Department of Government Efficiency's potential under Elon Musk, and highlighted JD Vance's political trajectory as a key figure in future American leadership.
- Goldman Sachs24 min
What's behind the US equity underperformance?
Tony Pasquarello, Josh Schifrin, Dominic Wilson
Josh Schifrin and Dominic Wilson have revised their U.S. year-on-year growth forecast down to 1.7% due to policy uncertainty and weak first-quarter data, anticipating a delay in Federal Reserve rate cuts until June. While the team expects the yield curve to steepen and favors front-end fixed income positions to hedge against economic pain, they caution that "U.S. exceptionalism" is fading as European markets like Germany gain traction through significant fiscal expansion. Ultimately, the strategists predict a volatile near-term environment where short-term labor data may deteriorate further before a recovery emerges, challenging the prevailing thesis that the administration will maintain a growth floor.
Arielle Zuckerberg, "The Rizz & Tiz" Winning Founder Recipe
Arielle Zuckerberg, Molly O'Shea, John Doerr
Long Journey Ventures, led by Arielle Zuckerberg, distinguishes itself by targeting "magically weird" founders characterized by the "Ris and Tis" balance of magnetic charisma and neurodivergent intensity. The firm deploys up to $25 million in follow-on capital into top performers, prioritizing "adult frat" culture and founder-centric mentorship over standard thesis-driven views. While navigating a volatile AI market, Long Journey focuses on high-velocity deal sourcing through private networks to support non-traditional companies like Autopallet and Superpower.
- The Economist25 min
Wheels of justice: the ICC gets Duterte at last
Duterte, Jason Palmer, Aaron Connolly, John Joe Devlin, Cassio de Gea, Tobias Adielson, Charmec Elmi, Anne Rowe
The International Criminal Court successfully transferred former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to The Hague for trial on crimes against humanity related to his "war on drugs," a move enabled by a political rift between his family and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Concurrently, Sweden confronts an unprecedented surge in gang violence involving coordinated bombings and the recruitment of vulnerable minors, prompting legislative changes regarding wiretapping and intensified debate over immigration policies. In a separate development, celebrated apartheid-era playwright Athol Fugard passed away at age 92, leaving a literary legacy that chronicled the moral complexities of South African oppression and the enduring resilience of its people.
- Y Combinator38 min
Figma's Dylan Field: Exploring the idea maze, vibe coding, and the power of “locking in”
Co-founded by Dylan Field, Figma evolved from a series of early pivots into a dominant collaborative design platform that successfully integrated engineers and product managers alongside traditional designers. The company's trajectory was shaped by a user-driven roadmap that birthed features like FigJam and an internal culture of "Maker Weeks," which emphasized rapid iteration over long-term planning. Field's current strategy leverages AI strictly as a capability-enhancing tool to lower participation barriers while acknowledging its inability to replicate human judgment in complex design contexts.
- The Economist22 min
When the levy doesn’t break: a trade-war world adjusts
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Rachana Shanbhog, Owen Winter, Lane Green
Markets and investors are reacting to a shift in Donald Trump's protectionist agenda, characterized by broader steel and aluminum tariffs and a predicted trade war with Canada and Mexico that threatens to raise costs without boosting domestic production. Simultaneously, hard-right political parties in Europe have gained significant ground, now securing 24% of the continental vote and breaking post-war voting records in Germany, driven largely by economic insecurity and immigration anxieties. Complementing these geopolitical and economic shifts, new research by Michael Erard debunks cultural myths regarding the significance of first words and deathbed statements, reframing them as products of specific societal expectations and medical realities rather than universal truths.