Latest Interviews

MIc'd Up | Part 1: A Conversation with Norman Lear and Ava DuVernay

Norman Lear, Ava DuVernay, Alex Witt

Hosted by Alex Witt, legendary television producer Norman Lear and filmmaker Ava DuVernay discussed the role of entertainment as a catalyst for radical justice and the enduring reality of systemic oppression. Lear detailed his strategy for centering Black life through sitcoms like *The Jeffersons* and his recent Latin American adaptation of *One Day at a Time*, while DuVernay explained her vision for Array as a long-term institution challenging Hollywood's distribution barriers with her upcoming film *A Wrinkle in Time*. The speakers concluded that true progress requires moving beyond symbolic milestones, such as the Obama presidency, to actively dismantle intersecting privileges and hold society accountable for equal opportunity.

Credit Market Outlook

Michael Milken, Mark Attanasio, George Hicks, Sir Michael Hintze, Joseph Naggar, Jim Zelter

Leading credit managers from Apollo, Crescent Capital Group, and GoldenTree warned that the global credit cycle is maturing and prone to a correction in 2018 due to excessive private equity leverage and a market overexposed to passive investment vehicles. To navigate an environment characterized by covenant-lite structures and rising interest rates, these panelists advocate for active management strategies focused on strict underwriting, floating-rate instruments, and distressed opportunities in Europe and emerging markets. By prioritizing complex origination and deep fundamental analysis over index-driven approaches, active managers aim to identify value in mispriced assets while mitigating the risks of an imminent market downturn.

MENA Region: New Tactics to Transform Economies and Accelerate Growth

Rana Foroohar, Yousef Al Otaiba, His Highness Prince Fahad Al Saud, Sheikh Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani, Mohammad Barraj, Prince Fahad Al Saud

Regional leaders and experts convened to outline a comprehensive strategy for economic diversification, highlighting the UAE's shift to a non-oil GDP and Qatar's 2030 vision while addressing a $260 billion financing gap for small and medium-sized enterprises. The panel emphasized leveraging technology and social media to drive female entrepreneurship and correct global narratives, alongside security reforms that prioritize addressing root causes of extremism over pure military intervention. Concluding with a call for intensified US-Europe-Arab collaboration, speakers urged the international community to support youth mobility, academic exchange, and internal regional partnerships to foster sustainable growth and "create hope."

Pivoting to Purpose: Defining the Next Chapter of Your Life (II)

Errol Barnett, Marc Freedman, Sherry Lansing, Philip Pizzo, Lynda Resnick, Mike Shaw

This panel discusses the "longevity revolution" driven by rising life expectancies and shifting demographics that render the traditional life stages obsolete, featuring insights from leaders like Sherry Lansing and Linda Resnick. The speakers highlight systemic ageism and gender bias while championing a new "encore career" model that leverages 250 million years of human capital for social impact. Furthermore, the discussion outlines a forward-looking framework emphasizing intergenerational synergy, purpose-driven living, and the creation of new social institutions to support a population increasingly defined by decades of post-retirement life.

Trusting Brands: Companies That Create and Inspire Change

Aimée Christensen, Joanne Bradford, David Denholm, Brian Norgard, Cameron Saul, Jeff Seabright

Representatives from SoFi, Kashi, Tinder, Bottle Top, and Unilever convened to discuss strategies for building trustworthy brands through radical transparency and collective action on social and environmental issues. The panelists detailed specific initiatives ranging from SoFi's policy advocacy for student loans and Unilever's supply chain transformations to Kashi's "Certified Transitional" mark and Tinder's expansion into older demographics. While consensus emerged on the necessity of long-term value creation over quarterly results, leaders also debated whether purpose-driven strategies must originate from top-level management or evolve through a "two-way street" with employees and consumers.

Digital Reality: How Interconnectedness Is Reshaping Our Lives

Kara Swisher, Michael Ferro, Bobby Kotick, Marne Levine, Evan Sharp

Leading technology and media executives, including Michael Ferrer, Bobby Kotick, Marnie Levine, and Evan Sharp, convened to challenge the narrative that digital platforms erode community by demonstrating how AI and data foster new forms of global connection. The panelists detailed distinct strategic pivots where Merrick Ventures leverages trusted journalism, Pinterest shifts toward decision-making search tools, Instagram integrates immersive business storefronts, and Activision Blizzard utilizes gaming to build global belonging. Ultimately, the group concluded that while automation poses risks to traditional employment, the convergence of visual data, machine learning, and new economic models offers significant potential for entrepreneurial growth and educational advancement if societal infrastructure adapts accordingly.

Space Travel: From Mars to the Stars

Buzz Aldrin, Yuri, Dan, May

Prominent figures including Buzz Aldrin, Yuri Milner, and Dan Goldin convened to advocate for a shift toward private-sector-driven space exploration to overcome current stagnation and accelerate a permanent human presence on Mars by 2039. The discussion highlighted Milner's $100 million commitment to the Breakthrough Starshot initiative, which aims to launch gram-scale probes to Alpha Centauri, alongside Aldrin's proposal for a global coalition to reduce costs and establish infrastructure. Panelists concluded that securing humanity's long-term survival requires expanding beyond Earth's carrying capacity through unified international efforts and technological innovation in both near-term lunar capabilities and century-scale interstellar travel.

Part 2: Global Capital Markets

Mohamed El-Aryan, Thomas Fink, Scott Miner, Arunma Otec, David Solomon

Prominent financial leaders including David Solomon, Mohamed El-Erian, and Arunma Otec discuss post-election market volatility and the critical need for tax reform and deregulation to sustain reflationary growth. The panel emphasizes that while current optimism is high, success depends on reconciling strong equity performance with weak GDP data and executing complex legislative compromises on corporate tax rates and regulatory frameworks like the Volcker Rule. Furthermore, experts warn that long-term prosperity requires addressing structural challenges such as the digital divide, workforce readiness for automation, and coordinated global monetary policies to manage currency dynamics amidst geopolitical instability.

Talks at GS – Eddie Huang: Food, Culture, Identity

Eddie Huang

Executive Producer and author Nahnatchka Khan reflects on her memoir *Fresh Off the Boat* and the television adaptation as pivotal moments in transitioning from defensive survival mechanisms to intentional identity formation. She critiques the show for diluting authentic Asian experiences into universal white narratives while rejecting the "model minority" stereotype through her personal journey of culinary preservation and leadership at her restaurant, Bauhaus. Ultimately, she advocates for a cultural shift that prioritizes shared humanity over differences, utilizing a management philosophy that blends high performance with deep personal care to foster genuine employee loyalty.

Scaling Growth | Gustaf Alstromer, YC Partner (formerly Airbnb) & Ed Baker (formerly Uber)

Gustaf Alstromer, Ed Baker

Ed Arons and Gustav Sorensen discuss their experience scaling growth teams at Uber, Airbnb, and Facebook, contrasting early viral tactics that exploited platform loopholes with sustainable strategies focused on retention and marketplace liquidity. The speakers detail how successful scaling requires aligning product and engineering functions, adapting paid acquisition to local constraints, and replacing short-term viral hacks with long-term investments in SEO, data science, and user experience optimization. Furthermore, they emphasize the necessity of institutionalizing experimentation to challenge assumptions, citing specific examples like copy adjustments in Japan and WeChat integration in China, while advocating for unified operational models that track acquisition, churn, and re-engagement separately.

The Impact Investing Summit

Matthew Bishop, Lisa Ashford, Mark Campanale, Mark Goldring, Lutfey Siddiqi, Matthew Spencer, Tristram Stewart, Rod Schwartz, Arthur Wood, Mel Tam

In an Oxford-style debate regarding the primary agent for climate action, Lisa Ashford and Mark Campanali argued that investors and bankers can bypass political inertia to drive rapid decarbonization, while Matthew Spencer and colleagues contended that social movements and government policy are essential to establish the regulatory frameworks that make green investment viable. Despite pro-market arguments citing market failures and capital efficiency, the opposition team successfully countered by highlighting historical precedents where moral pressure and state intervention preceded financial shifts. Ultimately, the side opposing the motion won by persuading the audience to view political and social activism as the necessary "generals" that guide the "cavalry" of private capital.

Scaling Product | Fireside with Joe Gebbia and Reid Hoffman

Joe Gebbia, Reid Hoffman

Airbnb achieved product-market fit by abandoning scalable code solutions in favor of manual, non-scalable actions, such as founders personally photographing listings to overcome trust barriers and reduce user friction. To sustain hyper-growth while maintaining culture and empathy, the company institutionalized practices like hiring for future needs, training core values interviewers, and mandating that employees regularly experience the platform as travelers and hosts. This strategic focus on deep user connection and operational realism eventually enabled the expansion from a simple room-rental service to a comprehensive travel ecosystem featuring Experiences and a global network of professional photographers.

Fake News: Negotiating Politics and Society in a Post-Truth World

Willow Bay, Rebecca Blumenstein, Campbell Brown, Stephen Hayes, Scott McClellan, Jon Steinberg

A panel of industry leaders and academics convened to analyze the drivers of the fake news crisis, attributing its proliferation to Facebook's engagement-focused algorithms, the decline of local journalism jobs, and a polarized political culture that normalizes dishonesty. In response, the tech giant has pivoted its mission to support authentic reporting by launching the Facebook Journalism Project, removing over 30,000 malicious accounts, and committing to a workforce of 3,000 content managers to surpass the staff sizes of major news organizations. While rejecting government regulation in favor of market-based solutions and advertiser pressure, the group emphasized a multi-pronged strategy involving new revenue models, mandatory media literacy education, and collaborative product development to restore public trust and combat misinformation.

How to Raise Money with Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, and Parker Conrad (HtSaS 2014: 9)

Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Parker Conrad

SV Angel outlines a venture capital philosophy centered on investing in outlier founders with extreme strengths rather than balanced profiles, emphasizing that seed rounds of $1M to $2M at caps near $9M offer the highest probability of success. The firm prioritizes companies that have already peeled away risk through revenue generation and traction, viewing the investor-founder relationship as a long-term partnership where dilution limits and board governance are managed through covenants rather than formal votes. By leveraging a high-selectivity process where only one in thirty referrals receive funding, SV Angel targets leaders who can articulate clear value propositions within minutes while avoiding conflicts that limit future portfolio flexibility.

10,000 Small Businesses UK Participants Share Experiences of Time on Programme

Launched in 2012, this intensive program guided struggling entrepreneurs through a rigorous diagnostic process that identified critical financial leaks and strategic pivots from B2B to B2C models. By pairing founders with growth experts and fostering a transparent cohort of vetted peers, participants transformed their ventures from loss-making entities into cash-positive businesses generating up to £1.5 million in revenue. The initiative delivered a transformative return on investment, enabling companies to hire strategically, secure major capital projects, and establish a lasting support network that continues to drive long-term operational efficiency.