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by Conversations with industry leading builders and investors shaping our future
Conversations with practitioners at the edge of their craft across business, media, startups, frontier technologies, investing. wethebuilders.us
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- 6 days ago1h 48m
Somesh Dash on IVP, Firm Building, Venture Investing, The AI Era and Immigration
IntroSomesh Dash has been investing in startups for over 20 years at IVP where he is a General Partner. IVP is one of the most prominent venture firms in growth stage investing founded in 1980. In the last almost five decades, they have invested in over 400 companies, with over 135 of them going public. IVP is an investor in generational companies like Anthropic, Uber, Snap, Twitter, CrowdStrike, Snap, Robinhood, Figma, Discord, Coinbase. I had a wide ranging conversation with Somesh about his thoughts on the craft of investing itself, immigration, IVP’s firm structure, his role as a leader in the firm now, thoughts on the unprecedented era of AI and how he thinks about investing in this era and more. Watch on YouTubeTimestamps00:00:00 - Introduction00:00:55 - What 20 Years in VC Teaches You About the Job00:02:00 - Risk-Taking, Contrarianism, and Dealing with Failure00:02:45 - The Importance of LP Relationships00:03:30 - Building and Sustaining a Strong VC Partnership00:06:05 - Index / Spray-and-Pray vs. High-Conviction Investing00:08:10 - What Does "Contrarian" Mean at the Growth Stage?00:11:25 - Investing in Twitter in 200900:13:00 - Early Bet on Snapchat in 201300:14:45 - How Growth Stage Investing Has Evolved at IVP00:16:15 - Investing in Anthropic00:17:55 - How IVP Adds Value00:20:00 - Founder Mental Health & The VC as Counselor00:21:15 - Customer Introductions & The Day-to-Day VC Grind00:26:37 - The IVP Partnership Model & Shared Decision-Making00:28:05 - Depth vs. Breadth of Networks & Being In-Person00:29:40 - Cross-Pollination Across Sports, Culture, and other Industries00:33:33 - Favorite Podcasts, Comedy00:35:50 - Expanding into New Sectors: Healthcare, Defense Tech & Space00:37:45 - The Resurgence of Hardware & Semiconductors (Seagate, LSI Logic)00:41:05 - Silicon Valley, Immigration, and Global Talent00:45:15 - The Immigrant DNA of Unicorn Founders00:47:23 - Geopolitics, Soft Power, and Media Narratives00:52:16 - Immigrant Values, Capitalism, and Democracy as a Startup00:57:35 - Labor Market Matching and Skilled Immigration01:02:42 - How IVP Selects 8–10 High-Conviction Investments a Year01:05:05 - Capital Allocation Lessons from the Clean Tech Boom01:06:40 - Hot Take: Why Traditional Software/SaaS is Making a Comeback01:08:45 - VC Firm Governance: CEO Model vs. Pure Partnership Model01:11:50 - Generational Transition & Internal Mentorship at
- 2 weeks ago2h 32m
Adam Grosser, The Renaissance Man behind UP.Partners on 40 Years of Investing & Building in Silicon Valley
IntroThis is my first conversation with Adam Grosser, a Silicon Valley OG. Adam has had a front row seat to what Silicon Valley is today from being at the centre of personal computing in the early days of Apple in the 1980s as Director of Engineering to directing products at LucasFilm in 1990s and investing in the still early internet days in the 2000s at Foundation Capital. Adam went on to be a Managing Director at prominent technology focused private equity firm SilverLake and co-created the Up Summit, an exclusive annual event for the future of transportation. He was also a part of building and scaling two multibillion dollar companies in the 1990s. He is also a 4x Forbes Midas list investor. He now runs Up Partners which he founded six years ago around the thesis of future of transportation enabled by software. Up Partners has been an investor in companies like Hermeus (founded by AJ Piplica), Reliable Robotics, Axiom Space, Skydio, Westmag, Pacific Fusion and Beta to name a few. What makes him unique and extremely hard to b******t to is the fact that he builds cars, airplanes and boats in his workshop in San Carlos which I had the chance to check out, this is where the technical knowhow of founders gets tested. It is not a team of 10 technicians working on these projects, it is a team of just Adam plus a couple of contractors here and there. For investors in frontier tech, this would be the equivalent of touching grass. Adam is one of the kindest and most generous humans I have come across in the industry, still a student at heart who is insatiably curious and genuinely interested in other people. Perhaps one of the reasons he has been so successful. In this wide ranging conversation we cover a bit of Silicon Valley history, what it was like working with Steve Jobs, his time in media through LucasFilm and Sony, how venture capital has changed, how Adam keeps up and how to build a successful lasting venture firm. Watch on YouTubeTimestamps00:00 – Intro 02:52 – Early Days at Apple and Meeting Steve Jobs03:29 – Innovation and the History of Printing at Apple05:37 – Early User Interfaces and Working at Xerox PARC07:29 – Technological Breakthroughs at LucasFilm11:56 – Corporate Acquisitions and Maintaining Founding DNA14:43 – "Stake vs. Rank" in Corporate Structures17:19 – The Ephemeral Nature of Success in the Film Industry21:15 – Two Approaches to Creating Great Products22:22 – Spotting Breakthrough Innovations Early27:35 – How the Venture Capital Industry Has Changed31:56 – Rebuilding the Cottage Model with Up Partners38:19 – The Mobility Thesis and Stagnation in the Physical World42:18 – His San Carlos Workshop48:48 – Why Hardware Innovation Took Decades to Evolve54:36 – The True Job of a Venture Capitalist57:28 – Basic Research and the Return of the Polymath01:04:12 – The Chasm Between Tech and Business and the Value of Finishing Things01:10:53 – The "996" Work Culture01:17:34 – Choosing to Stay Nimble in Business and Investment01:23:00 – Building Alignment and Generational Stability in a VC Firm01:45:00 – Decisio
- 3 weeks ago1h 11m
Evan Burns on Building State Affairs, Backed by Khosla Ventures & Founders Fund, The Business of Policy Markets and State of Media
IntroThis is my first conversation with Evan Burns, CEO of State Affairs. I think Evan is building one of the most interesting companies at the intersection of politics and capitalism, with the ambitious goal of creating the category of “policy markets” which he says is more important than financial markets. In this conversation we discuss the state of media, the thesis and business of State Affairs and more. Keith Rabois was one of the first believers in the idea and they just came out of stealth with a $70m seed round funded by Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund. To understand how Evan got here, perhaps sharing some of his background is important. He started a media company called Odyssey which he ran for eight years before eventually exiting and went on to start a beverage company called The Long Drink that was wildly successful in a short period of time doing 500 million in sales. Through that he learnt how important it was for companies to understand policy in real time and have relationships with policymakers. One of the best things about doing the show is meeting people that lay low and are underrated in the mainstream discourse. I think Evan is one of those people who is going to build a generational company and will be household name in the next five years or so. Watch on YouTubeTimestamps00:00 - Intro01:41 - Evan's First Venture: Odyssey and the Plurality of America03:00 - Seeking "Alpha" Outside Coastal Media Hubs05:00 - Groupthink in Silicon Valley & the Grifter Problem08:26 - Moving into the Beverage Space: The Origin of Finnish Long Drink10:45 - Navigating Nuanced State Policy Laws & Early Mistakes12:45 - Changing the Overton Window: Lessons from Uber & SpaceX14:50 - Connecting with People: The Pandemic Underwear Campaign Goes Viral16:44 - Entrepreneurial Survival Instinct & the Strategy Behind Media Narratives19:08 - News Bias, Fact-Seeking21:28 - Defending Democracy and Fixing Education24:06 - Optimism for Future Progress 25:47 - Why Negativity Dominates Politics27:00 - The Thesis Behind State Affairs: Introducing "Policy Markets"29:00 - Tracking Opaque State Legislation and Government Data31:00 - Building a Base Layer Knowledge Graph for Real-Time Access32:58 - Business Model, Key Corporate Customers, and Moving at Real-Time Speed35:25 - Regulatory Capture and Relationships in the AI Age37:21 - Use Cases for Elected Officials, Lobbyists, and Executives39:51 - Customizing Policy Models for Startups & Mid-Sized Businesses41:54 - Bringing Policy Makers and the Startup World Together 44:33 - The Value of Objective Nonpartisan News in the Next 10 Years49:40 - Deep Journalism on the Ground: Engendering Trust Over Content "Slop"55:30 - Exploring the Pillars of a Monopoly Business Structure58:06 - Economies of Scale in Proprietary Data Collection<a target="_
- 3 weeks ago35 min
Mike Solana of Founders Fund on Creating Celebrity Mafia featuring Tech Elite
IntroMike Solana is the CMO of Founders Fund and Founder of Pirate Wires. Marketing and media teams in technology and venture seem to be in this competition of capturing attention of the right people. The consensus strategy is covering entrepreneurs and investors on a podcast. All that has its own place but you don’t create cultural institutions or artifacts while following consensus strategies. I often think about how few cultural institutions get built that matter. They are usually decades in the making and when they arrive, they are timeless and etched in memory. Think about Starwars, Harry Potter, Lord of Rings franchises that people are still culturally relevant decades on. How would one do that in the world of technology and venture capital? In recent memory, Mike has produced at least two cultural artifacts, Hereticon which was a conference for what was described as thought crime and now the show Mafia featuring celebrities in tech and venture that took over the Twitter/X timeline when it launched with millions of views and all of tech elite engaged. Everyone I met was talking about it for at least a month after and you can always rewatch it as a good holiday watch like you would replay your favorite TV show. I asked him about the making of Mafia, whether he will transition to player from moderator, how he thinks about creating these unique new cultural artifacts and what’s next (if it happens, it will be the wildest show of all time). Watch on YouTubeTimestamps00:00 - Introduction to Mafia the Game as a Show03:01 - Redefining "New Media" and Its History04:06 - The Inspiration Behind Creating Celebrity Mafia06:02 - Moving Away from Standard Tech Interview Podcasts07:56 - Standalone Projects and Cultural Artifacts10:50 - Selecting the Cast and Showing Their Real Selves13:51 - Choosing the Location: The PayPal Mafia Photo Connection15:58 - Future Plans: Will There Be a Full Season?18:01 - Why the Speaker Hates Playing as the Mafia18:41 - Current Projects: Pirate Wires and Founders Fund22:23 - Challenges in Putting the Show Together24:30 - Lessons Learned from Past Media Ventures26:41 - The Role of a Modern CMO in Venture Capital31:10 - Creative Marketing and Brand Strategy at Founders Fund33:05 - Playing Mafia with Peter Thiel and The Dream Casts35:01 - Closing Remarks This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us
- Aug 12, 202653 min
Justin Lopas on the Business of Base Power and Lessons from SpaceX & Anduril
IntroI had a conversation with Justin Lopas on building Base Power a few months back, last week they announced $1B in new funding at a $13B valuation. Justin cofounded Base Power with Zach Dell in 2023. I first met him at one of the deeptech dinners I was hosting in Austin back when they were still in stealth (adding to the list of incredible markups for anyone investing in founders from these dinners).The latest round was led by Addition with participation from friends of the show at A16Z, Trust Ventures, 137 Ventures and others.Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction and Background at SpaceX03:31 - SpaceX Culture and Giving Agency to Early-Career Talent05:32 - What to Filter for When Hiring Non-Experienced Talent09:03 - Implementing and Automating AI in Non-Technical Roles10:50 - Defining Base Power: The Vision to Fix the Grid15:05 - Regulated vs. Deregulated Energy Markets in Texas17:32 - How Home Batteries Act as an Energy Hedge21:50 - Battery Storage Capacity and Bypassing the Interconnection Queue22:56 - Smooth Variability in Energy Supply and Demand24:48 - Aligning Incentives and Structural Practical Limits for Home Batteries26:13 - Navigating the Patchwork of US Energy Regulation and Expansion32:07 - The Hardest Challenges and Landed-Cost Optimization34:04 - Treating Every Aspect of a Business as a Factory38:37 - Recruiting Pitch for Base Power40:25 - Embracing Internal Failures to Foster Innovation41:39 - Learning Methods: YouTube, LLMs, and Peer Insights43:44 - Building and Maintaining a Strong Company Culture48:24 - Key Takeaways from Leading Manufacturing at Anduril50:19 - Managing Diverse Subcultures Within a Consistent Mission51:42 - Future Outlook: New Products, AI Support, and Scaling Production This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us
- Aug 8, 20261h 11m
Scott Kupor on A16Z Origin Story, White House Role and Office of Personnel Management
IntroScott Kupor was the first employee at Andreessen Horowitz, one of the largest venture capital firms in the arena today with over $90B in AUM. The firm started with the ambition to build a product to serve founders and with Michael Ovitz joining the board, it took inspiration from how talent agencies operated. Today, it is part a media company with venture capital as a business model and part recruiting firm for the startup ecosystem. Scott shares the story of how it possibly could have been Andreessen Horowitz Kupor.He worked with Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz for 25 years before leaving for his current role as Director of the Office of Personnel Management at the White House, which oversees the 2 million of the government employees that don’t serve in the military, which has over $2 trillion in budget and is probably the largest workforce/HR department in the world. In our conversation, he shares the story of how he got involved in politics and the current admin, the challenges in running an organization of this size and scale, what he hopes to accomplish and more.Timestamps:00:00 Introduction & OPM Overview00:36 A Lifer with Ben Horowitz & Mark Andreessen01:29 The Origin & Founding of A16Z03:43 Deconstructing Venture Capital via the CAA Agency Model06:43 Scaling a Modern VC Firm Vertically09:16 Centralization vs. Decentralization in Operations11:09 Building Long-Term Trust with Executive Talent13:50 Cultural Precepts: First-Class Business Only16:42 Organic Firm Evolution & Partner Autonomy20:35 Saying No to Rollups & PE Buyouts23:12 The Intersection of Public Policy and Tech26:01 Transitioning into Public Service29:42 Startups, Immigration, and National Security32:17 OPM’s Scale & Enforcing High Performance35:45 Permissioned Innovation & IT Overhauls40:05 Breaking Institutional Status Quo41:59 Silicon Valley Root-Cause Math in Government47:53 Flat Communications Within a Bureaucracy50:04 Reforming Civil Service Promotion Rules54:36 The Shift Toward Skills-Based Hiring57:21 Rethinking the Value of Credentials01:00:20 Solving the Government Tech Talent Gap01:02:51 Ending the Over-Outsourcing Crisis01:04:55 The "NASA Forces" Public-Private Exchange01:08:45 A Personal Journey Through the Study of Happiness This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us
- Jul 20, 202630 min
Ian Cinnamon on Building a $2.3B Satellite Manufacturing Campus, Palantir Alumni & The Apex Space Thesis
IntroIan Cinnamon is the Cofounder and CEO of Apex Space. He was previously at Zynga and Palantir (after selling his company). He joined Palantir after selling his weapon detection company to them which had gotten impacted by covid since all live events came to a halt for ~1 year. Interestingly, my final year project in electrical engineering was also weapon detection using Computer Vision - which I take no credit for since my teammates did all the work, I even back then thought I could just support on the BD/research side since my dad was working in the security administration function. He is the second member of the Palantir mafia on the show to have started a billion dollar company. The first was Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz. Both backed by friends of the show at XYZ Ventures.The company was valued at $2.3 billion as of their most recent fundraise which was led by Glade Brook and Washington Harbor. Their early investors include Andreessen Horowitz, XYZ Ventures and Point72, all friends of the show. We talked about his idea maze and choosing the right thing to work on in the middle of the crypto-craze in 2022, in that time he joined Village Global as an EIR to figure out what he wanted to pursue. I am a big fan of exploration and taking your time to decide what you want to go all-in on. Recently discussed the importance of this on the show with Ali Tamaseb (GP at DCVC and author of SuperFounders) as well, he conducted thorough research on billion dollar founders and companies and one of the things that is common is the fact that billion dollar founders take time to decide what they want to pursue. Another example that comes to mind is Qasar Younis of Applied Intuition who took ~2 years before he locked in the idea for Applied Intuition. Matt Angle at Paradromics was in his PhD and was thinking about it for ~4 years or more before starting the company. Brandon Sorbom at Commonwealth Fusion Systems also spent an ample amount of time working on the idea including at first starting a nonprofit dedicated to research before doing it as a startup. Watch on YouTubeTimestamps00:00 - Introduction01:22 - Moving from software and AI to the space industry02:12 - Using computer vision to protect public safety04:37 - Learning from the flat, fast-moving culture at Palantir07:54 - Deciding to build the last company I would ever start09:59 - How SpaceX made rocket launch reliable and frequent12:10 - Stepping away to incubate a new kind of satellite business13:56 - Building the Ford Model T of the satellite world15:15 - What is a satellite platform?16:43 - Partnering with Northrop Grumman for missile defense19:12 - Understanding how much room is actually left up in space21:19 - Choosing the right altitude based on what a satellite does24:13 - Shifting space tech from custom crafts to a volume game27:25 - How factory automation helps America win the current space race29:46 - Closing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us
- Jul 15, 20261h 46m
E41: Austin Allred on X Posting, Lambda School, Getting Sued, ISAs, Lobbying & Future of Education
IntroAusten Allred is the Cofounder and CEO of Gauntlet AI which is running an AI training school which through its intensive bootcamp makes engineers AI-first operators. Austen originally founded Lambda School as a coding bootcamp, which later became Bloom Institute of Technology - backed by venture firms like GigaFund, Y Combinator, Ashton Kutcher and Google Ventures. Their business model for Lambda School was income share agreements for which there wasn't really a regulatory framework, this was the eventual reason for why the company went almost bankrupt as they got sued and couldn't keep operating. This is a wide ranging conversation where we talk about the decade long lessons from Lambda and why it didn't work out, how he came about the idea for Gauntlet and different models for the future of education.Watch on YouTube:Timestamps00:00 - Introduction01:21 - The strategic advantage of building a raw internet audience06:30 - How an impressive product magnetically pulls a network10:34 - Finding the Keel: Simplicity and the metrics of Paul Graham13:30 - Navigating the extreme highs and lows of a tech hype cycle19:32 - Ditching college to sleep in a Honda Civic24:11 - Launching a growth hacking book to wipe out personal debt26:28 - Turning lambda calculus into a bootlegged code bootcamp29:47 - Bootstrapping a massive student waiting list on pure cash flow35:17 - Surviving five separate YC interviews on the bubble39:27 - Pitching alternative asset managers to financialize education43:39 - Creating a brand new financial asset class out of human potential47:32 - Risk-adjusting human data sets at a thousand ISAs at a time52:40 - The Capitol Hill lobbying 1:06:38 - Running on an empty bank account and a one-month runway1:09:14 - Reverse engineering how elite enterprise software teams use AI1:11:51 - Relocating the family to Austin for the thousand-hour Gauntlet1:15:34 - Swapping the ISA model for upfront corporate recruitment fees1:22:02 - Alpha School: Replacing traditional teachers with personalized AI software1:24:44 - The Texas Education Freedom Act voucher experiment1:26:28 - Why legacy Higher-Ed institutions cannot turn the big ship fast enough1:28:30 - The ultimate necessity of overriding generic consensus LLM views1:32:46 - Reclaiming localized outdoor communities over heavy lecture halls1:39:50 - Do modern tech companies emerge as the new universities?1:42:40 - Closing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us
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