Venture Capital Podcasts

Why Speed, Not Size, Will Define the Next War
PodcastNov 1, 202539 min

Why Speed, Not Size, Will Define the Next War

In this episode, Horacio Rozanski of Booz Allen Hamilton and Gary Shield of Shield AI explain how speed, software agility, and public‑private partnerships are reshaping U.S. defense amid rising global tensions. They draw lessons from the Ukraine and Taiwan conflicts,...

By a16z Podcast
Beyond Chatbots: Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz on AI's Future
PodcastOct 31, 202538 min

Beyond Chatbots: Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz on AI's Future

In the closing keynote of a16z’s Runtime conference, host Erik Torenberg chats with co‑founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz about the event’s highlights, the current capabilities of large language models, and why massive AI capital expenditures don’t signal a bubble....

By a16z Podcast
20VC: Tim Ferriss: Why I Walked Away From Angel Investing After Uber | How I Accidentally Lost $150 Million |...
PodcastOct 31, 20251h 31m

20VC: Tim Ferriss: Why I Walked Away From Angel Investing After Uber | How I Accidentally Lost $150 Million |...

In this episode, Tim Ferriss reflects on why he stepped away from angel investing after his early involvement with Uber, recounting a costly $150 million mistake and how money both solved and later complicated his personal challenges. He shares insights on...

By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
VC10X Micro - Intel's Epic Turnaround: Up 100% in 6 Months📈🤯
PodcastOct 30, 20259 min

VC10X Micro - Intel's Epic Turnaround: Up 100% in 6 Months📈🤯

The episode dissects Intel’s dramatic reversal from an $18.8 billion loss to a $4.1 billion profit in six months under new CEO Lip‑Bu Tan, highlighting his outsider‑driven turnaround playbook that emphasized strategic capital, ruthless focus, and rapid execution, even attracting a $5 billion investment...

By VC10X
"Is There an AI Bubble?” Gavin Baker and David George
PodcastOct 30, 202531 min

"Is There an AI Bubble?” Gavin Baker and David George

In this a16z Runtime conversation, Managing Partner Gavin Baker and GP David George examine the macro forces driving the AI surge, including the trillion‑dollar data‑center expansion and shifting economics of GPU pricing. They assess whether the rapid growth signals a...

By a16z Podcast
E643 | Sebastian Peck, KOMPAS VC: Europe’s Industrial Tech Moment: Decarbonisation, AI & the Risk Appetite Gap
PodcastOct 30, 202549 min

E643 | Sebastian Peck, KOMPAS VC: Europe’s Industrial Tech Moment: Decarbonisation, AI & the Risk Appetite Gap

In this episode, Andreas Munk Holm talks with Sebastian Peck, a partner at KOMPAS VC, about why industrial tech—focused on decarbonisation, productivity and resilience—is finally gaining traction in European venture capital. Peck highlights the divergent energy strategies across regions, the...

By The European VC (EUVC)
20VC: A16z Raises $10BN in New Funds | Mercor Raises $350M at a $10BN Valuation | OpenAI Restructuring: Who Wins...
PodcastOct 30, 20251h 24m

20VC: A16z Raises $10BN in New Funds | Mercor Raises $350M at a $10BN Valuation | OpenAI Restructuring: Who Wins...

The episode breaks down four major topics: OpenAI's restructuring and its impact on stakeholders; Andreessen Horowitz's $10 billion fundraise; Mercor's $350 million raise at a $10 billion valuation; and a critique of IRR as a VC metric, followed by three actionable strategies to...

By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
Building the Real-World Infrastructure for AI, with Google, Cisco & A16z
PodcastOct 29, 202532 min

Building the Real-World Infrastructure for AI, with Google, Cisco & A16z

In this episode, a16z’s Raghu Raghuram talks with Google’s Amin Vahdat and Cisco’s Jeetu Patel about the massive physical build‑out required for AI, covering everything from custom chips and power grids to global data‑center networks. They frame this as an...

By a16z Podcast
#172 My Town AI: ChatGPT Meets SimCity
PodcastOct 29, 202543 min

#172 My Town AI: ChatGPT Meets SimCity

In this episode, founder and mayor‑pro‑tem Nichole Sterling pitches My Town AI, an AI‑driven civic‑intelligence platform that gives small towns access to data, workflow automation and low‑cost digital twins to solve grant‑writing bottlenecks and operational blind spots. She illustrates how...

By The Pitch
How Anastasia Soare Built a Beauty Brand Worth Billions
PodcastOct 29, 202531 min

How Anastasia Soare Built a Beauty Brand Worth Billions

In this episode, Anastasia Soare recounts her journey from a Romanian immigrant running a one‑room Beverly Hills salon to creating a global beauty empire valued at roughly $3 billion, highlighting the power of relentless focus on a niche—eyebrows. She shares key...

By Masters of Scale
Founder10x - Can AI Beat The Top Investors? - Jan Szilagyi, Co-Founder, Reflexivity
PodcastOct 28, 202534 min

Founder10x - Can AI Beat The Top Investors? - Jan Szilagyi, Co-Founder, Reflexivity

In this episode, Jan Szilagyi, co‑founder of Reflexivity, explains how his AI‑driven market research platform transforms raw market data into an analytical partner for top hedge funds, embedding principles from legends like Stanley Druckenmiller. He details the platform’s differentiation, its...

By VC10X
Chobani & Patagonia CEOs Break Down Where Values Meet Profit
PodcastOct 28, 202527 min

Chobani & Patagonia CEOs Break Down Where Values Meet Profit

In the episode, Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert and Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya discuss how they align values with profit, navigating activist government pressure and anticipatory compliance while scaling their businesses. They share strategies for integrating environmental stewardship and immigration support...

By Masters of Scale
Raghu Raghuram: AI, Robotics, and the Rebirth of Infrastructure
PodcastOct 27, 202530 min

Raghu Raghuram: AI, Robotics, and the Rebirth of Infrastructure

Raghu Raghuram reflects on his front‑row experience of the early internet wars, the Netscape‑Microsoft browser battles, and the landmark VMware acquisition of Nicira that reshaped networking. He and the a16z hosts discuss how VMware grew from a modest startup to...

By a16z Podcast
ElevenLabs’ Vision for Voice Interfaces | CEO Mati Staniszewski
PodcastOct 27, 20251h 4m

ElevenLabs’ Vision for Voice Interfaces | CEO Mati Staniszewski

In this episode, ElevenLabs co‑founder and CEO Mati Staniszewski discusses how the company’s emotion‑driven voice AI is reshaping sectors such as personalized healthcare and film production. He explains the technology’s ability to generate nuanced, expressive speech that can adapt to...

By Grit (Kleiner Perkins)
20VC: Sequoia's David Cahn on The Winners and Losers in AI | The $0-$100M Revenue Club: Is Triple, Triple, Double,...
PodcastOct 27, 20251h 14m

20VC: Sequoia's David Cahn on The Winners and Losers in AI | The $0-$100M Revenue Club: Is Triple, Triple, Double,...

In this episode, Sequoia partner David Cahn argues we’re in an AI bubble but sees lasting moats in physical data‑center infrastructure, while mapping out which companies will thrive or falter as AI reshapes markets. He discusses the impact of big‑tech...

By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
20Growth: How to Build a Paid Marketing Machine: ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) 101 | The Rise of User Generated...
PodcastOct 24, 20251h 16m

20Growth: How to Build a Paid Marketing Machine: ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) 101 | The Rise of User Generated...

In this episode, growth veteran Sandy Diao shares the biggest lessons she learned scaling products at Pinterest, Meta, and Descript, emphasizing how to craft strong growth hypotheses and avoid common strategic pitfalls. She breaks down the fundamentals of Return on...

By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
20VC: Why VC Today Is Worse Than 2021 | Why Vertical SaaS Is a Bad Investment Today | Why We...
PodcastOct 23, 20251h 28m

20VC: Why VC Today Is Worse Than 2021 | Why Vertical SaaS Is a Bad Investment Today | Why We...

The episode critiques the current venture‑capital climate, arguing it’s as over‑hyped as the 2021 COVID boom and warning that vertical SaaS and legal‑SaaS investments are now unattractive. Host Harry Stebbings and guests discuss Revolut’s $3 bn raise at a $75 bn valuation...

By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
Marc Andreessen and Amjad Masad: English As the New Programming Language
PodcastOct 23, 20251h 11m

Marc Andreessen and Amjad Masad: English As the New Programming Language

In this episode Marc Andreessen, Erik Torenberg, and Replit CEO Amjad Masad explore how AI agents are reshaping programming, arguing that English‑based prompts are becoming the new coding language. Masad explains how reinforcement learning unlocked reasoning in large models, how...

By a16z Podcast
Why Creativity Will Matter More Than Code
PodcastOct 22, 20251h 25m

Why Creativity Will Matter More Than Code

In this episode, a16z partner Anish Acharya and host Kevin Rose discuss how AI is sparking a new consumer technology renaissance, emphasizing that the next wave of products will blend emotion, utility, and creativity rather than just code. They explore...

By a16z Podcast
#171 Doctours: VC Funded Hair Transplants?!
PodcastOct 22, 202541 min

#171 Doctours: VC Funded Hair Transplants?!

Doctours founder Girum shares his personal experience with medical tourism that saved his brother, launching a marketplace that matches U.S. patients to vetted overseas clinics, starting with elective hair‑transplant procedures in Turkey. The platform handles patient intake, clinic verification, reviews,...

By The Pitch
Temperate: The Tech Beaming Heat Into Space to Disrupt the Trillion-Dollar Cooling Market | Angel Insights
PodcastOct 22, 202529 min

Temperate: The Tech Beaming Heat Into Space to Disrupt the Trillion-Dollar Cooling Market | Angel Insights

The episode spotlights several deep‑tech and angel‑investment stories, beginning with Charlie of Temperate who converts heat to light and beams it into space, offering a refrigerant‑free cooling system up to 20× more efficient for data‑centers and HVAC markets. It then...

By Angel Invest Boston
Founder10x - Are AI Agents The Future of Doctor's Office? - Ganesh Padmanabhan, Founder, Autonomize AI
PodcastOct 21, 202558 min

Founder10x - Are AI Agents The Future of Doctor's Office? - Ganesh Padmanabhan, Founder, Autonomize AI

In this episode, host Prashant Choubey talks with Ganesh Padmanabhan, founder of Autonomize AI, about the emerging role of AI agents in medical practices. They explore how autonomous AI assistants can handle patient triage, appointment scheduling, and routine follow‑ups, potentially...

By VC10X
How Kong Was Born: APIs, Hustle, and the Future of AI Infrastructure
PodcastOct 21, 202537 min

How Kong Was Born: APIs, Hustle, and the Future of AI Infrastructure

In this episode, a16z host Martin Casado interviews Kong co‑founder and CEO Augusto "Aghi" Marietti about his journey from a Milan garage to building a leading API infrastructure firm, highlighting the relentless grind, near‑death moments, and the bootstrap funding that...

By a16z Podcast
Reid Hoffman on AI, Consciousness, and the Future of Humanity
PodcastOct 20, 202553 min

Reid Hoffman on AI, Consciousness, and the Future of Humanity

Reid Hoffman, alongside Erik Torenberg and Alex Rampell, explores how AI will transform work, science, and humanity, emphasizing that the most impactful breakthroughs will arise beyond obvious productivity tools. They discuss current AI’s reasoning limits, debate whether consciousness is required...

By a16z Podcast
95% Faster Video Production with Synthesia | Victor Riparbelli
PodcastOct 20, 20251h 8m

95% Faster Video Production with Synthesia | Victor Riparbelli

In this episode, Victor Riparbelli, co‑founder and CEO of Synthesia, explains how his AI‑driven platform lets anyone create video without cameras, cutting production time by up to 95% and opening new possibilities for content creators. He and Kleiner Perkins partner...

By Grit (Kleiner Perkins)
20VC: The Startup Adding $1M ARR Every Week | Competing Against OpenAI's Codex and Claude Code: Who Wins | Why...
PodcastOct 17, 20251h 13m

20VC: The Startup Adding $1M ARR Every Week | Competing Against OpenAI's Codex and Claude Code: Who Wins | Why...

In this episode, host Harry Stebbings talks with Zach Lloyd, founder and CEO of Warp, about the startup’s rapid growth—adding $1M ARR each week—and its battle against AI coding assistants like OpenAI's Codex, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini. Lloyd explains...

By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
Keith Rabois: Israel, OpenAI, Opendoor, and DOGE
PodcastOct 16, 202549 min

Keith Rabois: Israel, OpenAI, Opendoor, and DOGE

Keith Rabois argues that the U.S. is on the cusp of a new AI‑driven economic expansion that could boost GDP growth to around 5%, emphasizing the rise of sovereign AI projects and the nation’s ability to grow out of debt....

By a16z Podcast
Brené Brown & Reid Hoffman on the Skills Every Leader Needs Now
PodcastOct 16, 202522 min

Brené Brown & Reid Hoffman on the Skills Every Leader Needs Now

In this 23‑minute conversation, Brené Brown and Reid Hoffman explore the essential, often overlooked skills leaders need today, emphasizing courageous vulnerability, active listening, and the power of compassion. Brown argues that true leadership thrives on empathy and psychological safety, while...

By Masters of Scale
20VC: $3.5BN - The Price Zuck Paid for Thinking Machines Co-Founder | Goldman Sachs Acquires Industry Ventures for $665M |...
PodcastOct 16, 20251h 19m

20VC: $3.5BN - The Price Zuck Paid for Thinking Machines Co-Founder | Goldman Sachs Acquires Industry Ventures for $665M |...

The episode dissects three headline‑making deals: Goldman Sachs’ $665 million acquisition of Industry Ventures, the former Thinking Machines co‑founder’s $2 billion raise and subsequent move to Meta, and SoftBank’s $5 billion ARM‑backed loan to double‑down on OpenAI. Harry and guests analyze what these...

By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi: How to Run a Billion-Dollar Business
PodcastOct 15, 20251h 4m

Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi: How to Run a Billion-Dollar Business

In this "Boss Talk" episode, Ben Horowitz and Databricks co‑founder Ali Ghodsi recount their founder war stories, from building Loudcloud during the dot‑com bust to steering Databricks through a crisis and scaling it to a $100 billion valuation. They discuss practical...

By a16z Podcast
#170 Original Sunshine: The Best Bagel You've Never Heard Of
PodcastOct 15, 202550 min

#170 Original Sunshine: The Best Bagel You've Never Heard Of

Original Sunshine’s founders Brad and David used a covert blind‑taste test of their gluten‑free‑but‑tasting‑like‑wheat bagels to win over the investors on The Pitch, highlighting a novel flour technology that replicates gluten’s texture. They traced rapid traction from early adopters like...

By The Pitch
VC10X - Top Decile Fund in Emerging-Tech - Jatin Desai, Managing Partner, Inflexor Ventures
PodcastOct 14, 202541 min

VC10X - Top Decile Fund in Emerging-Tech - Jatin Desai, Managing Partner, Inflexor Ventures

In this episode, Jatin Desai, Managing Partner at Inflexor Ventures, explains why profitable giants like Meta and Amazon are executing "quiet layoffs" despite record earnings, attributing the trend to the Great AI Re‑allocation, a permanent Year of Efficiency, and lingering...

By VC10X
Is AI Slowing Down? Nathan Labenz Says We're Asking the Wrong Question
PodcastOct 14, 20251h 31m

Is AI Slowing Down? Nathan Labenz Says We're Asking the Wrong Question

In this episode, Nathan Labenz and a16z host Erik Torenberg examine whether AI progress is truly slowing or simply becoming less sensational, questioning the hype around a potential GPT‑5. They explore the current state of AI reasoning, automation, and the...

By a16z Podcast
Columbia CS Professor: Why LLMs Can’t Discover New Science
PodcastOct 13, 202550 min

Columbia CS Professor: Why LLMs Can’t Discover New Science

In this episode, Columbia computer‑science professor Vishal Misra explains why large language models, despite their rapid progress, are unlikely to generate truly novel scientific breakthroughs because they lack causal understanding and grounding in real‑world experimentation. He delves into why chain‑of‑thought...

By a16z Podcast
From Idea To Impact: How Gamma Is Redefining Presentations | Grant Lee
PodcastOct 13, 20251h 10m

From Idea To Impact: How Gamma Is Redefining Presentations | Grant Lee

In this episode, Grant Lee, co‑founder and CEO of Gamma, explains how his AI‑driven design platform replaces traditional PowerPoint with an "anti‑PowerPoint" approach that makes product presentations irresistible and drives user adoption. He discusses the importance of building enduring businesses...

By Grit (Kleiner Perkins)
20VC: Atlassian CEO on Why Everything Is Overvalued & Are We in an AI Bubble | Do Margins Matter &...
PodcastOct 13, 20251h 3m

20VC: Atlassian CEO on Why Everything Is Overvalued & Are We in an AI Bubble | Do Margins Matter &...

In this episode, Atlassian co‑CEO Mike Cannon‑Brookes argues that tech valuations are broadly inflated and questions whether we are in an AI bubble, while also examining how AI impacts margins, defensibility, and pricing models such as per‑seat licensing. He highlights...

By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
Monitoring the Situation #3: Who Is Nick Land?
PodcastOct 12, 202552 min

Monitoring the Situation #3: Who Is Nick Land?

In this episode, a16z partners Erik Torenberg, Katherine Boyle, and Erin Price‑Wright interview Zach Dell, founder and CEO of Base Power, about the challenges and opportunities in home power generation, misconceptions around data‑center energy use, and strategies to modernize the...

By a16z Podcast
20Sales: Scaling Snowflake From $0-$3BN in ARR | Snowflake vs Databricks: My Biggest Lessons | Why Customer Success Is BS...
PodcastOct 10, 20251h 2m

20Sales: Scaling Snowflake From $0-$3BN in ARR | Snowflake vs Databricks: My Biggest Lessons | Why Customer Success Is BS...

In this episode, former Snowflake CRO Chris Degnan walks through how he built the company’s sales organization from the ground up, detailing hiring strategies for sales leaders and the rapid scaling of a global team to over 6,000 reps. He...

By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
Replay: How Daymond John Built FUBU
PodcastOct 9, 202534 min

Replay: How Daymond John Built FUBU

In this archival Masters of Scale episode, Reid Hoffman and Shark Tank star Daymond John dissect how John grew FUBU from a modest start into a global streetwear brand by forging authentic, community‑driven partnerships and leveraging cultural relevance. John highlights...

By Masters of Scale
20VC: OpenAI's Multi $BN Deal with AMD | Polymarket, Vercel and Supabase Raise Mega Rounds | Does King Making Really...
PodcastOct 9, 20251h 24m

20VC: OpenAI's Multi $BN Deal with AMD | Polymarket, Vercel and Supabase Raise Mega Rounds | Does King Making Really...

The episode opens with a deep dive into OpenAI’s multi‑billion‑dollar partnership with AMD, a critique of Microsoft’s handling of the OpenAI relationship, and the headline announcements from OpenAI’s Developer Day. Harry then broadens the conversation, arguing that venture capital remains...

By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)