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Episode 834: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) sits down with former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blanfein ( https://x.com/lloydblankfein ) to talk about what he does with his money.
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Show Notes:
(0:00) Lloyd on Money, Day Trading, and Feeling “Rich”
(3:52) Meeting Elon
(5:23) What the worst traders have in common
(9:54) Warren Buffett’s handshake deal
(15:04) Lloyd breaks down his portfolio
(20:41) Advice to young investors
(23:09) biggest mistakes
(25:54) Anxiety as a superpower
(27:54) Family finances
(31:35) Scarcity
(40:46) The Goldman Obituary Test
(43:53) Lessons from history
—
Links:
• Streetwise - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/780438/streetwise-by-lloyd-blankfein/
—
Check Out Sam's Stuff:
• Hampton (joinhampton.com): My community for founders. Average member does $25m/year. Many of the guests are members. Get after it...apply: http://joinhampton.com/mfm
—
Check Out Shaan's Stuff:
• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com
• Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents.
• Mercury - Shaan uses Mercury for banking across all of his companies. you can too: http://mercury.com/
Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC
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beehiiv.com/mfm-challenge
My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano /
There's a lot of debate about the future of AI — not just whether it will produce the returns investors are expecting, but also if AI will lead to mass worker displacement. Big banks are the perfect prism through which to explore some of these questions. Not only are they deploying AI very quickly, but they have a wide range of workers who are using the technology, from back-office employees to junior analysts to the most senior investment bankers. In this episode, we speak with David Solomon, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, about the impact of AI on the banking business, and why he does not predict a major white collar wipeout. We talk about the outlook for headcount, current conditions in capital markets, and the bank's role in the upcoming SpaceX IPO and Alphabet's historic equity capital raise. He also tells us about his early career in junk bonds and (because of his love of electronic dance music) how AI is transforming music production.
Read: Anthropic Picks Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs to Lead IPO
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David Haber speaks with Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, about leadership, risk, and navigating moments of extreme uncertainty. Drawing on his experience leading Goldman through the financial crisis, Blankfein shares how organizations can build resilience, make decisions under pressure, and maintain culture while scaling.
They discuss the importance of risk management as both a discipline and a mindset, the difference between being wrong and being reckless, and how great organizations balance taking risk with protecting against it. Blankfein also reflects on Goldman’s partnership culture, how it shaped decision-making and accountability, and what it takes to build enduring institutions over time.
The conversation also touches on technology, from the role it played in transforming financial markets to the implications of AI today, including its potential, risks, and the challenges of operating in systems that are increasingly complex and harder to fully understand.
Resources:
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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When we last spoke to Marco Argenti, chief information officer at Goldman Sachs, we were talking about how the bank was deploying AI, including the development of its own internal tools. But that was a year and a half ago and a lot has changed since then, especially with the arrival of agentic platforms like Claude Code. So what exactly is Goldman Sachs doing with AI now? And what has its experience with the new tech been like so far? On this episode, we catch up with Marco to discuss what AI deployment at the bank actually looks like at the moment — including how AI coding is changing the work of its developers and engineers — to all the data challenges and regulatory concerns that come with integrating this technology at scale.
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Lloyd Blankfein was CEO of Goldman Sachs for more than a decade, riding the trading boom to the top of the storied investment bank and steering it through the 2008 financial crisis. In his new memoir, Streetwise: Getting To and Through Goldman Sachs, he writes about his journey from public housing in Brooklyn to the pinnacle of Wall Street. So what's he up to now? And how does he see markets and finance today? In this episode, we talk about deglobalization and Wall Street, the threats AI and tech pose to investment banking, risk management in private credit, and rich people's attitudes towards taxes. Plus, Lloyd shares some of what he left out of the book and he explains why he doesn't tweet more.
Read more:Goldman’s Solomon Is Watching for ‘Frothiness’ in Private CreditPrivate Market Titans Warn of Pain as Credit Cracks Widen
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In the Quadrillions finale, we map the power shift from crypto building parallel markets to institutions integrating onchain rails into traditional finance. With Ribbit Capital’s Nick Shalek, and Goldman’s Mathew McDermott, we break down why the last wave of adoption stalled, why distribution beats ideology, and how networks like Canton are building from the inside out. This is the blueprint for “The New Wall Street.”
--
Follow Canton: https://x.com/CantonNetwork
Follow Nick: https://x.com/nshalek
Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod
--
Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh
--
Timestamps:
(0:00) Introduction
(1:37) Ribbit Capital's Tokenization Letter
(4:22) FinTech Companies Moving Onchain & Institutional Adoption
(15:01) Crypto at Goldman Sachs Today
(17:53) What Held Crypto Back?
(20:33) What Canton Brings to the Market
(29:25) Crypto's Institutional Pitch
(33:14) Permissioned and Permissionless Chains Are Symbiotic
(39:23) Closing Comments
--
Disclaimer: “Quadrillions” is a mini-series produced by Blockworks, and is sponsored by Canton Network. Nothing on this show is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. It’s for informational purposes only, and the views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice or necessarily the views of Blockworks.
Our hosts, guests, and the Blockworks team may hold positions in companies, funds, or projects discussed, including those related to Canton Network.
a16z general partner David Haber spoke with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz on the current macro environment, enterprise AI adoption, and crypto and AI policy. Solomon describes what he calls the "sweetest spot" he's seen in 40 years and explains Goldman's "One GS 3.0" initiative to reimagine core processes with AI. Horowitz discusses why "leads aren't what they once were" in AI and how a16z grew from a startup VC to capturing 18% of all US venture capital.
Resources:
Follow David Solomon on X: https://twitter.com/DavidSolomon
Follow Ben Horowitz on X: https://twitter.com/bhorowitz
Follow David Haber on X: https://twitter.com/dhaber
Timestamps:
00:00 — Introduction
02:09 — Goldman's Evolution from Partnership to Public Company
08:54 — How a16z Went from Top Tier to 18% of All US Venture Capital
15:33 — "As Sweet a Spot" as Solomon Has Seen in 40 Years
19:00 — M&A Outlook: "Whatever the Question Is, the Answer Is Maybe"
21:33 — Why Leads Aren't What They Once Were in AI
23:03 — Crypto Policy: The Genius Act and Clarity Act
25:24 — AI Policy: "Don't Regulate Math"
28:03 — One GS 3.0: Reimagining Processes with AI
32:54 — Will AI Agents Change Investing?
34:00 — Favorite DJ
Stay Updated:
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures.
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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The big story this year is the surge in metals. And it's really all metals. The ultimate industrial metal, copper, has been on a massive tear, but so has gold, which has very few industrial uses. And then, of course, silver has seen a blistering rally, in part due to massive buying in China. On this episode, we bring back the man who saw this coming years ago, Carlyle partner Jeff Currie. Prior to joining Carlyle, Currie was a top commodities analyst at Goldman Sachs, and has been calling for the emergence of a brand new supercycle for years now. In this episode, he explains the drivers of this supercycle, and why he thinks we're in the very early days of what will be a multi-year run.
Read more:Gold Retreats in Sudden Selloff After Breaking Through $5,500China’s Metals Mania Sends Copper Soaring Past $14,500 a Ton
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2025 was an extraordinary year, with the real economy defying recession worries and equity markets putting up monster returns. So can this be repeated again in 2026? On this episode, we speak with two of the top minds at Goldman Sachs. Jan Hatzius is the bank's chief economist and head of research and Ben Snider is its chief US equity strategist. We review what really happened in 2025, talking about the impact of both AI and the tariffs, as well as how these factors will impact the real economy and stocks next year.
Read more:
Larry Ellison, Not Elon Musk, Was The Tech Titan Who Defined 2025
Why 2026 Is Poised to Be Another Rocky Year for Global Trade
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In this live episode, recorded at the Future Proof Festival in Huntington Beach, California, we speak with Rob Kaplan, the former president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank and the current vice chairman of Goldman Sachs. We discuss his views on the rate path, and why he does not see the Fed cutting by 50 bps at the next meeting. We also discuss the general macroeconomic environment, the US vs. China AI race, and why he sees globalization on the march — except it's happening without the US.
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On Wednesday, Trump pulled back from the brink on most of the reciprocal tariffs announced on April 2. The market surged. But we're still in an extraordinarily challenging moment. We have new across-the-board tariffs. We have gigantic tariffs on China. And there's a possibility that a recession has already begun. So what does the Fed do in this environment, with so much persistent uncertainty? On this episode, we speak with Rob Kaplan, former President of the Dallas Fed, and now the Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs. We talk about the extreme uncertainty, the unusual behavior in the market, and what this all means for the energy sector.
Read more:
Fed Officials Worried Over Stagflation Risk Ahead of Tariffs
Wall Street Chatter Grows That Fed May Act If Bond Rout Worsens
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The first month of the Trump administration has been noisy and novel by basically any measure. But perhaps the biggest shockwaves have been in the realm of geopolitics. Europeans were caught off guard by a recent speech given by Vice President JD Vance in Munich, calling into doubt the future of the Trans-Atlantic partnership. Meanwhile, when it comes to tariffs, the Trump administration has actually been tougher on Mexico and Canada than it has been on China. Then add into all of this the anxiety over AI domination, as a result of the hype around DeepSeek. So how should we understand these novel risks? And how should investors incorporate them into their thinking? On this episode we speak with Jared Cohen and George Lee, the co-heads of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute. They discuss the future of Europe, what they're expecting from the Trump administration, the rise of the Gulf powers, AI, undersea cables, and the opportunities in identifying what they call "geopolitical swing states" like Japan and India.
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It's trite to say that there is a high degree of uncertainty right now, for macro forecasters and investors. It also happens to be true. The new administration is promising major policy changes in areas like tariffs, immigration, and the size and scope of government. But even beyond that, there is near-term uncertainty over the outlook for the labor market and inflation. Furthermore, we're in an era of high stock valuations, high market concentration, and the AI wildcard. So in light of all this, we talked to Jan Hatzius, the Chief Economist and Head of Global Investment Research, and David Kostin, Goldman's top equity strategist, about what they're looking for in the year ahead.
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Copper has long been touted as a big winner from the world's drive towards electrification. All those electric vehicles and new grids need lots of the metal to work. At the same time, since it takes years for new copper mining capacity to actually come on stream, many people expect a long-term shortage of the metal to materialize. But despite all that excitement, copper prices actually fell over the past few years. Now, copper bulls are getting another chance as the metal surges towards a new record. So why didn't the thesis play out before? And what does the mismatch between short-term prices and long-term supply actually mean for the world? In this episode, we speak to Jeff Currie, a long-time copper bull and commodities veteran who's now at Carlyle Group. We talk to him about why copper is his highest-conviction trade ever, plus the outlook for oil and big changes in petrodollars.
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Jared Cohen, the President of Global Affairs at Goldman Sachs and bestselling author of six books, joins Scott to discuss all sorts of topics including his research on past Presidents, geopolitical trends, and the global economy. Follow Jared on X, @JaredCohen.
Scott opens with his thoughts on his time as an activist investor.
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Going into 2023, the conventional wisdom was that a recession was likely in store. Instead, it didn't happen. What we saw is continued disinflation, even as the economic growth and the labor market have remained robust. Now going into 2024, there's growing optimism that a soft landing can be achieved. Stocks have been rallying, rates have been falling, and there's a widespread view that the Fed is done hiking. So will this come to pass? On this episode, we speak to Jan Hatzius, the top economist at Goldman Sachs, about why so many people got 2023 wrong, and why he believes the soft landing is now within reach.
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The multi-trillion dollar question for the US economy is “Can inflation drop to the Federal Reserve’s target without a substantial jump in the unemployment rate?” Everything is riding on this, as it informs the trajectory for the Fed and for growth in the near future. On this episode of the podcast, we pose that question to Jan Hatzius, Chief Economist at Goldman Sachs. We discuss what it will take to bring the unemployment rate down, why it's going to be difficult to avoid a hard landing and also why so many economists both inside and outside of the Federal Reserve got the inflation trajectory wrong over the last year.
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These days, oil gets all the attention. Consumers feel and see the pinch directly every time they fill up their gas tank. But the big story in the next decade could be copper. It's not easy to ramp up copper production, due to the upfront cost and lead time in getting new mines online, and demand is expected to soar in part due to green initiatives. On this episode we speak with Goldman Sachs metals strategist Nick Snowdon about why the copper market is expected to be incredibly tight.
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Goldman's top commodity strategist Jeff Currie was one of the earliest to call that we're in a new commodities supercycle, starting early last year. Well, it's not even close to over. Currie estimates that we're just in the second inning of it. The issue is what Currie characterizes as a "volatility trap" that's keeping investment on the sidelines, despite surging prices of spot commodity prices. In this episode, he explains how far commodity prices can go, what the challenges are to inducing further investment, and what policies could help bring things into balance.
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Back in January, we spoke with Jeff Currie, the Global Head of Commodities Research at Goldman Sachs. At the time, he was bullish on the commodities complex for several reasons. Since then, of course, we've seen several markets go on an absolute tear and to a degree that's taken even him by surprise. The bad news for commodities consumers? We still haven't hit max pain. On this episode, we speak again with Jeff about what's driving prices higher and why he sees stronger price increases over the next several months.
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The economy is in uncharted territory in more ways that one right now. Coming out of the worst of the pandemic, we're seeing a rapid pace of GDP growth, along with elevated inflation readings the likes of which we haven't seen in years. Beyond that, policymakers have engaged in historically aggressive fiscal and monetary expansion. The Fed, in particular, is almost a year into a new framework (unveiled last August at Jackson Hole) that aims to avoid certain mistakes of the past. So we sat down with Rob Kaplan, who has been the President of the Dallas Fed since 2015, to get his assessment of the situation right now.
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It's been a weird several days in the market. What started with a short squeeze in GameStop, driven by Reddit traders, somehow morphed into a huge surge in demand for silver. Whether it started on WallStreetBets is unclear, but something happened that caused demand for the metal to surge. So we talked about this with Jeff Currie, the global head of Commodities Research at Goldman Sachs. We also discussed why he sees a huge bull market coming in commodities. And why Biden's policies of green stimulus and redistributive economic policy may push the price of oil even higher.
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2020 has been an absolutely extraordinary year for the economy. In March, we saw the fastest economic contraction in history with an extraordinary surge in unemployment. Now, as the year closes out, we've had a housing boom, an extraordinary rise in financial assets, and unemployment has fallen much faster than most people expected. We spoke about this with Jan Hatzius, the chief economist at Goldman Sachs. We talked about the lessons learned, inflation, the outlook for 2021, his sectoral balances framework for analyzing the economy, and MMT.
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R. Martin Chavez left his Goldman Sachs office in December after decades of work bringing new technology to Wall Street, most recently as Goldman's CFO, though his career began in Silicon Valley. Now, he's returned to the tech world, where he serves on the boards of health technology firms and has gotten involved in the conversation around the "digital dollar."
On this week's episode of The Scoop, Chavez broke down some of the changes that have occurred at the intersection of health and technology due to the global pandemic. For instance, a world in quarantine has breathed new life into the field of telemedicine. He also explained why although he sees bitcoin as "an amazing research project," it doesn't quite qualify as money in his view.
Chavez compared the coronavirus pandemic to the 2008 financial crisis, in that they are both wake up calls for policymakers. He said the pandemic has been a moment to examine how to build better systems, particularly in the health tech and industrial fields.
Meanwhile, it's also illuminated the potential role of a U.S. central bank digital currency as a mechanism for stimulus delivery. While Chavez advocated for a blockchain-based digital dollar, he doesn't think private stablecoins are a suitable stand-in. "Stablecoins are stable right up until the instant that they're not stable," he said.
Here are some of the more specific topics featured in the episode:
The themes and trends emerging in the health technology space that will be salient in a post COVID-19 world
How the pandemic illuminated the need for resilience in industrial companies and how technology can play a role in reform
What legislation is needed to reform industries that were hit hard, and how to prepare a more resilient supply chain
Why the former Wall Streeter and long time tech advocate says bitcoin isn't money
His view on central bank digital currencies and why stablecoins alone won't do the job of a digital dollar.
This episode of The Scoop is brought to you by Bitstamp, the original global cryptocurrency exchange. Since 2011, Bitstamp has been a cornerstone of the industry, earning the trust of over four million individuals and top financial institutions looking for a reliable trading venue.
Whether you’re trading on our web platform, mobile app or industry-leading APIs, Bitstamp gives you the professional-grade tools you need to execute your strategy. Download the Bitstamp app or visit Bitstamp.net/Pro to learn more and start trading today!
Jared Cohen is an American businessman. He is currently serving as the CEO of Jigsaw and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has also served as a member of the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff and as an advisor to Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton and he is the author of Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America. Jared sits down with the armchair expert to discuss his obsession with history, the impact of social media on world crises and he teaches us how to win the week. Dax asks about his collection of presidential hair and Jared talks about how he learned to transfer his visible ticks to invisible ones. The two debate the importance of presidential fidelity and the narrowing center in American politics.
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R. Martin Chavez is perhaps one of the most senior technologists on Wall Street as the global co-head of securities at Goldman Sachs. On this episode of The Scoop Chavez talked about the evolution of banking over the past 20 years, Goldman’s foray into bitcoin and the reason why he thinks the Fed will end up making its own cryptocurrency.
Transcript and show notes are available on The Block.
Listen to a preview of this week's The Scoop episode where Frank and Ryan discuss technology adoption, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies at Goldman Sachs with Marty Chavez, Global Co-Head of Securities.
When venture investor Natalie Fratto is determining which start-up founder to support, she doesn't just look for intelligence or charisma; she looks for adaptability. In this insightful talk, Fratto shares three ways to measure your "adaptability quotient" -- and shows why your ability to respond to change really matters.
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In these interviews from the 2019 Code Conference, Rockfeller Foundation president Raj Shah and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon talk with Recode's Teddy Schleifer.
In the Shah interview: Rising inequality and the limits of private philanthropy; the growing scrutiny of wealthy endowments like Rockefeller; are "opportunity zones” just a tax giveaway?; what do Silicon Valley’s ultra-rich owe to people in need?; and the low percentage of billionaires who have committed to the Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge.
And then, in the Solomon interview: What tech can learn from finance’s own era of backlash; how Goldman Sachs changed post-financial crisis; the state of tech IPOs after Uber and Lyft; Goldman’s and Solomon's investments in Uber; the state of M&A; partnering with Apple on its upcoming credit card; the appeal of the Goldman Sachs brand to millennials; Eric Ries and the Long-Term Stock Exchange; China’s rising economic power and Trump’s tariffs; and diversity at Goldman Sachs.
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My guest this week is Stephanie Cohen, who is the chief strategy officer for Goldman Sachs and a member of their management committee. Prior to her current role, she spent the majority of her career in the investment banking and M&A divisions at Goldman.
We discuss lessons learned from her career in M&A and the many initiatives she now leads at the firm. I really enjoyed her perspective on how a big, established firm like Goldman can balance innovation with improving existing businesses. Please enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
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Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Show Notes
1:15 - (First Question) – Motives on both sides for doing M&A
3:26 – Most difficult deal she worked on
4:50 – Biggest value add she brought from her seat on the Fiat deal
5:59 – Biggest changes since she started to today
8:31 – Smartest ways for companies who want to be acquired to be prepared
10:14 – Best M&A banker she’s seen
11:13 – What should businesses looking to make an acquisition be thinking about
15:16 – What does a strategy from her perspective mean
17:16 – Tension between innovation and change
19:46 – Difference between bottom-up and top-down components of strategy
22:15 – Exploration vs exploitation
26:28 – Submission process within accelerate
29:37 – Next step after you see a good idea
31:05 – Her take on FinTech and Industrials and their collision
35:15 – Lessons from elite early stage investors
37:21 – The origins of the LAUNCH program
40:06 – Important pieces beyond just the capital
42:42 – How they market to women starting business
44:56 – Lessons that she has learned about narrative and communications
47:07 – How she handles developing talent internally
49:28 – Managing her time
59:28 – Biggest concerns about OKR’s?
52:09 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Stephanie
53:07 – Kids in the area of competing
Learn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag
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