OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar on IPO, AI Rivalries, New Device, and Spending $100B+ on Compute
(0:00) OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar joins the show!
(0:31) How OpenAI thinks about its IPO timeline
(3:31) OpenAI, Anthropic, Google: The AI arms race
(7:43) Navigating the compute crunch and AI bottlenecks, device preview!
(15:53) OpenAI's economics
(26:08) Push into chips, the cloud
(29:32) OpenAI's ad business and strategy
Thanks to our partners for making this possible!
EY - Agentic AI is introducing a new investment discipline. As AI shifts to consumption-based models, EY connects spend to enterprise value.
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NYSE - Thank you to our partner, the New York Stock Exchange - a modern marketplace and exchange for building the future. It all happens at the NYSE.
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OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar: IPO, AI Rivalries, New Device, and Spending $100B+ on Compute
(0:00) OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar joins the show!
(0:31) How OpenAI thinks about its IPO timeline
(3:31) OpenAI, Anthropic, Google: The AI arms race
(7:43) Navigating the compute crunch and AI bottlenecks, device preview!
(15:53) OpenAI's economics
(26:08) Push into chips, the cloud
(29:32) OpenAI's ad business and strategy
Thanks to our partners for making this possible!
EY - Agentic AI is introducing a new investment discipline. As AI shifts to consumption-based models, EY connects spend to enterprise value.
https://www.ey.com/en_us/insights/ai/agentic-ai-token-costs?WT.mc_id=3501318&AA.tsrc=sponsorship
NYSE - Thank you to our partner, the New York Stock Exchange - a modern marketplace and exchange for building the future. It all happens at the NYSE.
https://www.nyse.com
Plaud - Never miss a moment. Plaud, our official wearable AI note-taking partner at All-In Liquidity Summit, captured every insight.
https://www.plaud.ai
Follow Sarah Friar: https://x.com/thefriley
Apply for Summit 2026: https://allin.com/events
Follow the besties: https://x.com/chamath https://x.com/Jason https://x.com/DavidSacks https://x.com/friedberg
Follow on X: https://x.com/theallinpod
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod
Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theallinpod
Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod
Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://x.com/yung_spielburg
Nirav Tolia: Nextdoor. How neighborhood chatter went global
Many of us don’t know our neighbors anymore — and Nirav Tolia wanted to change that. He walked away from millions in stock options at Yahoo and eventually co-founded Nextdoor, the hyperlocal social network where neighbors share local news and recommendations. Along the way, he learned that for a digital service, Nextdoor demanded a ton of manual work: drawing neighborhood boundaries with Sharpies, sending individual “invite” postcards by snail mail, talking to neighbors about the information they wanted. After 8 years of grind, Nirav stepped away as CEO, only to return 6 years later to spearhead an ambitious rebrand of Nextdoor, which now has 100 million users around the world.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why Nirav walked away from millions in stock options to launch his own business
How the failure of an early business helped fuel Nextdoor’s success
How not having an initial vision for your brand can be a superpower.
Why apps that focus on “local” are so hard to master
Why Nirav believes” local” is a massive untapped opportunity in tech.
This episode was produced by Casey Herman with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant. Our audio engineers were Kwesi Lee and Jimmy Keeley.
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How Nextdoor Grew to 100M Neighbors + Why Founding CEO Nirav Tolia Returned Six Years Later
Nirav Tolia is the co-founder and two-time CEO of Nextdoor. He started the company in 2011, stepped down as CEO in 2018, watched the company go public in 2021, and re-joined as CEO the summer of 2024. He also founded Epinions which IPO’d in 2004, and before that was an early employee at Yahoo.
We go inside the decision to re-join the company after he thought he’d never come back, and how Nextdoor’s trying to act like a startup while running a public company. He also takes us back to the very early days of Nextdoor, the deliberate product decisions that made growth hard but led to 100M+ neighbors on the platform, the lessons learned operating his first company through the Dot Com Bubble, and what it was like being a guest shark on Shark Tank.
For full show notes, visit: https://highlightai.com/share/d7bcd655-9b2f-47f7-a6e3-fdf3e109c97e
Recommended Podcast:
🎙️Unpack Pricing
Dive into the dark arts of SaaS pricing with Metronome CEO Scott Woody and tech leaders. Learn how strategic pricing drives explosive revenue growth in today's biggest companies like Snowflake, Cockroach Labs, Dropbox and more.
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1765716600
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/38DK3W1Fq1xxQalhDSueFg
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(02:39) Leaving Nextdoor in 2018
(07:30) Coming back in 2024
(10:31) The importance of family in career decisions
(17:37) Why you have to listen to learn
(24:47) The Founders Mentality
(26:45) “Develop and Deliver”
(32:03) Local, the last remaining consumer opportunity
(36:58) Why being a founder is so hard
(39:21) Going to the high school from Friday Night Lights
(42:07) What Nirav learned at Stanford
(46:22) Working at Yahoo from $500m to $100B
(49:37) Starting Epinions with Naval in 1999
(51:11) Operating through the Dot Com Bubble
(56:34) How Bill Gurley’s challenge led to Nextdoor
(58:16) Early product experimentation
(01:05:19) Why early growth was so hard, and scaling to 100 million neighbors
(01:10:10) The opportunity in local news
(01:12:14) Being a Shark on Shark Tank
Referenced:
Nextdoor: https://nextdoor.com/
The Founder’s Mentality: https://www.amazon.com/Founders-Mentality-Overcome-Predictable-Crises/dp/1633691160
Follow Nirav:
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#193 Former CEO Nextdoor, Sarah Friar: Four Circles
Guest: Sarah Friar, former CEO of Nextdoor
Sarah Friar has worked with some of the top leaders in Silicon Valley, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, Block CEO Jack Dorsey, and most recently Nextdoor founder Nirav Tolia, who just replaced her as CEO in May. And one of the things that sets top performers apart from the rest, she argues, is their compassion and their responsiveness. When her former EA’s husband was diagnosed with cancer, Sarah texted Benioff — who she had just left behind to work at Square — for help. Within seconds, she recalls, he arranged an appointment at UCSF. “That is an amazing moment of compassion,” she says, “where he did not need to take that time.”
In this episode, Sarah and Joubin discuss public markets vs. VC, George Floyd, working with the board, singular focus, Goldman Sachs, being in “flow,” the freedom of not getting the thing you want, Walmart, Steph Curry, Graham Smith, Charlie Rose and Donald Trump, ugly babies, Elon Musk, Ladies Who Lunch, CNBC, commuting from home, white noise, “frequent Friars,” @TechEmails on Twitter, and the “zone of gratefulness.”
Chapters:
(02:04) - Why Sarah left Nextdoor
(08:18) - The stock market and success
(10:21) - Going through hell
(14:48) - Life is not an A/B test
(16:09) - Multiple tours of duty
(19:21) - Ikigai
(22:02) - Perfectionism and drive
(25:54) - Sarah’s next operating role
(28:35) - Big transitions
(30:35) - Personal burn rate
(35:34) - “Are people gonna take my call?”
(38:40) - Leaving Salesforce for Square
(41:27) - Loyalty
(45:33) - Leaving the right way
(47:44) - Square and Swiss cheese companies
(50:03) - Growth companies
(52:38) - Apolitical workplaces
(53:42) - Leaving Square
(55:38) - Loneliness
(57:18) - Daily routines
(01:05:03) - Working on weekends
(01:08:30) - Hyper-responsiveness
(01:11:47) - Resumé virtues and eulogy virtues
(01:15:33) - What “grit” means to Sarah
Links:
Connect with SarahTwitter
LinkedIn
Connect with JoubinTwitter
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
CRO Nextdoor, Heidi Andersen: Nurturing an Elastic Mind
Many people run from uncomfortable situations. Heidi Andersen, CRO at Nextdoor, isn’t like most, as she embraces new challenges and makes mental toughness a centrality to her approach. From the very beginning of her story, Heidi has been rooted in hard work and the personal gratification of earning her success. Known as a corporate athlete, Heidi stands out from the pack and proudly holds the torch for women in tech.
In this episode, Heidi shares her perspective on leaving Denmark to join Google in California and we explore the fundamental beliefs she inherited from her family before she embarked on that journey. Heidi also shares insight on the fascinating role Nextdoor plays in building supportive communities in neighborhoods across the globe, why she loves to inspire others, her previous side hustle as an Equinox instructor, and more.
In this episode, we cover:
The greatest gift Heidi’s parents have given her. (02:53)
How Heidi navigated her transition from Denmark to Google’s Silicon Valley - and why she calls herself “half introvert, half extrovert.” (06:11)
Heidi reflects on her time as an Equinox fitness instructor - and a deep dive on the impact that exercise can have on one’s sense of belonging. (11:15)
Why Heidi prioritizes pursuing what brings her joy - and her perspective on taking on uncomfortable challenges to build mental toughness. (20:59)
Heidi’s views on her position as a leading woman in the industry and why she focuses on helping women move into successful careers. (27:51)
From LinkedIn to Nextdoor: The criteria that Heidi used to evaluate her new opportunity - and an overview of Nextdoor. (35:40)
Heidi shares her perspective on Nextdoor going public and how she approaches this new milestone - and a look at how Nextdoor aims to connect neighbors through acts of kindness. (45:13)
A discussion about Nextdoor’s monetization and growth strategy - and more on Nextdoor’s impact on communities. (54:40)
Heidi shares insight on her recruiting superpowers. (01:03:50)
Links:
Connect with HeidiLinkedIn
Email: heidi@nextdoor.com
Building Mental Toughness for Higher Levels of Performance
Connect with JoubinTwitter
LinkedIn
Email: gtmg@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
Sarah Friar - Building the Local Graph - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 249]
My guest today is Sarah Friar, the CEO of Nextdoor, which connects people in local neighborhoods together. Sarah’s CV sparkles with impressive achievements at interesting businesses, and we spend a lot of time in this conversation thinking through what excellence looks like as a CEO, CFO, equity analyst, and board member. The rest of our discussion is focused on Nextdoor and how the soon-to-be public business is fostering connections between people and businesses in their local areas.
I do this podcast so I get to meet and learn from people like Sarah. I could have talked to her for hours. I hope you enjoy this great conversation with Sarah Friar as much as I did.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.
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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.
Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.
Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus
Show Notes
[00:03:03] - [First question] - What makes an excellent equity analyst
[00:05:51] - Things Sarah does differently as an operator because she was an investor
[00:08:29] - Key factors that make a great CFO
[00:09:31] - The role of the CFO in regards to capital allocation as a company grows
[00:11:50] - What convinced her to join Salesforce and Square
[00:14:45] - The initial spark and appeal that led her to join Nextdoor
[00:17:35] - Existing problems with ‘community’ and how they approach fixing them
[00:21:36] - Interesting and compelling data points about in-person interactions
[00:23:54] - Network density as a driving factor of product quality
[00:26:43] - What gives Nextdoor a unique angle against some of its existing competitors
[00:28:51] - Thoughts on platform leakage and user retention
[00:30:57] - Successful strategies for deploying Nextdoor in a new country
[00:35:32] - Having a feed and trying to avoid creating echo chambers
[00:37:04] - Some of the biggest mistakes they’ve made while trying to grow
[00:38:49] - Options for a business model and thoughts on advertising
[00:43:25] - The importance of scale, advertising, and their relationship dynamic
[00:45:55] - Ways she’s learned to effectively steer the businesses strategy
[00:49:48] - Why she doesn’t like titles
[00:51:07] - Key levers that will allow Nextdoor to succeed in the future
[00:53:35] - How advertisers evaluate platforms like Nextdoor compared to Google or Facebook
[00:57:19] - What a successful board member looks like and how she’s learned to be one
[00:59:34] - Leading with transparency and empathy
[01:02:00] - An overview of what Ladies Who Launch is and what they do
[01:03:57] - Way to educate our children about finance and encourage financial literacy
[01:07:51] - Making your platforms welcoming and guiding users away from conflict
[01:10:30] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her
The Empathy Flywheel, w/Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar
A social network that limits your network? Yes. Meet Nextdoor, a hyperlocal social network that’s all about who you really are and where you really live. Although it goes against everything that we've come to expect from social networks, Nextdoor’s secret to scale lies in real personal connections based on empathy and kindness. And this is what Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar knows: No, these connections don’t scale as fast – but they tend to be stronger. And they can be the flywheel that drives you to scale.
Read a transcript of this episode at https://mastersofscale.com
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Pivot Schooled #2: The New Generation of Innovators, with Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar and investor Rana Yared
In this audio version of the second episode of our live video series Pivot Schooled, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway talk about the future of innovation in the US and worldwide. They interview Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar and Balderton Capital general partner Rana Yared, answer questions from the audience, and make predictions. Plus: A prediction from Silicon Valley actor Suzanne Cryer, and why TikTok isn't selling to anybody.
Get your tickets for the next Pivot Schooled, "The Big Four," at PivotSchooled.com.
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Rapid Response: "Neighbors are the frontline of support," w/Nextdoor's Sarah Friar
A neighborhood is more than just the people who share a common address, says Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar. It’s every space that makes up your daily life. So Nextdoor is jumping in, rolling out new features like Help Maps and Groups so residents can connect and coordinate. Sarah says these products, some new, some in development pre-Covid, all help fulfill Nextdoor’s mission and help neighbors act as the frontline of support for one another.
Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com
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Recode Decode: Square CFO Sarah Friar and Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta
In these highlights from our September 2018 Code Commerce event, Recode's Jason Del Rey talks with two great guests: (00:57) First, he speaks to Square CFO Sarah Friar; (35:02) then, Jason interviews Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta. You can catch up on Code Commerce and watch all the interviews from the event for free on Recode's YouTube page.
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Recode Decode: Nextdoor CEO Nirav Tolia talks about adversity and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick
Nextdoor CEO Nirav Tolia talks with Recode's Kurt Wagner about how he and his team built a social network for neighborhoods, with a focus on trust and privacy that forced the company to grow slower than most tech startups. Tolia was previously the CEO of Epinions, which after a merger became Shopping.com and sold to eBay. After a sports startup called Fanbase fizzled, Tolia was challenged by Benchmark's Bill Gurley to try again, and today Nextdoor is worth more than $1 billion. Having faced adversity and a public image problem of his own, he also shares some leadership advice for Uber CEO Travis Kalanick: Deal with your issues quickly.
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