The Chopping Block: Wind Downs, YC's Nemil Dalal, & Will Every Failed Crypto Idea Eventually Work?
YC's Nemil Dalal joins to explain why he's never been more bullish as BitMEX winds down after 11 years, whether every failed crypto idea (TCRs, DAOs, creator coins) eventually works, why crypto is really about money, Base's consumer mea culpa, on-chain reputation and credit, and who pays in the x402 AI-agent era.
Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week they're joined by Nemil Dalal, Visiting Partner at Y Combinator and ex-Coinbase, where he led USDC and the Coinbase Developer Platform. He's here to explain why, with exchanges winding down left and right, he's somehow never been more bullish.
The crew digs into the great contrast of the moment: BitMEX shutting down after 11 years (plus BitMart, Movement Labs, Balancer Labs) while the plumbing quietly prints, and whether Imran's viral 'everything that failed will eventually work' thesis is genius or toxic positivity. From there it's the question of whether crypto is really only about money (Jesse's Base mea culpa included), a war-memories tour through TCRs, on-chain reputation and why pure on-chain credit keeps faceplanting, and finally who actually pays in the x402 AI-agent era, and whether decentralization even survives contact with Google-shaped gravity.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Show highlights
🔹 BitMEX, the exchange that invented the perp swap, winds down September 23rd after 11 years, alongside BitMart, Movement Labs, and Balancer Labs.
🔹 Nemil Dalal explains why he's never been more bullish: rivals adopted BitMEX's innovations, regulatory clarity is arriving, and crypto is becoming invisible infrastructure.
🔹 Nemil rented the Chase Center for a 7,000-builder YC event with Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, and Patrick Collison, yet almost nobody's launching a token early.
🔹 Imran's viral thesis that every failed crypto idea eventually works sparks Haseeb's 'toxic positivity' pushback and a war-memories tour through TCRs and DAOs.
🔹 Instacart's Apoorva vs Webvan and Reddit vs Digg: why timing, path dependency, and the YC 'why now' question decide which failed ideas return.
🔹 Jesse's Base mea culpa: the consumer-social bet on Zora and Farcaster was wrong for now, so he handed the Base app to Kobe.
🔹 Haseeb says crypto has always been about money; Nemil counters 'money is everything,' calling the blockchain the greatest capital innovation machine in the world.
🔹 Why pure on-chain credit keeps faceplanting: address repudiation, no recourse, no wage garnishment, and old memories of Debt DAO's revenue ratchet.
🔹 The x402 AI-agent era: Cloudflare pay-per-call gating, Kimi's inference license, and whether decentralization survives Google-shaped gravity as agents become the new wallet.
Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures
Guest
⭐️Nemil Dalal, Visiting Partner at Y Combinator
Disclosures
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Sam Altman - How to Make an Abundant Future - [Invest Like the Best, EP.484]
My guest today is Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.
It's a conversation spanning the history, present, and future of OpenAI, from the origin of ChatGPT through Codex, hardware, and their new Jalapeno chip.
We discuss the early decision to buy compute at a scale nobody thought was rational, and the plan to build a gigawatt of new capacity every week.
We talk about Kimi and distillation, the Hugging Face incident and what it means for the pace of AI development, and what it's like to raise kids who will grow up never knowing a world without abundant intelligence.
Please enjoy my conversation with Sam Altman.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like The Best
(00:02:02) Intro: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
(00:02:35) Refocusing
(00:05:43) OpenAI’s Compute Bets
(00:09:07) Data Centers
(00:11:14) Jalapeno Chip
(00:11:52) Kimi, Distillation & Open Source
(00:14:39) The Hugging Face Incident
(00:17:46) OpenAI's Mission & Vision
(00:22:14) All the Returns Are at the Frontier
(00:22:27) Bottlenecks: Compute, Research, Data
(00:23:49) Sam's View on AI & Jobs
(00:26:56) Unpopular Bets That Turned Out Right
(00:27:45) Model Cycles
(00:29:45) How Sam Uses AI
(00:32:44) Having Kids
(00:34:56) Why Sam Has No Equity in OpenAI
(00:35:33) Robotics
(00:36:48) The Origin Story of ChatGPT
(00:39:22) How to Get AI into More Hands
(00:42:20) How Sam Recruited Great AI Researchers
(00:43:57) What Sam Learned From Being an Investor
(00:45:22) What the Next 6–36 Months Look Like
(00:46:31) Codex
(00:49:36) Could We Be Oversupplied in Compute in Two Years?
(00:50:09) Sam's View on Scaling Laws
(00:50:20) Alec Radford
(00:51:12) Formative Moments
(00:53:50) Kindest Thing
Garry Tan on the Past, Present, and Future of YC
Gary Tan is the President and CEO of Y Combinator.
YC is the startup accelerator behind companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase, Reddit, Twitch, and thousands more. According to Garry, they’ve invested in 20% of all startups worth $5B or more started since 2012.
Gary has lived every side of the YC ecosystem. He went through YC as a founder, later became a partner, started Initialized Capital where he backed companies like Coinbase and Instacart, and then returned to lead YC.
We walk through the different “eras” of YC, from the early Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston days in Cambridge, to scaling in San Francisco, to today’s push back toward in person community and what Gary calls “founder mode” for the organization itself.
We also talk about why the Bay Area still matters so much for startups, what’s happening with California taxes and policy, and why Gary has gotten more involved in local politics to keep it the best place for founders to build companies.
Then we go deep on the parts of startups people don’t talk about enough. Co-founder conflict, rage quitting, therapy and coaching, and why companies inevitably take on the personality and emotional patterns of their founders.
We also cover what YC looks for in applications, how the 13 week batch is structured, how Demo Day really works, how to choose the right investors, and what Gary thinks the next phase of YC looks like, including helping founders even after Series A.
At the end, Gary shares his personal AI workflow, including meta prompting, comparing outputs across models, and the tools he uses every day to think and build faster.
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Timestamps:
(0:05) Moving from Winnipeg to California as a kid
(1:35) How YC interviews work
(2:55) The first batch in 2005
(6:46) Why YC moved from Boston to SF
(8:17) California’s Billionaire Tax
(11:00) Tech should care about public policies
(17:01) Going direct to your audience
(20:28) The 2nd Era of YC
(24:01) Rage quitting Palantir, learning to understand himself
(32:41) Co-founder conflict kills most startups
(35:15) Joining YC as a group partner
(37:22) Initialized Fund 1 (55x DPI)
(39:44) Why Garry went back to lead YC
(42:44) YC funds 20% of all $5B+ companies
(44:30) Lessons from Brian Chesky
(48:01) Garry’s thoughts on YC rejection
(51:41) How to get into YC
(58:03) What it’s like inside a 13-week YC batch
(1:02:23) 20% of YC is hard tech
(1:05:55) YC's 3rd era: founder mode, re-batching
(1:07:56) Escaping the matrix
(1:11:26) Garry's personal AI stack
(1:20:25) Tech optimism
Referenced
Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/
Initialized Capital: https://initialized.com/
Torch: https://torch.io/
Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai/
Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/
OpenAI: https://openai.com/
Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/
Kyle Vogt on his new startup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQoFbvyWEy8
Follow Aaron Levie on X: https://x.com/levie
Follow Gary
Twitter: https://x.com/garytan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garytan/
Follow Turner
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak
Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/
Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show
Emmett Shear and Séb Krier debate whether today’s AI alignment paradigm—focused on control and instruction-following—is fundamentally flawed. PSA for AI builders: Interested in alignment, governance, or AI safety? Learn more about the MATS Summer 2026 Fellowship and submit your name to be notified when applications open: https://matsprogram.org/s26-tcr. They explore what changes if advanced AIs are better understood as beings with their own values, and why current control methods could drift toward something like slavery. The conversation dives into “organic alignment,” multi-agent simulations, evolving cooperation, and the possibility of AI moral standing as systems gain memory and continual learning.
Sponsors:
MATS:
MATS is a fully funded 12-week research program pairing rising talent with top mentors in AI alignment, interpretability, security, and governance. Apply for the next cohort at https://matsprogram.org/s26-tcr
Tasklet:
Tasklet is an AI agent that automates your work 24/7; just describe what you want in plain English and it gets the job done. Try it for free and use code COGREV for 50% off your first month at https://tasklet.ai
Agents of Scale:
Agents of Scale is a podcast from Zapier CEO Wade Foster, featuring conversations with C-suite leaders who are leading AI transformation. Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts
Shopify:
Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at https://shopify.com/cognitive
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) About the Episode
(03:44) Defining organic AI alignment
(14:48) Technical vs value alignment (Part 1)
(19:55) Sponsors: MATS | Tasklet
(22:56) Technical vs value alignment (Part 2) (Part 1)
(31:34) Sponsors: Agents of Scale | Shopify
(34:21) Technical vs value alignment (Part 2) (Part 2)
(34:22) Labs, tools, and beings
(43:22) AI personhood and consciousness
(56:53) Safe futures and Softmax
(01:04:17) Chatbots, mirrors, simulations
(01:10:14) Doom, futures, and OpenAI
(01:17:25) Outro
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SOCIAL LINKS:
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Sam Altman: How OpenAI Wins, AI Buildout Logic, IPO in 2026?
Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI. Altman joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss OpenAI's plan to win in a tightening AI race. Altman dissects his company's strategy, where he sees OpenAI having an advantage, and where he expects his product lineup to go in 2026 and beyond. We discuss AI memory and personalization, the distribution vs. product debate, how OpenAI will pay for its infrastructure buildout, AI devices, AI clouds, whether we've hit AGI yet, and plenty more. Tune in for an exclusive, 1-on-1 discussion with the AI industry's top catalyst.
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Emmett Shear on Building AI That Actually Cares: Beyond Control and Steering
Emmett Shear, founder of Twitch and former OpenAI interim CEO, challenges the fundamental assumptions driving AGI development. In this conversation with Erik Torenberg and Séb Krier, Shear argues that the entire "control and steering" paradigm for AI alignment is fatally flawed. Instead, he proposes "organic alignment" - teaching AI systems to genuinely care about humans the way we naturally do. The discussion explores why treating AGI as a tool rather than a potential being could be catastrophic, how current chatbots act as "narcissistic mirrors," and why the only sustainable path forward is creating AI that can say no to harmful requests. Shear shares his technical approach through multi-agent simulations at his new company Softmax, and offers a surprisingly hopeful vision of humans and AI as collaborative teammates - if we can get the alignment right.
Resources:
Follow Emmett on X: https://x.com/eshear
Follow Séb on X: https://x.com/sebkrier
Follow Erik on X: https://x.com/eriktorenberg
Stay Updated:
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends!
Find a16z on X: https://x.com/a16z
Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z
Listen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX
Listen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711
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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.
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 a16z.com/disclosures.
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All things AI w @altcap @sama & @satyanadella. A Halloween Special. 🎃🔥BG2 w/ Brad Gerstner
Brad Gerstner sits down with Satya Nadella (Microsoft) and Sam Altman (OpenAI) to unpack the $3 trillion AI buildout transforming technology, business, and the global economy. They dive deep into the OpenAI–Microsoft partnership, how it unlocked massive scale in the cloud, and what it reveals about the future of intelligence and capital.Nadella breaks down how Microsoft is expanding Azure and Copilot to meet explosive demand. Altman shares his view on progress, power, and the human drive to push boundaries. A candid, energizing conversation about building the future at scale. Enjoy another episode of BG2!
(00:00) Intro
(02:28) Microsoft’s Investment in OpenAI
(03:19) The Nonprofit Structure and Its Impact
(05:46) Health, AI Security, and Resilience
(07:50) Models, Exclusivity, and Distribution
(08:58) Revenue Sharing and AGI Milestones
(11:38) OpenAI’s Growth and Compute Commitments
(15:21) Compute Constraints and Scaling
(21:27) The Future of AI Devices and Consumer Use
(24:31) Regulation and the Patchwork Problem
(28:01) Looking Ahead to 2026 and Beyond
(37:10) Microsoft’s Strategic Value from OpenAI
(57:15) The Economics of AI and SaaS
(1:04:28) Productivity, Jobs, and the Age of AI
(1:10:43) Reindustrialization of America
Produced by Dan ShevchukMusic by Yung Spielberg
Available on Apple, Spotify, www.bg2pod.com
Follow:Brad Gerstner @altcap https://x.com/altcap
BG2 Pod @bg2pod https://x.com/BG2Pod
Sam Altman on Sora, Energy, and Building an AI Empire
Sam Altman has led OpenAI from its founding as a research nonprofit in 2015 to becoming the most valuable startup in the world ten years later.
In this episode, a16z Cofounder Ben Horowitz and General Partner Erik Torenberg sit down with Sam to discuss the core thesis behind OpenAI’s disparate bets, why they released Sora, how they use models internally, the best AI evals, and where we’re going from here.
Resources:
Follow Sam on X: https://x.com/sama
Follow OpenAI on X: https://x.com/openai
Learn more about OpenAI: https://openai.com/
Try Sora: https://sora.com/
Follow Ben on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz
Stay Updated:
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends!
Find a16z on X: https://x.com/a16z
Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z
Listen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX
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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.
Stay Updated:
Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube
Find a16z on X
Find a16z on LinkedIn
Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify
Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts
Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg
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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Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income? (Update)
A lot of jobs in the modern economy don’t pay a living wage, and some of those jobs may be wiped out by new technologies. So what’s to be done? We revisit an episode from 2016 for a potential solution.
SOURCES:Erik Brynjolfsson, professor of economics at Stanford University.
Evelyn Forget, professor of economics and community health sciences at the University of Manitoba.
Sam Altman, C.E.O. of OpenAI.
Robert Gordon, professor emeritus of economics at Northwestern University.
Greger Larson, professor of archeology at the University of Oxford.
RESOURCES:"Here's what a Sam Altman-backed basic income experiment found," by Megan Cerullo (CBS News, 2024).
Utopia for Realists, by Rutger Bregman. The Correspondent (2016).
The Second Machine Age, by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee (2014).
"The Town With No Poverty: Using Health Administration Data To Revisit Outcomes of a Canadian Guaranteed Annual Income Field Experiment," by Evelyn Forget (Canadian Public Policy, 2011).
"The Negative Income Tax and the Evolution of U.S. Welfare Policy," by Robert Moffitt (Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2003).
Capitalism and Freedom, by Milton Freidman (2002).
"Lesson from the Income Maintenance Experiments," (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and The Brookings Institution, 1986).
Law, Legislation and Liberty, Volume 3: The Political Order of A Free People, by Frederick Hayek (1981).
"Daniel Moynihan and President-elect Nixon: How charity didn't begin at home," by Peter Passell and Leonard Ross (New York Times, 1973).
"Income Maintenance Programs," (Hearings Before The Subcommittee On Fiscal Policy Of The Joint Economic Committee Congress Of The United States, 1968).
EXTRAS:"President Nixon Unveils the Family Assistance Program," (1969).
"Milton Friedman interview with William F Buckley Jr.," (1968).
"Martin Luther King Jr. advocates for Guaranteed Income at Stanford," (1967).
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Winning the AI Race Part 1: Michael Kratsios, Kelly Loeffler, Chris Power, Shyam Sankar, Paul Buchheit, Jake Loosararian
(0:00) The besties introduce the day with Jacob Helberg
(9:08) Michael Kratsios, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy
(18:24) Chris Power, Hadrian
(35:15) Jake Loosararian, Gecko Robotics
(44:37) Shyam Sankar, Palantir
(1:00:33) Paul Buchheit, Y Combinator
(1:13:35) Kelly Loeffler, Administrator of the Small Business Administration
Thanks to our partners for making this happen:
NYSE : https://www.nyse.com
Visa: https://usa.visa.com
Follow the besties:
https://x.com/chamath
https://x.com/Jason
https://x.com/DavidSacks
https://x.com/friedberg
Follow on X:
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Intro Music Credit:
https://rb.gy/tppkzl
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Intro Video Credit:
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402 Payment Required: a New Way for AI Agents to Pay, with Nemil Dalal, Dev Platform Lead @ Coinbase
Nemil Dalal from Coinbase discusses the x402 protocol, a new open standard that enables AI agents to make cryptocurrency payments for online resources using the long-dormant HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code. The conversation covers stablecoin fundamentals, including how they work and who maintains their stability, before exploring how crypto wallets with multi-signature capabilities could protect AI agents from adversarial attacks while keeping humans in control. They examine forward-looking questions about whether this technology could finally create a viable alternative to advertising models, what happens when millions of AI agents have wallets, and the need for reputation systems in an agent economy. The discussion highlights how cryptocurrency, originally designed to be beyond nation-state control, might become the perfect enabling technology for AI economic participation.
Sponsors:
Google Gemini 2.5 Flash: Build faster, smarter apps with customizable reasoning controls that let you optimize for speed and cost. Start building at https://aistudio.google.com
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is the next-generation cloud that delivers better performance, faster speeds, and significantly lower costs, including up to 50% less for compute, 70% for storage, and 80% for networking. Run any workload, from infrastructure to AI, in a high-availability environment and try OCI for free with zero commitment at https://oracle.com/cognitive
The AGNTCY: The AGNTCY is an open-source collective dedicated to building the Internet of Agents, enabling AI agents to communicate and collaborate seamlessly across frameworks. Join a community of engineers focused on high-quality multi-agent software and support the initiative at https://agntcy.org
NetSuite by Oracle: NetSuite by Oracle is the AI-powered business management suite trusted by over 42,000 businesses, offering a unified platform for accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR. Gain total visibility and control to make quick decisions and automate everyday tasks—download the free ebook, Navigating Global Trade: Three Insights for Leaders, at https://netsuite.com/cognitive
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Website: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai
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Hard Fork Live, Part 1: Sam Altman and Brad Lightcap of OpenAI
The first Hard Fork Live is officially in the books, and for those who couldn’t attend, we’re playing highlights from the event in this episode and the next. This week, Mayor Daniel Lurie of San Francisco makes a surprise appearance to discuss the advice he’s receiving from tech executives during the early days of his administration, as well as how he built a social media presence that’s got Kevin wondering: Could we do that? Then, the conversation that had everyone talking: We’ll play our interview with OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, and chief operating officer, Brad Lightcap, and explain what was going on in our heads as the conversation unfolded in a way we did not expect.
We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
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LIVE: Sam Altman of OpenAI on Building the ‘Core AI Subscription’ for Your Life
Recorded live at Sequoia’s AI Ascent 2025: Sam reflects on OpenAI’s evolution from a 14-person research lab to a dominant AI platform. He envisions transforming ChatGPT into a deeply personal AI service that remembers your entire life's context—from conversations to emails—while working seamlessly across all services. Sam describes the generation gap in how users engage with ChatGPT, and makes surprisingly specific predictions for the next 2-3 years of AI evolution.
OpenAI's Sam Altman talks ChatGPT, AI agents and superintelligence — live at TED2025
The AI revolution is here to stay, says Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. In a probing, live conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, Altman discusses the astonishing growth of AI and shows how models like ChatGPT could soon become extensions of ourselves. He also addresses questions of safety, power and moral authority, reflecting on the world he envisions — where AI will almost certainly outpace human intelligence. (Recorded on April 11, 2025)
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Sunday Pick: Sam Altman on the future of AI and humanity | ReThinking with Adam Grant
Each Sunday, TED shares an episode of another podcast we think you'll love, handpicked for you… by us. Sam Altman is the CEO and cofounder of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. In this episode of ReThinking with Adam Grant, another podcast in the TED Audio Collective, Sam and Adam discuss AI's advances in creativity and empathy, its ethical challenges, and the role of human oversight. They also discuss strategies for adapting to a changing world and their hopes for technology that enhances human progress while maintaining human values. If you like it, find more deep conversations with great thinkers on ReThinking with Adam Grant wherever you get your podcasts.
Available transcripts for ReThinking can be found at go.ted.com/RWAGscripts
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
AI Revolution: Why This Is The Best Time To Start A Startup
In this special episode of Lightcone, we’re joined by YC partner and creator of Gmail, Paul Buchheit, to dig into some of the latest trends in the world of AI and startups.
We recorded our conversation at a recent retreat where 300 of the top AI founders in the world gathered to share expertise and make predictions about how this technology will shape our future.
In the discussion, we cover a wide range of topics, including the future of work, the power of agency and taste in an AI world, and why this is the absolute best time to be building a startup.
20VC: Sam Altman on The Trajectory of Model Capability Improvements: Will Scaling Laws Continue | Semi-Conductor Supply Chains | What Startups Will be Steamrolled by OpenAI and Where is Opportunity
Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, one of the most important companies in history. OpenAI is on a mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. Prior to OpenAI, Sam was the President of Y Combinator and an angel investor in Stripe, Airbnb, Reddit and Instacart.
15 Questions with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman:
1. Will the trajectory of model capability improvement keep going at the same rate as it has been?
2. When did Sam doubt the continuance of scaling laws most? What has been the hardest technical research challenge OpenAI have overcome?
3. How worried is Sam about semiconductor supply chains and international tensions around them?
4. What is Sam's biggest worry today? How has it changed over the last 12 months and 5 years?
5. In what ways does Sam feel he was and is unprepared for the role of CEO of OpenAI?
6. Was Masa Son right to suggest that $9TRN of value will be created every year by AI?
7. Why does Sam disagree with Larry Ellison's statement that it will cost $100BN to enter the foundation model race?
8. Was Keith Rabois right that the best way to build companies is to hire under 30s?
9. What unmade decision weighs on Sam's mind most often?
10. What is Sam most grateful to Y Combinator for?
11. What would Sam build if he were a 23 year old starting today with the foundational AI technology that is already in place?
12. What should startups not try and build as OpenAI will steamroll them? What should they try and build where OpenAI will not go?
13. What does Sam believe is the most exciting use of agents that he has not seen created yet?
14. How does Sam believe that human potential is most wasted today?
15. Who does Sam most respect in the world of AI today? Why them?
Y Combinator CEO Shares How They Pick Winners, Advice For Founders + Lessons From Paul Graham | Garry Tan Interview
Episode 642: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Garry Tan ( https://x.com/garrytan ), CEO of Y Combinator, about the sauce that makes YC outperform the rest of Silicon Valley plus lessons from Paul Graham, Peter Thiel and Garry’s first million.
—
Show Notes:
(0:00) Winning the game
(3:16) Being the Harvard of startups
(7:31) How YC outperforms most Silicon Valley investors
(9:36) Spotting extreme winners
(14:14) Capital-as-a-service
(16:34) How Garry hustled at 14 to get his into financial security
(23:04) Turning down Peter Thiel's offer to start Palantir
(32:20) Garry's first million
(44:57) Early days at YC
(51:31) The edge of startups with a 2-pizza team
(54:36) Advice for founders in AI
(1:05:57) The spoon-bending story
—
Links:
• YC - https://www.ycombinator.com/
• Founding Sales - https://www.foundingsales.com/
—
Check Out Shaan's Stuff:
Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd
—
Check Out Sam's Stuff:
• Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/
• Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/
• Copy That - https://copythat.com
• Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth
• Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/
My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
How YC Was Created With Jessica Livingston
Familiar with the lore of Y Combinator? Then you'll know Jessica Livingston — one of the original co-founders who started YC back in 2005. On a recent visit to our SF headquarters, she shared with the Lightcone hosts the stories and decisions of the early days that would form the foundations of YC as we know it today.
Gmail Creator Paul Buchheit On AGI, Open Source Models, Freedom
It’s the first guest episode of Lightcone! The hosts sit down with Paul Buchheit, one of Google’s earliest employees, the creator of Gmail and current YC Group Partner. (He also came up with Google’s famous tagline “Don’t be evil.”)
This discussion covers a wide range of topics including the future of AGI, the early days of OpenAI and the crucial importance of open source models.
20VC: How a Angel City Makes $31M per Season | How Sports Teams Can and Should Be Better Businesses | Why Every Sports Team Will Look Like a Media Agency and Founding The Most Valuable Women's Sports Team with Alexis Ohanian
Alexis Ohanian is the Founder and General Partner of Seven Seven Six, an early-stage venture capital firm with $970M AUM. Prior to 776, Alexis was the Co-Founder of Initialized, one of the most successful early-stage firms in history with their first fund returning 56x DPI. Before Initialized, Alexis was a Partner at the world-famous Y Combinator and before that was one of the Co-Founders of Reddit.
In Today's Discussion with Alexis Ohanian We Touch On:
1. $31M in Revenue: The P&L of a Sports Team:
What are the core revenue drivers for Angel City Football Team?
How did Alexis convince Tony @ Doordash to write the largest-ever brand sponsorship check to have the Doordash name on the Angel City shirt?
How much money does Angel City make from ticket sales per year?
What does the revenue from merchandise look like for Angel City? How has it changed with time?
2. How to Spend $31M Annually To Run a Team:
What are the single biggest costs in running a sports team?
Does Alexis believe that salary caps are good or bad for leagues?
How much money is spent by clubs on content and software today? How should that change?
3. More Cash in Sports Than Ever:
Prices for teams are at an all-time high. Are we in a bubble for sports assets?
What remains under-priced and what is over-priced today?
What are the pros and cons of private equity entering sports ownership in a meaningful way?
Who is the worst sports team owner who despite his mismanagement, still made billions?
4. Alexis Ohanian: AMA:
How did Alexis and Serena William's children become millionaires through sports team ownership?
How did Alexis turn a $10,000 check into $17.1M?
How did a $10,000 check into a shoe company make Alexis $7M?
Why does Alexis believe that sports becomes even more valuable in a world of AI?
The social radar: Y Combinator’s secret weapon | Jessica Livingston (co-founder of Y Combinator, author, podcast host)
Jessica Livingston is a co-founder of Y Combinator, the first and most successful startup accelerator. Y Combinator has funded over 5,000 companies, 200 of which are now unicorns, including Airbnb, Dropbox, DoorDash, Stripe, Coinbase, and Reddit. Jessica played a crucial role in YC’s early success, when she was nicknamed the “social radar” because of her uncanny ability to quickly evaluate people—an essential skill when investing in early-stage startups. She’s also the host of the popular podcast The Social Radars, where she interviews billion-dollar-startup founders, and the author of the acclaimed book Founders at Work, which captures the origin stories of some of today’s most interesting companies. In our conversation, we discuss:
• How Jessica gained the affectionate title of the “social radar”
• Why defensive founders are a red flag
• How to develop your social radar
• What she looks for in founders during YC interviews
• How YC’s early inexperience in angel investing led to the batch model
• Her favorite stories from interviews with Airbnb, Rippling, and more
• Lessons learned from hosting her own podcast
• Much more
—
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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-social-radar-jessica-livingston
—
Where to find Jessica Livingston:
• X: https://x.com/jesslivingston
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicalivingston1/
• Podcast: https://www.thesocialradars.com/
—
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
—
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Jessica’s background
(02:42) Thoughts on being under-recognized
(07:52) Jessica’s superpower: the social radar
(15:11) Evaluating founders: key traits and red flags
(21:00) The Airbnb story: a lesson in hustle and determination
(25:57) A YC success story
(28:26) The importance of earnestness
(32:45) Confidence vs. defensiveness
(34:43) Commitment and co-founder disputes
(37:46) Relentless resourcefulness
(40:00) Jessica’s social radar: origins and insights
(43:24) Honing her social radar skills
(45:44) Conviction and scams: a Y Combinator story
(46:50) The interview process: challenges and insights
(48:20) Operationalizing founder evaluation
(49:38) Advice for building social radar skills
(52:08) The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” quiz
(55:19) Jessica’s podcast: The Social Radars
(01:00:34) Lessons from podcasting and interviewing
(01:09:58) Lightning round
—
Referenced:
• Paul Graham’s post about Jessica: https://paulgraham.com/jessica.html
• Paul Graham on X: https://x.com/paulg
• Robert Tappan Morris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Tappan_Morris
• Trevor Blackwell on X: https://x.com/tlbtlbtlb
• Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/
• “The Founders” examines the rise and legend of PayPal: https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/02/19/the-founders-examines-the-rise-and-legend-of-paypal
• Patrick Collison on X: https://x.com/patrickc
• John Collison on X: https://x.com/collision
• Brian Chesky on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/
• Nate Blecharczyk on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blecharczyk/
• Joe Gebbia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgebbia/
• Airbnb’s CEO says a $40 cereal box changed the course of the multibillion-dollar company: https://fortune.com/2023/04/19/airbnb-ceo-cereal-box-investors-changed-everything-billion-dollar-company/
• Parker Conrad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parkerconrad/
• Zenefits: https://connect.trinet.com/hr-platform
• Goat: https://www.goat.com/
• Eddy Lu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddylu/
• Drew Houston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhouston/
• Arash Ferdowsi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arashferdowsi/
• Lessons from 1,000+ YC startups: Resilience, tar pit ideas, pivoting, more | Dalton Caldwell (Y Combinator, Managing Director): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-1000-yc-startups
•Bitcoin launderer pleads guilty, admits to massive Bitfinex hack: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/03/new-york-man-admits-being-original-bitfinex-hacker-during-guilty-plea-in-dc-to-bitcoin-money-laundering.html
• Paul Graham’s tweet with the facial recognition test: https://x.com/paulg/status/1782875262855663691
• SmartLess podcast: https://www.smartless.com
• Jason Bateman on X: https://x.com/batemanjason
• Will Arnett on X: https://x.com/arnettwill
• Sean Hayes on X: https://x.com/seanhayes
• The Social Radars with Tony Xu, Co-Founder & CEO of DoorDash: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Ja-tony-xu-co-founder-ceo-of-doordash
• The Social Radars with Brian Chesky: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/JW-brian-chesky-co-founder-ceo-of-airbnb
• The Social Radars with Patrick and John Collison: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Kx-patrick-john-collison-co-founders-of-stripe
• The Social Radars with Brian Armstrong: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/K3-brian-armstrong-co-founder-and-ceo-of-coinbase
• The Social Radars with Emmett Shear: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/KM-emmett-shear-co-founder-of-twitch
• The Social Radars with Paul Graham: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/JV-paul-graham-co-founder-of-y-combinator-and-viaweb
• The Social Radars with Adora Cheung: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/L0-adora-cheung-co-founder-of-homejoy-instalab
• Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days: https://www.amazon.com/Founders-Work-Stories-Startups-Early/dp/1430210788
• Startup School: https://www.startupschool.org/
• The Social Radars with Parker Conrad: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Ky-parker-conrad-founder-of-zenefits-rippling
• Rippling: https://www.rippling.com/
• Carry on, Jeeves: https://www.amazon.com/Carry-Jeeves-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486848957
• Very Good, Jeeves: https://www.amazon.com/Very-Good-Jeeves-Wooster-Book-ebook/dp/B0051GST06
• Right Ho, Jeeves: https://www.amazon.com/Right-Ho-Jeeves-P-Wodehouse-ebook/dp/B083FFDNHN/
• Life: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Keith-Richards-ebook/dp/B003UBTX72/
• My Name Is Barbra: https://www.amazon.com/My-Name-Barbra-Streisand/dp/0525429522
• Clarkson’s Farm on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Clarksons-Farm-Season-1/dp/B095RHJ52R
• Schitt’s Creek on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/schitts-creek-a2e7a946-9652-48a8-884b-3ea7ea4de273
• Yellowstone on Peacock: https://www.peacocktv.com/stream-tv/yellowstone
• Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama
• Justin Kan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinkan/
• Alexis Ohanian on X: https://x.com/alexisohanian
• Steve Huffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shuffman56/
• Breaking News: Condé Nast/Wired Acquires Reddit: https://techcrunch.com/2006/10/31/breaking-news-conde-nastwired-acquires-reddit/
• Charles River Venture: https://www.crv.com/
—
Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
—
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
Y Combinator sets its sights on D.C. with Luther Lowe
Today, we’re bringing you a conversation from TechCrunch's StrictlyVC event in DC earlier this month, where TechCrunch Editor in Chief & General Manager Connie Loizos sat down with Luther Lowe, who serves as Y Combinator’s Head of Public Policy. Lowe joined the accelerator last fall from Yelp, where he was SVP of Public Policy.
Connie and Luther touched on antitrust efforts to reign in big tech, Y Combinator’s impact, leadership and access to talent, and what competition, policy and regulation look like in the AI era. It’s a super interesting conversation, so press play and listen in!
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
20VC: OpenAI's Sam Altman, Mistral's Arthur Mensch and more discuss: Will Foundation Models Be Commoditised | Which Startups Are Threatened vs Enabled by OpenAI | Is the Value in the Infrastructure or Application Layer?
Sam Altman is the CEO @ OpenAI, the company on a mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. OpenAI is one of the fastest-scaling companies in history with a valuation of $90BN and $2BN+ in revenue.
Brad Lightcap is the COO @ OpenAI and the man responsible for the incredible scaling of sales, GTM, partnerships and business to today being over $2BN in revenue.
Arthur Mensch is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mistral AI. Since its inception in May 2023, Mistral has raised over $520M in funding from investors like Andreeseen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Microsoft with a current valuation of $2 billion.
Des Traynor is a Co-Founder of Intercom, and has built and led many teams within the company, including Product, Marketing, and Customer Support. Today Des leads all of Intercom's R&D efforts, and parts of Intercom's marketing.
Tom Hulme is a Managing Partner of GV (Google Ventures), and leads the European team. Today, GV has over $10BN in AUM and Tom has led investments in Lemonade.com (IPO), Snyk, Secret Escapes, Blockchain.com, GoCardless, and Currency Cloud (exited to Visa).
Tomasz Tunguz is the Founder and General Partner @ Theory Ventures, just announced last week, Theory is a $230M fund that invests $1-25m in early-stage companies that leverage technology discontinuities into go-to-market advantages.
Sarah Tavel is a General Partner @ Benchmark, one of the most successful and renowned venture firms in the world. At Benchmark, Sarah has led rounds in Chainalysis, Hipcamp, Medely, Rekki, Glide, Cambly and more.
In Today's Episode We Discuss:
Will foundation models be commoditised?
What is the end state for the foundation model landscape in 10 years?
How will large cloud provider incumbents approach M&A with smaller foundation model providers?
When will we see marginal revenue exceed marginal cost in the foundation model business model?
Where is the value: the application layer or the infrastructure layer?
How can startups know whether they will be threatened by OpenAI?
What are good tests/questions to know if you are in the path of one of the large foundation models?
How does the business model of SaaS fundamentally change in a world of AI?
Will we see the end of per-seat pricing in a new world of AI?
What is the right way to approach pricing in a world of AI? Consumption? Tokens?
How YC fosters AI Innovation with Garry Tan
Garry Tan is a notorious founder-turned-investor who is now running one of the most prestigious accelerators in the world, Y Combinator. As the president and CEO of YC, Garry has been credited with reinvigorating the program. On this week’s episode of No Priors, Sarah, Elad, and Garry discuss the shifting demographics of YC founders and how AI is encouraging younger founders to launch companies, predicting which early stage startups will have longevity, and making YC a beacon for innovation in AI companies. They also discussed the importance of building companies in person and if San Francisco is, in fact, back.
Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com
Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @garrytan
Show Notes:
(0:00) Introduction
(0:53) Transitioning from founder to investing
(5:10) Early social media startups
(7:50) Trend predicting at YC
(10:03) Selecting YC founders
(12:06) AI trends emerging in YC batch
(18:34) Motivating culture at YC
(20:39) Choosing the startups with longevity
(24:01) Shifting YC found demographics
(29:24) Building in San Francisco
(31:01) Making YC a beacon for creators
(33:17) Garry Tan is bringing San Francisco back
EP 104: Sam Altman (CEO, OpenAI) talks GPT-4o and Predicts the Future of AI
On the day of the ChatGPT-4o announcement, Sam Altman sat down to share behind-the-scenes details of the launch and offer his predictions for the future of AI. Altman delves into OpenAI's vision, discusses the timeline for achieving AGI, and explores the societal impact of humanoid robots. He also expresses his excitement and concerns about AI personal assistants, highlights the biggest opportunities and risks in the AI landscape today, and much more.
(00:00) Intro
(00:50) The Personal Impact of Leading OpenAI
(01:44) Unveiling Multimodal AI: A Leap in Technology
(02:47) The Surprising Use Cases and Benefits of Multimodal AI
(03:23) Behind the Scenes: Making Multimodal AI Possible
(08:36) Envisioning the Future of AI in Communication and Creativity
(10:21) The Business of AI: Monetization, Open Source, and Future Directions
(16:42) AI's Role in Shaping Future Jobs and Experiences
(20:29) Debunking AGI: A Continuous Journey Towards Advanced AI
(24:04) Exploring the Pace of Scientific and Technological Progress
(24:18) The Importance of Interpretability in AI
(25:11) Navigating AI Ethics and Regulation
(27:26) The Safety Paradigm in AI and Beyond
(28:55) Personal Reflections and the Impact of AI on Society
(29:11) The Future of AI: Fast Takeoff Scenarios and Societal Changes
(30:59) Navigating Personal and Professional Challenges
(40:21) The Role of AI in Creative and Personal Identity
(43:09) Educational System Adaptations for the AI Era
(44:30) Contemplating the Future with Advanced AI
Executive Producer: Rashad Assir
Producer: Leah Clapper
Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky
Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA
🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1
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About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member.
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20VC: Behind the Scenes at Y Combinator: The Interview Process | What the Best & Worst Do in the Program | Do the Best All Raise Pre-Demo Day & YC's Fundraising Advice to Startups | Why the Value is in Application Layer AI with Tom Blomfield
Tom Blomfield is a Group Partner at YC. Before YC, Tom founded two unicorns in the UK. He was co-founder of Monzo (most recently valued at $5BN), one of the first challenger banks in the UK. Monzo raised more than £1bn and counts 15% of the UK population as customers. Before Monzo, Tom founded GoCardless (YC S11), an online payments processor, most recently valued at $2.1BN.
In Today's Episode with Tom Blomfield We Discuss:
1. From Founding Two Unicorns to YC Partner:
Does Tom believe that all great founders show signs of exceptionalism early?
What does Tom know now that he wishes he had known when he started his first company?
Why did Tom decide now was the right time to switch from founder to investor with YC?
2. The YC Application Process: How it Works:
How do the YC partners select which companies are accepted vs rejected?
What specifically does Tom look for in the problem the company is looking to solve?
In the interview, what are the signals of the highest quality founders?
What questions does Tom always want to ask in YC interviews with founders?
3. The YC Batch: How it Works:
How do the YC partners work with the 25 companies in their batch? What is the interaction?
What are the single biggest mistakes companies make while in YC?
What are the biggest pieces of advice YC gives founders on fundraising approaching demo day?
How do the best YC founders fundraise and use demo day? How do the most nervous fundraise?
How are YC partners measured in terms of their success and effectiveness?
4. AI: Consumer vs Enterprise/ Infrastructure vs Application Layer:
Does Tom believe there is money to be made investing in infrastructure layer models today?
Why is the commoditization of foundation models the best outcome for society?
Why is Tom most excited about the application layer for the next wave of AI?
What are the most exciting opportunities in consumer AI that are wide open today?
20VC: Behind the Scenes at Y Combinator: The Interview Process | What the Best & Worst Do in the Program | Do the Best All Raise Pre-Demo Day & YC's Fundraising Advice to Startups | Why the Value is in Application Layer AI with Tom Blomfield
In conversation with Sam Altman
(0:00) Welcoming Sam Altman to the show!
(2:28) What's next for OpenAI: GPT-5, open-source, reasoning, what an AI-powered iPhone competitor could look like, and more
(21:56) How advanced agents will change the way we interface with apps
(33:01) Fair use, creator rights, why OpenAI has stayed away from the music industry
(42:02) AI regulation, UBI in a post-AI world
(52:23) Sam breaks down how he was fired and re-hired, why he has no equity, dealmaking on behalf of OpenAI, and how he organizes the company
(1:05:33) Post-interview recap
(1:10:38) All-In Summit announcements, college protests
(1:19:06) Signs of innovation dying at Apple: iPad ad, Buffett sells 100M+ shares, what's next?
(1:29:41) Google unveils AlphaFold 3.0
Follow Sam:
https://twitter.com/sama
Follow the besties:
https://twitter.com/chamath
https://twitter.com/Jason
https://twitter.com/DavidSacks
https://twitter.com/friedberg
Follow on X:
https://twitter.com/theallinpod
Follow on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod
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https://www.tiktok.com/@all_in_tok
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https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod
Intro Music Credit:
https://rb.gy/tppkzl
https://twitter.com/yung_spielburg
Intro Video Credit:
https://twitter.com/TheZachEffect
Referenced in the show:
https://twitter.com/EconomyApp/status/1622029832099082241
https://sacra.com/c/openai
https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/1787864325258162239
https://openai.com/index/introducing-the-model-spec
https://twitter.com/SabriSun_Miller/status/1788298123434938738
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript
https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1788312545754825091
https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/warren-buffett-just-sold-more-than-100-million-shares-of-apple-reason-why-is-eye-opening.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snbTCWL6rxo
https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20240506PD216/apple-ev-startup-genai.html
https://www.theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades-1819584036
https://blog.google/technology/ai/google-deepmind-isomorphic-alphafold-3-ai-model
Lessons from 1,000+ YC startups: Resilience, tar pit ideas, pivoting, more | Dalton Caldwell (Y Combinator, Managing Director)
Dalton Caldwell is Managing Director and Group Partner at Y Combinator. Prior to YC, he was the co-founder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009) and the co-founder and CEO of App.net. During his time at YC, he’s advised more than 35 YC unicorns, including DoorDash, Amplitude, Webflow, and Retool, and has worked across 21 different YC batches. He’s also racked up more than 6,500 office hours with founders. In our conversation, we discuss:
• Why founders need to adopt the mindset “Just don’t die”
• The most common reason startups fail
• When to pivot, and characteristics of a good pivot
• The concept of “tar pit ideas” and examples of bad startup ideas
• Why investors say no to startups
• The importance of market size in investment decisions
• The pitfalls of founders over-delegating
• Effective ways to talk to customers
• 20 ideas Dalton is looking to fund
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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-1000-yc-startups
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Where to find Dalton Caldwell:
• X: https://twitter.com/daltonc
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daltoncaldwell/
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Dalton’s background
(04:41) The value of simple advice
(07:04) Dalton’s advice: “Just don’t die”
(08:39) Knowing when to stop
(11:45) Deciding to pivot
(14:26) Characteristics of a good pivot
(17:53) Knowing when to pivot
(19:03) Zip’s journey and finding a market
(21:22) Why Dalton says to “Move towards the mountains and the desert”
(23:45) Tar pit ideas
(26:49) Understanding why investors say no
(29:14) The importance of market size
(32:16) Avoiding over-delegation and hiring senior people too early
(36:43) Why startups fail
(40:30) Effectively talking to customers
(45:17) Examples of startups hustling to talk to customers
(48:01) Patterns of successful startups
(52:05) YC’s Request for Startups
(55:37) Early days of Silicon Valley
(01:05:33) Contrarian corner: growth hacking for early startups
(01:09:28) Failure corner
(01:11:15) Closing thoughts
(01:12:22) Lightning round
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Referenced:
• Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/
• Tiger Woods’s website: https://tigerwoods.com/
• Co-Founder Mistakes That Kill Companies & How to Avoid Them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlfjs_eEEzs
• Daniel Alberson’s LinkedIn post about Y Combinator: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alberson_i-left-my-dream-job-as-a-product-manager-activity-7089677882431533056-jJ9H
• Companies in Y Combinator W17 Batch: https://www.ycdb.co/batch/w17
• Brex: https://www.brex.com/
• Retool: https://retool.com/
• Segment: https://segment.com/
• Mixpanel: https://mixpanel.com/
• Whatnot: https://www.whatnot.com/
• Andreessen Horowitz: https://a16z.com/
• Airbnb’s CEO says a $40 cereal box changed the course of the multibillion-dollar company: https://fortune.com/2023/04/19/airbnb-ceo-cereal-box-investors-changed-everything-billion-dollar-company/
• Rujul Zaparde on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rujulz/
• Zip: https://ziphq.com/
• Lu Cheng on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lu-cheng-973b7830/
• Avoid these tempting startup tar pit ideas: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Ij-avoid-these-tempting-startup-tarpit-ideas
• Airbnb acquires Localmind to create crowdsourced advice about neighborhoods: https://skift.com/2012/12/13/airbnb-acquires-localmind-to-create-crowdsourced-advice-about-neighborhoods/
• Foursquare: https://foursquare.com/
• Razorpay: https://razorpay.com/
• Total Addressable Market: https://www.productplan.com/glossary/total-addressable-market/
• Lenny Bogdonoff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rememberlenny/
• Milk Video: https://milkvideo.com/
• Lessons from working with 600+ YC startups | Gustaf Alströmer (Y Combinator, Airbnb): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/lessons-from-working-with-600-yc-startups-gustaf-alstromer-y-combinator-airbnb/
• How the most successful B2B startups came up with their original idea: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-the-most-successful-b2b-startups
• Collison installation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18400504
• Stripe: https://stripe.com/
• Patrick Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison/
• John Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbcollison/
• Tony Xu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xutony/
• Grant LaFontaine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantlafontaine/
• Ryan Petersen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpetersen/
• Lessons on building product sense, navigating AI, optimizing the first mile, and making it through the messy middle | Scott Belsky (Adobe, Behance): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/lessons-on-building-product-sense-navigating-ai-optimizing-the-first-mile-and-making-it-through-t/
• YC’s latest Request for Startups: https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/ycs-latest-request-for-startups
• ERPs: https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#new-enterprise-resource-planning-software
• Commercial open source companies: https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#commercial-open-source-companies
• New space companies: https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#new-space-companies
• A way to end cancer: https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#a-way-to-end-cancer
• Spatial computing: https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#spatial-computing
• New defense technology: https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#new-defense-technology
• Bringing manufacturing back to America: https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#bring-manufacturing-back-to-america
• Better enterprise glue: https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#better-enterprise-glue
• Small fine-tuned models, as an alternative to giant generic ones: https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#small-finetuned-models-as-an-alternative-to-giant-generic-ones
• Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/
• Sam Altman on X: https://twitter.com/sama
• Sean Parker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parkersean/
• Owen Van Natta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owen-van-natta-444a7/
• Marc Andreessen on X: https://twitter.com/pmarca
• Picplz 1, Instagram 0 as VC firm Andreessen Horowitz chooses photo app rival: https://www.reuters.com/article/idUS2587232395/
• Gustaf Alstromer—How to Get Users and Grow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9ikpoF2GH0
• Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Yes-Negotiating-Agreement-Without/dp/0143118757
• Founding Sales: The Early Stage Go-to-Market Handbook: https://www.amazon.com/Founding-Sales-Go-Market-Handbook-ebook/dp/B08PMK17Z1
• Founder-led sales | Pete Kazanjy (Founding Sales, Atrium): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/founder-led-sales-pete-kazanjy-founding-sales-atrium/
• The Sopranos on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-sopranos
• The Wire on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-wire
• Columbo on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Columbo-Season-1/dp/B008SA89HA
• Oura ring: https://ouraring.com/
• Apple watch: https://www.apple.com/watch/
• SiPhox: https://siphoxhealth.com/
• Dalton & Michael on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ-uHSnFig5Nd98Sc9I-kkc0ZWe8peRMC
• How Future Billionaires Get Sh*t Done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ephzgxgOjR0
• The Student’s Guide to Becoming a Successful Startup Founder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5KCB2p6SB8
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
20VC: OpenAI's Sam Altman and Brad Lightcap on The Future of Foundation Models: Will They Be Commoditised | How to Solve the Problem of Compute | Open vs Closed: Which Dominates and Why | Which Companies and Verticals Will Be Steamrolled by OpenAI
Sam Altman is the CEO @ OpenAI, the company on a mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. OpenAI is one of the fastest-scaling companies in history with a valuation of $90BN and $2BN+ in revenue. Prior to OpenAI, Sam was the President and CEO @ Y Combinator and made angel investments in the likes of Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit, Pinterest, Asana and more.
Brad Lightcap is the COO @ OpenAI and the man responsible for the incredible scaling of sales, GTM, partnerships and business to today being over $2BN in revenue. Before OpenAI, Brad was an investor at Y Combinator, where he met Sam and before that led finance and operations initiatives at Dropbox.
In Today's Episode with Sam Altman and Brad Lightcap We Discuss:
1. The Partnership: The Most Powerful Double Act in Tech:
How did 25 people rejecting OpenAI's CFO positions 6 years ago, lead to Brad joining OpenAI before Sam even did? What did he see that the world did not?
What does Brad think is Sam's biggest superpower that the world does not know? What does Sam think it Brad's biggest superpower that the world does not now?
How do decisions get made between Brad and Sam? How do they decide what to delegate vs what not to? What is the most recent disagreement they had? How did they resolve it?
2. The Next 12 Months for OpenAI: Bottlenecks, Compute and Commoditisation:
What are the core bottlenecks facing OpenAI in the next 12 months?
How does Sam believe we solve the fundamental problem of compute?
What is the single biggest barrier to the quality of models improving?
What is the end state for the model landscape? Will models become commoditised?
3. OpenAI: The Fastest Scaling Company in History:
What has been the secret to how OpenAI has scaled to $2BN in revenue in 24 months?
Why does Sam believe that he is "not a great operator"? What drives this thinking?
What have been the first things to break in the scaling of OpenAI?
What do Brad and Sam know now about the scaling that they wish they had known at the start?
Why does OpenAI lean towards hiring more experienced people in the team?
4. How to Invest and Operate in a World of OpenAI:
What single question can founders ask that will reveal if they will be steamrolled by OpenAI?
Does Sam believe huge numbers of companies will be steamrolled by OpenAI?
For investors, is there money to be made investing in the application layer of AI today?
What question should all businesses be asking about how to adopt and use AI in their business?
5. Sam Altman: AMA:
What have been the single biggest lessons Sam has learned from the founders he has invested in?
Which founders has he learned the most from? What did he learn from each?
What is Sam most concerned about in the world today? Why what?
What unexpected traits or characteristics does Sam most look for in the founders he invests in?
Why does Sam say that he is not happy but he is grateful?
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