Josh Wolfe

One day it's so over. The next day we're so back. This is what it feels like gauging the AI boom right now. Everyone's looking for signs of some kind of slowdown and that investments aren't going pan out, but mostly, the dollar signs just keep piling up. And the AI winners like Nvidia, OpenAI, and Anthropic just keep seeing their market valuations rise. In the meantime, other AI players are seeing weird outcomes. Some promising startups aren't being sold, but rather their top talent is walking out the door, leaving other workers potentially in the lurch, while creating risk for venture capital bagholders. On this episode we speak with Josh Wolfe, co-founder and managing partner at the firm Lux Capital, which invests in a range of startups, many of which are in the AI space. He talks about the challenge of aligning incentives, what's overrated, what's underrated, why he thinks Nvidia may have run its course, and the threats to Silicon Valley's "social contract.” Odd Lots is coming to Chicago! Tickets on sale now. Only Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox — now delivered every weekday — plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

Josh Wolfe, co-founder and managing partner at Lux Capital, is a master at quickly understanding complex, emerging technologies. In our conversation, Josh shared how he identifies the next big thing, his contrarian views on nuclear energy, biotech, and robotics, as well as his thoughts on the state of the venture capital market today. (00:00) Intro (01:02) Daily News Routine (05:28) Geopolitical Insights (07:03) Competitiveness and Curiosity (11:01) Investment Strategies and Risks (26:07) The Control Labs Story (33:48) The Founder’s Dilemma: Financial vs. Strategic Motivations (34:33) Geopolitical Concerns: Iran and Global Politics (36:31) Investments in Defense: Controversies and Convictions (37:36) The State of Society: Happiness and Social Dynamics (48:07) Artificial Intelligence: Trends and Predictions (01:02:22) The Future of Robotics: Beyond Humanoids (01:06:46) Ethical Implications of AI and Defense Technologies (01:11:29) Lux Capital’s Investment Strategy and LP Relations (01:12:43) ESG and Moral Impositions (01:13:30) Defense and Complex Moral Valences (01:14:19) Investment Ethics and Decision Making (01:16:46) Venture Capital Market Outlook (01:17:56) Challenges in Venture Capital (01:37:12) The Role of Storytelling in Venture Capital (01:43:20) Personal Reflections and Background (01:51:34) Partnership Dynamics and Trust (01:53:48) Conclusion and Final Thoughts 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 Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow 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. Tap follow and enable notifications to stay ahead of the game.

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

More about Josh Wolfe and Lux Capital here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

Josh Wolfe, the co-founder of Lux Capital, joins Scott to discuss the sectors he’s most excited about and those he thinks are overhyped. We also hear his thoughts on the Magnificent Seven and where the crypto market is seeing new life. Follow Josh on X, @wolfejosh.  Scott opens by giving his thoughts on the protests on college campuses, specifically UCLA.  Algebra of Happiness: the circles of masculinity.  Follow our podcast across socials @profgpod: Instagram Threads X Reddit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

Over the last year or so, probably every venture capitalist has become interested in artificial intelligence. So people are still figuring out what types of business models actually work, and who will end up making money in the space. Josh Wolfe has been at it for a long time. As a co-founder and managing partner at Lux Capital, he's been involved in a number of deals in the space, and is already looking at what's next after the wave of excitement for chatbots since ChatGPT was released. On this episode, we talk to Josh about what he's excited about right now, including robotics, biotech, and maintenance. He tells us that just as ChatGPT opened everyone's eyes to the power of chatbots, a similar moment is coming in the robotics space. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

We're in the midst of an AI mania of sorts. In public markets, investors are placing bets on the companies perceived as being the winners of this new wave of computing. Companies that aren't even in "tech" are touting their AI bonafides. And of course, in private markets, every venture capitalist suddenly seems to be pivoting to AI in some way or another. But who will actually win? Will it be the big incumbents? Can those incumbents be disrupted? Will it be the companies who have access to unique datasets? Or will it be whoever has the most computing power? On this episode, we speak with Josh Wolfe, co-founder of Lux Capital, who has been investing in the space for several years, long before it was trendy. He talks about where he's placing his bets and how he's thinking about identifying winners. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

Lux Capital’s Josh Wolfe joins to discuss startups in the current market, and the long-awaited release of the crypto debate between Zach Weinberg and Slow Venture’s Sam Lessin that got so heated we weren’t sure we could publish it. (0:00) - Intro (1:27) – Welcome Josh Wolfe (3:10) – Market updates (13:21) – Anti-bubble (16:28) – Consolidation (19:57) – Everything times pi (22:35) – Welcome Sam Lessin (25:43) – NY tech founders in ‘07 (30:44) – Slow Ventures (33:12) – The crypto debate begins (41:57) – On chain real estate (49:19) – Legal protections (1:03:10) – Does it hold up in court? (1:09:52) – Final walk through (1:14:42) – Bearer bonds (1:19:58) – Zach’s reasons against crypto (1:31:37) – Zach’s point (1:33:51) – Carta for your DAU (1:37:11) – Back to liquidity (1:41:24) – Why is it not awesome? (1:45:17) – Users (1:52:40) – Unsettled case law (2:00:29) – Final arguments (2:04:10) – The boiling point (2:06:59) – Maybe we can publish this part (2:12:15) – Zach ending (2:22:08) - Outro   Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky Produced: Andrew Nadeau and Rashad Assir Executive Producer: Josh Machiz Music: Griff Lawson   🎙 Listen to the show Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb... Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0...   Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/cartoonavatars 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/cartoonavatars 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@cartoonavatars   About the Show A Saturday morning podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett (Partner and Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures) covering the tech news with his friends and other people with industry expertise. 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 Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow 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. Tap follow and enable notifications to stay ahead of the game.

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

Sam Lessin

Partner

Slow VenturesFin AnalyticsFin

My guests today are Josh Wolfe and Chris Power. Josh will be a familiar voice to many of you and is the co-founder and General Partner of Lux Capital. Chris is the founder and CEO of advanced manufacturing start-up, Hadrian. Most of our discussion centers on the need to modernize the factories that supply our space and defense industries. But given the current market environment, we also talk about capital conditions and the responsibility to build products that really matter. Please enjoy this conversation with Josh Wolfe and Chris Power.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus.   -----   Today's episode is brought to you by Brex, the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best.   -----   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 [00:02:40] - [First question] - An overview of the precision manufacturing industry writ large [00:08:28] - Why the manufacturing sector has so many great investment opportunities [00:12:58] - Anduril Breakdown; What Hadrian in its final form will unlock for manufacturing [00:16:08] - What the demand side looks like for manufacturers in its current state today  [00:18:29] - How the nature of demand will shift for this style of manufacturing in the future [00:22:51] - Important rare earth materials, supply chain constraints, and the revival of commodities  [00:27:55] - The key set of jobs being done by mom and pop shops that could be innovated on and done within a Hadrian factory  [00:30:35] - What is going on inside of a Hadrian factory and how they will evolve over time  [00:32:10] - Prosecuting diligence on someone's ability to execute on their behalf [00:37:14] - The PhD arrogance trap and how a Hadrian machine will be better in five years from now [00:48:08] - Breadth of ability versus focus and selling parts to buyers early on [00:50:42] - Lessons learned and advice for understanding the focus problem  [00:56:39] - Fat startup vs. lean startups and making the hardest irreversible decision during Hadrian’s early days [00:58:31] - Enduring more schlep work than less being a good signal [00:59:06] - Chris’ thoughts on the future of Hadrian and defining the exciting and scary edges of the spectrum of outcomes [01:03:36] - Josh’s thoughts on the future of Hadrian and defining the exciting and scary edges of the spectrum of outcomes [01:07:22] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Chris

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

Chris Power

CEO

Hadrian

(00:00) Introducing Josh Wolfe (02:41) Elon Musk Buys Twitter Because No One Told Him He Can Buy Other Stuff (39:58) Bolt, Katara, and the World’s Greatest Time to be a Law Firm (56:53) Introducing Scott Belsky (57:18)  Trying to Explain Twitter (67:55) Algorithms and Free Speech   Follow the show: https://twitter.com/cartoonavatars https://www.instagram.com/cartoonavatars/ https://www.tiktok.com/@cartoonavatars   Follow the hosts: https://twitter.com/loganbartlett https://twitter.com/wolfejosh https://twitter.com/scottbelsky   Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky Produced: Andrew Nadeau and Rashad Assir Executive Producer: Josh Machiz Music: Griff Lawson   Musk buys Twitter: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/25/technology/twitter-employees-elon-musk.html Sam Lessin article: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/elon-musk-is-silicon-valleys-new-hero-for-better-or-worse Jack Dorsey’s tweet on Musk’s purchase: https://twitter.com/jack/status/1518772753460998145?s=20&t=njyqUGHJChL4oAQdEkkTCw Bolt Sued by Forever 21: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-26/forever-21-parent-authentic-brands-sues-bolt-startup Katera sues ex-CEO: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/bankrupt-startup-that-blew-2-billion-from-softbank-sues-ex-ceo-board-directors-over-self-dealing Softbank cuts spending: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-25/softbank-cuts-back-spending-leaving-startups-desperate-for-cash 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 Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow 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. Tap follow and enable notifications to stay ahead of the game.

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

Scott Belsky

Chief Product Officer

AdobeBenchmarkBehance

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Josh Wolfe, co-founder of Lux Capital. Josh is a true polymath who invests in hard sciences, robotics, nuclear waste and more.  If you wanted a nuclear energy crash course, this is it. Josh discusses where solar and biofuels fell short, how nuclear energy markets function, why nuclear is the sustainable-energy source environmentalist have wanted, and how nuclear is the key to energy security. Nuclear energy is inevitable. Listen to Josh's unique insights to learn why. -- BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (01:58) Solar Energy Hype (07:16) Bio Fuels Fell Short (09:40) Energy Density (10:58) The Nuclear Narrative (15:31) Understanding the Uranium Market (18:44) Modular Reactors (19:49) Intro to Nuclear Waste (22:33) Low-Level and High-Level Nuclear Waste (24:11) Russia's Impact on the Nuclear Narrative (28:45) Sponsor Segment (30:01) Adopting Nuclear (33:39) Investing in Nuclear (37:30) China and the Nuclear Advantage (40:51) Cheap Electricity and Jevon's Paradox (44:39) Lux's Investment in Nuclear (48:53) Black Swan Events (52:19) Looking Forward -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

Josh Wolfe, the co-founder of Lux Capital, joins Scott to discuss his thoughts on the tech regulations coming out of China, and how investors should be thinking about them. He also discusses the sectors he’s keeping tabs on, including space and the metaverse, and the ones that he thinks are over and underhyped. Follow Josh on Twitter, @wolfejosh. Scott opens by having a conversation with Pascal Gauthier, the CEO of Ledger. Ledger is building a hardware wallet for crypto assets — and full disclosure — Scott’s an investor. Pascal explains the technology and shares his thoughts on the crypto space. Follow Pascal on Twitter, @_pgauthier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

Pascal Gauthier

CEO

Ledger

My guests today are Josh Wolfe and Tony Thomas, better known as T2. Josh is the co-founder and General Partner at Lux Capital. T2 is now a venture partner alongside Josh at Lux Capital, after serving for almost 40 years in the US military and becoming a 4-star general and the 11th Commander of US Special Operations Command. Our conversation focuses on the technology frontier in defense as well as the geopolitical threats that the US faces. We talk about everything from semiconductors and autonomous weapons systems to the moral dimensions of investing in defense technology. I hope you enjoy this fascinating conversation with Josh Wolfe and Tony Thomas.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ------ This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ------ This episode is brought to you by MIT Investment Management Company – also known as MITIMCo, the endowment office of MIT. MITIMCo seeks to find people who are focused on achieving exceptional long-term investment returns, partner with these firms early, and stick around for the very long term. MITIMCo doesn’t care how small, new, or un-institutional your firm is if you have the potential to generate amazing results that support MIT’s pursuit of world-class education, cutting-edge research, and groundbreaking innovation.   Despite their willingness to invest early, they do not ask for GP economics and they commit their initial capital for ten years.     Visit www.mitimco.org and their new emerging managers page to learn more. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  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 [00:03:46] - [First question] - Overview of Tony Thomas’s career [00:06:36] - His focus on the information wars and truthiness [00:08:50] - How Josh and Tony met [00:12:27] - Experiencing the slow pace of technology growth within the Department of Defense [00:15:51] - History of businesses selling to and engaging with the government [00:23:52] - Consensus of the threats we face today  [00:28:55] - Most important competitive frontier today  [00:35:09] - The lessening of kinetic warfare [00:46:51] - State of the drone technology and industry  [00:52:56] - Mapping the arctic and the geopolitical ramifications [00:54:31] - The frontier of space  [00:59:26] - What shouldn’t be unmanned technology  [01:02:31] - The cutting edge of simulation technology  [01:06:50] - The most important thing to know about the future of semiconductors [01:11:36] - The moral lens of working with and investing in defense companies [01:20:53] - Traits of the most exceptional soldiers he’s served with [01:23:53] - Kindest thing anyone has done for Tony

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

Tony Thomas

Venture Partner

Lux Capital

My guest this week is Josh Wolfe, co-founder and managing partner at Lux Capital. I had Josh on the podcast last year which was one of the most popular episodes in the shows history. This is a continuation of our ongoing conversation about investing in the frontiers of technology. My favorite thing about Josh and the way that he invests is the mosaic that he and his team at Lux are constantly building to understand the world and where new companies may fit in. We cover a crazy variety of topics from business model innovation, roles of a CEO, the military, the death of privacy, and arrows of human progress. Please enjoy round two with Josh Wolfe. 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 Show Notes 1:22 - (First Question) –Ability to tackle massive scale problems 4:05 – Key roles of leaders and his checklist for evaluating them 5:55 – Common traits among founders that make them incredible storytellers and leaders 10:22 – The concept of ill-liquidity 14:53 – Thoughts on the types of companies going public 16:41 – Most innovative business models 19:14 - Advice for LP’s 23:51 – Common devil             24:01 – The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements 25:09 – Big internal debates at his firm, starting with price discipline 28:45 – The value debate internally 33:34 – CRISPR from an investment standpoint 36:50 – Edge cases they are looking at 46:52 – How they target ideas in a single concept             50:01 – The Coast of Utopia: Voyage, Shipwreck, Salvage 51:04 – New theses that they chase 56:31 – Recent adventure with special operations guys 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

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

Long-time listeners will have heard me joke before that this podcast should really be called “this is who are you up against.” I’ve been waiting for the right episode to deploy the joke as a title, and this week we have it.  The joke is meant to convey how incredibly impressive these people are who we get to hear from every week. My guest this week is Josh Wolfe, a founding and managing partner at Lux Capital in New York City. Lux is a venture capital firm, but a highly unique one. They’ve spent more time in hard sciences and interesting nooks and crannies of the market than the typical VC firm. Some of investing is zero sum: my outperformance is someone else’s underperformance. Sometimes, though, investing is positive sum. The combination of capital, ideas, people, drive, and raw energy leads to amazing new things.  I think the best investing and best investors of the future will be more collaborative than competitive. After finishing with Josh, I couldn’t stop thinking “god, do I want to be involved with whatever he’s doing, if only just to learn.”  This conversation made me rethink my joke “this is who are you up against.” Now I won’t think of it as a zero-sum joke, but instead as a reminder: this is the kind of person who is out there. You better find your niche, and still be the absolute best you can within that niche.   Please enjoy this killer conversation with Josh Wolfe. We cover just about everything.  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   Links Referenced Investing in Biofuels or Biofools? Ali Hamed podcast Alex Moazed podcast Andy Rachleff podcast Popplet @wolfejosh   Books Referenced Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy   World After Capital   Show Notes 2:35 – (First Question) – Lux Capital and the kind of investments they have made over the years  5:42 – The formation of the investment philosophy for Lux  9:52 – Investment philosophy 100-0-100 (ambition, arrogance, intellectual humility)  10:40 – How Josh manages his time and attention 12:53 – Investing in Biofuels or Biofools?  13:29 – Obsession with nuclear  18:28 – Focus on autonomous vehicles  21:02 – How all of these gambles are viewed by Josh’s investors  22:56 – Tattoo technology 24:20 – Ali Hamed podcast  24:36 – How Josh evaluates people when considering early stage investments 24:45 – Alex Moazed podcast 24:49 – Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy  29:50 – Memorable experience investing in a founder  30:44 – The idea of thesis driven approach to private investment    30:56 – Andy Rachleff podcast   32:38 – Crazy thesis – understanding the emotional needs of our pets  38:03 – Josh’s learning process through these theses 38:34 – Popplet 45:49 – Investors that Josh has learned the most from 47:37 – Josh’s comfort investing outside of his usual asset class 49:03 – @wolfejosh 50:56 – What is the thinking with the short strategy at Lux 52:31 – SpaceX vs Tesla, good business vs bad business 53:42 – How Josh approaches the quality of a business 54:15 – World After Capital 55:16 – How does Josh evaluate competitive advantage 56:45 – Where are we in the venture capital landscape 1:01:42 – How does his outlook on venture capital affect the way Lux is run 1:02:48 – Thoughts on cryptocurrency 1:07:22 – What is the most memorable conversation Josh has ever had 1:09:34 – What is Josh’s objective function in life 1:12:43 – Are there people that Josh disagrees with but deeply respects 1:13:32 – Kindest thing anyone has ever done for Josh  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

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital

Josh Wolfe is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner @ Lux Capital, the fund that supports scientists and entrepreneurs who pursue counter-conventional solutions to the most vexing puzzles of our time, the more ambitious the project, the better. Josh is a founding investor and board member with Bill Gates in Kymeta, making cutting-edge antennas for high-speed global satellite and space communications. In 2008 Josh co-founded and funded Kurion, the company was among the first responders to the Fukushima disaster. In February 2016, Veolia acquired Kurion for nearly $400 million—more than 40 times Lux's total investment. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Josh make his way into VC from the science lab? What was it about venture that got Josh hooked? 2.) How does Josh view the rise of thematic investing? Why does Josh believe there are a lot of tourist VCs who are going to lose a lot of money? 3.) Investing in such frontier technologies, how does Josh view market creation? How does Josh look to build a thesis and a methodology when investing in a company without an existing market? 4.) What is the inflection point for Josh for when heavy science and R&D becomes investable? What is that tipping point where science becomes commercialized? 5.) Does Josh get concerned that with such heavy IP and corporations not investing in R&D that this is a market for acquihires? What are the pros and cons of this shortened liquidity cycles? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Josh's Fave Book: Sapiens Josh's Fave Blog: Media Redefined Josh's Most Recent Investment: Recursion Pharmaceuticals As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Josh on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Eight is a sleep innovation company. With their latest product, the Eight Smart Mattress, being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night, paired with an intelligent sensor cover that measures the quality of your sleep and delivers a daily sleep report. In order to bring you the best product, Eight used anonymized sleep data and feedback from over 10,000 people, to understand which materials and types of mattresses give customers the best sleep resulting in their unique blend of four responsive and high-density foam layers plus one layer of proprietary technology that helps people track and improve their sleep. You can check it out on Eightsleep.com – and if you use the code 20VC you will get a whopping 20% discount! FullContact provides the ability to organize your contacts, gain rich insights into them and therefore build deep relationships. With features like automatically identifying and merging duplicate contacts to the ability to snap a photo of a business card and FullContact will transcribe them for you, so no more lost and loose business cards at events. It is with these features just being the tip of the iceberg, FullContact really is the best all in one solution for contact management and you can check them out on fullcontact.com.

Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Lux Capital