Sourcery

Max Levchin, Co-Founder of PayPal and CEO of Affirm, joins Sourcery for a wide-ranging conversation on building companies, surviving failure, and navigating one of the most important economic shifts in decades. We start inside Affirm HQ (with a masterclass in espresso) before getting into the story behind onboarding 800,000 Shopify merchants in a week, the lessons from PayPal that still apply today, and why the team is the single biggest determinant of success. Max also breaks down how AI is collapsing the cost and speed of building software — fundamentally reshaping company formation, competition, and the balance between labor and capital. As intelligence becomes more accessible, he explains why weaker, more “scammy” companies will struggle to survive in a world where both consumers and builders are more informed — raising the overall bar for quality, execution, and truth. In parallel, the widespread availability of AI tools may effectively increase baseline capability across the population, shifting what it means to be skilled, technical, and competitive. From reading research papers daily to staying ahead of rapid innovation cycles, he explains why this moment in AI may be even more consequential than the internet or mobile — and what it takes to build and lead in it. This was recorded March 30, 2026. Topics include: Building Affirm & scaling under pressure PayPal lessons & talent density Why ~85% of startups fail AI and the collapse of build costs Why low-quality / scammy companies will get exposed faster AI raising the baseline capability of builders Fintech, credit, and changing consumer behavior Max Levchin: ⁠https://x.com/mlevchin⁠ Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠  Sourcery: ⁠⁠https://x.com/sourceryy⁠  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube : ⁠https://youtu.be/yC_dWibdvHY⁠ 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • ⁠Brex⁠—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. ⁠https://brex.com/sourcery⁠ • ⁠Turing⁠—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. ⁠https://turing.com/sourcery⁠•⁠ VCX⁠—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at⁠ http://GetVCX.com⁠ • ⁠Deel⁠—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: ⁠https://www.deel.com/sourcery⁠ • ⁠Public⁠–Investing platform Public just launched ⁠Generated Assets⁠, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://⁠public.com/sourcery⁠ • ⁠Merge⁠—The leading provider of customer-facing integrations and agentic tools for frontier LLMs, Fortune 500 organizations, and B2B SaaS companies. Visit:⁠ https://merge.dev⁠ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! ⁠https://www.sourcery.vc/⁠ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at ⁠public.com/disclosures/ga⁠. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Max Levchin, Co-Founder of PayPal and CEO of Affirm, joins Sourcery for a wide-ranging conversation on building companies, surviving failure, and navigating one of the most important economic shifts in decades. We start inside Affirm HQ (with a masterclass in espresso) before getting into the story behind onboarding 800,000 Shopify merchants in a week, the lessons from PayPal that still apply today, and why the team is the single biggest determinant of success. Max also breaks down how AI is collapsing the cost and speed of building software — fundamentally reshaping company formation, competition, and the balance between labor and capital. As intelligence becomes more accessible, he explains why weaker, more “scammy” companies will struggle to survive in a world where both consumers and builders are more informed — raising the overall bar for quality, execution, and truth. In parallel, the widespread availability of AI tools may effectively increase baseline capability across the population, shifting what it means to be skilled, technical, and competitive. From reading research papers daily to staying ahead of rapid innovation cycles, he explains why this moment in AI may be even more consequential than the internet or mobile — and what it takes to build and lead in it. This was recorded March 30, 2026. Topics include: Building Affirm & scaling under pressure PayPal lessons & talent density Why ~85% of startups fail AI and the collapse of build costs Why low-quality / scammy companies will get exposed faster AI raising the baseline capability of builders Fintech, credit, and changing consumer behavior Max Levchin: https://x.com/mlevchin Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube : https://youtu.be/yC_dWibdvHY 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at http://GetVCX.com • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery • Merge—The leading provider of customer-facing integrations and agentic tools for frontier LLMs, Fortune 500 organizations, and B2B SaaS companies. Visit: https://merge.dev Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

We got rare access inside Applied Intuition’s commercial garage with Co-Founders CEO Qasar Younis and CTO Peter Ludwig, where they’re building AI systems that power cars, trucks, mining equipment, defense systems, and more. In a never-before-seen tour to the public, Applied Intuition showcases where/how real machines across industries are being rebuilt with AI. Valued at $15B, Applied Intuition is one of the most important companies in physical AI, powering 18 of the top 20 global automakers and deploying autonomy across automotive, trucking, construction, agriculture, and defense. Inside this garage, you’ll see: Self-driving cars, trucks, & heavy machinery Autonomous mining & construction operations Defense systems & remote-controlled fleets A unified operating system running across every machine Qasar and Peter break down how one platform can run everything from a car to a boat to a mining site, and why the future of AI is no longer just software, but systems that move the real world. This is what “atoms” looks like. Qasar Younis: https://x.com/qasar Peter Ludwig: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterwludwig Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube : https://youtu.be/XhuG-xhw94A 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at http://GetVCX.com • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery • Merge—The leading provider of customer-facing integrations and agentic tools for frontier LLMs, Fortune 500 organizations, and B2B SaaS companies. Visit https://merge.dev  Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Inside Applied Intuition physical AI garage (03:00) Cars are a wiring mess (04:31) Why modern architecture matters (06:30) From simulators to autonomy (07:50) Real-time autonomous operations (08:34) AI solving labor shortages (10:09) The mobile AI command center (12:50) How defense became a core focus (16:20) Becoming more public (17:10) Connecting mines, ports, and roads (19:07) Driverless trucks in Japan (20:09) Why they don’t operate in China (21:40) Which country is adopting fastest? (23:00) Scaling a 1400-person AI company (25:43) New vs old AI players (27:49) "Bits are out, Atoms are in" (29:40) Physical AI is just getting started (32:06) The "Japan corner"

Qasar Younis (CEO) & Peter Ludwig (CTO) of Applied Intuition join Sourcery to break down how they’ve quietly built one of the most important AI companies in the world reaching a $15 billion valuation. Founded in 2017, Applied Intuition is building the infrastructure layer for vehicle intelligence and physical AI, powering systems across automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining, and agriculture. Today, 18 of the top 20 global automakers and major U.S. Department of Defense programs rely on their software. The company has raised $1B+ in total funding, including a $600M Series F at a $15B valuation, co-led by BlackRock and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from global investors such as Franklin Templeton, Qatar Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi Investment Council, Premji Invest, Stripes, Greycroft, BAM Elevate, and 137 Ventures. Existing investors include Fidelity Management & Research Company, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, BOND, Elad Gil, Addition, and Tribe Capital, alongside early backing from Marc Andreessen. What makes the company especially unique: despite raising over $1B, Applied Intuition has largely not relied on that capital to fund operations, instead building a profitable, capital-efficient business with long-term customer contracts and deep integration across industries In this conversation, we cover: Why physical AI is fundamentally different from software AI How breakthroughs like transformers unlocked real-world autonomy The company’s horizontal-first strategy across industries Why they stayed quiet for years—and why that changed How they deploy autonomy in defense and industrial environments What hiring looks like in the AI era Applied Intuition isn’t building another AI app—it’s building the infrastructure for AI in the real world. Qasar Younis: https://x.com/qasar Peter Ludwig: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterwludwig Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube: https://youtu.be/TyLDPNTbkEA 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at http://GetVCX.com • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery • Merge—The leading provider of customer-facing integrations and agentic tools for frontier LLMs, Fortune 500 organizations, and B2B SaaS companies. Visit https://merge.dev  Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

David Baszucki, Founder & CEO of Roblox, has quietly built one of the largest & most complex systems on the internet: a real-time, global platform with ~150 million daily active users, 35 billion hours of engagement per quarter, and a $6.8 billion digital economy running on top of massive AI and infrastructure. But Roblox isn’t just scale — it’s a fully functioning economy. The platform has paid out over $1.5 billion to creators, with top 1,000 developers earning over $1.3 million on average, turning games into businesses and players into entrepreneurs. Underneath it all is a deeply engineered system.. 40+ global data centers, hundreds of thousands of servers, and hundreds of AI models powering everything from creation and discovery to safety and real-time interaction. We go deep on how Roblox designed this economy from first principles, why AI will accelerate (not replace) creators, and what it takes to build a platform that blends gaming, social interaction, and entrepreneurship into one system. This is a curious blueprint for the future of the internet & real life where anyone can create, earn, and participate in a global digital world. Subscribe to Sourcery for more conversations with the founders and leaders building the next generation of technology. David Baszucki: https://x.com/DavidBaszucki  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube: https://youtu.be/E0xl3PviQh4 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at https://GetVCX.com   • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery  • Merge—The leading provider of customer-facing integrations and agentic tools for frontier LLMs, Fortune 500 organizations, and B2B SaaS companies. Visit https://merge.dev  Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) David Baszucki, Co-Founder & CEO at Roblox (01:21) A spicy start (03:53) The 10% global gaming ambition (05:40) The early vision that built Roblox (07:45) Vision vs metrics (09:08) The most underrated part of Roblox (10:55) Why Roblox data matters for AI (12:55) The future of AI-powered games (16:27) AI won’t replace creators (20:46) Virtual concerts and the future of AR/VR (22:28) What “4D gaming” actually means (24:29) Staying relevant across generations (27:00) The viral engine (27:58) Lessons on human behavior

Fundrise CEO Ben Miller joins Sourcery to break down the launch of the Fundrise Growth Tech Fund (NYSE: $VCX) — one of the first publicly traded venture capital funds. VCX debuted at roughly $700M valuation and surged to ~$6.5B within days, giving over 100,000 investors access to a portfolio of top private companies including Anthropic (~20%), Databricks (~17%), OpenAI (~10%), Anduril, Ramp, and SpaceX. The timing reflects a broader shift: private markets are now where most value is created. VCX portfolio companies grew ~193% vs ~25% for public tech benchmarks, highlighting the gap between private and public market growth. Meanwhile, IPO timelines have stretched from ~3–5 years to 10–15+ years, meaning public investors are increasingly missing the highest-growth phase. We discuss how VCX works as a closed-end fund, why it has traded at a premium (despite most closed-end funds trading at discounts), and how Fundrise accessed top-tier companies during the 2022–2023 venture downturn — including buying from distressed sellers and stepping into competitive rounds. Finally, we explore what comes next: whether public venture capital becomes a standard allocation, how cycles and volatility impact the model, and what happens if public markets begin directly funding private tech at scale. Topics Covered VCX launch & NYSE debut dynamics Portfolio composition (Anthropic, OpenAI, Databricks, SpaceX) Private vs public market growth gap (193% vs 25%) Macro shift: value creation moving to private markets IPO window + why companies stay private longer How Fundrise sources and wins allocation Closed-end fund structure, NAV, premiums/discounts Risks: volatility, cycles, and downside scenarios Future of venture: rise of public VC funds Subscribe to Sourcery for more conversations with the founders, investors, and operators shaping the future of tech, markets, and capital. Benjamin Miller: https://x.com/BenMillerise  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube : https://youtu.be/3-4AZ-p3tv8 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at https://GetVCX.com • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Michel Del Buono, CIO of Andreessen Horowitz’s multi-family office Perennial, breaks down how Silicon Valley’s top founders and investors manage wealth after massive liquidity events. Perennial was built after Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz saw a major gap: traditional wealth managers weren’t delivering institutional-quality investment advice, while institutional asset managers weren’t built for taxable individuals.  In this episode, we go deep on how portfolios should be constructed when you’re managing $50M to $1B+, including how to prepare for potential mega-events like a SpaceX IPO — which could be one of the largest in history.  We cover: Why most wealth management portfolios are misaligned The structural flaws of RIAs vs institutional asset managers How to manage concentrated stock positions pre- and post-IPO Why venture capital returns are driven by extreme dispersion How taxes, fees, and structure can drive hundreds of basis points of alpha Why volatility is one of the biggest opportunities for long-term investors The rise of multi-family offices in Silicon Valley Michel also explains why many founders make critical mistakes immediately after their first liquidity event — and how to avoid them. If you’re building, investing, or approaching a major liquidity event, this is a masterclass in how wealth is actually managed at scale. Michel Del Buono: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdelbuono/  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube : https://youtu.be/eiu81s0iyj8 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at http://GetVCX.com • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Steve Huffman, Co-Founder and CEO of Reddit, joins Sourcery at Reddit's San Francisco HQ for a deep dive into how Reddit became one of the strongest businesses in social media — and why it may be even more important in the AI era. On its 2-year anniversary as a public company (NYSE: $RDDT), we cover Reddit’s 2024 debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), including how the company brought its community along for the ride through one of the largest directed share programs in tech IPO history—allowing Reddit users to buy shares at the IPO price. From $12M in revenue in 2015 to $2.2B in 2025, Reddit has quietly built one of the most durable social platforms on the internet. A core idea from this conversation: Reddit is built on real humans — and as Steve puts it, there needs to be an “ass in seat.” As AI agents, bots, and synthetic content flood the internet, Reddit is doubling down on authenticity, human conversation, and community-driven moderation — while also becoming one of the most valuable data sources powering top AI models. We cover: Reddit’s NYSE IPO and why Steve recommends going public Why Reddit’s ad business is working while others struggle How Reddit became critical training data for companies like OpenAI and Google The “ass in seat” philosophy and why human presence matters How Reddit handles bots, agents, and AI-generated content Why Reddit may have cracked the social media business model Steve’s contrarian take on IPOs and building long-term companies Reddit by the numbers: 121M Daily Active Uniques 471M+ Weekly Active Uniques 100K+ Active Communities 24B+ Posts & Comments $2.2B Annual Revenue (2025) If you want to understand where the internet is heading — and why human communities may matter more than ever — subscribe to Sourcery. Steve Huffman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shuffman56/   Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube: https://youtu.be/iV-nhcDTvdw 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at http://GetVCX.com • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ DisclosurePaid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Alex Bouaziz is the co-founder and CEO of Deel, the global payroll and workforce infrastructure company that has rapidly become the #1 platform for hiring and paying employees worldwide. Founded in 2019, at only 7 years old, Deel has scaled to $1.4B+ ARR, a $17.3B valuation, and 40K+ customers across 150+ countries.  In this conversation, Alex breaks down how Deel became one of the fastest-growing software companies in the world, building the infrastructure that allows companies to hire, manage, and pay talent anywhere globally. We discuss Deel’s unique M&A playbook, including 10+ acquisitions used to rapidly expand payroll, HR, and compliance capabilities across markets, and how the company has built its own global payroll infrastructure across countries. Despite its rapid growth, Deel has also achieved profitability while scaling past $1B+ in revenue, an uncommon milestone for a company growing at this speed. Alex also discusses the company’s recent $17.3B valuation & funding round backed by Ribbit Capital, Coatue, and a16z, how Deel scaled globally, and why he believes AI and autonomous agents will fundamentally reshape the future workforce. Topics include: • Scaling Deel to $1.4B+ ARR • Serving 40K+ companies across 150+ countries • Deel’s 10+ acquisition M&A strategy • Building a profitable hypergrowth SaaS company • The future of global hiring and distributed teams • How AI agents will transform the workforce Subscribe to Sourcery for conversations with the founders and investors shaping the future of technology, AI, and global business. Alex Bouaziz: https://x.com/Bouazizalex   Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube : https://youtu.be/Z6rW2hVczn0 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at GetVCX.com • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Alex Immerman, General Partner on Growth at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), joins Sourcery to break down how one of Silicon Valley’s most influential firms is investing across AI, fintech, autonomous vehicles, and growth-stage software. With a fresh $6.75B Growth fund, a16z Growth now manages over $22B across five Growth funds. Alex discusses how a16z evaluates category leaders, what separates private markets from public markets today, and why firms are rethinking old metrics in the AI era. He also goes deep on some of a16z’s highest-profile portfolio companies and investments including Waymo, Kalshi, Coinbase, Robinhood, Stripe, Revolut, ElevenLabs, Flock Safety, and more. We cover: • Why private markets now hold much of the highest-growth opportunity • Waymo’s growth, valuation, market share, and the future of autonomous driving • Why a16z backed Kalshi and what makes prediction markets so compelling • ElevenLabs, voice AI, and how breakout AI companies build defensibility • The new AI underwriting framework: growth, engagement, retention, and margins • How a16z scaled from startup VC to capturing 18% of all U.S. venture dollars • Why market leaders capture outsized value and how a16z thinks about winning If you enjoy interviews at the intersection of venture capital, AI, fintech, public markets, and frontier technology, subscribe to Sourcery for more. Alex Immerman: https://x.com/aleximm  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube: https://youtu.be/MLXYJZAikBc 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at http://GetVCX.com • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.   𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Alex Immerman, GP a16z (00:53) Flock Safety: The most underrated company in America (03:43) Private vs public market growth gap (04:43) Do gross margins matter in AI companies? (06:33) Waymo’s growth and $16B funding round (08:13) The future of ride sharing and autonomous vehicles (10:01) Where the value in self driving tech will accrue (12:27) Tesla FSD vs Waymo’s full stack approach (13:50) The growing brand power of Waymo (15:43) What comes after autonomous cars? Humanoid robots (17:41) Are people really worried about AI taking over? (18:55) Inside ElevenLabs’ $500M funding round (22:12) The real world use cases of voice AI agents

Gili Raanan is the Founder of Cyberstarts and one of the earliest investors behind Wiz, one of the most important cybersecurity companies of the modern era and now a $32B outcome. Before founding Cyberstarts, Gili spent nearly a decade at Sequoia and earlier built and sold 2 security companies to IBM and EMC. He also helped build the first real CAPTCHA implementation and the first web application firewall. In this conversation, Gili breaks down the Wiz story from the beginning: why he backed the team early with a $6M seed investment, how the company changed direction, what made its product market fit so powerful, and why its go to market motion scaled so unusually fast. He explains what made the founding team exceptional, what he learned from watching Wiz scale from a $66M seed valuation, and why he believes the next great cybersecurity company could be even bigger. Beyond Wiz, Gili shares the Cyberstarts framework for investing before product, team, or code exists, why he underwrites people over ideas, and how AI agents are changing the future of cybersecurity. Today Cyberstarts has raised $1.5B+ across 7 funds, backed 30 companies, and its portfolio represents over $61B in combined value (50% of the worldwide private cybersecurity companies market). We cover: • The early days of Wiz and how the company evolved from seed to a $32B outcome • Why Wiz achieved such strong product market fit • What made Assaf and the founding team special • How Cyberstarts picks founders before there is product or code • Why Gili believes AI could create the darkest decade in cybersecurity • What the next generation of $50B–$100B cyber companies could look like Subscribe for more conversations with top founders, investors, and operators shaping technology, capital, and the future. Gili Raanan: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/giliraanan/⁠  Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠  Sourcery: ⁠⁠https://x.com/sourceryy⁠  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube : https://youtu.be/yTlEfdo4MVM 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • ⁠Brex⁠—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. ⁠https://brex.com/sourcery⁠ • ⁠Turing⁠—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. ⁠https://turing.com/sourcery⁠• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at http://GetVCX.com • ⁠Deel⁠—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: ⁠https://www.deel.com/sourcery⁠ • ⁠Public⁠—Investing platform Public just launched ⁠Generated Assets⁠, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. ⁠https://public.com/sourcery⁠ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! ⁠https://www.sourcery.vc/⁠ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at ⁠public.com/disclosures/ga⁠. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Alfred Lin, Partner & new Co-Steward of Sequoia Capital and #1 investor on the Midas List, joins Molly O’Shea on Sourcery for a conversation on AI, founder-market fit, enduring companies, and what Sequoia is seeing in this moment of accelerating technological change. For more than five decades, Sequoia has backed many of the most consequential companies in technology, from Apple and Nvidia to Airbnb, DoorDash, Stripe, and more. But as Alfred explains in this conversation, Sequoia does not think about the 54-year-old firm the way many others do. Rather than optimizing around AUM, Sequoia focuses on DPI and being a net liquidity provider to LPs. Since 2020, the firm has distributed more than $43 billion back to investors (as of Oct 27, 2025). In this conversation, Alfred breaks down why AI is the biggest paradigm shift of his career, why the narrative that “AI will kill SaaS” is too simplistic, why startups are reaching meaningful scale faster than ever, and why the most vulnerable companies are the ones that fail to embrace change. They also discuss what’s happening in boardrooms right now, how moats evolve during platform shifts, why the next generation of great companies may be dramatically larger than the last, and how Sequoia identifies outlier founders across companies like Airbnb, DoorDash, Kalshi, Zipline, Clay, Commure, Nominal, OpenAI, and Citadel Securities. Recorded live February 26th at the Upfront Summit 2026. Topics include: Why AI is accelerating startup growth and product velocity Why “AI kills SaaS” is the wrong framework How moats change during paradigm shifts What Alfred is hearing in boardrooms right now Which companies are most vulnerable in the AI era Founder-market fit and the importance of a founder’s “spike” Why the next generation of companies could be much bigger than today’s giants Subscribe to Sourcery for more conversations with the people building the future of technology, finance, and markets. Alfred Lin: https://x.com/Alfred_Lin  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube : https://youtu.be/2aySakMh1mQ 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Thomas Laffont, Co-Founder of $70B AUM Coatue, joins Sourcery to break down how AI is reshaping both private and public markets—from Coatue’s investment in Anthropic’s $30B Series G at a $380B Valuation to the growing volatility AI is introducing across SaaS and the broader tech complex. Recorded live at the Upfront Summit 2026 in Los Angeles on February 25th, 2026, Laffont shares his take on the Citrini “Global Intelligence Crisis” paper, why boardrooms are rapidly expanding AI spend, and which private companies could emerge as the next “Magnificent 7.” We discuss: • Coatue leading Anthropic’s latest funding round (recently hit $19B ARR) • Why AI coding tools are spreading rapidly inside organizations • The Citrini paper and how investors should interpret it • Why SaaS valuations are being repriced • The “Next Mag 7” candidates in private markets • Coatue’s philosophy of Big Idea Investing or (“BFI) and risk management Thomas Laffont: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-laffont-02430914/  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube: https://youtu.be/otqg7UaZb4E 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.   𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Thomas Laffont, Co-Founder Coatue Management (01:18) The rapid rise of Claude Code (04:15) Anthropic’s revenue growth and trajectory (05:25) Where capital is flowing: private vs public markets (08:10) The Cetrini paper and AI market volatility (10:15) Are new Claude releases hurting SaaS companies? (17:22) Will AI reduce the number of engineers? (19:38) The ATM analogy for AI and jobs (21:02) Could autonomous agents automate investing? (23:18) How Coatue got conviction on Nvidia (24:18) Why TAM does not matter (26:43) Running Coatue with his brother Philippe

Nominal is now valued at $1B after closing an $80M B-2 Acceleration Round led by Founders Fund, with participation from Sequoia, Lux Capital, and General Catalyst — just 10 months after Nominal’s $75M Series B led by Sequoia. In this episode of Sourcery, Cameron McCord (Co-Founder & CEO, Nominal) and Trae Stephens (Partner, Founders Fund; Co-Founder & Chairman, Anduril) break down why the round was preemptive, what Founders Fund was tracking from inside its portfolio (including Anduril), and why Nominal is becoming core infrastructure for teams building mission-critical hardware — from aerospace and defense to autonomy, energy, and advanced manufacturing. We get into the “GitHub for software-defined hardware” analogy, what’s broken in the current federal testing stack (yes: Excel + MATLAB + PDFs), how Nominal can cut major test campaigns by 50–60%, and why the real competition is bureaucracy + legacy incumbents. Cameron also shares how Nominal thinks about TAM expansion, dual-use strategy (and why Trae hates the term), strategic M&A, hiring 120–140+ people in 2026, and how AI changes the hardware engineering workflow (from post-test analysis to agentic parallelization). All Systems Nominal. Trae Stephens: https://x.com/traestephens Cameron McCord: https://x.com/CameronLMcCord  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube : https://youtu.be/iPl4oYhhPjY 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Trae Stephens & Cameron McCord (01:11) Nominal raises $80M from Founders Fund (03:32) Why Founders Fund made the investment (05:22) From Palantir to Anduril: Trae’s investor-operator journey (07:14) Nominal: the GitHub for hardware testing (12:33) Why Sequoia believed Nominal’s TAM was much bigger (15:36) Inside Nominal’s growing defense customer base (17:32) Why government hardware testing still relies on Excel and MATLAB (22:22) Cutting hardware testing time by up to 60% (26:55) How AI changes hardware development (37:22) Why the government is backing new defense tech companies (33:35) Nominal's sales strategy (45:44) Competing with legacy software giants (46:24) Recruiting top engineers (50:56) Early Anduril stories from the desert

Courtney and Carter Reum, Co-Founders of M13, join Sourcery for a deep dive into building one of LA’s most prized early-stage venture firms. With $1.9B AUM across three funds, 200+ direct investments, 54 exits, and 15 unicorns seeded or backed at Series A, M13 has built a reputation for pairing venture math with hands-on execution. Portfolio investments include companies like Lyft, Pinterest, Ring, Bonobos, Matterport, Shake Shack, Solana, and emerging leaders like Rho, Prepared, OpenFX, Arena Club and Niural AI.  The firm is ranked Top 20 globally in the HEC-Dow Jones Venture Capital Performance Ranking and was named one of TIME’s Top 100 US VCs for 2025. M13 targets 30–35 core investments per fund, aims for ~20% ownership, and structures its portfolio around power-law outcomes — not incremental 3x bets. Over the last three years, companies behind M13-led rounds have raised ~$800M in follow-on capital, reached Series B ~30% faster, and at ~25% higher valuations than the median. We cover: • Why M13 targets 20% ownership • How they generate alpha in a hype-driven AI market • The second and third wave of AI opportunities • Portfolio construction & power law math • Stablecoins and the future of money • LA’s evolving tech ecosystem • Talent wars in the AI era • Founder execution vs idea quality • Biohacking, longevity, and performance • Lessons from pro sports, Goldman Sachs & culture “M13 is one of the brightest star clusters in the northern sky. It’s full of remarkable individual stars. But when those stars come together, they create something that’s truly greater than the sum of its parts. That’s the M13 advantage.” Subscribe to Sourcery for more conversations with the world’s top investors and founders. Courtney Reum: https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneyreum  Carter Reum: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carterreum Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube : https://youtu.be/FDOW60Yp_hw 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ DisclosurePaid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Welcome to the Pod House: M13’s LA Origins (01:10) $1.9B AUM & 54 Exits — What M13 Focuses on Now (02:20) Early Wins: Ring, Lyft, Pinterest & 15 Unicorns (04:10) Alpha vs Multi-Stage Capital — Two Sports of VC (06:00) Avoiding AI Hype & Sticking to Venture Math (08:40) Why M13 Increased Ownership to 20%

Revel just raised $150M at a $1.005B valuation — only 15 months after founding.  In this episode of Sourcery, I sit down with Scott Morton, Founder & CEO of Revel, to unpack how he went from designing high-consequence launch control systems at SpaceX to building the unified software platform modernizing hardware test and command systems across aerospace, defense, robotics, and advanced energy. The $150 million in Series B funding is aimed to accelerate its expansion across aerospace, defense, robotics, and industrial markets. The round was led by Index Ventures, with major participation from Redpoint Ventures and returning investors Thrive Capital, Felicis, and Abstract Ventures, as well as prominent angels such as Dylan Field, Figma's co-founder and CEO. Revel replaces decades-old infrastructure — much of it built in the 1980s and 1990s — with a modern platform that enables engineers to visually configure hardware systems, monitor live telemetry, and issue commands safely in real time. We cover: Why Index Ventures led a preemptive $150M Series B The SpaceX “T-minus 1 minute” moment that shaped Revel’s philosophy How Revel helped Impulse increase rocket engine testing frequency by 5–10x The difference between Revel Test and Revel C2 (Command & Control) Lessons from Elon Musk on pushing engineers beyond perceived limits Why Dylan Field (Figma) is a key investor and strategic sounding board Revel is now working with companies like Impulse, Radiant Nuclear, Astro Mechanica, and others building mission-critical infrastructure for the autonomous age. This is the story of modernizing the software layer behind physical systems — where one character of code can mean total success… or no launch site. Subscribe to Sourcery for more deep dives into the founders building the next industrial era. Scott Morton: https://x.com/scottgmorton  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube: https://youtu.be/1MkfF1KrD7M 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.   𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Scott Morton, Founder & CEO at Revel (00:40) Raising $150M at a $1.005B valuation in just 15 months (02:58) What Revel actually builds (05:23) 10x faster engine testing by replacing legacy systems (07:26) Designing Falcon 9’s propellant load sequence (09:12) T-1: When every line of code has to be perfect

On Q4’25 earnings day, I went inside Opendoor’s San Francisco headquarters for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how the company operates in real time. CEO Kaz Nejatian gave us a full office tour — from dashboards and war rooms to earnings prep and the team packing merch ahead of the livestream. We sat in on a product discussion, watched the team prepare their live earnings broadcast, and saw firsthand how the culture operates under pressure. I also spoke with Michael Judd, Head of Investor Relations, $OPEN investor relations lead, and one of the longest-standing Opendoor employees (joined in 2016). He shares what it’s been like to see Opendoor move through multiple chapters — from early markets, to stock decline, to what the team calls a “second birth.” In this episode, we cover: • Why Opendoor livestreams earnings — including streaming on Robinhood • How the $OPEN Army became part of the company’s public narrative • Innovating on investor relations in a digital market • Weekly velocity and compressed execution cycles • What a public company “second act” looks like internally • The mission behind making homeownership more accessible This is a rare inside look at earnings day inside a public company — the people, the pace, the pressure, and the product. If you want more, check out our full interview with Kaz. Kaz Nejatian: https://x.com/nejatian Michael Judd: https://x.com/michaeljudd321  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube: https://youtu.be/IMN9tOz4erY 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Inside Opendoor HQ (00:57) Earnings day energy with CEO Kaz (03:42) Why is there a sword in the conference room? (04:58) Retail investors, capitalism, and leading in wartime (08:08) Michael Judd on a decade of rise and reset (10:25) Reinventing earnings with live streams (13:38) Keeping up with Kaz (14:16) The $Open Army (15:07) From $0.50 share price to resurrection (18:07) Closed doors at Opendoor? (19:38) Inside a live product meeting with Kaz & team

On the day of earnings, Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian joins Molly O’Shea on Sourcery to break down the public turnaround of a company that was trading around $0.50 per share, facing delisting risk, and fighting for survival in full view of the market, with the backing of the $OPEN army behind it. Kaz stepped in after Opendoor’s market cap had collapsed to the low hundreds of millions and the iBuying model was widely written off. Instead of managing optics, he focused on fundamentals. He reviewed every employee and every invoice, cut millions in consulting spend including a $5M engagement he believed degraded quality, restructured workflows that once required 11 human touchpoints, brought the company back in person within days, and rebuilt incentives around a $1 salary and a performance based equity package worth up to $2.8B if long term targets are met. This conversation is primarily about what it actually takes to attempt a public company turnaround in real time. We discuss speed as a learning mechanism, the power of a founder mentality, conviction under scrutiny, and the discipline required to build something durable when the stock price is disconnected from the underlying business. In this episode, we cover: • The psychology of running a turnaround with quarterly earnings pressure • What it means to optimize for what things are, not what they look like • Why most public companies misprice long term growth • The loneliness and pressure of being a founder type CEO • Lessons from Toby Lütke at Shopify on applying a near zero discount rate to future growth • Refusing to sacrifice long term compounding for short term stock movements • How to build conviction while everyone is watching in public markets If you enjoy these deep dives, subscribe to Sourcery for weekly interviews with the founders, CEOs, and investors shaping technology and markets. Kaz Nejatian: https://x.com/nejatian  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube: https://youtu.be/lifm020YjcU 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Kaz Nejatian, CEO Opendoor (01:11) Near delisting and stepping in at a $0.50 share price (04:20) Obsessing over Opendoor and planning to take it private (07:00) Running a Public company without playing the Headline Game (09:09) The $1 salary and being fully levered to the mission

Thrive Capital Partner Philip Clark joins Sourcery to break down how one of the most concentrated and influential firms in tech evaluates founders, builds conviction, and partners with companies that reshape the world. “Josh always had a line to me when I joined Thrive, which is that the people who win deals are the ones who want to win them most.” In this episode, we go deep on Thrive’s investments in OpenAI, Cursor, Wiz, Nudge, Physical Intelligence, and why Philip believes we’re entering a golden era for hardware — powered by cheaper sensors, software intelligence, and a new generation of engineers trained at SpaceX, Anduril, and Neuralink. Philip tells the inside story of: Seeing an early demo of OpenAI’s GPT-4 before launch Why Thrive flew into an active war zone to close the Wiz deal Cursor’s explosive growth from a small pivot to a multi-hundred-million ARR product How Nudge is engineering the human brain using ultrasound Why hardware’s barriers are falling and why the biggest companies of the next decade may be physical If you want to understand the future of AI, hardware, and the next generation of “counterfactual companies,” this is the episode. Philip Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-clark-883a41126/ Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube: https://youtu.be/niosgDC-QHU 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=sourcery&utm_campaign=20250923-amer-carta_sourcery_data_insights Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Who is Philip Clark? How he joined Thrive Capital (02:45) From physics to investing: becoming a technologist–optimist (04:00) How semiconductors led him to Thrive (06:00) Deep dive: Mesh Optical & the data center interconnect opportunity (07:45) Inside Cursor’s explosive growth and why AI is “speed chess” (09:15) How Philip first met Cursor’s founders during a pivot (11:30) Path to partner & Thrive’s “full-stack investor” model (13:45) The Wiz story: flying into an active war zone (17:15) Why Wiz closed six-figure deals in weeks — the rare “fast + big” enterprise combo (19:30) Why hardware is back: sensors, software, and SpaceX-trained talent (21:45) The rise of Nudge and engineering the human brain (26:30) Neuralink & Nudge: read to stimulate (31:15) Why Thrive concentrates instead of “spray and pray” (36:00) Inside OpenAI: seeing GPT-4 before launch (40:45) What comes after SaaS — and the companies unlocked by AI

Alex Blania (CEO of Tools for Humanity, Co-Founder of World, and Co-Founder of Merge Labs) joins Sourcery to explain why the internet is heading toward a breaking point: bots, deepfakes, scams, and autonomous agents are scaling faster than trust. “99.9% of internet traffic will be AI driven.” “It’s not about combating the bots because that will be a lost cause.” World is trying to build a “real human network” a proof-of-human layer for the AI era, and the numbers are getting serious: • 38,374,194 World App users across 160 countries • 17,832,402 verified unique humans • 970,885,726 wallet transactions We talk about: how proof-of-human actually works, what happens when bots outnumber people online, why identity becomes the bottleneck for markets and platforms, and what a “verified human internet” could look like. Then we go deeper into Alex’s second frontier bet: Merge Labs, a brain–computer interface research lab that raised $252M seed round at an $850M valuation, backed by Bain Capital Ventures, with OpenAI as an investor and research collaborator, plus Gabe Newell. Merge Labs is pursuing less-invasive, higher-bandwidth BCIs, exploring ultrasound-based modalities and molecular approaches to interface with more of the brain without implants. The bot era is here. The question is: how do you prove you’re human online, and what happens when you can’t? Alex Blania: ⁠https://x.com/alexblania⁠ Molly O’Shea: ⁠⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠⁠ Sourcery: ⁠⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube: ⁠https://youtu.be/7PnaQzw_K8E⁠ 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! ⁠https://www.sourcery.vc/⁠ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Alex Blania (01:27) World Explained: ID, Chain, App — The Full Stack (04:47) World Card, Stablecoins & Encrypted World Chat (08:22) 37M Users, 17M Verified — And It’s Still Not Enough (11:02) “Fail-Safe Privacy” — Why This Can’t Break (12:18) Where Proof of Human Actually Wins: Social, Dating, Gaming (14:04) Stop Fighting Bots — Label AI vs Human (16:49) How Alex Met Sam Altman (22:25) Operating with Sam While Building Two Companies (24:39) Inside Merge Labs — Why It Took 18 Months (24:58) “Last Innings Before Superintelligence” (32:38) Launching Merge Labs – $252M Seed Round (34:01) OpenAI Funding (37:30) Brain–Computer Interfaces 101 — Why Bandwidth Matters (42:14) Mind Control? Privacy? The Real BCI Misconceptions

Jake Paul and Geoffrey Woo join Molly O’Shea on Sourcery to break down their venture strategy, Anti Fund, and the operator-to-investor flywheel Jake has built across sports, consumer, media, and venture.  With companies like: W, Betr, Anti Fund, Most Valuable Promotions, Boxing Bullies, Celsius, Dog Haus, & his new ranch, Jake explains how his broader empire building strategy centers on ownership, distribution, and long-term compounding rather than one-off wins. Specifically, we go inside Anti Fund (~$65M+ AUM, currently deploying a ~$30M vehicle) and explain why they avoid rigid “seed-only” or “growth-only” mandates—writing small entry checks to build conviction, then scaling into larger positions as companies prove out. In an AI-accelerated market where timelines compress quickly, adaptability becomes the edge. Jake shares why investing has become his “first love,” giving him proximity to frontier founders, including a close relationship with OpenAI. He reflects on helping shape the viral Sora moment and on lessons learned from Sam Altman around speed, decisiveness, and eliminating wasted time—while Geoffrey argues that as AI commoditizes execution, culture, taste, and distribution become the true moats. The episode captures a new venture archetype built on cultural gravity and direct access. With Logan Paul joining the partnership, Anti-Fund is positioning itself to compete with top firms while backing long-horizon themes like AI infrastructure, applied AI, robotics, and defense tech. Jake measures performance with numbers, but defines success more simply: having fun while competing at the highest level. Anti Fund® is an investment firm that invests in technology companies. Past investments include OpenAI, Anduril, Ramp, Cognition, Polymarket, Physical Intelligence, Flock Safety (via Aerodome), Chronosphere among many others. Anti Fund was founded upon two foundational axioms: the future is forged at the intersection of tech 🤝 culture. the best founders are “anti” by definition, as their companies must be highly disruptive to the status quo Jake Paul: ⁠https://x.com/jakepaul⁠  Geoffrey Woo: ⁠https://x.com/geoffreywoo⁠  Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠  Sourcery: ⁠⁠https://x.com/sourceryy⁠  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 Youtube: ⁠https://youtu.be/SMzYK_kqm8M⁠ 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • ⁠Brex⁠—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. ⁠https://brex.com/sourcery⁠ • ⁠Turing⁠—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. ⁠https://turing.com/sourcery⁠ • ⁠Deel⁠—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: ⁠https://www.deel.com/sourcery⁠ • ⁠Public⁠–Investing platform Public just launched ⁠Generated Assets⁠, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://⁠public.com/sourcery⁠ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! ⁠https://www.sourcery.vc/⁠ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at ⁠public.com/disclosures/ga⁠. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Unconventional AI recently emerged from stealth with $475M in seed funding at a $4.5B valuation, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed, with participation from Sequoia, Lux Capital, DCVC, Future Ventures, Jeff Bezos, Playground Global, and others. Naveen is also personally investing $10M into the company. Recorded at Playground Global in Palo Alto and hosted by Peter Barrett, General Partner, this Sourcery conversation features: - Naveen Rao — CEO & Co-Founder, Unconventional AI (founder of Nervana, acquired by Intel for $400M+, and MosaicML, acquired by Databricks for $1.3B; former Chief AI Officer at Databricks) - Konstantine Buhler — Partner at Sequoia Capital - Molly O’Shea — Founder of Sourcery (Moderator) Unconventional AI is building a new computational substrate designed for biology-scale efficiency — running neural networks directly on the nonlinear physics of silicon instead of simulating them through traditional digital abstractions.As AI demand accelerates, computation is approaching a collision with global energy supply. Unconventional’s thesis: achieving step-function efficiency gains requires rethinking compute itself. Instead of forcing stochastic neural networks onto deterministic digital machines, the company is engineering silicon circuits with similar nonlinear dynamics — effectively creating a “silicon wind tunnel” for intelligence.In this conversation, we cover:- Why energy — not capital — is becoming AI’s true bottleneck- The return of analog-inspired computing- What it takes to build a new computing paradigm- How investors underwrite formation-stage deep tech- Where the AI supercycle goes next Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Naveen on X: https://x.com/NaveenGRao Brought to you by:Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery subscriber you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s). Plus, white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, and access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → brex.com/sourcery Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance, and enable enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourcery Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: deel.com/sourcery Public-–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. Seriously, you can type in anything, from “AI-powered supply-chain companies with positive free cash flow” to “defense tech companies growing revenue over 25% year-over-year.” With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. Try it today: public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Deedy Das, Partner at Menlo Ventures and former founding team member at Glean, joins Sourcery to unpack a major shift reshaping venture capital: the move from rigid investment theses toward founder-led conviction. With 48+ years of experience, 80+ public companies, 165+ mergers and acquisitions, and $6.8B+ under management, Menlo Ventures is partnering with Anthropic through the $100M Anthology Fund to back the next generation of AI startups. Deedy explains how the firm identifies infrastructure companies early — often before the broader market recognizes their importance — and why iconic outcomes rarely emerge from predefined theses. He breaks down what distinguishes durable AI businesses from short-lived momentum plays, and how top investors evaluate founders capable of building enduring companies. We also explore the rapid evolution of the AI stack — from internet-scale training to reinforcement learning, agentic systems, and the pursuit of the economic Turing test. Topics Covered: The strategy behind Menlo + Anthropic’s Anthology Fund Why “anti-thesis” investing wins Founder traits that predict generational companies AI infrastructure gaps still waiting to be built Product taste as a competitive moat The danger of overfunding startups Why Deedy became one of tech’s most followed voices on X Deedy Das: https://x.com/deedydas   Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube : https://youtu.be/Gjw0oBznXuQ 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Sequoia Capital Partner Shaun Maguire returns to Sourcery for a conversation with Molly O’Shea on math superintelligence, physics, and the limits of human understanding. Specifically, Shaun explains his and Andrew Reed’s investment in Harmonic, the new AI company founded by Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, and why math + reinforcement learning may unlock the next major breakthrough in artificial intelligence. Breaking down Harmonic’s differentiated strategy using Lean, formalized proofs, and reinforcement learning to train AI systems that reason rigorously about math, outperforming far larger labs with a fraction of the spend. We also get into Shaun’s physics worldview from loopholes in the laws of nature, to time travel, vacuum energy, UAPs, Bayesian probability, information warfare and why he believes we understand far less about reality than we think. The conversation expands into UAPs (UFOs), Palmer Luckey, probability, scientific humility, and how frontier intelligence, human or artificial, might reshape what’s possible in math, physics, and reality itself. In an exclusive cut for X, Shaun discusses free speech, narrative power, and why platforms like X matter in an era of global information conflict (Sequoia invested $800M in the take-private) – making the case that much of today’s political and media chaos is the downstream effect of Cold War–era KGB psychological warfare tactics that never actually stopped — they just changed hands. Shaun Maguire: https://x.com/shaunmmaguire  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 https://youtu.be/7-kTsCkKfUw 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ DisclosurePaid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Brex CEO Pedro Franceschi joins Molly O’Shea for an exclusive breakdown of the $5.15B Brex x Capital One M&A deal—from the first serious conversations to finalising the deal in ~40 days, making this one of the largest bank–fintech deals in history. Pedro shares why Capital One paid up, why he believes the “exit” mental model is wrong, and how Brex stays founder-led with a “butterfly” operating model inside a $150B platform powered by $6B in marketing and $6B in R&D. We break down the full deal timeline (term sheet on Dec 22, announcement tied to Capital One’s Jan 22 earnings), the 50/50 cash–equity structure, and why Capital One committed ~$950M in integration + retention to accelerate Brex’s trajectory. Pedro also walks through Brex’s valuation reset—from a $12B peak to a ~$4B employee repricing, and now a ~13.4x gross profit acquisition multiple at the top end of fintech public comps. Pedro also explains how Brex is staying in war mode—shifting its real competition from fintech peers to JPMorgan, Amex, and the largest U.S. banks. With Capital One’s scale behind it, Brex is aggressively pushing to win enterprise market share, out-execute legacy incumbents, and become the dominant financial platform for modern companies. Brex today serves 1 in 3 U.S. startups, supports 300+ public companies, and powers spend for top AI labs—including TikTok, Toast, Robinhood, Anthropic, Zoom, DoorDash, and Canva. After closing, Brex is expected to become the #3 corporate card platform in the U.S., accelerating enterprise expansion, AI agents, and next-generation financial automation. This may be the only full public, founder-level breakdown of a major M&A deal ever shared right after signing. Hope you enjoy! Pedro Franceschi: https://x.com/pedroh96   Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 https://youtu.be/3a3omxYXqK4 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Elon Musk has built more category-defining companies than any founder alive — and Sequoia Capital and Partner Shaun Maguire have backed five of them: SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and X. In this episode of Sourcery, Shaun breaks down how Elon builds trillion-dollar companies, why SpaceX may be the greatest company, largest IPO and wealth creation event of all time, and why he believes Elon is still massively underrated despite his global impact. We dive into SpaceX’s IPO, Starlink’s explosive growth, data centers in space, direct-to-cell from orbit, xAI, and the unique way Elon builds long-term potential energy before unleashing scale. Shaun also explains why SpaceX could become the biggest wealth creation event in history, how liquidity will reshape the tech ecosystem, and why Elon’s approach to power, infrastructure, and speed gives him an unmatched edge. This is a deep look inside Elon’s operating system — from one of the most technically fluent investors in Silicon Valley. Shaun Maguire: https://x.com/shaunmmaguire Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YT: https://youtu.be/lPXYqPXo_R0 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Shaun Maguire, Partner at Sequoia Capital (01:10) SpaceX Upcoming IPO & data centers in space (05:00) The math behind space-based data centers (07:05) Breaking down Starlink from first principles (12:10) Economics of Starlink vs legacy telecom (14:41) Starlink + self-driving cars and the future of mobility (16:29) Starship, direct-to-cell, and the next decade roadmap (19:38) SpaceX investment size and returns so far  (20:25) Why is Elon still underrated? (21:33) How SpaceX went from contrarian to consensus (25:39) Why does Elon keep a tight investor circle? (27:06) Why does the market still underestimate xAI? (29:47) AI capex, liquidity cycles, and why spending is rational (32:11) Staying private vs going public: what makes more sense (35:47) Mission-driven cultures vs post-liquidity slowdown (37:53) Preparing founders psychologically for liquidity events (40:33) Why this may be the healthiest wealth creation cycle

Filmed at the Reagan National Defense Forum at the Reagan National Library, Molly walks with Dan Wright, CEO of Armada, to unpack why the next era of AI infrastructure will not live only in hyperscale cloud campuses – it will move into the physical world. Armada calls itself the hyperscaler for the edge. The company builds modular AI factories that bring compute, connectivity, storage, and real world AI into environments where latency, security, and reliability are mission critical. Dan shares how Armada started with SpaceX as an early point of entry, why Starlink fundamentally changed what is deployable around the globe, and how Armada is pairing connectivity with infrastructure to bring the most powerful AI models to places that have never had access before. The conversation spans Armada’s partnerships with Microsoft, OpenAI, and Skydio, plus what it takes to deploy in extreme environments, from U.S. Navy operations at sea to the Saudi desert with Aramco Digital, and all the way to Alaska for real time disaster response. Dan also lays out the geopolitics of AI infrastructure, why he believes the world will run on either the U.S. AI stack or the Chinese AI stack, and why exporting infrastructure to allies is central to winning that race. We also go long on space. Dan explains why data centers in space are coming, why Starship is a prerequisite for lunar and planetary industry, and why compute becomes unavoidable once you imagine robots building bases on the Moon and later Mars. He also reacts to the ongoing SpaceX IPO speculation for 2026 and why broader access to SpaceX would matter if it happens. Armada has raised $200M+ to date, backed by investors including Founders Fund, Dragon Global, Lux Capital, Shield Capital, 8090 Industries, Microsoft’s M12, Overmatch, Silent Ventures, Felicis, and Marlinspike, with later strategic participation including Pinegrove, Veriten, and Glade Brook. Dan Wright: https://x.com/danwrightSF  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YT: https://youtu.be/iCD8nuxSgKw 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy joins Sourcery to discuss Snowflake’s long-term path toward iconic scale, drawing on his firsthand experience scaling Google Ads from ~$1.6B to ~$100B+ in revenue — including the moment Eric Schmidt challenged his team to write a $100B revenue plan as a thought experiment in compounding growth. Rather than declaring a Snowflake revenue target, Sridhar explains how sustained ~30–35% compound growth, discipline, and execution can transform a company over time — and how Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) is positioning itself in the AI data platform arms race to build toward that level of impact. We cover: Snowflake’s role in the AI supercycle Competing with Databricks, hyperscalers, and frontier AI platforms Scaling ambitions inspired by Eric Schmidt Lessons from Frank Slootman’s leadership and Sutter Hill’s influence The strategic logic behind the Observe acquisition IPO lessons from one of the largest software debuts in history And Sridhar’s personal “monk mode” operating style — optimizing for focus, discipline, and long-term execution This episode is about compounding growth, enterprise AI, and what it takes to build a truly iconic company over decades. Sridhar Ramaswamy: https://x.com/RamaswmySridhar  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YT: https://youtu.be/1ahhYmSFShQ 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton gives Molly a rare full tour inside Zipline’s factory + HQ—including the ROCC (Remote Operating Command Center), live flight monitoring, the HITL hardware-in-the-loop simulator lab, reliability testing, and the production line. DISCLAIMER: This is a LIVE factory, it is noisy, audio can be inconsistent at times. Enjoy :) Watch our full sit-down interview with Keller for more information behind their latest $7.6B valuation & financing round. Zipline is nearing 2,000,000 total deliveries and operates what Keller describes as a global system where “every one of those aircraft is out making delivery somewhere in the world.” The company says it has achieved 125 million commercial autonomous miles with zero safety incident, and it’s scaling fast: ~15% week-over-week growth with operations running ~17 hours/day today and moving toward 24/7. Inside the ROCC, Keller walks through how Zipline manages fleet oversight at scale, including FAA approval to fly at ratios of “one human to 30 aircraft” (and pushing beyond that). He also shares site ramp dynamics: the first Dallas site took ~110 days to reach 100 deliveries/day, while newer sites can hit 100 deliveries/day in ~2 days—and in some cities Zipline says 50%+ of homes are ordering. On the engineering side, Zipline’s HQ team spans autonomy, powertrain, safety/reliability, systems test, embedded, mechanical, and industrialization—part of a workforce of ~1,300 people, including ~800 in the U.S., with “more than half” in engineering. Keller also explains Zipline’s Tesla-like approach to vertical integration: designing core systems in-house (including motors) and even building internal manufacturing software—“the only other companies…that do that…Tesla.” You’ll see how Zipline maintains high engineering velocity while prioritizing safety: a major global software update every six weeks (typically ~60 bug fixes and ~25–30 performance improvements), tested across simulation and real-world flights before rolling out over-the-air. Keller R. Cliffton: https://x.com/Keller  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YT: https://youtu.be/_qbbwichFIk 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ DisclosurePaid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton joins Sourcery from Zipline’s drone factory to break down the company’s $600M+ funding round at a $7.6B valuation, a clear step up from Zipline’s ~$5B valuation in 2024, as the company enters a major U.S. and global scaling phase. The round includes participation from leading investors Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, and Tiger Global, underwriting Zipline’s expansion across manufacturing capacity, fleet CapEx, and metro-level infrastructure as demand accelerates. Zipline has now surpassed 2 million commercial deliveries and flown 125M+ commercial autonomous miles, making it the world’s largest autonomous delivery system. The company operates on four continents, serves 5,000+ hospitals and health facilities, and delivers food, retail, and healthcare products directly to customers’ homes in minutes. Zipline’s zero-emission aircraft have delivered more than 20 million items with no serious injuries and are saving 10,000+ lives per year in the process. In the U.S., Zipline is scaling at exceptional speed. U.S. deliveries have grown by approximately 15% week over week for the last seven months, and Keller shares that Zipline now does more deliveries in the United States than the rest of the world combined. In Dallas, Zipline’s first site took 10 weeks to reach 100 deliveries per day, while newer sites reached that same volume in just 2 days—a clear signal the system is moving from early adoption to everyday infrastructure. We also cover Zipline’s upcoming launches in Houston and Phoenix, where customers will soon be able to order tens of thousands of items with deliveries arriving in as little as 10 minutes, Zipline’s vertically integrated manufacturing strategy, and why Keller believes autonomous, on-demand logistics will soon be the norm across multiple U.S. states. Keller R. Cliffton : https://x.com/Keller  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy  𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube: https://youtu.be/sF5Ocop7A_I 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time

Adam Goldstein, Founder & CEO of Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR) gives Sourcery a full behind-the-scenes of Archer’s HQ.  In this conversation, Adam breaks down what Archer is building (a new category of aviation), why regulatory and political support matters, and how they’re thinking about scaling from early city deployments to a truly global aircraft business. We also get into why retail investors and Reddit became a major part of Archer’s story, and the market-sizing framework behind “20 aircraft x 1,000 markets.” One part of Archer’s progress that’s very impressive are their significant defense and strategic technology partnerships, including Anduril (hybrid VTOL and unmanned rotorcraft concepts), Palantir (AI and data infrastructure for manufacturing, operations, and airspace systems), its role as the exclusive air taxi provider for the LA 2028 Olympics, and its early expansion partnerships across the UAE. Plus, I try the simulators: first a helicopter-style experience (chaos), then Archer’s Midnight fly-by-wire system (way easier, way more fun). Archer was the first sponsor of Sourcery ever, so it was special to get a full tour! Topics we cover: What Archer is and how eVTOL air taxis work The “first new category in aviation in 60 years” and what it takes to unlock it LA28 Olympics and the path from now to 2028 EIPP and flying in US cities as soon as next year Defense market shift toward autonomy at scale and Archer’s partnerships Going public early, Boeing conflict, and the role of retail liquidity Why Adam thinks this can become a $100B+ business (and eventually bigger) Adam Goldstein: ⁠https://x.com/adamgoldstein13⁠  Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠  Sourcery: ⁠⁠https://x.com/sourceryy⁠ 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube : ⁠https://youtu.be/kohPqi123-s⁠ 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • ⁠Brex⁠—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. ⁠https://brex.com/sourcery⁠ • ⁠Turing⁠—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. ⁠https://turing.com/sourcery⁠ • ⁠Deel⁠—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: ⁠https://www.deel.com/sourcery⁠ • ⁠Public⁠–Investing platform Public just launched ⁠Generated Assets⁠, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://⁠public.com/sourcery⁠ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! ⁠https://www.sourcery.vc/⁠ DisclosurePaid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at ⁠public.com/disclosures/ga⁠. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev joins Molly O’Shea from Robinhood HQ to break down the company’s record year and what powered its growth. Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) stock opened 2025 under $40/share and ended the year around $113/share, a ~200% annual gain, pushing the company to roughly $120B in market capitalization. But as Vlad explains, the bigger story is under the hood. Today, Robinhood has 11 separate business lines generating $100M+ in annual revenue (!!), including prediction markets, margin, Gold subscriptions, cash sweep, crypto, and institutional infrastructure via Bitstamp. Vlad walks through Robinhood’s three long-term arcs: becoming #1 for active traders, owning wallet share for the next generation, and expanding globally into business and institutional markets. The conversation spans: Prediction markets as a new supercycle (sports, weather, insurance) Tokenized stocks and 24/7 trading in Europe Reinventing earnings calls as live, interactive experiences Unlocking private markets and AI companies for retail investors Robinhood Cortex, an AI financial assistant with full portfolio context Why retail investors today look very different than in 2021 This is a deep look at how Robinhood matured alongside its users — and how Vlad thinks about the next decade of finance. Vlad Tenev:Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube: https://youtu.be/7cvVgxJYb-I 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

David Senra joins Sourcery for a candid conversation about the founders he’s spent nearly a decade studying, and why time, not intelligence or hype, is the only filter that actually matters. As the creator of Founders, Senra has read and analyzed hundreds of biographies of history’s most consequential builders, looking for the recurring patterns behind people who don’t just succeed once, but keep going for decades. That work led directly to his new show, David Senra. What makes the format unusual is that these aren’t traditional interviews and they aren’t random guests, they’re conversations. And the people David sits down with are often longtime listeners of Founders, super-fans of the ideas, books, and lessons his audience already cares about, who apply those lessons at an extraordinary level. The result is a rare alignment where the guests and the audience share the same reference points. In this episode, Senra reflects on conversations with founders he’s spoken with directly, including Michael Dell, Brad Jacobs, James Dyson, Michael Ovitz, & Daniel Ek, alongside the long arc of figures he’s studied deeply on Founders such as Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, & Walt Disney. Across all of them, the common thread is durability: staying in the same game long enough for compounding to work. Rather than focusing on startups, exits, or fundraising cycles, this conversation centers on why most founders disappear, their biggest & most common regrets, how self-sabotage ends more careers than competition, and why the best builders treat problems as puzzles instead of crises.  It’s a discussion about building something you can stay with for life, & why the rarest outcome in business isn’t success, but longevity. David Senra: https://x.com/davidsenra  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube: https://youtu.be/RVdwU711kP0 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ DisclosurePaid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Jeffrey Katzenberg & ChenLi Wang join Sourcery for a deep, candid conversation on how WndrCo was built, and how they think about investing, company-building, and storytelling in the age of AI. Katzenberg reflects on his third act after Disney & DreamWorks, tracing a lifelong pattern of using technology as a competitive advantage for storytelling. ChenLi shares how scaling Dropbox shaped his views on product craft, distribution, and why benchmarks often fail to capture what actually makes great companies. Together, they break down WndrCo’s hybrid model spanning builds, venture, and seed investing, and discuss how that framework has led them to back category-defining companies including 1Password, Airtable, Harvey, Abridge, Granola, and Deel — as well as internally built platforms across consumer security, health, and the future of work. They unpack why WndrCo sometimes chooses to build companies from scratch rather than invest, how they deploy capital across stages, and why real differentiation today comes from product obsession, storytelling, and hands-on operating support, not capital alone. The conversation also dives into the state of venture capital, the coming AI reckoning, what happens after $700B+ in hyperscaler capex, and why only companies delivering visible ROI and real adoption will survive the next cycle. Jeffrey Katzenberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-katzenberg-4b3b47123/ Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube: https://youtu.be/8ZpodkQ0rn8 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Welcome to Sourcery at WndrCo (01:43) What Actually Changed in AI in 2025 (03:26) When AI Hype Meets Real Productivity (05:01) Is an AI Bubble About to Burst? (05:59) Companies WndrCo Is Most Excited About (09:02) The Origin Story of WndrCo (09:45) Technology as a Storytelling Advantage (12:55) Why Katzenberg Chose Venture as a Third Act (17:12) From Holding Company to Venture Platform (18:56) How WndrCo Decides to Build vs Invest (22:29) Why Longevity Became a New Build Theme (26:33) "Good Storytelling, Bad Outcomes" (29:57) What Actually Differentiates WndrCo as an Investor (35:57) Why Benchmarks Fail in the AI Era (40:16) How WndrCo Invests: Build, Venture, Seed

Michael Mignano, Partner at $30B VC firm Lightspeed, and the co-founder of Anchor, a podcast creation, hosting, and monetization platform acquired by Spotify in 2019, joins Sourcery to discuss the next era of creation & technology investing. In this episode, Michael shares how his background building consumer media products informs the way he invests today, with a focus on AI and creativity-driven companies. We discuss his portfolio, including investments in xAI, Neuralink, Suno, Pika, Granola, and Macroscope, and how he evaluates AI businesses when incumbents can move quickly. The conversation digs into what makes AI companies defensible today, from retention-driven moats to why ARR metrics can be misleading. Michael shares his reaction to the Sora launch and avatars, and what these changes could mean for creators.  We also touch on evolving early-stage check sizes, lessons from Spotify’s Daniel Ek, his work on Obo, and thoughts on potential IPO candidates. Michael Mignano: https://x.com/mignano Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube : https://youtu.be/m0lZ3JdZw7s 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.   𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Michael Mignano (01:06) Anchor’s pivot & podcasting’s breakout moment (02:32) Spotify’s Talk org: podcasts, video, and live audio (02:55) Why synchronous (live) formats fail online (03:27) Joining Lightspeed & portfolio overview (03:47) Investment thesis: creativity, product taste, founders (05:24) How xAI & Neuralink fit Lightspeed’s strategy (06:56) Is OpenAI “Sherlocking” ? (08:37) Granola & retention as the real AI moat (09:52) Why ARR can be FAKE in AI startups (11:20) Seed vs Series A check sizes & AI valuation premiums (19:34) Sora, avatars, recommendation media, & creator economics (33:37) Oboe: AI education & human intelligence (40:01) Lessons from Daniel Ek & Spotify’s long-term strategy (42:55) IPO predictions & what comes next

Palmer Luckey, Co-Founder of Anduril, joins Sourcery for an unfiltered walk through some of the most controversial & speculative questions in modern defense technology, from UAPs and UFOs to invisibility tech, moon warfare, and why all of it may be running on parallel tracks to today’s human military development. Luckey breaks down what war would actually look like in space and on the moon, why spacecraft are nearly impossible to armor, and why survival off-Earth is so fragile that conflict would be “decisive and catastrophic.” He also explains Anduril’s real work on optical camouflage, why visible-spectrum invisibility is easier than people think, and why it’s largely irrelevant against modern adversaries armed with infrared, radar, and lidar. The conversation moves from the serious to the personal: Palmer’s blunt take on media coverage and testing failures, his belief that UAPs are likely not recently manufactured, his side project ModRetro (from an heirloom-grade Game Boy to the upcoming M64), and how becoming a father has—and hasn’t—changed his long-term worldview.  Equal parts speculative, technical, and philosophical, this episode captures the mind of a founder who’s comfortable operating at the edge of science, industry, and culture. Palmer Luckey: https://x.com/PalmerLuckey Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea  Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube : https://youtu.be/WEGJh-4Iq30 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=sourcery&utm_campaign=20250923-amer-carta_sourcery_data_insights • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time. _ 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Palmer Luckey, Co-Founder Anduril (01:26) Fury: The first autonomous fighter jet (04:28) Anduril testing failures & Press heat (11:47) What would war look like on the Moon? (14:28) Invisible drones & Why camouflaging isn't useful (18:47) UAPs are from the past? (22:16) Seabed Sentry, Sentry Tower & Ocean surveillance (24:44) Shipbuilding gap with China & Why ships matter (27:18) Palmer's garage projects: Jet engine motorcycle (30:43) Lessons from fatherhood? (32:17) The next big step for Anduril

Trae Stephens, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Anduril, & Partner at Founders Fund, joins Sourcery for a behind-the-scenes conversation on Anduril’s 2017 founding, when defense tech was deeply unpopular in Silicon Valley, the cultural shift that followed, and how software, autonomy, manufacturing scale, and ethics now converge in modern warfare and national security. Stephens explains Anduril’s core thesis: software-defined, hardware-enabled, and why the company is building a multi-domain autonomy strategy across sea, ground, air, and space. He also outlines the manufacturing view that “the factory is the weapon,” including Anduril’s expansion into scaled production with Arsenal-1 (a planned ~5 million sq ft campus near Columbus, Ohio) and a broader network of facilities and partners. The conversation also covers ethics and strategy: Stephens discusses Just War Theory (St. Augustine), the goal of increasing precision while removing humans from “dull, dirty, dangerous” roles, and the broader cultural shifts shaping America. He reflects on lessons from Palantir and Founders Fund, including Peter Thiel’s influence, concentration in venture, and “zero-to-one” strategy, and shares what he looks for when investing in founders. Trae Stephens: https://x.com/traestephens Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠  Sourcery: ⁠⁠https://x.com/sourceryy⁠ 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube : https://youtu.be/9Fdq1TShG2w 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Trae Stephens, Co-founder & Executive Chairman Anduril (01:03) Rise of defense tech & Pete Hegseth visit (03:58) Origin of Anduril & James Bond dreams (05:18) Anduril's multi-domain defense strategy (06:42) China's subsidies & US government investments (08:46) "Factory is the weapon" & re-industrialization (10:30) Arsenal-1 Ohio factory (13:44) What people get wrong about Anduril (17:08) Biggest Lesson from Palantir (19:04) Just War theory & defense ethics (22:16) Cultural shift from AI slop to good quests (23:49) How Anduril is building “Apple for defense” (27:03) Founders Fund investments: Varda, Armada, Cognition, General Matter (29:52) Why is Peter Thiel always right? 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=sourcery&utm_campaign=20250923-amer-carta_sourcery_data_insights • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Matt Grimm, Co-Founder & COO of Anduril, walks us through Anduril’s headquarters in Costa Mesa—a rare, and possibly first look, inside the physical systems that turn ideas into fielded products. We tour Building A, a 200,000 sq ft R&D facility with machine shop, composites, metrology, electronic warfare test environments, and a dev-test area designed to “break things” so the team can iterate faster. Grimm explains how Anduril scaled from a ~5,000 sq ft former lost-luggage garage (with mold and no bathroom) to a global footprint of ~7,000 employees and roughly 34–35 offices, while ramping production and operations. We also get hands-on with key systems and platforms, including the Ghost Shark (XL-AUV) autonomous submarine program and Anduril’s distributed compute and command-and-control stack: Menace & Titan (in partnership with Palantir). As COO, Grimm also lays out how the co-founders divide responsibilities at scale: Palmer Luckey drives new product concepts & CONOPS while serving as Anduril’s most visible public figure; Brian Schimpf, as CEO, sets strategy & evaluates global defense programs & timing; Trae Stephens leads investor relations & owns marketing and design (Ohio State, NASCAR); & Matt Grimm runs the operational core, from facilities & security to supply chain, production, logistics, & sustainment. This is Part 2 of 4 of our interview series with Anduril’s Founders, in addition to our compiled video, check them all out! Matt Grimm: https://x.com/mttgrmm Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠  Sourcery: ⁠⁠https://x.com/sourceryy⁠ 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube: https://youtu.be/7rvStMD9WFU 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=sourcery&utm_campaign=20250923-amer-carta_sourcery_data_insights • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Full Interview: Brian Schimpf, Co-Founder and CEO of Anduril, joins Sourcery to discuss the company’s scale, strategy, and position in the defense market. He outlines Anduril’s growth to roughly 7,000 employees, $1B+ in revenue with continued YoY doubling, and a reported $30.5B valuation (too low?), while addressing IPO speculation & these wild “fake SPVs.” The conversation covers geopolitical instability, production constraints in the U.S. defense industrial base, and how the nearly $1 trillion defense budget is actually allocated to personnel, infrastructure, and sustainment, rather than new procurement. Schimpf draws on leadership lessons from Palantir, highlighting creativity, high agency (“Artisty & Meritocracy’), and long-term alignment with military needs. Schimpf also explains Anduril’s expansion from early autonomous systems into a portfolio spanning autonomous aircraft, cruise missiles, electronic warfare, and networked sensing and command platforms, enabled by a shared software and hardware foundation built around Lattice. Emphasizing the company’s focus on a distributed, autonomous battlefield and the ability to rapidly field new capabilities. FWIW: Spending time on Anduril’s campus ahead of the final interview of the day offered such a strong view into the scale and complexity of the organization Brian is leading. Walking through the facility and meeting with the founding team made the scope of Anduril’s operations very real, but also highlighted just how complementary their skill sets are and how that translates into execution at scale. And with that, I have concluded that given the company’s growth, momentum, & market position.. Anduril may still be undervalued. Brian Schimpf: https://x.com/SchimpfBrian Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠  Sourcery: ⁠⁠https://x.com/sourceryy⁠ 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube : https://youtu.be/P5dsb28UVec 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=sourcery&utm_campaign=20250923-amer-carta_sourcery_data_insights • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

This is a rare, behind-the-scenes walking tour & sit-down interview inside Anduril Industries, a $30.5B defense technology company that develops and sells autonomous systems, AI-powered software, and advanced hardware for military and security applications to protect US and allied forces.. one of the most consequential defense companies of this era. In this Sourcery exclusive, we go inside Anduril’s headquarters and R&D facilities with the founding team: Palmer Luckey, Brian Schimpf, Matt Grimm, & Trae Stephens, to understand how modern defense technology is actually built. We walk through: Anduril’s R&D labs, machine shop, and test environments Autonomous fighter aircraft (Fury) and manned-unmanned teaming Fully autonomous submarines (Ghost Shark / Dive-XL) Distributed command-and-control systems (Menace, Titan, Eagle Eye) Arsenal-1, Anduril’s upcoming 5M sq ft hyperscale manufacturing campus in Ohio And discuss: Why manufacturing capacity is now deterrence Where the nearly $1T U.S. defense budget actually goes Why legacy procurement systems struggle with speed How Anduril beat Boeing, Lockheed, and Northrop on next-gen fighter programs The ethics of AI, autonomy, and Just War Theory Why testing to failure is essential — and misunderstood How global instability is reshaping defense spending worldwide It’s a candid, technically deep, historically grounded conversation about war, factories, speed, ethics, and the future of deterrence, filmed inside one of the most closed, sensitive, and technologically advanced facilities in American industry. Brian Schimpf: https://x.com/SchimpfBrian Matt Grimm: https://x.com/mttgrmm Trae Stephens: https://x.com/traestephens Palmer Luckey: https://x.com/PalmerLuckey Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠  Sourcery: ⁠⁠https://x.com/sourceryy⁠ 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube: https://youtu.be/RBXXYpjs9TE 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=sourcery&utm_campaign=20250923-amer-carta_sourcery_data_insights • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

With great honor, Mr. Emil Michael, the Under Secretary of War for Research & Engineering (USW(R&E)) and Chief Technology Officer for the Department of War (DoW), joins Sourcery in front of a F117 at the Reagan National Defense Forum 2025 to dispel common misconceptions about the DoW, modern defense technology, & the role of companies like Palantir, SpaceX, & Anduril. Drawing on his unique path from hyperscaling Uber into a global technology company to now overseeing the DoW’s research, development, & prototyping enterprise, he breaks down how the system actually works behind the scenes. He also outlines the DoW’s 6 Critical Technology Areas — Applied AI, Scaled Hypersonics, Scaled Directed Energy, Biomanufacturing, Contested Logistics, & Battlefield Information Dominance — and explains how these priorities reflect the realities of modern warfare rather than the myths often portrayed around the sector. Bonus: Newer companies Emil Michael highlights as emerging leaders in defense innovation include Planet Labs for commercial satellite imagery, Neros as a next-generation drone company, Hadrian for AI-driven advanced manufacturing, and a broader group of frontier AI companies now engaging with the Department of War. Emil Michael: https://x.com/emilmichael Molly O’Shea: ⁠⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 YouTube: https://youtu.be/6Lfst-RXX9k 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/data/sourcery/ • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://www.public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Manny Medina, Co-Founder & CEO of Paid and former CEO of $4.4B Sales Tech company, Outreach, hosts Sourcery at their HQ in London to discuss the early development of AI agents & what this shift means for software businesses. Roughly $300 billion in SaaS revenue remains “trapped” in legacy pricing and delivery models. After scaling Outreach to 6,000 customers, 220,000 active users, and $250M in ARR, Manny saw firsthand that many SaaS monetization frameworks don’t fit agentic systems, which perform full end-to-end workflows rather than individual user-driven tasks. This gap led him to build Paid, the platform designed to help companies measure, price, & manage the economics of agents. And it's working.. early customers have reported 20–40% revenue growth within six months of adopting the platform. With $33.3M in total funding, Paid is backed by Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, EQT Ventures, GTM Fund, & FUSE. Timestamps (00:00) Why Manny built Paid after Outreach(01:05) The $300B trapped revenue problem(02:00) Why seat-based pricing breaks for AI agents(03:10) How agents perform full end-to-end workflows(04:00) Early use cases: support, ops, underwriting(05:20) SaaS companies shifting to agentic models(06:15) Pricing agents on outcomes, not seats(07:10) Managing margins + model costs(08:00) Founder-led sales and early GTM(08:55) Why efficiency must start on day one(09:40) Palantir-style, forward-deployed culture(10:30) How Paid helps companies monetize agents(11:20) Education needed for SaaS pricing change(12:10) What the next 12–24 months look like for agents(13:00) Manny’s outlook on the agentic economy 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=sourcery&utm_campaign=20250923-amer-carta_sourcery_data_insights • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Marc Bhargava, Managing Director at General Catalyst and head of the firm’s Creation Strategy, breaks down one of the most significant shifts happening inside venture and private markets today: AI Roll-Ups.  One of the 3 largest venture players with ~$40B AUM, General Catalyst has quietly built a $1.5B AI roll-up engine dedicated to incubating AI-native companies & acquiring the fragmented services businesses they can transform — a model that sits directly at the intersection of venture creation, operational transformation, & what has traditionally been the realm of private equity. Marc explains why the firm believes the global services economy (a $16 trillion market historically defined by low margins and slow modernization) is now on the verge of being reshaped. Not by traditional software, and not by classic PE rollups, but by AI-enabled companies that combine in-house automation software with the acquisition of real distribution. These companies, built initially inside GC’s Creation Strategy, have already begun doubling EBITDA margins within 12 months, demonstrating what becomes possible when AI automation frees 20–30% of repetitive tasks and allows teams to handle significantly greater throughput. The conversation goes deep into how GC selects industries for this strategy, mapping 70 services categories down to the 10 where AI can have the most immediate impact. Marc outlines the 4 categories of work AI now reliably automates, from customer service and data entry to content generation and early-stage reasoning, and how those capabilities form the backbone of portfolio companies like Crescendo, Long Lake, Titan MSP, Eudia, & others.  Marc Bhargava: https://x.com/marcbhargava Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=sourcery&utm_campaign=20250923-amer-carta_sourcery_data_insights • Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. public.com/sourcery  Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

Bradley Tusk joins Sourcery to discuss what he learned working closely with Travis Kalanick during Uber’s early regulatory battles, and how those experiences shaped his decision to shut down his venture fund and return to an equity-for-services model. Bradley explains why Travis was unusually fast, analytical, and willing to challenge institutions, and how that mindset influenced the way Uber approached politics and growth. He also breaks down how the current AI wave is affecting valuations, capital formation, data-center spending, and the broader regulatory environment. The conversation covers the real economics of running a VC fund, why mid-sized funds struggle, how AI is reshaping startup incentives, and what founders should understand about regulation, policy, and long-term strategy. It’s a practical, grounded discussion from someone who has worked at the intersection of tech and government for over a decade. Bradley Tusk: https://www.linkedin.com/in/btusk/ Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=sourcery&utm_campaign=20250923-amer-carta_sourcery_data_insights Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Intro (01:25) How AI infrastructure spending is being driven by market narratives (03:10) DeepSeek, inference models, and compute efficiency (03:55) Where the $2T in AI data-center and energy capital is flowing (07:10) Nuclear energy and the broader implications of AI’s power demand (16:30) Zero-sum vs abundance thinking in tech and politics (17:35) How people find meaning, purpose, and balance in high-pressure work (27:00) Why Bradley invests heavily in his team and removes non-essential tasks (32:00) How Bradley’s experience with Travis Kalanick shaped his view of founders (32:35) “Travis’s Law” and turning users into political advocates (37:05) Why Bradley decided to stop raising traditional VC funds (44:30) The economics of mid-sized funds and why they’re so difficult to run (49:20) How AI valuations differ from non-AI valuations (54:40) What people misunderstand about Silicon Valley and DC (59:40) AI, unemployment risk, and why Bradley believes UBI will be necessary (01:05:50) The biggest lessons Bradley learned from Travis Kalanick

a16z General Partner David Ulevitch joins Sourcery to break down the real state of American Dynamism, their $600M fund, across defense, energy, mining, robotics, manufacturing, public safety, and national security. We discuss America’s supply-chain exposure to China, why deterrence—not parity—defines the future of U.S. defense, and how new companies are rebuilding core capabilities in nuclear, missiles, autonomy, grid reliability, materials, mining, and industrial operations. David highlights key a16z portfolio companies including Anduril, Radiant Nuclear, Base Power, Exowatt, Apex, Skydio, Flock, Long Eye, and Mariana Minerals, and shares why the best founders are magnetic attractors of capital and talent. We also dive into Anduril’s authenticity-first marketing philosophy (“no renders” - Palmer Luckey), the “Don’t Work at Anduril” campaign led by Snap Alumn Jeff Miller, the importance of real test footage, and why mission-driven cultures are fueling the next generation of frontier companies. A broad, detailed look at the future of American reindustrialization and the companies shaping it. Select Portfolio Companies & Areas: • AI: Applied Intuition, Ambient AI • Defense: Anduril, Saronic, Shield AI, Castelion,  • Energy: Radiant, Base Power, Exowatt, RigUp • Aerospace: SpaceX, Apex, Northwood, Aerodome, Air Space Intelligence (ASI), Astro Mechanica, Astranis • Manufacturing: Hadrian, Senra • Public Safety: Flock Safety, Long Eye, Skydio • Supply Chain: Zipline, Flexport,  • Minerals: Mariana Materials, KoBold Metals David Ulevitch: https://x.com/davidu Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=sourcery&utm_campaign=20250923-amer-carta_sourcery_data_insights Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) America’s supply-chain vulnerability (03:28) Most investable wedges: robotics, automation & lights-out factories (04:11) Rebuilding U.S. minerals & mining capacity (lithium, copper, steel) (04:29) Applying software to legacy sectors (lumber, metals, production) (05:20) Energy: Radiant’s microreactor & first new U.S. design in 50+ years (06:23) Grid resiliency & storage: Base Power, Exowatt (07:12) Defense innovation: Anduril, Saronic, Castelion (08:28) Public safety tech: Flock Safety, Long Eye & Skydio (13:30) Anduril’s “no renders” rule & authentic product culture (14:27) Inside the “Don’t Work at Anduril” campaign (19:11) Talent density: references, hiring, firing & magnetic teams (20:45) Lessons from building OpenDNS: reinvention, team rebuilds & decade-long “overnight success” (26:00) Kalshi’s growth & future of prediction markets

David Ulevitch, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), who co-leads the firm’s American Dynamism practice with Katherine Boyle joins Sourcery to break down America’s comeback. With the encouragement of Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the $600M fund was founded around 2020 to invest in companies that support the national interest: aerospace, defense, public safety, education, housing, supply chain, industrials, and manufacturing. David shares how American Dynamism evolved from a meme to a movement within a16z, inspired by Marc and Ben’s early conviction at Netscape that the next wave of great technology companies would serve the national interest. From early investments like Anduril, Flock Safety, and Hadrian, to a16z’s growing policy arm in Washington D.C., David reveals how the firm is bridging the gap between Silicon Valley and the national mission, and why he believes private capital must lead the next American resurgence. We discuss: ​The story behind American Dynamism’s rise​The private capital boom powering national resilience​JP Morgan’s $1.5T “Security & Resiliency” initiative​AI’s role across defense, logistics, and manufacturing​Why venture capital must “fund freedom like our lives depend on it.” Key Points ​Why Marc & Ben backed David & Katherine for a national mission. American Dynamism was born from the belief that Silicon Valley’s greatest founders should again build for the public good, across defense, energy, manufacturing, & more.​From meme to $600M fund. What began as a thesis between David Ulevitch and Katherine Boyle became a $600M dedicated fund and a defining pillar of a16z’s vision for national resilience.​Private capital is America’s new resource. a16z’s model funds R&D independently while enabling the government to buy finished products, accelerating innovation & cutting red tape.​AI is reshaping the foundations. From Anduril’s Eagle Eye headset to swarm drones and AI-powered logistics, technology is redefining how America powers, protects, and scales.​The reindustrialization flywheel is spinning. With JP Morgan’s $1.5T initiative and growing investor conviction, national resilience is no longer niche, it’s a generational investment frontier. David Ulevitch: https://x.com/davidu Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 ​Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery ​Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery ​Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) David Ulevitch (01:54) The origin story of American Dynamism (05:23) Why Marc Andreessen & Ben Horowitz backed the idea early (03:30) Partnering with Katherine Boyle, from rivals to co-leads (06:14) From meme to movement (07:00) Why venture returns exist in defense, energy, & infrastructure (07:11) The new supply-and-demand moment for American industry (11:00) Building a policy bridge between D.C. & Silicon Valley (15:29) Fixing defense procurement, the “bake-off” model (17:15) Private capital as America’s innovation engine (20:02) JP Morgan’s $1.5T commitment & what it signals (20:30) China, supply chains, & the race for energy independence (22:12) The new late-stage capital environment for defense tech (24:05) How AI is transforming defense, logistics, and public safety (27:42) Closing reflections, why Marc, Ben, & David see this as a generational project

Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, joins Molly O’Shea for a rare look inside Palantir (physically, inside their office). We go deep into their values, vision, and the moral foundation of technology in the AI era. Fresh off Palantir’s record-breaking earnings, nearly hitting a $500 billion market-cap milestone, and the release of a new biography The Philosopher in the Valley, this episode explores how Palantir evolved from an outsider idea into one of the world’s most influential software companies. Karp breaks down how Palantir’s Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) has become the operating system for the AI era – shortening sales cycles and giving companies premium analytical and decision-making capabilities. Today, AIP is helping U.S. defense, industrial, manufacturing, and commercial enterprises compete to win the global AI race. Reflecting on the artistry behind innovation, Karp also describes how creating products at Palantir mirrors the creative process itself.. tapping into ideas ahead of their time, resisting conformity, and building with conviction over consensus. He explains how his lifelong dyslexia shaped a non-linear approach to thinking, decision-making, and leadership, allowing him to build a company that thrives on meritocracy, intuition, and rapid iteration instead of rigid hierarchy. And more importantly, amid a severely unpredictable AI boom, Karp argues that Palantir’s purpose is bigger than software. It’s about helping Americans win, from empowering soldiers and engineers to giving “venture-style returns to retail investors” and “private-equity outcomes to enterprise clients.” The conversation connects philosophy and business, revealing how Palantir’s DNA: equal parts artistry, pragmatism, and moral clarity, has produced one of the most resilient and valuable companies of the 21st century. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠⁠  ⁠Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 ⁠⁠Brex⁠⁠—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. ⁠⁠https://brex.com/sourcery⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Turing⁠⁠—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. ⁠⁠https://turing.com/sourcery⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Carta⁠⁠—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. ⁠⁠https://carta.com/sourcery⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Kalshi⁠⁠—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: ⁠⁠https://kalshi.com/sourcery⁠⁠ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! ⁠⁠https://www.sourcery.vc/⁠ 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Inside Palantir with Alex Karp (00:01) Early days & Palantir’s outsider beginnings (02:16) Building without hierarchy — the anti-playbook culture (05:00) Artistry & conviction in product creation (06:45) Ignoring consensus & betting on vision (08:45) Helping Americans win — soldiers, workers, investors (11:00) Moral conviction & the foundation of Palantir (13:00) Meritocracy, realism, & Western values (15:41) The Eisenhower Award & moral leadership (19:45) Dyslexia, intuition, & leading through instinct (22:38) Value creation vs. hype in the AI boom (26:19) Launching AIP — Palantir’s turning point (28:30) AIP as the operating system for the AI era (33:15) Rosita — family, grounding, & perspective (39:55) Cupcake

Ryan Serhant is one of the most successful and well-known real estate entrepreneurs in the world, with over $20 billion in lifetime sales. After leading one of New York City’s top-ranked brokerage teams to more than $4 billion in transactions, he founded SERHANT., a next-generation real estate company built at the intersection of media, technology, education, & sales. In this episode, Ryan joins Molly O’Shea to share the full SERHANT. ​The Future of NYC​Media as the Business Model (Brokerage 3.0)​S.MPLE’s $45M Seed Round & AI-Driven Sales​Authenticity, Community, & Brand Building​The Netflix Flywheel: Media → Distribution → Sales Ryan breaks down the strategy behind S.MPLE, his proprietary AI platform backed by a $45 million seed round led by Camber Creek, with participation from Left Lane Capital. S.MPLE acts as an “AI chief of staff” for agents automating workflows, orchestrating tasks, and saving more than 15,000 hours of work this year alone. From the success of his Netflix series Owning Manhattan to his philosophy that “authenticity beats virality,” Ryan reveals the systems, mindset, and scale strategy behind his $20 billion sales empire.. and why he believes the future of real estate will belong to founders who treat media and AI as infrastructure, not accessories. Ryan Serhant: https://x.com/RyanSerhant Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 ​⁠Brex⁠—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. ⁠https://brex.com/sourcery⁠ ​⁠Turing⁠—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. ⁠https://turing.com/sourcery⁠ ​⁠Carta⁠—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. ⁠https://carta.com/sourcery⁠ ​⁠Kalshi⁠—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: ⁠https://kalshi.com/sourcery⁠ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! ⁠https://www.sourcery.vc/ 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) The Full Ryan Serhant (01:32) NYC politics and real-estate resilience (07:00) Running a city like a CEO (08:14) Building the SERHANT. platform (09:14) From Bravo to media entrepreneur (12:29) Reframing: a media + tech company that sells real estate (15:00) Authenticity vs virality in building community (17:00) $308M deal born from brand awareness (19:45) Owning Manhattan and the Netflix effect (22:33) Casting talent and shaping culture (25:00) Season 2 preview & evolution of real-estate TV (30:15) Inside S.MPLE — AI as agent co-pilot (36:00) How AI transformed every department (42:00) Recruiting the next-gen, mobile-first agent (43:30) Raising $45M and scaling SERHANT nationally (52:21) Daily Routines and Personal Insights

Alfred Lin, Partner at Sequoia Capital and three-time #1 Midas List investor, has backed some of the most transformative companies of the past two decades. His portfolio spans early bets on Airbnb, DoorDash, Uber, Zipline, Kalshi, and Commure to growth-stage partnerships with OpenAI and Citadel Securities, consistently identifying founders and businesses that redefine entire markets. He continues this track record today with next-generation category creators like Profound, which is building AI-powered brand visibility, Nominal, which is powering mission-critical engineering with a unified data stack, and Clay, which evolved into a go-to-market engine by relentlessly adapting to innovation. In this conversation, Alfred shares his philosophy on founder-market fit, resilience, and backing visionaries who create new categories. He reflects on Airbnb’s near-collapse during COVID, DoorDash’s rise, and Sequoia’s landmark investment in Citadel Securities, while breaking down how he evaluates IPOs, valuations in the AI era, and why the next decade will be defined by reimagined consumer experiences. Alfred Lin: https://x.com/Alfred_Lin Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 ​Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery ​Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery ​Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery ​Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Alfred Lin, Sequoia (01:31) Why technology cycles move at 3-month speeds (03:55) Why markets often consolidate to 2–3 leaders (05:07) “Build for the world, not San Francisco” (07:14) Airbnb’s COVID crisis and Brian Chesky’s leadership (13:15) Culture under stress: resilience in tough times (15:45) The essence of founder-market fit (16:20) Motion ≠ progress: why velocity matters (17:55) Resetting company culture in the AI era (19:55) Clay’s pivot into a go-to-market engine (21:10) Profound and the rise of AI-powered brand visibility (25:15) Breaking through to invest in Citadel Securities (29:45) IPOs, exits, and what makes a public company (33:05) Performance metrics: numbers behind the numbers (33:58) AI premiums, valuations, and when they turn reckless (39:45) OpenAI’s $500B valuation and trillion-dollar potential

Sequoia Partner Alfred Lin joins Sourcery to share how one of the world’s most iconic venture funds, which has distributed over $43B to investors since 2020, continues to back outlier founders at the earliest stages. Sequoia just launched its latest early stage funds: Seed Fund VI: $200M and Venture Fund XIX: $750M, to continue partnering with the next generation of outlier founders at the start of their journey. Sitting at Number 1 on the Midas list two years in a row, Alfred goes deep to share Sequoia’s company-building philosophy with stories from OpenAI, DoorDash, Kalshi, Commure, Zipline, and more. Alfred explains how Sequoia thinks about partnering with founders four standard deviations above the mean, why efficiency matters more than capital, the role of pivots in scaling, and how to distinguish quality revenue from experimental revenue in today’s AI-driven market. Topics include: Sequoia’s founder-first investing philosophyHow Alfred helped Kalshi navigate regulatory battlesDoorDash’s efficiency playbook vs. Uber EatsZipline’s “Big P” pivot to medical drone deliveryRevenue quality, AI hype cycles, and Sequoia’s outlook Alfred Lin: https://x.com/Alfred_Lin Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ (00:00) Alfred Lin, Sequoia (02:37) What makes an “outlier founder” (04:15) Bespoke founder support: lessons from Airbnb & DoorDash (07:10) Stories from Kalshi: regulation, elections & more markets (14:00) Little “p” pivots vs. Big “P” pivots (14:17) Zipline’s dramatic pivot to medical drones (18:00) DoorDash vs. Uber: efficiency as a weapon (19:49) When to pour capital into growth (20:07) Growth vs. true product-market fit (22:19) The race to $100M revenue – healthy or not? (25:55) Pilot/experimental revenue vs. real ARR (27:26) Breaking down revenue quality: SaaS vs. hardware vs. services (29:00) AI cycle, hype, and founder pressure (31:36) Why Sequoia expects more from this generation of founders (34:21) Closing thoughts: measuring company velocity, not just revenue

Michael Barton, Sector Head at Coatue, joins Sourcery to unpack how one of the world’s largest hedge funds is navigating tectonic shifts in markets. From the Gamestop meme stock saga and the rise of retail investors, to Coatue’s $70B multi-strategy platform across public equities, privates, and credit, Barton shares a behind-the-scenes view into how ideas are generated, trades are sized, and risks are managed. We cover Coatue’s unique approach, sitting at the intersection of public and private tech investing. And why AI is the biggest tech wave yet, bigger than Web1, Web2, or mobile. Barton explains where he sees value accruing in the AI stack, how retail sentiment now drives price action, and why the next hedge fund edge comes from integrating data science, practitioner insights, and AI-native workflows. This conversation reveals how Coatue is positioning itself for the future of markets, and what founders, investors, and institutions should learn from these shifts. KEY POINTS ​Coatue’s Scale & Strategy: ~$70B AUM, with ~$25B in public equities, alongside private and credit strategies​Rise of Retail: Gamestop and Reddit proved retail investors can move markets—forcing funds to adapt new risk frameworks​Idea Generation & Investing Discipline: Successful investments at Coatue require both deep analysis, differentiated insights and the ability to distill a pitch into a few sentences that win buy-in from the team​AI’s Impact: Advertising is the first major AI use case driving revenue growth; Coatue sees AI as the largest tech wave yet, reshaping companies, investing processes, and even their own hedge fund workflows​Winners & Losers: Value will accrue differently across the AI stack (labs, agents, infrastructure, cloud); the challenge is identifying which layer ultimately dominates Michael Barton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-lord-barton-jr-390b4145/ Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ SPONSORS • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/

Elad Gil joins Sourcery to unpack the story behind Brain Co, his new AI incubation venture with Jared Kushner (Affinity Partners) and Eric Wu (Opendoor). Brain Co was founded to solve a glaring problem: Fortune 100s and government institutions desperately want AI adoption but lack the engineering depth and infrastructure to make it real. Backed by a $30M Series A led by Gil Capital and Affinity Partners, Brain Co is already pulling in some of the sharpest AI minds and heavyweight backers across tech and finance. We dive deep into: The origins of Brain Co & why Jared Kushner approached EladEric Wu’s role after Opendoor and why he’s the right leaderWhy enterprise AI adoption is broken & how Brain Co fixes itThe $30M Series A and the powerhouse angels behind it (Databricks, Stripe, Coinbase, OpenAI leaders, Naval, Reid Hoffman, & more)How Elad thinks about incubation vs. investing Elad Gil: https://x.com/eladgil Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Elad Gil (01:32) The “rule of 3” in markets: why industries collapse to 2–3 winners (04:56) From investor to incubator: why Elad started Brain Co (05:16) The “Brain” naming story & Braintrust origins (06:15) Meeting Jared Kushner & aligning on enterprise AI problems (06:54) Why Fortune 100s can’t adopt AI alone (07:13) Recruiting Eric Wu and assembling Brain Co’s founding team (08:29) Skipping SMB/mid-market → going straight to enterprise (08:51) Brain Co’s dual strategy: platform + bespoke apps (10:50) MIT study on AI pilots—why most fail & how Brain Co differs (12:26) Lessons from internet & mobile waves on long adoption cycles (15:30) Who are the real early adopters in enterprise AI? (16:38) The $30M Series A: Elad + Kushner co-lead, full angel investor list (18:47) Why Brain Co attracted top-tier operators & angels (19:23) Eric Wu post-Opendoor & Brain Co’s vision (20:47) Redemption stories & second acts in tech (22:54) Headlines vs. reality—what media gets wrong (27:18) Worst advice ever & “culture = winning” (29:04) Managing context switching & long-term planning (32:03) Lightning predictions: AGI, Mars robots, aliens (35:39) Outro & wrap-up

Elad Gil, of Gil Capital and Gil & Co, aka one of Silicon Valley’s most influential investors, sits down with Molly O’Shea to unpack it all.. from the 1999 IPO boom to the AI bubble, and what it really takes to build durable companies across cycles. Elad has backed more than 200 companies, from Stripe, Airbnb, and Coinbase to next-gen AI leaders like Perplexity, Harvey, and Decagon. Today, he runs Gil Capital, a multi-stage investment firm potentially managing “billions,” and continues to be one of the most insightful voices on technology, capital, and company-building.  Did we mention he’s a bit of an enigma? Portfolio includes: Abridge, Airbnb, Airtable, Anduril, Applied Intuition, Braintrust, Brain Co, Brex, Character, Checkr, Coinbase, dbt Labs, Deel, Decagon, Figma, Flexport, Gitlab, Gusto, Harvey, Instacart, Mistral, Navan, Notion, Opendoor, PagerDuty, Perplexity, Pika, Pinterest, Retool, Rippling, Samsara, Saronic, Square, Stripe etc. In this conversation, Elad reflects on: Lessons from the 1999 IPO Boom: 2,000 internet companies went public, and only a handful remain. What does that mean for today’s AI rush?​AI Bubble? Why Elad believes technology waves are always “overhyped and underhyped” at the same time.​How to Spot the Next Amazon or Stripe in AI: What separates short-term success from long-term durability.​When Founders Should Sell: The four real reasons companies get acquired, and why sometimes it’s the smartest move.​Bottlenecks in AI: Why energy and regulation may shape where global training hubs are built.​Forever Private Companies: Stripe, SpaceX, and the new trend of companies that never go public.​Building a Trillion-Dollar Company: The markets, founder traits, and timing needed to reach that scale. Elad Gil: https://x.com/eladgil Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Elad Gil (02:00) Elad’s career arc: Google, Twitter, Color, angel investing (02:30) Technology as a force for good (03:20) Why Elad is building monuments (09:09) From angel investing to a potentially multi-billion-dollar fund (11:03) Inside Gil Capital’s small but focused team (11:45) Thesis-driven vs. opportunistic investing (12:43) Backing 200+ companies across waves (15:15) Stripe, Airbnb, Figma, Instacart & investing across competition (17:08) Why every software company is now an AI company (18:47) AI’s biggest bottleneck: energy & geopolitics (22:10) Policy, crypto regulation, and AI’s political risks (26:14) Lessons from the 1999 IPO boom & what it means for AI (34:29) What it takes to build a trillion-dollar company

AI has eaten the internet, data labeling is so over, and $30 trillion of human work is on the verge of automation. Jonathan Siddharth, Founder & CEO of Turing, joins Sourcery to break down the power shift in AI training — from commodity data labeling to expert research — positioning Turing apart from AI data providers like Scale AI, Mercor, & Surge. Turing has become a hidden force in the AI race, hitting $300M in ARR in 2024 (~3x YoY), achieving profitability, and raising $111M at a $2.2B valuation in March. That growth cements its position as one of the fastest-growing AGI infrastructure companies.  Today, frontier labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, & Amazon rely on Turing for the frontier data that pushes AI forward across the four pillars of superintelligence: • Multimodality • Reasoning • Tool use • Coding We explore Turing’s expansion into the enterprise, closing the “gap” – where Fortune 500s in finance, insurance, and pharma are racing to build proprietary intelligence on their own data, creating durable moats in the $30T knowledge work economy. PS Jonathan also explains how labs like OpenAI train models: • Pre-training on filtered internet corpora (Common Crawl, GitHub, books, video) • Post-training with supervised fine-tuning (human Q&A datasets) • Reinforcement learning (RLHF + verifiable domains) to align models with human preferences • Model-breaking data from Turing’s 4M+ engineers to close gaps and advance systems like GPT-5 1. Jonathan Siddharth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonsid/ 2. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 3. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ (00:00) AI Ate The Internet (00:49) Training superintelligence: the race to AGI (02:31) Viral tweet (03:24) What Turing actually does (04:43) The internet data is “used up” — where will new data come from? (05:34) Four pillars of superintelligence: multimodality, reasoning, tool use, coding (06:07) Automating $30T of global knowledge work (09:18) The $1B revenue opportunity (10:59) Why Turing is a research-first accelerator, not a data labeler (13:45) Jonathan’s Stanford AI Lab roots and founding DNA (17:57) How models are built: pre-training vs. post-training (20:14) RLHF, reinforcement learning, and “breaking the models” (25:19) GPT-5 and the myth of rapid takeoff (30:46) Safety debates and human-in-the-loop systems (34:53) Closing Enterprise Gap: finance, insurance, & pharma (39:23) Why proprietary enterprise data is the next moat in AI

At just 2 years old, Base Power has become one of the fastest-growing distributed energy companies in the U.S. Founded by Zach Dell and Justin Lopas, the company just announced a $1 billion Series C led by Addition. All other major investors are re-investing, including Trust Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Thrive, Lightspeed, a16z, Altimeter, Stepstone, Elad Gil, 137Ventures, Terrain, and Waybury. New major investors include Ribbit, CapitalG, Spark, BOND, Lowercarbon, Avenir, Glade Brook, Positive Sum, and 1789. Zach breaks down: • How Base Power is reinventing America’s energy grid with distributed batteries. • Scaling from $200M Series B to $1B Series C in 6 months. • Building Base Factory One in Austin and plans for more domestic manufacturing. • Why AI and data centers make energy the new bottleneck for innovation. • The culture, team, & investors powering one of America’s most ambitious startups. 5 Key Takeaways 1. Strategic Investor Network – Beyond top venture firms, Base Power’s backers include Lennar (homebuilding), Starwood (real estate), and university endowments like WashU. These strategic investors bring distribution channels, deployment partnerships, and institutional credibility 2. Hypergrowth Trajectory – The company grew 30% month-over-month, has thousands on its waitlist, and is already doing millions in monthly revenue. 3. Domestic Manufacturing – Base is building its first factory in downtown Austin, repurposing the old Austin American-Statesman printing press, with plans for a second plant already underway. 4. Grid Bottleneck & AI – Energy is now the key constraint for AI/data centers. Base’s distributed battery model offers faster, cheaper deployment than traditional interconnection queue. 5. Culture as Differentiator – Base Power embodies a “chop wood, carry water” culture, with IC-driven leadership, top-tier engineering hires from Tesla, SpaceX, Anduril, and a flat, hands-on team structure. 1. Zach Dell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-dell-a631a554/ 2. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 3. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourceryTuring—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourceryCarta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourceryKalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/

Andy Lowery, CEO of Epirus, & Joshua Steinman, CEO of Galvanick, join Molly O’Shea to break down the next frontier of defense, from drone swarms to industrial cyber threats. Epirus has raised over $550M from StepStone, General Dynamics, T. Rowe Price, Gaingels, and 8VC, building its Leonidas™ solid-state, high-power microwave weapon to counter drones and drone swarms. Lowery explains how Epirus is pioneering the “sixth domain of warfare”—physical cyber attacks—and how their “one-to-many” defense approach gives the U.S. a strategic edge against mass drone threats. Galvanick, meanwhile, is tackling the cyber front. Steinman, who served four years in the Trump White House on the National Security Council, breaks down why industrial control systems (ICS/SCADA) are America’s greatest vulnerability—and how Galvanick’s platform detects and neutralizes attacks that could cripple manufacturing, energy, and defense supply chains. Together, we explore: What the sixth domain of warfare means for modern conflict. How Epirus’ Gen 2 systems are extending range and production readiness. Why cybersecurity for industrial infrastructure is mission-critical. The role of defense tech in America’s reindustrialization. Where geopolitics, AI, and national security intersect in the decade ahead. This conversation is part of Sourcery’s “Made in America” Mini-Series recorded at the Reindustrialize 2025 Summit.  1. Andy Lowery: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andylowery/ 2. Joshua Steinman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmsteinman/ 3. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 4. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Future of Defense & Cyberattacks (01:25) Origins of Epirus & next-gen jamming roots at Raytheon (03:55) Defining the sixth domain of warfare (06:35) America’s edge: cleverness, phased arrays, & underdog strategy (08:47) Drones, consumer electronics, & the “one-to-many” defense approach (11:15) Epirus’ Gen 2 Leonidas system: extended range and readiness (15:00) Reindustrialization: manufacturing bottlenecks in amplifiers & rocket motors (19:00) U.S. talent and supply chain challenges in electronics (21:45) Epirus milestones & next Army tests (23:15) Transition to Joshua Steinman, CEO of Galvanick (24:00) Steinman’s background: Navy, Iraq, White House National Security Council (27:00) Lessons from working under Trump at the NSC (32:25) Galvanick’s mission: defending America’s industrial base from cyber threats (34:00) Real-world ICS/SCADA attack examples (Iranian steel mills) (39:15) The role of cybersecurity in reindustrialization and U.S. resilience

Astasia Myers (Felicis), Tony Wang (500 Global), & Patrick Salyer (Mayfield) joined Sourcery’s Molly O’Shea at the Startup Grind AI Summit, presented with Mayfield & Snowflake, for a conversation on what it really takes to raise from Seed to Series A in AI. Together they unpack the realities of fundraising in AI today—from what traction truly looks like, to defensibility and integration moats, to shifting stage definitions and round compression. The panel digs into: ​Why AI voice and agents are opening massive new TAMs​How founders should navigate inflated growth expectations & conversion rates below 20%​Red flags investors watch for in ARR, pilots, and “vibe revenue”​How AI is reshaping business models, talent, and even the venture model itself​The premium (and pitfalls) in AI valuations This panel goes beyond the hype to share what top VCs are really looking for when backing the next generation of AI companies. Funding data provided by Carta. 5 Key Takeaways ​Traction Isn’t Just Revenue – For AI startups, traction is measured by engaged usage, speed of iteration, and evidence of repeatability, not just top-line growth.​Defensibility Is Everything – Proprietary data, strong technical teams, and hard-to-replicate integrations are the biggest signals for Series A readiness.​GTM Strategy Sets Winners Apart – Investors want to see early playbooks for distribution, not just product innovation. GTM clarity is now as critical as model performance.​Red Flags to Avoid – Pitching with no moat, chasing hype, or relying entirely on third-party APIs without differentiation will stop fundraising momentum cold.​Series A Is a Graduation – Moving from seed to A is about proving repeatability, durability, and clear paths to market leadership. 1. Astasia Myers: https://x.com/AstasiaMyers 2. Tony Wang: https://x.com/TonyW 3. Patrick Salyer: https://x.com/patricksalyer 4. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 5. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Investor backgrounds (01:39) Astasia on AI voice models (04:02) ROI of voice-native apps (05:02) Patrick on AI agents & TAMs (07:27) Tony on MCP & voice agents (09:15) Growth expectations from Seed → A (11:15) Conversion rates & red flags (13:29) Patrick on stage shifts & round compression (15:36) Tony on hypergrowth traps (19:08) Astasia on fastest-growing AI companies (21:13) Patrick on AI supercycle & greenfield markets (23:23) Panel on integration moats & stickiness (25:41) How AI is reshaping business models & VC (32:57) Building AI-native teams & learning velocity (38:43) Hiring trends & younger AI-native talent (40:48) Valuations, premiums & market realities

Navin Chaddha, Managing Partner of Mayfield, has guided more than 80 companies to positive outcomes. During his venture capital career, Navin has invested in over 60 companies, of which 18 have gone public and 27 have been acquired. Creating $120B+ in equity value and over 40,000 jobs. Navin has been named to the Forbes Midas List 17 times (Top 5 in 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024), becoming one of the most respected voices in venture capital. Mayfield has $3B+ in AUM, 120 IPOs, and 225+ acquisitions. In this episode of Sourcery, we cover: Why AI is a 100x opportunity vs. past tech shifts The collaborative intelligence stack from semiconductors to AI teammates The difference between real vs. vibe revenue Valuations, hype cycles, and Mayfield’s investment philosophy 5 Key Takeaways AI is a 100x wave – Unlike the PC, web, cloud, or mobile eras, AI combines conversational interfaces and reasoning/action, unlocking a truly global expansion of creators. Collaborative intelligence is the future – Humans + AI “teammates” will create a $3–6T market opportunity by augmenting knowledge workers Valuations are overheated – Billion-dollar seed rounds are unsustainable; Mayfield stays disciplined by aligning on founder–VC win-wins Revenue quality matters – Durable businesses need real customers, high margins, & repeatability; “vibe revenue” isn’t enough Entrepreneur traits beat ideas – Authenticity, teamwork, EQ, mission-orientation, & persistence are the most reliable signals for long-term success 1. Navin Chaddha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/navinchaddha/ 2. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 3. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Navin’s 17x Midas List Journey (02:06) What It Takes to Build a Winning Company (03:00) Why AI Is a 100x Opportunity (04:00) Conversational Interfaces & Machines That Act (06:35) The Rise of the “Vibe Era” (06:53) AI Supercycle: Early Days, High Valuations (09:23) Billion-Dollar Seed Rounds & Valuation Concerns (10:45) Mayfield’s Investment Philosophy & Win-Win Model (13:42) AI Premiums in Fundraising (Carta & NVCA Data) (18:06) Building the Collaborative Intelligence Stack (20:40) Where Value Accrues Across Hardware, Models, Apps (22:50) Business Models: Subscription → Consumption Based (24:19) The Race to $100M Revenue: Hardware, Labs, Agents (31:47) Real vs. Vibe Revenue (Margins, Repeatability) (39:08) Founder Traits: Authenticity, EQ, Team Orientation

America’s industrial base is being rebuilt by a new generation of founders at the intersection of aerospace, AI, and defense. In this Sourcery episode, host Molly O’Shea sits down with three leaders driving the reindustrialization movement, Eric Allison (Chief Product Officer, Joby Aviation), Filip Aronshtein (CEO, Dirac), and Steve Simoni (President, Allen Control Systems) Together, their stories highlight how capital-intensive, frontier-defining companies are raising billions from elite venture funds and strategics like Toyota, Founders Fund, Coatue, Craft Ventures, 8VC, Baillie Gifford, and Uber. The conversation captures the urgency, conviction, and vision behind America’s reindustrialization — from flying cars in Dubai to AI factories in New York to autonomous defense systems in Texas. This conversation is part of Sourcery’s “Made in America” Mini-Series recorded at the Reindustrialize 2025 Summit. 1. Eric Allison: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-m-allison/ 2. Filip Aronshtein: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fila/ 3. Steve Simoni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensimoni/ 4. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 5. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Flying Cars, AI Factories, & Defense Autonomy (00:20) Eric Allison on Joby’s U.S. manufacturing expansion (02:00) Why Joby doubled down on vertical integration (03:30) FAA certification and building the first commercial air taxi (05:00) Going public via SPAC with Reinvent Technology Partners (07:00) Joby’s proving flights in Dubai & quiet aircraft acoustics (10:00) What the consumer Joby air taxi experience will look like (14:00) Scaling a 2,000+ person company with AI and data systems (17:00) Filip Aronshtein on reindustrialization urgency in Detroit (22:00) How Dirac’s BuildOS automates work instructions (25:00) Launching BuildOS & massive inbound demand (28:30) On-the-ground state of U.S. manufacturing (34:00) Using AI & AGI in manufacturing software (40:00) Steve Simoni on founding Allen Control Systems (42:00) Building Bullfrog turrets: AI machine guns vs drone swarms (45:00) The future of defense: robot-on-robot warfare

Factory just raised a $50M Series B from NEA, Sequoia Capital, NVIDIA, and JPMorgan, alongside angels like Frank Slootman, Nikesh Arora, and Aaron Levie. The company is pioneering agent-native development with its flagship “Droids” — autonomous software engineering agents that can handle everything from migrations and refactors to testing, documentation, and incident response. In this Sourcery interview, Factory CEO & Co-Founder Matan Grinberg shares the journey from studying string theory at Berkeley to building one of the fastest-growing AI infrastructure companies in Silicon Valley. He explains why the shift from autocomplete to delegation is the most fundamental change in software development since the move to the cloud, and how Factory achieved real traction with Fortune 500 enterprises like EY, Nvidia, MongoDB, Zapier, Bayer, and Clari. Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: carta.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/

Keith Rabois, Opendoor ($OPEN) co-founder & newly appointed Board Chair, Managing Director at Khosla Ventures, & a core member of the PayPal Mafia, joins Sourcery for a masterclass on talent, culture, and contrarian thinking. “You don't want to be the best in the world at what you do. You want to be the only one who does what you do.” Paraphrasing Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead He shares how he scouts extraordinary individuals, why every successful startup begins as a cult, and the frameworks he’s developed to simplify complex problems into actionable advice. From the Barrels & Ammunition metaphor to building Olympian-level work cultures, Keith reflects on lessons from PayPal, Square, Opendoor, and Khosla. We also dive into his takes on stress, sleep, and performance, his potential book, and why he believes venture capital is the best job for the intellectually curious. Book Recommendations: • Upside of Stress • High Output Management • The Score Takes Care of Itself 1. Keith Rabois: https://x.com/rabois 2. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 3. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/

Keith Rabois, Opendoor ($OPEN) co-founder & newly appointed Board Chair, Managing Director at Khosla Ventures, and a core member of the PayPal Mafia, joins Sourcery to discuss the activist turnaround being led at Opendoor. Opendoor just named former Shopify executive Kaz Nejatian as CEO, with Rabois returning to reshape the company’s cost structure and culture. In his words to CNBC: “There’s 1,400 employees at Opendoor. I don’t know what most of them do. We don’t need more than 200 of them.” He says the business must slash its workforce by as much as 85% to achieve long-term viability. The announcement sent Opendoor stock soaring 78% in a single day before retreating 13% the next — still up nearly 500% year-to-date, fueled by retail investors and hedge fund manager Eric Jackson’s campaign. In this conversation, Rabois breaks down: - Why he returned to Opendoor as Chairman & what went wrong. - The decision to appoint Kaz Nejatian as CEO & why the right CEO changes everything. - How AI will be the biggest unlock in making housing transactions faster, cheaper, & more affordable. - The long-term mission to transform a $289 trillion real estate market. - Lessons from PayPal, Square, and decades of building & backing companies at scale. Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Keith Rabois (01:49) Why Keith returned to Opendoor as Chairman (03:28) Appointing Kaz Nejatian as CEO & why leadership is everything (07:57) Activist turnaround playbook: talent, cost cuts, innovation (09:41) What went wrong — interest rates, cost structure, & cycles (13:09) AI as the biggest unlock for housing transactions (15:08) The “Buy It Now” button for homes (17:06) Why selling a home is broken — how Opendoor fixes it (22:09) Why DC is becoming a hub for tech founders

Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski joins Sourcery on the eve of their IPO to share the ultimate comeback story — from billion-dollar losses to profit, the hard layoffs, the AI rebuild, and why he let employees lead the charge with new tools. Recorded at the NYSE, this might be the best Sourcery interview to date. We cover how Klarna balances playful branding — pink logos, surreal fish ads, and Snoop Dogg collaborations — with serious technology that powers 111M users and global expansion. Sebastian also addresses misconceptions: Klarna isn’t just “buy now, pay later,” but a full challenger to the $1.2T U.S. credit card market. He explains why Klarna’s business model protects them in recessions, how AI is transforming culture and efficiency, and what he gets out of coding himself at night with Cursor. A company equal parts meme factory and trillion-dollar contender, this was so much fun. 1. Sebastian Siemiatkowski: https://x.com/klarnaseb 2. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 3. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/

EXCLUSIVE: Quantum’s SpaceX Moment? Ashlee Vance on PsiQuantum’s Moonshot Core Memory creator, Silicon Valley’s Science Expert, & once–quantum skeptic Ashlee Vance sits down with PsiQuantum’s Co-Founder & CSO Pete Shadbolt for a candid, wide-ranging conversation. After touring PsiQuantum’s secretive labs—more than five years after first covering the company—Ashlee found his skepticism shaken, likening PsiQuantum’s ongoing uphill climb to SpaceX’s decade-long, near-death march toward liftoff. Pete reveals why mission, mindset, and his mantra “always be impressive” are non-negotiables for a team attempting a moonshot that may take years to fully realize. If PsiQuantum succeeds, this may be remembered as the conversation where skeptics began to believe. 1. Pete Shadbolt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-shadbolt-4b7541126/ 2. Ashlee Vance: https://x.com/ashleevance 3. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 4. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Intro: Molly welcomes Pete & Ashlee (00:53) Ashlee’s history covering quantum since 2007 (03:11) What makes PsiQuantum different (05:11) Touring PsiQuantum labs: hardware challenges & scale (07:20) Why Ashlee trusted PsiQuantum’s story (08:43) Pete: “Come and see the wafers” (10:23) The academic → startup culture gap in quantum (13:24) Ashlee’s “mind palace” shoot in chaotic engineer’s office (16:12) How PsiQuantum keeps its team motivated for a decade-long mission (17:02) Apollo 11 as a model for focus & alignment (20:01) Pete’s management mantra: “Always be impressive” (20:25) The mud-slinging problem in quantum pitches (22:51) Hardware timelines: SpaceX as a 10–15 year lesson (24:47) Closing reflections: Quantum’s future and PsiQuantum’s place in history

Pete Shadbolt, Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder of PsiQuantum, unpacks the company’s landmark $1 billion Series E, bringing total funding to nearly $2 billion & valuing the company at $7 billion. Backed by BlackRock, Temasek, Baillie Gifford, and Nvidia’s venture arm, PsiQuantum is doubling down on its radical bet: you need 1 million qubits to unlock useful quantum computing. Shadbolt explains why PsiQuantum rejected incrementalism, how the partnership with Nvidia and Jensen Huang strengthens the roadmap, and why quantum is positioned as the next wave of compute alongside AI and semiconductors. From photonic chip breakthroughs to government partnerships in Australia and Illinois, this is a rare inside look at the company leading the race to build the world’s first fault-tolerant quantum computers. Previous lead investors include: Playground Global and Redpoint led the Series A in 2016, Founders Fund led the Series B in 2017, Atomico and M12 led the Series C in 2019, and BlackRock led the Series D in 2021. 5 Key Takeaways • PsiQuantum closed a $1B Series E, bringing total funding to nearly $2B • Investors include BlackRock, Temasek, Baillie Gifford, Macquarie, Nvidia (NVentures), Ribbit Capital, QIA,1789 Capital & more • PsiQuantum is committed to an “N of 1 Million Qubits” strategy—skipping demos to build at scale • Nvidia and Jensen Huang are strategic partners, collaborating on GPU-QPU integration, algorithms, and photonics • PsiQuantum’s valuation hit $7B, making it the most well-funded quantum company in the world 1. Pete Shadbolt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-shadbolt-4b7541126/ 2. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 3. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ (00:00:00) Intro and Recent Funding (00:02:29) Building PsiQuantum: From UK to Silicon Valley (00:03:55) Investment Strategy and Deep Tech Focus (00:05:35) PsiQuantum's Differentiation: Going Big from Day One (00:07:03) Rejecting Incrementalism for Large-Scale Vision (00:09:13) The Rocket Engine Analogy (00:10:59) Timeline Debates and NVIDIA Partnership (00:15:36) Global Manufacturing and Facilities (00:20:21) Path to Becoming a Trillion Dollar Company (00:23:32) Revenue Model and Commercialization Strategy (00:27:53) Working with Global Foundries (00:31:27) Quantum Computing's Role in Semiconductor Industry (00:38:28) Public Trust and Government Validation (00:45:49) The Reality of Quantum Computing Valuations (00:53:12) Zero to One Technology Approach (01:00:19) Global Facilities and Infrastructure (01:09:03) Reindustrialization and Strategic Importance (01:34:02) Personal Journey and Vision (01:44:23) Timeline for Useful Quantum Computing (01:53:54) Looking Ahead: Next Steps and Future Vision

Ashlee Vance, best known as Elon Musk’s biographer, and now the creator of Core Memory, a frontier podcast and video series exploring space, science, and technology, joins Sourcery for a fun behind-the-scenes (BTS) on his most high profile guests. We talk about why Ashlee shifted from journalist to founder, his vision for Core Memory, and the guests who have defined the show — including Palmer Luckey, Bryan Johnson, and Priscilla Chan. Ashlee also reflects on his relationship with Elon Musk and the lessons he’s learned from him on persistence, prioritization, and relentless focus. Notable Guests: • Palmer Luckey (Anduril founder) • Bryan Johnson (Kernel, Blueprint, Don’t Die) • Priscilla Chan (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative) Connect with us: 1. Ashlee Vance: https://x.com/ashleevance 2. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 3. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/

Adam Goldstein (CEO of Archer), Billy Thalheimer (CEO of REGENT), and Mitch Lee (CEO of Arc) join Molly O’Shea to talk flying cars, flying boats, and the electrification of air & sea travel. Archer is scaling its Midnight aircraft for urban air taxis and defense applications; REGENT is launching high-speed seagliders that combine boats and planes; and Arc is bringing electrification to boats. From winning FAA support and building factories in Georgia and Rhode Island to preparing for the LA 2028 Olympics and contested logistics in the Indo-Pacific, these founders share how they’re creating entirely new transportation categories. 1. Adam Goldstein: https://x.com/adamgoldstein13 2. Billy Thalheimer: https://x.com/billythalheimer 3. Mitch Lee: https://x.com/dontmitch 4. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 5. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) CEOs of Archer, REGENT, Arc Boats (02:16) Archer (03:21) FAA's New Category & Industrialization (04:39) Market Potential & Scaling Challenges (11:19) Midnight Aircraft & Safety Innovations (20:16) Commercial & Defense Partnerships(29:30) REGENT (38:09) Revolutionizing Coastal Transportation (38:47) Navigating Regulatory Challenges (40:51) Mastering Waves & Weather (43:52) Innovations in Manufacturing (45:53) Future of Maritime & Aviation (52:09) Arc Boats (53:48) Reindustrializing the Boating Industry (01:03:43) AI & the Future of Boating

*WARNING* Alex Cohen has one of the wildest founder journeys in tech. Fired by over 11 companies—including Elon Musk’s X, Meta, CrowdStrike, and even Wendy’s—he’s now the founder and CEO of Hello Patient, an AI platform transforming how healthcare practices engage with patients. In this conversation, Alex and Molly O’Shea dive into his underdog story, the viral parody videos that turned heads across the Valley, his 220k+ X following, why storytelling is the ultimate founder superpower, and yes, shares his latest experiments with peptides... Which all leads to Alex announcing Hello Patient’s $22.5M Series A led by Scale Venture Partners, with continued support from 8VC, Bling Capital, Max Ventures, and Remus Capital. Building the future of conversational AI in healthcare. Hello Patient builds conversational AI agents that handle patient-facing workflows across phone, text, and web chat. Instead of patients waiting on hold, missing appointments, or navigating clunky portals, Hello Patient automates scheduling, reminders, follow-ups, and inbound calls. The system is already deployed across urgent care, ENT, behavioral health, med spas, and primary care, giving clinics 24/7 coverage while reducing missed calls and boosting patient satisfaction. With staffing shortages across the healthcare industry, Hello Patient steps in as the digital front desk—scalable, HIPAA-compliant, and deeply integrated with practice management systems. Highlights • The Underdog Story: Alex was fired 11 times before founding Hello Patient, a history that fuels his authenticity and self-deprecating humor. • Parody as Marketing: Launch videos parodying Humane and Sam Altman/Jony Ive weren’t gimmicks—they were strategic brand moments that drove massive inbound traction. • Fundraising Success: Hello Patient raised a $22.5M Series A led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from 8VC, Bling Capital, Max Ventures, and others. • Healthcare AI Impact: Hello Patient powers omnichannel patient engagement—calls, texts, and chatbots—for urgent care, ENT, mental health, med spas, and more, solving staffing shortages and missed appointments. • The X Factor: With 220k+ followers, Alex’s shitposting persona is more than comedy—it’s storytelling that gives him investor access, customer inbound, and cultural relevance 1. Alex Cohen: https://x.com/anothercohen 2. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 3. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Underdog Story (01:40) Getting Fired 11 Times (02:38) Creating the Launch Video Parody (03:32) Recreating Sam Altman's Look (06:01) Reviewing Past Company Firings (10:41) Transition from Carbon Health to Hello Patient (13:02) Series A Fundraising Process (14:35) Storytelling, Social Media & Fundraising (30:03) Company Growth & Metrics (31:55) Technical Stack & AI Partnerships (38:08) Team and Hiring (41:53) Deep Dive into Peptides (46:23) Discussion on Weight Loss Peptides (50:36) American Food System & Health (53:03) Predictions on Jony Ive & Sam Altman's Device

Patrick McGee, author of Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company, joins Molly O’Shea to unpack his latest bestseller. McGee explains how Apple, once days away from bankruptcy, was saved by Tim Cook’s decision to move manufacturing to China. Tim Cook’s nearly trillion-dollar bet created the most advanced supply chain in history — and left Apple geopolitically captured. From Foxconn’s factory floors to Beijing’s political leverage, McGee shares how Apple’s growth empowered China’s rise as a global tech superpower. Putting numbers behind it, Tim Cook, had pledged $275 billion in new investment to China — more than the U.S. CHIPS Act and equal to two Marshall Plans. Since the launch of the iPhone, Apple’s cumulative investment in China is estimated at over $800 billion. To sustain this scale, Apple engineers trained millions of Chinese workers and thousands of suppliers, building the very ecosystem that now powers Huawei, Xiaomi, and other rivals. Despite Apple’s iconic status, the iPhone has never commanded more than 20% of global market share, while Chinese competitors, leveraging the supply chains Apple helped create, now control more than 55%. McGee argues that Apple isn’t exploiting China — it’s China exploiting Apple. With a labor pool of 350 million floating workers, harsh conditions inside Foxconn factories, and unyielding pressure, Apple has been locked into an environment it cannot escape. Tim Cook’s operational brilliance may have rescued Apple from bankruptcy, but it also created a supply chain that China now firmly controls. Connect with us: 1. Patrick McGee: https://x.com/PatrickMcGee_ 2. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 3. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery • Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Tim Cook’s Supply Chain Blind Spot (02:15) Apple’s Wake-Up Call (04:30) The $275B Pledge to China (08:00) Why Apple Moved (10:15) Training Millions: Apple Builds China’s Workforce (13:00) Inside Foxconn: Harsh Realities of Production (17:00) How Apple Helped Create Its Rivals (18:30) Chess vs. Go: Apple’s Capture Explained (21:00) Can Ive & Altman Compete Outside China? (23:30) Apple’s Future: Over $800B Invested, No Exit

In just over a decade, The Thiel Fellowship has produced more than $750B* in value creation, with a ​13.79% unicorn hit rate. Fellows launched some of the most important companies of the 21st century — Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum, Dylan Field’s Figma, Lucy Guo’s Scale AI, Ritesh Agarwal’s OYO, Laura Deming’s Longevity Fund, and more. In this episode, Danielle Strachman, a Founding architect of the Thiel Fellowship, shares the inside story behind the radical program born out of Peter Thiel’s Thiel Foundation that gave $100K to teenagers willing to drop out of school and build. She reveals the contrarian traits they looked for in founders, and the lessons she learned from working closely with Thiel, whose first-principles thinking shaped the program. Now as co-founder of 1517 Fund, Danielle is scaling that same ethos — backing dropouts and sci-fi scientists at the earliest stages. This is the story of how a contrarian $100K bet on young people rewired Silicon Valley and continues to shape the future of education & entrepreneurship. "What important truth do very few people agree with you on?" P.S. Competition is for losers. Connect with us: ​ Danielle Strachman: https://x.com/DStrachman ​ Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ ​ Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: ​Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery ​Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery ​Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery ​Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ (00:00) Thiel Fellowship (01:10) $750B+ Outcomes: Ethereum, Figma, Scale AI, OYO (08:32) The Contrarian Question (15:00) The Fellowship: $100K, No School, Radical Freedom (19:00) Media Backlash, Cultural Criticism, & Dropping Out (26:45) Cultural Impact and Future Vision (33:02) Is Peter Thiel Evil? (37:41) How The Fellowship Reshaped Venture’s View of Young Founders (39:10) Key Traits That Predict Success (45:10) Founding 1517 Fund: Scaling The Fellowship Model (52:52) The Next Wave: Dropouts, Sci-Fi Scientists, & Direct Patronage (55:30) The Rise of Alpha School: AI-Based Education

With $10B+ in AUM, Altimeter has made their largest bet in its history on OpenAI. Known for disciplined bets in generational companies like Snowflake, SpaceX, Anduril — and now OpenAI, the firm is now fully committed to the AI supercycle. In this episode, Apoorv Agrawal, Partner at Altimeter focused on AI and software, joins Molly O’Shea to break down how the firm evaluates opportunities in the AI supercycle. Apoorv explains why power laws govern venture returns, how Altimeter evaluated the $500B+ OpenAI opportunity, and why speed is the only defensible moat in AI. We also explore the AI talent wars reshaping Silicon Valley, the rise of XBOW (where AI agents are already outperforming humans), and lessons from Apoorv’s formative years as a forward deployed engineer at Palantir — a culture that has produced billions in founder-led value creation. For institutional investors, allocators, and operators, this conversation offers a rare inside look at how one of the sharpest minds in venture is positioning around AI — from infrastructure and chips to applications and talent. Connect with us: 1. Apoorv Agrawal: https://x.com/apoorv03 2. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 3. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery • Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Welcome & Altimeter’s $10B+ AUM strategy (01:57) Why Altimeter concentrated its largest investment ever in OpenAI (04:45) The power law in venture capital: why 0.3% of companies drive 99% of returns (09:25) Consumer adoption of ChatGPT & enterprise spillover (12:08) Velocity: Why speed is the ultimate moat in AI (14:18) Parasocial relationships with ChatGPT (19:29) Adoption curves: raising the ceiling vs. raising the floor (23:30) Defining AGI & DOOM (25:40) GPT-5 release: volatility, iteration, & anti-fragility (32:00) XBOW AI: When AI becomes the world’s top hacker (38:22) Where AI value accrues — chips, infrastructure, or applications (42:50) The billion-dollar talent wars & Meta’s AI strategy (44:12) Palantir’s billion-dollar FDE culture (50:10) Lessons from Shyam Sankar & Alex Karp (53:52) Evaluating founder performance & IPO readiness in today’s market (55:36) IPO Predictions: Klarna, Discord, Databricks, Cerebras, Anduril

With $6B+ in AUM, 8VC has taken a different approach to venture capital: instead of just funding startups, they also build them. Founding Partner Drew Oetting joins Sourcery to unpack 8VC’s infamous “Build” Program, where nearly 30% of the fund’s capital goes into companies they co-found. With a track record of creating 28 companies—including Affinity, Saronic, Epirus, and Resilience—alongside massive outcomes like Palantir ($370B), Addepar (Managing $7T+), and OpenGov ($1.8B acquisition), 8VC’s DNA is centered around building (*ehem Joe Lonsdale*). In this episode, we dive into: • How 8VC identifies opportunities worth building in-house • Why structuring incentives and culture is key to balancing venture + company creation • Case studies from OpenGov, Saronic, and Resilience • 8VC’s perspective on biotech, AI, defense, and reindustrialization • The role of public & private collaboration, startups, and capital in rebuilding America Connect with us: 1. Drew Oetting: https://x.com/andrewoetting 2. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 3. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel.  As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery • Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ (00:00) Intro: Drew Oetting, Founding Partner 8VC(03:33) Origins Of 8VC & Lessons From Joe Lonsdale’s Founder DNA(05:48) Early Experiments In Building Companies Inside 8VC(07:03) Formalizing The Build Program (30% Of Capital)(08:33) How 8VC Works With EIRs To Co-Found Startups(10:33) Why Most VC Firms Fail At In-House Company Building(13:03) Portfolio Highlights: OpenGov, Saronic, Epirus, Affinity(17:03) Case Study: Resilience & Biotech Manufacturing(27:03) American Reindustrialization, Policy, & Capital Allocation(39:03) The Future Of AGI & Its Real-World Impacts(45:33) Rapid-Fire Round: Recession Odds, National Debt, Aliens(54:03) Closing Thoughts On Building America’s Future

Sophia Amoruso is more than a founder, she’s a cultural icon. She built Nasty Gal from an eBay store into a $350M fashion powerhouse, bootstrapping to $28M in revenue, owning 80% at peak valuation, & crossing $100M in sales before VC funding led to bankruptcy. At the same time, she created GirlBoss—one of the first major movements for women in business & culture. It became a bestselling book, a Netflix series, & a global brand, cementing Sophia as a media and branding legend, with nearly 1M+ followers across platforms. But Sophia didn’t stop there. She started investing, getting into companies like Kindbody, Superhuman, Pipe, Liquid Death, Public.com, and Eight Sleep, and eventually launched her own VC firm, Trust Fund. Her backers include some of Silicon Valley’s most famous names: Marc Andreessen, Paris Hilton, Ev Williams (Twitter), Chris Dixon (a16z), Andrew Chen (a16z), Rob Hayes (First Round), Josh Elman (Greylock, Twitter, Facebook), Anthony Nodo (CEO of SoFi), and yes, even Jason Calacanis. Sophia opens up about: • How to build a $100M+ cult brand. • Building Nasty Gal & GirlBoss from scratch into cultural movements • The brutal reality of inflated VC valuations, fundraising, & collapse • Why consumer businesses face unique challenges with venture capital • Building Trust Fund with Marc Andreessen, Paris Hilton, & more This is a conversation about ambition, failure, resilience, and the power of branding, told by one of the most iconic entrepreneurs of her generation. Connect with us: 1. Sophia Amoruso: https://x.com/sophiaamoruso 2. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 3. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel.  As a Sourcery subscriber you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s). Plus, white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, and access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery • Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters:  (00:00) Branding Icon: Sophia Amoruso (02:30) The Art of Naming: From Nasty Gal to Trust Fund (07:13) Rethinking Venture Culture (10:28) Angel Investing Early & Building Relationships That Matter (13:20) Investing in Liquid Death, Superhuman, Kindbody (14:30) Why She Invests in Software & B2B Brands (18:48) What Anduril Gets Right About Branding (22:18) Raising Trust Fund: Marc Andreessen, Paris Hilton, Jason Calacanis (24:45) The Power of the Right Audience & Right Eyeballs (27:29) AI in E-Commerce & the Future of Consumer-Brand Engagement (32:04) Angel to VC (37:23) Fundraising Myths: Why Raising Money Isn’t “Winning” (42:17) Building Business Class: Her Own “Internal Podcast” for Founders (44:18) Girlboss: The Book, the Netflix Show & Becoming Part of the Zeitgeist (47:07) Lessons in Leadership, Scaling & Why She Prefers Early-Stage (50:00) Life Today & Living in London

In this episode of Sourcery, Augustus Doricko (Rainmaker) & Alex Levy (Atmo) break down how they’re reengineering the weather to solve one of humanity’s biggest challenges: freshwater scarcity. Rainmaker delivers water to farms, ecosystems, and watersheds through a modern precipitation enhancement system—combining radar validation, AI modeling, weather-resistant drones, and sustainable cloud seeding. It’s the only immediate, scalable solution for creating abundant freshwater. Atmo powers the system with next-gen AI meteorology, offering forecasts 100x more precise and 45,000x faster than legacy models—used by the U.S. Air Force, sovereign governments, and renewable energy operators. Together, they’re tackling drought, powering reindustrialization, and restoring water as a strategic resource in an era of climate stress and geopolitical competition. Highlights • How cloud seeding actually works (and what myths to ignore) • The U.S.–China race for weather control and engineered rainfall • Why Atmo’s AI systems outperform NOAA’s current forecasting tools • Rainmaker’s role in America’s reindustrialization—from cooling chip fabs to powering hydro dams • Public perception challenges after the Texas floods—and how the narrative is changing Connect with us: 1. Augustus Doricko: https://x.com/ADoricko 2. Alex Levy: https://x.com/alevy 3. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ 4. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠ Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery • Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Why water is as critical as energy in AI and industrial growth (02:00) What Rainmaker actually does — cloud seeding 2.0 (03:00) Atmo’s AI meteorology: 100x more precise, 45,000x faster (04:40) How cloud seeding works — science behind artificial rain (06:00) Why Rainmaker + Atmo is a game-changing partnership (07:45) Attribution: Proving man-made precipitation with radar & models (09:15) Why the U.S. is falling behind in weather innovation (11:00) China’s lead in drones, materials, and the weather tech race (13:00) Rainmaker’s drone: the only NATO UAV that flies in icing (14:45) Facing public backlash: Texas floods, chemtrails, and trust (16:30) Making cloud seeding safe — how Rainmaker differs from China (19:00) Cloud seeding for reindustrialization: water as industrial input (21:00) Use cases: hydro, chips, data centers, and agriculture (27:00) Atmo as a U.S. export: modern meteorology for the world (34:00) How AI models simulate physics and save lives

Vulcan Elements CEO John Maslin joins Sourcery to announce their $65M Series A led by Altimeter (Brad Gerstner, Erik Kriessmann) with participation from One Investment Management (Rajeev Misra) to build the most advanced rare earth magnet factory in America—fully decoupled from China. Bringing their total funding to $75M. We cover why rare earth magnets are the “essential invisible building blocks of the economy,” powering everything from everyday consumer electronics, AI data centers, EVs, and robotics to satellites, drones, and every major U.S. defense platform. Maslin explains why China’s 90%+ dominance in magnet manufacturing is a national security risk, how Vulcan has decoupled from Chinese supply chains, and the company’s plans to scale from hundreds to thousands of tonnes of production this decade. From building a factory from scratch in North Carolina to deploying AI inside the magnet-making process, this is a behind-the-scenes look at the startup quietly powering the future of U.S. national security and AI. Highlights ​ $65M Series A led by Altimeter, bringing total funding to $75M.​ China makes 94% of magnets; the U.S. makes less than 1%.​ Magnets power everything: phones, drones, data centers, robotics, EVs – demand could 10x from robotics alone.​ Reindustrializing America: North Carolina “Research Triangle” facility with U.S.-made equipment, local talent, SpaceX alums, and PhDs.​ Next-gen factory: AI-driven production using Vulcan’s own sensor and material data for a “2025-era” industry 4.0 plant. Connect with us: ​ John Maslin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmaslin/​ Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea​ Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc Brought to you by: ​ Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery ​ Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourcery ​ Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery ​ Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Introduction to Domestic Production and Resilient Supply Chains (01:59) $65M Series A Led by Altimeter (04:01) Vulcan Elements (05:27) Why Rare Earth Magnets Are Critical (08:58) Decoupling from China: Challenges & Strategies (12:24) American Talent & Reindustrialization (14:23) Assembling a SpaceX-Level Team in the Research Triangle (17:58) Scaling Up: New Facilities and Hiring Plans (19:14) The Manufacturing Process of Rare Earth Magnets (29:25) Challenges and Innovations in Manufacturing (32:02) The Role of AI and Advanced Technologies (36:18) Future Milestones and Policy Impacts

Isaiah Taylor (Valar Atomics), JC Btaiche (Fuse), & Packy McCormick (Not Boring) join Molly O’Shea to explore how nuclear energy—fission and fusion—is at the heart of America's industrial resurgence and the race for AI dominance. Isaiah unpacks Valar Atomic’s plan to scale modular fission reactors across the U.S., breaking decades of regulatory stagnation and reimagining how America powers its factories and data centers. JC shares Fuse’s rapid-fire progress in fusion technology, from breakthroughs in pulse neutron generation to vertical integration strategies that echo SpaceX. Packy ties it all together with insights from his investing & writing in Nuclear through Not Boring, explaining why energy-rich, hardware-driven businesses will define the AI age... Bonus we talk about his popular essay The Great Differentiation. Together, we dive into: • Fission to fusion, atoms to AI, and Detroit to D.C. • The role of next-gen nuclear in energy sovereignty • The strategic urgency to outpace China • Regulatory tailwinds post-EOs and DOE testing • Why AI’s energy demands are the catalyst • How differentiated brand, design, & execution will define the winners in an AI slop world This conversation is part of Sourcery’s “Made in America” Mini-Series recorded at the Reindustrialize 2025 Summit. Connect with us: 1. Isaiah Taylor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaiahptaylor/ 2. JC Btaiche: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcbtaiche/ 3. Packy McCormick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/packym/ 4. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 5. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery • Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ (00:00) The American Atomic Age (01:15) Isaiah Taylor on U.S. nuclear industry (03:34) Why modular reactors are the key to scale (06:47) China’s nuclear lead (08:32) Valar’s path to criticality & DOE testing (11:06) Foreign funding & misinformation campaigns (13:01) Nuclear myths: “It wouldn’t fill an Olympic pool” (15:29) Why Gen IV reactors are meltdown-proof (17:29) AI as a tailwind for nuclear infrastructure (19:21) Misconceptions in nuclear & energy performance (21:13) Pressure to deliver in this presidency term (22:59) The future of global energy (24:26) JC Btaiche: Building the world’s highest-power pulse system (26:41) Fuse’s strategy: revenue today, power tomorrow (28:34) Fusion’s role in reindustrialization (33:12) The AI-power constraint: “Energy = Intelligence” (35:31) Can we catch up to China in energy? (38:13) Packy McCormick on vertical integration (41:11) The Great Differentiation: Why brand matters in the age of AI

Henry Ward, CEO of Carta, joins Sourcery to share how the company scaled to nearly $500M in ARR, raised $1B across seven rounds, and evolved from a startup serving cap tables to a platform targeting massive markets like private equity and private credit. Ward discusses the Peter Thiel-inspired strategy of dominating small markets before expanding, the importance of focusing on inputs over outputs, the challenges of selling to both hoodie-wearing founders and Midtown CFOs, and Carta’s AI-driven future. This wide-ranging conversation dives into scaling lessons, product innovation, network effects, and why private equity is the future. Carta was a classic 3x, 3x, 2x, 2x, to $100M in Revenue & are now growing 20%+ at scale. Highlights • Carta has raised $1B to date & is approaching $500M in ARR, growing 20%+ annually. • Strategic shift from venture into larger asset classes like private equity & private credit. • Peter Thiel’s “competition is for losers” philosophy shapes Carta’s market-entry strategy. • AI as both a customer-facing differentiator & an internal productivity engine. • Scaling up to delivering million-dollar enterprise solutions for institutional private equity & private credit Connect with us: 1. Henry Ward: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heward/ 2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery • Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) Competition is for Losers (01:07) Carta’s Growth: Approaching Half a Billion ARR (02:51) $1B Funding Journey & Board Evolution (05:30) Measuring Success: Inputs vs Outputs (07:55) Product Portfolio & Power Law in Software (10:58) Peter Thiel’s Influence: “Competition is for Losers” & Growth Strategy (12:02) Expanding from Small Markets to Big Impact (14:00) Entering Private Equity & Credit (15:59) Network Effects: Global vs Local (18:02) Product Market Fit & Building a 10X Product (20:30) Relationship with Mark Andreessen & Board Insights (23:10) Company Building vs Product Building (25:58) AI at Carta: Internal & Customer-Facing Innovations (31:29) The Impact of AI on Jobs & Workflow (34:33) Personal Motivation & Performance (35:44) Looking Forward: New AI Products & Excitement for the Year

Scott Nolan, Founder & CEO of General Matter and Partner at Founders Fund, joins Sourcery to break down America’s urgent need to rebuild its nuclear fuel supply chain. With $50 million in funding led by Founders Fund, General Matter is developing U.S.-based production of HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium), the nuclear fuel critical for powering next-generation reactors. As part of the recent investment, Peter Thiel, Founders Fund Partner & billionaire investor, is joining the board–a notable move for Thiel, who stepped down from Facebook’s board in 2022 and rarely takes on new board roles beyond his long-standing position at Palantir. Nolan shares how General Matter is applying a “SpaceX x Palantir” playbook to reindustrialize the U.S., from assembling a cross-functional engineering team to securing government contracts and navigating executive orders. We dive into the HALEU bottleneck, AGI power demand, reactor deployment timelines, and the energy arms race with China—and why enrichment is the unlock for nuclear to become the cheapest, safest, & most scalable baseload energy source. This conversation is part of Sourcery’s “Made in America” Mini-Series recorded at the Reindustrialize 2025 Summit. Highlights • America’s Enrichment Deficit: The U.S. currently supplies less than 0.1% of global nuclear fuel enrichment, with 25% of its supply still coming from Russia. • General Matter’s Mission: Founded in 2023 to make enrichment affordable and scalable, enabling nuclear to become the lowest-cost baseload power. • SpaceX/Anduril-style Playbook: Blending industry veterans with startup talent to accelerate execution: “1/3 incumbents, 2/3 Silicon Valley engineers” • AI Energy Demands: By 2030, AI is projected to consume the equivalent of today’s entire U.S. power grid, making energy production the bottleneck. • Executive Orders & Industrial Strategy: Recent U.S. government actions aim to re-regulate nuclear, fast-track licensing, and quadruple nuclear output by 2050—backed by DOE, DOD, and NRC. Connect with us: 1. Scott Nolan: https://x.com/ScottNolan 2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery • Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ (00:00) U.S. Nuclear Resurgence (00:56) Why General Matter Was Founded (02:49) Making Nuclear The Cheapest Baseload Energy (04:00) Enrichment And Fuel Process Breakdown (05:16) Decline Of U.S. Enrichment Capacity (07:26) Building General Matter & SpaceX/Palantir Playbook (09:55) Skunkworks Team: Nuclear Experts + Generalist Engineers (11:11) Breakdown Of The Four Executive Orders (16:35) Geopolitics, GDP, & The China Energy Gap (21:14) End Of Stranded Assets & AI’s Power Bottleneck (24:40) AGI & Software’s Role In Nuclear Deployment (31:13) General Matter’s 12–18 Month Milestones

Christian Garrett, Partner at 137 Ventures and Co-Founder of the Hill & Valley Forum, returns to Sourcery for a deep dive into Winning the AI Race—a high-stakes summit bringing together Trump, J.D. Vance, top tech CEOs, and government leaders to chart America’s AI future. In this fast-moving conversation, Christian breaks down how AI is driving reindustrialization across mining, energy, and manufacturing, why pricing—not capital—is the real bottleneck in U.S. mining, and how the Pentagon's landmark deal with MP Materials could start to reshape the global rare earths market. He also unpacks Applied Intuition’s $600M Series F at a $15B valuation, the rise of venture opportunities enabled by new policy, and why the Invest America Act—seeding every American newborn with a $1,000 investment account—could be the most important wealth-building policy of this generation. Join us for a quick dive into the state of national resilience, generational investing, and the convergence of tech, defense, and policy. This conversation is part of Sourcery’s “Made in America” Mini-Series recorded at the Reindustrialize 2025 Summit.  Highlights Reindustrialization with AI across mining, energy, & manufacturing Creating new wealth for Americans with the Invest America Act Applied Intuition’s $600M Series F at $15B valuation MP Materials’ rare earths deal with the Pentagon China’s control of pricing—not capital—is stalling U.S. mining growth Winning the AI Race summit with Trump, Vance, and tech leaders pushing for U.S. AI dominance and job creation Connect with us: 1. Christian Garrett: https://x.com/CGarrett_15 2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc Brought to you by: Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel.  As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourcery Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Timestamps: (00:00) – Christian Garrett Returns (01:30) – Hill & Valley, Reindustrialize, & 137’s Industrial Bets (06:10) – AI + Legacy Industry = New Industrial Revolution (08:30) – Big Bets On Defense, Auto (Applied Intuition), & Mining (10:55) – MP Materials + Pentagon: Rare Earth Strategy (13:15) – U.S. Needs Pricing Support + Vertical Integration (15:30) – Policy Drives Markets: Dodd-Frank, JOBS Act, 174 (17:45) – Invest America: $1K Seed Accounts For All Newborns( 20:10) – “Winning The AI Race” Summit: Tech X Government

Samir Vasavada joins Molly O'Shea on Sourcery to share how he and his co-founder Runik Mehrotra launched Vise as teenagers and scaled it to over $22 billion in platform assets with their leanest team ever: just about 40 people. After a record-breaking Q2 and 1275% YoY growth, Vise is leading the shift to Wealth 3.0 with personalized, automated portfolios that go beyond mutual funds and ETFs. Backed with $130 million in funding at a $1B valuation from Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, and Allen & Co, Vise uses AI to help advisors build, manage, and explain portfolios across nearly every asset class and client type. Since recording this episode Vise has grown from $15B to $22B platform assets in just a few months. In this episode, Samir breaks down: • Bootstrapping Vise at 16: From seed to unicorn in 18 months • Raising $130M from investors like Sequoia, Founders Fund, + Allen & Co • How Vise saves clients $60M+ in taxes • What tech billionaires actually do with their equity • The $10T RIA opportunity—& why the legacy wealth stack is broken • Retail demand for private credit, real estate, & alternative assets • Global wealth shifts from London to Dubai, Milan, & Southeast Asia • Why scaling back from 150+ employees to 40 made the company stronger “There needs to be one platform that is functionally the platform that powers the global multi-trillion dollar asset management industry. And it will be Vise” Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Samir on X: https://x.com/samir_vasavada Visit Vise: https://vise.com Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery subscriber you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) Visit: brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: kalshi.com/sourcery • Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (00:00) $83T Market → Vise Hits $22B platform assets, 1275% YoY Growth (01:30) Founding Vise at 16 & Becoming a Unicorn in 18 Months (03:04) Pivoting to $10T Enterprise RIA Market (05:28) Lean 40-Person Team → Fastest Growth Ever (06:23) What Vise Actually Does (10:23) State of Retail Market: $83T in wealth, $2T+ in Access to Alts (22:45) $63M+ Saved via Daily Tax-Loss Harvesting (24:38) Servicing Clients from $200 to $150M Accounts (30:45) Why Zuckerberg & Elon Take “$0 Salaries” (32:42) Billionaire Playbook: Financing Homes & Jets via Stock Loans (39:21) Scaled to 150 Employees to “Refounding” with 40 “Barrels” (Keith Rabois Strategy) (43:20) Vision: World’s Biggest Tech-Powered Asset Manager

Rune Kvist, CEO & Founder of the Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company (AIUC), joins Sourcery to break down how his team is building the confidence infrastructure for AI adoption — and why every AI agent will soon need to be certified and insured. AIUC just came out of stealth with a $15M seed round led by Nat Friedman (NFDG), with participation from Emergence, Terrain, Ben Mann (Anthropic co-founder), former CISOs of Google Cloud & MongoDB, and other top AI operators. Rune was the first product & GTM hire at Anthropic, and now he’s building the “confidence infrastructure” for the AGI era — combining standards (AIUC-1), audits, and insurance to de-risk AI deployments. Key Takeaways: • CEO Rune Kvist: Anthropic’s first product & GTM hire • AIUC is building insurance, standards, and audits for AI agents • Enterprises won’t adopt AI without trust & accountability • AI agent failures — like hallucinations or leaks — are inevitable • AIUC-1 is a fast-updating standard to certify agents (SOC 2 for AI) • Every AI agent will need certification and insurance Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Rune on X: https://x.com/RuneKvist Visit Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company: https://aiuc.com Brought to you by: • Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery subscriber you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) Visit: brex.com/sourcery • Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourcery • Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: kalshi.com/sourcery • Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ (00:00) Launching AIUC: $15M Seed Led by Nat Friedman (01:49) What AIUC Does: Insurance, Standards, and Audits for AI Agents (04:20) History Repeats: How Insurance Enabled Innovation (Franklin, UL, Cars) (08:14) The AI Divide: OpenAI vs Anthropic vs SSI (10:39) Confidence Infrastructure: Helping Enterprises Trust AI (14:13) How AIUC Tests Agents & Updates Standards Frequently (17:03) Underwriting AI: Modeling Risk When Agents Go Rogue (21:40) From AGI to Superintelligence: What Comes Next? (28:36) Why AI Regulation Won’t Be Federal This Year (34:36) What Is a Kill Switch — And Do We Need One? (39:28): One Dominant Standard for AI Insurance (45:41) What Enterprise AI Will Look Like in 3–5 Years

Greg Little, Senior Counselor at Palantir, joins Sourcery to discuss how AI is reshaping national defense, why America must rebuild its manufacturing base, and the urgent need to weaponize capitalism. He shares a Game of Thrones-inspired breakdown of the defense ecosystem—from Lockheed to startups—and how Palantir’s tools are driving outcomes across the U.S. Navy, industrial supply chains, and even hospital systems. We unpack how the Pentagon needs to evolve, why AI isn’t just hype, and why Palantir’s First Breakfast initiative could be the key to winning the next great power competition.This conversation is part of Sourcery’s “Made in America” Mini-Series recorded at the Reindustrialize 2025 Summit. Topics include:- Palantir’s work with the Navy and defense contractors- The national security implications of China’s manufacturing scale- Why America must learn to build again- How AI is being deployed in shipbuilding, logistics, and battlefield awareness- A defense-tech Game of Thrones: Pentagon = Iron Throne, Lockheed = Lannisters, Startups = Starks- The economics of government procurement vs. value- Financial audits as a weapon of war- Palantir’s infrastructure advantage for startups- How AI can close the “kill chain” and the “cash chain” Timestamps:(00:00) Palantir's Role in Reindustrializing America(04:02) How Palantir is deploying AI across the U.S. Navy(05:16) The China Shipbuilding Gap: 200 to 1(06:34) Game of Thrones Analogy: Defense tech's competing houses(13:18) “First Breakfast”: “Weaponizing Capitalism”(17:13) Why the Pentagon’s obsession with cost hurts national security(21:03) AI + Capitalism vs. Bureaucracy: Who Wins?(24:51) What Palantir actually does(26:45) Can financial audits help win wars? (Yes!)(30:21) Ontologies, explained (kind of)(34:12) The “Alien Autopsy Room”Connect with us:1. Palantir: https://x.com/PalantirTech2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvcBrought to you by:Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourceryTuring—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourceryKalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourceryFourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!https://www.sourcery.vc/

Chris Power, CEO of Hadrian, returns to Sourcery to break down the company’s newly announced $260M Series C.. bringing Hadrian’s total investment to ~$500M since founding the company in 2020. This round was closed in 3 weeks, with equity led by Delian Asparouhov of Founders Fund and Lux Capital, alongside a factory expansion loan facility from Morgan Stanley. The funding supports Hadrian’s rapid U.S. expansion, including Factory 3 in Mesa, Arizona, and the build-out of new divisions like Hadrian Maritime. Chris explains how Hadrian is evolving from precision part production to full product manufacturing, covering everything from components to assemblies to mission-critical platforms. He also shares how the company is integrating AI across its stack, building proprietary labeled data in a space where legacy manufacturing systems have long been offline. The conversation touches on geopolitics, the Davidson window, industrial readiness, and why Hadrian is betting big on automation and American workforce reinvention. Highlights: $260M Series C to expand into full product manufacturing and naval defense Factory 3 opening in Arizona with 270,000 sqft Hadrian generating one of the only scalable labeled data sets for AI in manufacturing 10x YoY Growth & National Expansion Plans Connect with us! 1. Chris Power: https://x.com/2112Power 2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc Brought to you by: Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourcery Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Subscribe to Sourcery for the latest updates!https://www.sourcery.vc/ Timestamps: (00:00) - Chris Power Returns (01:00) - $260M Series C: Founders Fund, Lux, Morgan Stanley (03:35) - Factory 3 in Arizona & expansion (05:10) - Hadrian’s product vision: parts, assemblies, full systems (06:55) - Customers: hardware startups, primes, DoD (08:30) - Why America needs 20 Hadrians (10:50) - Financing factories like solar & data centers (13:45) - ReIndustrialize 2025: momentum in policy & defense (15:45) - The Davidson Window: China, Taiwan, and U.S. readiness (22:57) - AI in manufacturing: Hadrian’s data moat & automation strategy (25:55) - Future Predictions: Trump, China, Recession (30:30) - Bloopers #Hadrian #AdvancedManufacturing #ReindustrializeAmerica #DefenseTech #SupplyChainResilience #BuildInAmerica #ChrisPower

Art Levy, Chief Business Officer at Brex, the $12.3 billion modern finance behemoth, breaks down why we’re seeing a Golden Age of M&A, with mega-acquisitions, reverse acqui-hires, and aggressive consolidation across the AI landscape. From Meta’s $14B 49% stake in Scale AI, to Google’s $32B Wiz deal, & Stripe’s aggressive crypto rail strategy, Art offers a sharp view into the strategies behind the biggest moves in tech & finance. We go deep on: • The rise of “tuck-in” M&A (Scale AI) + strategic AI consolidation • Best & worst practices for M&A • Brex’s growth: 80% YoY enterprise revenue growth, 140% NRR, $100B+ in TPV run rate • Their structural advantage vs. Ramp, Amex, & legacy banks • The rise of crypto rails (Stripe’s acq of Bridge & Privy) • Raising $1.5B & the road to IPO Brex has evolved far beyond its startup roots, now powering financial operations for over 200 public companies, including leading global players like Arm, Anthropic, eToro, Neuralink, Scale AI, Wiz, etc. Plus 1 in 3 venture-backed startups in the U.S. use Brex. With multiple $100M+ revenue lines, Brex combines a globally distributed payments platform with spend management software, banking infrastructure, and AI-powered automation. The company is redefining what it means to be mission-critical infrastructure for modern CFOs — with durable revenue streams, strong retention, and a clear path to IPO. Brex Funding Stats: • Last valuation: $12.3B, primary round done in late 2021 • Investors: YC, DST Global, Greenoaks, Tiger Global, Ribbit, TCV, Kleiner Perkins, IVP, Lone Pine, GIC, Baillie Gifford, Madrone Capital Partners • Total funding: $1.5B; did a tender offer in early 2022 for $250M at same $12.3B valuation. Brought to you by: Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Chapters: (01:13) Massive AI Consolidation (04:41) Art Levy's Journey to CBO at Brex (08:28) Brex's $12.3B Evolution & Path to IPO (14:18) Current State of M&A (Meta, Stripe, OpenAI) (24:00) Meta's Strategic Moves in AI (37:32) Best & Worst Practices for M&A (50:00) 3 Types of M&A (52:22) Brex's M&A & Partnership Approach (53:35) Brex's Modular Product Strategy (54:43) Strategic Partnerships (Zip, Coupa, Navan, Warp) (01:05:05) Exploring Stablecoins, Crypto Rails, & Global Finance Infrastructure (01:08:26) Dethroning Amex: Brex's Market Position & Competitive Edge (01:25:04) Rise of AI & AI Agents in Finance (01:27:14) Brex's Massive Growth & Market Strategy (01:31:23) Future Predictions: AI, Finance, Waymo, Happy Gilmore Connect with us: 1. Art Levy: https://x.com/Alevy1511 2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc

Bryan Kim, Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), focuses on early-stage investments in consumer and application-layer AI. He has invested in some of the most prolific consumer companies like: Captions, ElevenLabs, BeReal, Function Health, and more. One of his recent investments is viral phenomenon, Cluely, a controversial San Francisco-based AI startup founded by Roy Lee. Cluely has raised over $20M to date, with their most recent $15M investment from Bryan at a16z. Cluely is building an invisible desktop assistant to help you “cheat on everything.” We talk about: • The wild backstory behind investing in Cluely & ElevenLabs • Why he calls momentum “the moat” in the AI era • What it takes to raise a Series A today • How context makes AI products infinitely better, and harder to replace Brought to you by: Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery listener, you can unlock up to $500 toward Brex travel or $300 in cash back, plus exclusive perks to help you move even faster: https://brex.com/sourcery Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Connect with us: 1. Bryan Kim: https://x.com/kirbyman01 2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc (00:00) Trailer (01:04) Welcome Bryan Kim & Cluely Intro (02:26) How Bryan Met Roy Lee (07:00) The $15M Bet On Cluely (09:58) Cluely’s Hype Media Strategy (14:18) Momentum Is The Moat (20:37) Brex’s Full-Stack Product Suite (22:26) Chasing ElevenLabs Across the Globe (26:04) Function Health & Preventive AI (32:39) Why Creative AI Tools Are Exploding (34:54) Deepfakes, Risks & Regulating AI (38:08) Startup Exits, Liquidity & What’s Changing (43:50) Do Post-2024 Startups Scale Faster? (49:04) OpenAI Usage beating Social Media? (51:58) The 3 Metrics Bryan Looks For (58:07) Growth vs. Profitability: Where We Are Now (01:02:00) Will Tech Layoffs Keep Rising? (01:04:35) What’s Next for Consumer AI (01:05:49) Will Roy Lee Become a Billionaire? (01:06:57) Jony Ive × OpenAI: New Ambient Device? (01:09:56) Waymo, Robotaxis & the Future of Cities (01:11:47) Final Thoughts: It’s Time to Build

Jack Altman built Lattice into a multi-billion-dollar category leader, raising hundreds of millions along the way. Now he runs Alt Capital, backing 25 bold AI startups out of the $150M AUM fund III. This includes existing portfolio companies like Antares, Owner.com, David AI, Retell AI and more. In addition to that, we breakdown Jack’s new podcast Uncapped, which recently reached escape velocity in just 14 episodes after interviews. Uncapped is a podcast where Jack interviews founders and investors he genuinely admires, using those conversations to publicly explore the inner workings of venture capital. Legendary guests include Marc Andreessen, Keith Rabois, Gary Tan, Josh Kopelman, Elad Gil, Aaron Levie, Qasar Younes, Elad Gil, Adam Guild, and of course, his brother Sam Altman. In this episode with Molly O’Shea, he dives into: • why there’s no such thing as a “right strategy” in VC • how your board shapes your long-term trajectory • what AGI could mean for our world, and more (00:00) Trailer  (00:59) Welcome Jack Altman! (02:12) Founder to VC & now Podcaster (05:48) Learnings from hosting Uncapped (12:50) The Marc Andreessen Podcast (14:10) Brex’s Full-Stack Product Suite (18:24) Securing an allocation in hyper competitive rounds  (20:04) What is it like being a founder in today’s environment? (24:13) Will model companies grow even bigger? (33:50) Sam Altman & The AGI Timeline (39:44) Are energy companies the next gold rush? (43:13) Silicon Valley: More Talent Acquisitions Abound (44:40) Alt Capital’s Investment Portfolio (46:40) What’s it like being a high performer? (48:00) Espresso obsession & Pokémon cards? Brought to you by: Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery listener, you can unlock up to $500 toward Brex travel or $300 in cash back, plus exclusive perks to help you move even faster: https://brex.com/sourcery Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ Connect with us: 1. Jack Altman: https://x.com/jaltma 2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc

Roy Lee, Founder & CEO of Cluely, announces their $15M from Andreessen Horowitz to build what they call the most viral AI startup in the world. In this deep dive, we break down their product, business model, fundraising strategy, controversial stunt marketing playbook, and what it means to scale with creator-led growth. With over $20M in total funding, Cluely is building real-time, undetectable screen overlays, Cluely is rethinking how AI should show up in your workflow, and they’re doing it profitably. Cluely last announced their $5.3M Seed round in April 2025, co-led by Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures. Whether you think they’re brilliant or reckless, this is one of the most fascinating startup stories in tech right now. Try Cluely: https://cluely.com/ Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOSheaRoy on X: https://x.com/im_roy_lee Brought to you by: Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery listener, you can unlock up to $500 toward Brex travel or $300 in cash back, plus exclusive perks to help you move even faster: https://brex.com/sourcery Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/TIMESTAMPS:00:00 - Roy Lee, Cluely 00:35 - $15M Led by a16z 02:21 - Cluely’s Viral Mega Launch 03:07 - Fundraising Strategies & Founder Mindset 04:51 - From Columbia to Silicon Valley 08:17 - Cluely: Product Overview & Vision 16:39 - Business Model & Profitability 21:10 - Stunt Marketing & Virality 26:48 - Idol: Elon Musk's Freedom & Success 27:05 - Controversies 27:46 - Criticism28:09 - Will Roy Go To Jail? 29:54 - Selling to Enterprise 32:20 - Importance of Viral Content 33:58 - Team Dynamics & 50 Interns 36:03 - Managing Stunts & Culture 46:36 - Leadership Challenges & Personal Reflections 51:09 - Kalshi Predictions & Future Outlook#podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley #Cluely #SeriesA #a16z #AmbientAI #FounderLed #CreatorLedGrowth #ViralMarketing #UndetectableAI #EscapeVelocity #ConquerorOfTheUniverse #RoyLee

Paul Klein IV, founder & CEO of Browserbase, announces their $40M Series B at a $300M valuation led by Notable Capital. Browserbase has raised $67.5M in total funding in just 15 months (!!) since founding the company. Existing investors include big Silicon Valley funds like Kleiner Perkins, CRV, Basecase, and more.  Paul shares how Browserbase is powering the next generation of AI agents and “vibe coders” by providing programmable, cloud-hosted browser infrastructure—what he calls “Twilio for headless browsers.” Special thank you to John at Strike Capital for the introduction, as well as Bucky Moore and Turner Novak for some incredible questions. This is an awesome interview. We cover: * How Browserbase works and real-world automation use cases * Round dynamics, fundraising strategy & investor support * Their all-star angel network: Jeff Lawson (Twilio), Patrick Collison (Stripe), Guillermo Rauch (Vercel), founders of Okta, Stitch, WorkOS, and more * The evolution of their brand (emoji story) * Go-to-market strategy and scaling past 1,000 customers * Launching Director.ai for “vibe coders” * The future of AI agents, authentication, and automation * Paul’s solo founder journey and team culture in SF Whether you’re building an agent, automating legacy workflows, or just curious how infra startups are scaling fast in AI, this one’s for you. Check out Browserbase: https://www.browserbase.com/ Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Paul on X: https://x.com/pk_iv Brought to you by: Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery listener, you can unlock up to $500 toward Brex travel or $300 in cash back, plus exclusive perks to help you move even faster: https://brex.com/sourcery Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Series B Fundraise Announcement 02:21 - Introduction to Browserbase 04:04 - Use Cases & Applications 07:56 - Customer Growth & Product Development 10:48 - GTM & Branding Strategies 22:53 - AI Agent Ecosystem & Authentication 28:08 - AI Regulation & Deep Fakes 30:07 - Launching Director AI 30:54 - Empowering Vibe Coders 33:52 - Customer Service & Team Composition 41:28 - Why Founding a Startup Should Be Last Resort 44:38 - Managing Performance As A Solo Founder  48:38 - Future Outlook & Kalshi Predictions #Browserbase #AIInfrastructure #PaulKlein #Startups #Automation #SeriesB #AIagents #DeveloperTools #VibeCoders #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Cameron McCord, CEO & Founder of Nominal, discuss their recent $75 million Series B round led by Sequoia, bringing their total funding to over $100 million. With this funding, #1 on the Midas list investor, Alfred Lin of Sequoia is joining their board. Alongside Stephen Slattery, Growth & Product at Nominal, they delve into Nominal’s rapid 10-day funding process, driven by thorough due diligence and their impressive customer testimonials. We go deeper into their innovative core products, Core and Connect, for hardware testing, software management, and their impressive traction in aerospace, defense, energy, and maritime industries. Closing large early customers like Shield AI, Antares, and Vatn. Cameron and Steven, share insights into their backgrounds, including experiences in the US Navy, Anduril, SpaceX, and other prestigious institutions, and how these experiences led them to create Nominal. Learn how Nominal accelerates testing processes, the company’s growth strategies, and the unique challenges and advancements in the hardware sector. Plus, Cameron’s fascinating background as a submarine officer. Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOSheaCameron on X: https://x.com/cameronlmccord Brought to you by: Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery listener, you can unlock up to $500 toward Brex travel or $300 in cash back, plus exclusive perks to help you move even faster: https://brex.com/sourcery Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/Earn Sourcery Content Rewards: https://whop.com/sourcery/?a=sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - $75M Series B Led by Sequoia 03:12- The Journey to Nominal: Backgrounds and Convictions 06:01 - Market Opportunities & Challenges in Aerospace and Defense 08:58 - Continuous Hardware Testing: The Future of Development 11:48 - Nominal's Unified Operating Platform: Features and Benefits 15:03 - The Role of Connect in Hardware Testing 17:55 - Trends and Predictions in the Defense Sector 20:48 - Navigating the Supply Chain and Testing Landscape 23:48 - The Importance of Collaboration with Primes 26:49 - Delta Qualification: Accelerating Hardware Development 34:06 - Nominal's Products: Core and Connect 44:27 - Scaling Success with Nominal 48:21 - Performance Management in Complex Industries 52:10 - Case Studies: Aerospace, Nuclear, and Maritime 01:00:24 - Efficiency Gains & Cost Savings for Customers 01:03:20 - Navigating Innovation in a Rapidly Changing Landscape 01:06:49 - Go-to-Market Strategies for Diverse Customers 01:09:10 - Building a Talented Team for Growth 01:14:57 - Lessons from Fundraising and Future Outlook#podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

With $32M in total funding, Nucleus CEO Kian Sadeghi joins Molly to discuss the groundbreaking launch of Nucleus Embryo, a genetic optimization software designed to give children the best possible start in life. Kian explains how the software analyzes comprehensive genetic profiles of embryos, helping parents make informed decisions about traits such as disease risks and physical characteristics. The conversation delves into partnerships with companies like Genomic Prediction, the significance of this innovation in the broader context of the fertility crisis, and the ethical considerations and future implications of genetic optimization. Nucleus also touches on the affordability and accessibility of this technology, ensuring it becomes a universal tool for all prospective parents. Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Kian on X: https://x.com/KianSadeghi5 Visit Nucleus for Embryo, Family Planning, & Health Testing: https://mynucleus.com/ Brought to you by: Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery listener, you can unlock up to $500 toward Brex travel or $300 in cash back, plus exclusive perks to help you move even faster: https://brex.com/sourcery Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/ Earn Sourcery Content Rewards: https://whop.com/sourcery/?a=sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Kian Sadeghi/Nucleus Intro 0:55 - What is Nucleus Embryo? 2:08 - What does genetic optimization for embryos mean? 4:13 - Why is this now possible vs 5 years ago? 6:11 - The current state of fertility 7:48 - Brex feature 10:53 - How does Nucleus fit into the fertility crisis? 12:20 - Why do you think parents still feel like having children is hitting a lottery ticket? 13:18 - The defining moment for the genetics industry 15:46 - What does this all mean for users? 18:09 - How accurate is your analysis? 19:58 - How far can you take picking out traits for your baby? 22:59 - The controversy and ethics around embryonic selection 24:37 - Kian's message to the critics and sceptics 27:04 - Fourthwall feature 27:53 - The goal is to have anyone and everyone to have access to this 29:02 - What's next for Nucleus? 31:25 - What do you think the best AI will be this month? 32:15 - Will DeepSeek be banned in the US this year? 32:50 - How many times will Trump visit Mar-a-lago this month? 33:20 - What will Tim Cook say during the Apple WWDC event? 35:00 - Thank you for coming on the show Kian

In this episode, John Andrew Entwistle, founder & CEO, breaks down Wander’s explosive growth and recent $50M Series B round led by QED Investors and Fifth Wall, with support from Redpoint, Uncork, Starwood Capital, and Breyer Capital. Wander is building the first vertically integrated platform in vacation rentals, targeting the $35B luxury short-term rental segment with over 1,000 homes, a best-in-class 85 NPS, and 35,000+ nights booked to date. Earn Sourcery Content Rewards: https://whop.com/sourcery/?a=sourcery Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Jack on X: https://x.com/jacksharkey11 Brought to you by: Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery listener, you can unlock up to $500 toward Brex travel or $300 in cash back, plus exclusive perks to help you move even faster: https://brex.com/sourcery Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - John Andrew Entwistle Introduction 1:00 - Series B Benchmark: $5M–$15M ARR 3:32 - What is Wander? 5:20 - Maintaining a high NPS through various transitions 6:10 - The Unscalable Beginning 8:15 - Building the First Vacation Rental REIT 10:46 - Brex Sponsorship Break 11:48 - Market Size: $35B GMV in Top 5% 13:42 - Customer Experience Philosophy 17:00 - Solving the Marketplace Cold Start Problem 19:15 - Hardest Challenge: The 2022 Crisis 23:47 - Sourcing Premium Properties 25:30 - Favorite Properties and Hidden Gems 28:51 - B2B Opportunities 32:34 - The Technology Stack 36:18 - Founder Background 39:59 - Advice for Young Founders 41:37 - Staying Clear During Rapid Scaling 43:53 - Team Structure and Hiring 48:56 - Efficient Marketing and Operations 51:04 - Demand Generation Strategy 53:22 - Activation Over Growth 55:27 - Business Model Deep Dive 57:59 - Capital Raised: $100M+ 1:00:13 - What to Look for in Investors 1:02:20 - Life Philosophy: The Four Rules 1:06:24 - Looking Forward #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Whop CTO Jack Sharkey reveals how they built a $1.2 billion GMV run rate platform with just 20 engineers, processing $108 million monthly & 5+ billion views for 28,000 creators worldwide. Whop has raised $80 million, valued at $800 million. He shares controversial takes on why junior engineers should skip big tech to build their own projects, how AI is making developers 5-10x more productive, and Whop's radical culture of requiring employees to have personal side projects with real users. Earn Sourcery Content Rewards: https://whop.com/sourcery/?a=sourceryMolly on X: https://x.com/MollySOSheaJack on X: https://x.com/jacksharkey11 Brought to you by: Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery listener, you can unlock up to $500 toward Brex travel or $300 in cash back, plus exclusive perks to help you move even faster: https://brex.com/sourcery Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Jack Sharkey/Whop Intro 1:30 - Whop's Mission, Origin Story & Hyper-growth 4:43 - Whop's Funding & $800M Valuation 15:22 - Key Metrics & Global Growth 22:48 - Engineering Challenges & AI Philosophy 33:26 - Database Migration Deep Dive 40:07 - Company Culture & Side Projects 48:40 - Future Plans & Kalshi Predictions

Erik Kriessmann, Partner at Altimeter, joins Molly O'Shea to share his journey from leading human capital at Khosla & Index to writing $100+ million checks into Aerospace & Defense at Altimeter's $10 Billion AUM Fund. We go deep into his investment strategies, and his thoughts on key industry trends. Learn about his work with prominent companies like SpaceX, Anduril, and K2 Space, as well as the unique approach Altimeter takes in supporting founders and investing in transformative technologies. Erik also discusses the evolving exit environment, the impact of AI, and future opportunities in aerospace, defense, and hard tech. Don't miss this comprehensive dive into the minds of one of venture capital's most under-the-radar legends. Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOSheaErik on X: https://x.com/ekriessmannBrought to you by:Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel. As a Sourcery listener, you can unlock up to $500 toward Brex travel or $300 in cash back, plus exclusive perks to help you move even faster: https://brex.com/sourceryKalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourceryFollow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Introduction 00:49 From Khosla & Index to Altimeter 06:50 Building Relationships & Trust 08:35 Sponsorship Message from Brex 09:38 Investing in Real World Technologies, Aerospace, & Defense 14:19 Deep Dive into Anduril 24:22 Spotlight on K2 Space 29:54 Building a Winning Team 31:41 Recruitment Challenges & Strategies 34:14 Altimeter's Investment Approach 40:28 Evaluating Success in Investments 41:46 Exit Strategies & Market Trends 45:36 Opportunities in Aerospace & Defense 50:58 Kalshi Predictions (AI, Wealthiest Person, SpaceX, Aliens) #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Bucky Moore joins Molly O'Shea to announce his new role as Partner at $30B AUM Lightspeed Venture Partners. Bucky opens up about his transition from Kleiner Perkins, the decision to join an established platform versus launching his own fund, the structural and economic elements of changing funds, and what it means to invest at the earliest stages during a generational market cycle. We dive deep into the evolution of megafunds, the heat they’re receiving, the shifting LP landscape, and how venture capital is being reshaped by the rise of targeting trillion-dollar outcomes in companies like OpenAI and SpaceX. Bucky shares his insider take on how to win deals in a hyper-competitive market, the importance of long-term founder relationships, and why early-stage investing is still the soul of great VC firms—even at scale. From navigating fund transitions and valuation froth to unpacking the real impact of AI and what makes a high-stake founder, Bucky brings sharp insights and grounded wisdom. He also reflects on the power of gratitude, taste, and team in an increasingly complex venture ecosystem. Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Bucky on X: https://x.com/buckymoore Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ Follow for exclusive Sourcery content & early releases on Passes: https://www.passes.com/mollysoshea TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Transition to Lightspeed 01:48 - Why Lightspeed Over Own Fund? Transition Dynamics 05:01 - Mega Funds & Trillion-Dollar Strategies 09:19 - “Venture Arrogance Score” 18:28 - How to Win Competitive Rounds 22:03 - The Importance of ‘Picking’ as a Lead Investor 26:32 - Valuations in Pre-Seed & Seed Rounds 30:46 - The Concept of Taste in Venture Capital 38:02 - Sourcing & Building Relationships with Founders 44:22 - Looking Forward: New Beginnings at Lightspeed #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Leigh Marie Braswell, Partner at Kleiner Perkins, speaks with Molly O'Shea on the rise of AI and its impact on venture capital. We discuss KP's 21st venture fund, KP21, an $825M fund to back early stage companies, and their third select fund, KP Select III, a $1.2 billion fund to back high inflection investments. We also go deeper into key AI infrastructure trends and machine learning applications, investments in companies like Windsurf, Glean, and Ambience, and the evolution of Kleiner Perkins over its 50+ years. Learn about the firm's investment strategy, the significance of maintaining a small team, and the process of finding exceptional talent. Leigh Marie also shares her background at Scale AI and insights into creating 'talent vortexes.' A must-watch for entrepreneurs, investors, and AI enthusiasts. Leigh Marie Braswell is a Partner at Kleiner Perkins, where she focuses on investing in infrastructure and machine learning (ML) application startups. She joined the firm in 2023 after serving as a Principal at Founders Fund. Previously, she was an early engineer and the first product manager at Scale AI, leading development for 3D annotation products used in autonomous vehicles, robotics, and AR/VR. Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Guest on X: https://x.com/ttunguz Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Introduction 00:25 $10B+ AUM: Kleiner's Legendary Generational Transformation 08:08 Windsurf: Angel Investment to Potential $3B Acquisition 18:21 Hyper-Competitive AI Landscape 25:43 ARR, Fraud, & Scams 31:52 Code-Gen Competition: Cursor, Devin, Copilot, Windsurf 35:48  Key Trends in AI Infra & ML Applications 40:13 Leigh Marie's Background & Scale AI Journey 46:17 Talent Vortexes & Investing 52:34 Seed-Strapped Companies & Growth 58:37 Poker Nights & Networking 01:03:05 Looking Forward: AI and Founders

Jacob Peters, CEO & Co-Founder of Superpower, shares their recent $30 million Series A funding led by Forerunner Ventures. We go deeper into their ambitious vision of having an AI doctor in everyone's pocket and his own personal health journey that inspired the creation of Superpower. Superpower aims to provide a holistic and data-driven alternative to traditional medicine, offering personalized insights and actions to improve overall health. He also shares the meticulous steps taken to build the Superpower brand, including the creation of 'the world's healthiest hoodie' and securing the superpower.com domain. Get a glimpse into the future of healthcare, the challenges of the current medical system, and how Superpower plans to disrupt the industry for the better. Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Jacob on X: https://x.com/j__cub?lang=en Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Welcome Jacob To Sourcery! 00:49 - $30 Million Series A Led by Forerunner 03:57 - Building a Brand: The Story Behind Superpower 08:02 - Securing the Superpower Domain & Social Handles 14:41 - The "Healthiest Hoodie" Ever Made 17:54 - Jacob's Personal Journey & Founding of Superpower 22:03 - Misaligned Health System Incentives 25:06 - Holistic Medicine & Concierge Care 25:48 - The Birth of a Health Company 30:50 - The Shocking State of American Health 33:42 - Revolutionizing Healthcare with AI 34:02 - Building a Mission-Driven Team 36:56 - Comprehensive Health Testing 45:29 - Future of Healthcare & Business Model #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Chris Josephs, Co-Founder of Autopilot, dives into the intricacies of political insider trading, the venture-backed journey of Autopilot, and their innovative growth strategies. Chris discusses the evolution from their social investing app, Iris, to launching Autopilot, which allows retail investors to follow top investors' portfolios.  We explore high-profile topics including Nancy Pelosi's trading patterns, the history and nuances of insider trading laws, and the potential impact of banning politicians from stock trading. Discover the secret sauce behind Autopilot's viral growth, their creative marketing tactics, and what lies ahead for the company as they partner with creators to further democratize investment opportunities.  Whether you're an investor, entrepreneur, or simply curious about the intersection of technology, politics, and finance, this conversation is packed with insights and actionable takeaways. DISCLAIMER: Not Financial Advice. For entertainment purposes only. Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Chris on X: https://x.com/Chrisjjosephs TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - The Hypocrisy of Politicians Trading Stocks 00:42 - Introducing Chris Josephs of Autopilot & Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker 02:03 - The Evolution of Insider Trading 05:43 - The Stock Act and Its Loopholes 08:58 - The Richard Burr Scandal 11:45 - AOC's Push for a Trading Ban 21:21 - Autopilot's Mission and Growth 36:15 - Viral Growth Marketing Strategies 39:15 - Challenges and Opportunities in FinTech 40:19 - Navigating Media and Investor Relations 45:43 - The Future of Retail Investing 59:34 - VC Fundraising and Business Growth 01:04:26 - Exciting Plans for the Future #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Zach Dell and Justin Lopas, co-founders of Base, discuss their recent $200 million Series B funding and their ambitious vision for revolutionizing the energy industry. Co-led by Addition, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Valor Equity Partners with participation from existing investors Thrive Capital, Altimeter, Terrain, Trust and others. As part of the fundraise, Addition founder Lee Fixel will join Base Power’s board alongside Antonio Gracias of Valor Equity Partners.  The new capital aims to unlock the next phase of growth for Base, including team expansion, market entry, and new product development. The episode delves into Base's unique approach to vertically integrating battery technology, offering both grid services and affordable, reliable power to homeowners. The conversation highlights the founders' experiences at SpaceX, Anduril, and Thrive Capital, shedding light on their mission to fix the power grid through aggressive, technology-driven execution. Learn how Base aims to become a household name and the SpaceX of the energy sector, starting with deployments in Texas and expanding nationwide. About Base Power: Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Base Power is an energy company building a grid for the future—starting with battery-powered home energy service. The company’s mission is to advance human prosperity through energy abundance—delivering reliable and affordable power for all. Learn more at basepowercompany.com. Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Zach on X: https://x.com/ ZachBDellJustin on X: https://x.com/JLopas Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - $200M Series B Announcement 00:51 - Base's Vision & Execution Strategy 02:28 - Energy Technology & Market Expansion 03:41 - The US Energy Problem & Grid Challenges 06:30- Why Texas? Strategic Location & Market 09:32 - Founders' Backgrounds & Entrepreneurial Journey 18:24 - Early Challenges & Iterative Approach 23:21 - Vertical Integration & Cost Advantage 26:05 - Customer Journey & Installation Process 30:34 - Energy Industry Breakdown 35:16 - Texas Energy Market & Regulatory Environment 38:38 - Scaling & Expansion Plans 42:45 - Team & Company Culture 46:58 - Future Vision & Goals #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Delian Asparouhov, Co-Founder of Varda & Partner at Founders Fund | We discuss Varda's recent space missions, regulatory challenges, and the broader impact of venture capital in the aerospace industry. Delian shares insights on the complexities of defense and space regulations, the relationship between Silicon Valley and Washington DC, and in particular, the context of the Hill and Valley Forum, which aims to bridge the gap between tech leaders and defense officials. He also shares his thoughts on the future of space exploration—from adapting to other gravitational environments like Jupiter's, to the rise of the “Space Club,” including Eric Schmidt’s new role as CEO of Relativity. In addition, we go deeper on Delian’s investment strategy as he just hit the 6 year mark at Founders Fund, the importance of having an operational background in venture investing, and why seed investing might just be more effective as a hobby. Delian gives us the inside look at his investments in companies like Ramp, Sword Health, Varda, Hadrian, and more. Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Delian on X: https://x.com/zebulgar Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Delian To Sourcery! 0:40 - Live From Varda Space Factories 02:36 Stranded Astronauts 13:10 Varda's Big Milestones 20:38 Growing Space Club: Eric Schmidt, New Entrants & Competitors 23:11 The Role of Public Policy in Space Exploration 28:07 Defense Funding & Government Contracts 29:37 Friction in Venture Capital & Defense Tech 33:12 Hill & Valley Forum: Bridging Silicon Valley & DC 36:05 Challenges in Defense Tech Funding 40:17 Founders Fund Reflection & Investing Strategies 53:28 Lessons From Fatherhood #podcast #investing #space #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Molly O'Shea speaks with Christian Garrett, Partner at 137 Ventures. Christian shares his insights on the current state of private markets, the mechanics of high profile secondaries, and the growing liquidity squeeze faced by VCs. We also take a closer look at SpaceX's financing history, how 137 Ventures got involved, and why SpaceX runs tenders every six months. Christian discusses the potential reopening of the IPO window, the rise of generational talent from companies like Anduril, SpaceX, and Palantir, and why he thinks defense tech might be overrated right now. Other highlights include the evolving relationship between Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., government initiatives like the Replicator Initiative and FedRAMP, and the origins of the Hill & Valley Forum. On a personal note, Christian reflects on his career journey, his mentorship with Trae Stephens, and shares some spicy hot takes on topics like return-to-office policies, San Francisco’s future, and his unexpected bullishness on Europe. If you're interested in venture capital, private markets, or the intersection of tech and policy, this is a must-watch episode! Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Christian on X: https://x.com/CGarrett_15 Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Welcome to Sorcery: Christian Garrett's Journey 00:39 - How Secondaries Work: SpaceX, Figma, Ramp, Plaid, Databricks 04:46 - 137 Ventures: Origin and Investment Thesis 06:36 - SpaceX: A Case Study in Private Market Success 10:38 - The Benefits of Staying Private 18:28 - Generational Talent in Tech: Anduril, SpaceX, Palantir 21:07 - Defense Tech: Opportunities and Challenges 26:02 - Tech and Government: Building Stronger Partnerships 34:25 - Hill and Valley Forum: Bridging Tech and Policy 38:58 - Christian's Journey to Becoming a Partner 42:02 - Trae Stephens & The Role of Mentorship in Success 43:45 - Helping Founders Beyond Capital 52:00 - Christian's Spicy Takes on Industry Trends 01:02:54 - The Future of 137 Ventures 01:09:31 -  Looking Forward: Exciting Prospects Ahead #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Behind the Magically Weird: Arielle Zuckerberg on Long Journey Ventures, Unique founders, and Purpose-Driven Investing Molly O'Shea speaks with Arielle Zuckerberg, diving into her journey at Long Journey Ventures, discussing her unique investment philosophy and the importance of purpose-driven investing. From her hobbies like skiing and DJing to the critical lessons learned from legendary mentor John Doerr, Arielle shares how she evaluates founders using the 'Rizz and Tiz' theory. We uncover Long Journey's creative diligence adventures, the value of unusual startup ideas, and how Long Journey Ventures fosters a unique community for 'magically weird' founders. Whether you're an investor or startup enthusiast, gain insights into navigating the fast-changing VC landscape and focusing on the human element of investing. Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Arielle on X: https://x.com/ariellezuck TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Arielle To Sourcery! 01:22 - The Rizz and the Tiz Theory 05:31 - Lessons from John Doerr 08:49 - VC Twitter and Deal Flow 17:01 - $100M ARR AI Companies 22:05 - Portfolio Companies: Superpower, Autopallet 31:45 - Building a Vibrant Founder Community 36:43 - The Role of Purpose 39:52 - Hot Takes on Venture Capital 42:21 - The "Bubbe" Philosophy 44:19 - Looking Forward: Personal and Professional Goals #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Tarek Mansour, is the Co-Founder & CEO of Kalshi, a regulated exchange & prediction market where you can trade on the outcome of real-world events (buy and sell event contracts). Kalshi has had a huge start to the year post-election from unlocking significant new markets, launching new products, integrating with top brokers like Robinhood and Webull, and welcoming Donald Trump Jr. as an advisor. Mansour delves into the process of navigating regulatory hurdles, including the surprising decision to sue the government. as well as the maddening  journey, challenges, and bold actions needed to be made in order to create an entirely new asset class. Key Takeaways: - How Kalshi is reimagining financial markets by letting users trade on anything in the news. - The difference between gambling and investing in event trading. - Why Tarek believes prediction markets could one day rival the stock market in size. - Kalshi’s vision to make trading on real-world events accessible to everyone, from politics to sports and entertainment. Kalshi is a federally regulated financial exchange and prediction market based in New York City. It allows users to trade on the outcomes of future events through event contracts. The platform was launched in July 2021 and is designed for both retail and institutional traders. Kalshi is notable for being the first federally regulated exchange of its kind, approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The company was founded in 2019 by Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, both of whom are MIT graduates. Tarek worked at Goldman and Citadel, Luana worked at Bridgewater and Citadel. Kalshi was part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2019 batch and has raised $110M from SV and Wall Street heavy weights like Sequoia, Henry Kravis, Charles Schwab and more. Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Tarek on X: https://x.com/mansourtarek_ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Introduction: Struggles of Launching a Regulated Product 00:40 Welcoming Donald Trump Jr. as an Advisor 05:15 Vision for Prediction Markets 15:27 Expanding into Sports and Entertainment 23:11 The Future of Prediction Markets 30:38 Institutional Demand and Market Potential 31:52 Gambling vs. Investing 41:37 Insider Trading in Commodity Derivatives 43:38 Entrepreneurship vs. Trading 47:30 Business Model and Revenue Streams 52:16 Future Goals and Product Development #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Dylan Diamond is the Co-Founder & CEO of Saturn, a viral Gen Z calendar app that's raised $68M after starting as a high school project. In this conversation, Dylan shares his journey of attracting major investors like Jeff Bezos and Mark Benioff, scaling the app to millions of users, and maintaining high retention rates across 18,000 schools. We also get insights into Gen Z behavior, the role of AI in app development, and building a sustainable product. This episode also explores the unique ad model Saturn has created, its long-term vision, and the challenges of maintaining growth and user engagement. I've teamed up with Passes to grant us access to a pro podcast studio in LA, exclusive early releases, audience Q&A, & BTS content. Sign up for Passes for more Sourcery content! https://www.passes.com/mollysoshea Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Introduction 00:43 - Reconnecting in Westport 01:43 - Raising From Bezos, Benioff, Dara & More. 03:06 - From School Project to VC-Backed Company 05:09 - User Retention and Growth Strategies 12:29 - Onboarding and Ambassador Programs 16:56 - Adapting to Gen Z Trends 19:50 - AI Integration and Future Plans 22:41 - Advertising Model and Monetization 25:28 - Building and Maintaining a Consumer Product 28:16 - Expanding Saturn Beyond High School 31:47 - Recruiting and Team Composition 33:58 - Capital Raising and Investor Relations 36:54 - Gen Z Insights and Future Trends #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Packy McCormick I've teamed up with Passes to grant us access to a pro podcast studio in LA, exclusive early releases, audience Q&A, & BTS content. Sign up for Passes for more Sourcery content! https://www.passes.com/ Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Packy on X: https://x.com/packyM TIMESTAMPS: 1:30 - Growing to 239k+ Subscribers 5:00 - How Writing Led to a $50M VC Fund 8:00 - The 'Not Boring' Creative Process 13:50 - Top Founder Characteristics 16:00 - Following Instincts vs Over-Intellectualization of VC 22:00 - Packy’s Best Investments (Ramp, Scale AI, Replit, Chroma, Varda, Hadrian, Pipedream) 25:55 - Intro to Vertical Integrators (Base, Fuse, Varda, Hadrian) 38:00 - Why American Dynamism Won 42:45 - YC RFS Hot Take 46:00 - Can Heavy CapX Companies Raise Growth Funding? 49:15 - Packy’s Hot Take On AI - Is It Alive? Just A Marketing Stunt?! DOGE Recruiting? 1:00:00 - What Packy Is Most Excited About in 2025 #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Today Molly O’Shea speaks with Founding GP Gordon Ritter & new Partner Yaz El-Baba of $2.3B AUM VC fund Emergence Capital. We cover everything from the IPO window, Stargate, the macro environment, the state of AI, the app layer to infrastructure, preventing the AI plateau, to Emergence’s history & evolution. Emergence Capital is a venture capital firm known for its specialization in early-stage investments in enterprise cloud software companies. The firm's focus is on businesses that leverage technology to improve workplace productivity, business outcomes, and the customer experience. Emergence is widely regarded as a pioneer in the SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) space and has backed some of the most successful companies in the category, such as Salesforce, Veeva, Box, Yammer, Bill.com, Zoom, Blend, and Doximity. Founded in 2003, Emergence Capital operates with a philosophy of fostering long-term partnerships with entrepreneurs and helping them build world-class companies. Notable Investments: Salesforce (CRM software giant) Zoom (video conferencing leader) Veeva Systems (cloud solutions for life sciences) Box (cloud-based content management) Emergence Capital is recognized for its deep commitment to its portfolio companies and its expertise in scaling enterprise-focused startups. Stats: $320B+ Market Cap of Portfolio (current and former) $2.3B AUM Six (VI) Funds 100+ Portfolio Companies 20 Exits and Private Valuations Greater than $500 Million Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Gorfon on X: https://x.com/gordonritter Yaz on X: https://x.com/yazanelbaba Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Yaz & Gordon! 1:20 - Current State of VC 6:45 - Emergence's IPOs, Salesforce, Zoom, Bill.com 10:00 - Veeva $37B story 18:10 - Stargate $500B Investment In AI 21:20 - ROI of AI 29:50 - Is SAAS Dead?! 32:30 - Together AI 38:40 - Which Founders Will Win Today? 41:00 - The AI Plateau 58:00 - How Marc Benioff Helped Start Emergence 1:03:10 - Navigating Changes In The Market 1:09:30 - Resolving Partner Tensions In A Fund 1:13:40 - Investment Announcement! 1:16:00 - 1 Deal That You Regret 1:17:50 - Yaz & Gordon's 2025 Outlooks #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Tomasz Tunguz is a prominent venture capitalist and the founder & GP of Theory Ventures, a $688M AUM fund. Theory focuses on investing $1-25m in early-stage companies that leverage technology discontinuities into go-to-market advantages. Before Theory, he was a managing director at Redpoint Ventures, where he led investments into companies such as Looker, Expensify, Monte Carlo, Dune Analytics, and Kustomer. Throughout his career, Tunguz has been recognized for his data-driven approach to investing and his very popular, personal blog, TomTunguz.com. Tomasz recently raised $450 million in November of 2024 for Theory Ventures' second fund, which marks a significant milestone for the firm. This follows his initial breakout fund, launched in 2023, with $238 million. This is a very fun conversation where we go deep into everything AI, LLM business models, predictions, and more. Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Tomasz on X: https://x.com/ttunguz Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Tomasz To Sourcery 1:00 - State of AI Adoption 6:45 - Hyperscaler Power Dymnmic 9:50 - AI Inference 15:00 - Monetizing 20:00 - Raising $600B 28:00 - Decade Of Data 33:30 - Parterning with Former Palantir Executive 35:45 - Tomasz's Childhood 37:40 - What Is Tomasz Looking Forward To The Most This Year #podcast #investing #technology #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #siliconvalley

Joe De Sena is the founder and CEO of Spartan Race, Inc. In this conversation, we discuss Joe’s 20+ years of Spartan Race, surviving covid, acquiring competition and investing in fitness companies. We also get into fitness tips, what to avoid, and how you can train for a Spartan Race. Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Joe on X: https://x.com/realJoeDeSena TIMESTAPS: 0:00 - Welcome Joe De Sena To Sourcery! 0:30 - Mental Resilience 3:30 - Creating A Resilience Flywheel 5:20 - Building Spartan Race For 20 Years - Surviving Covid 8:15 - The Spartan Cult 12:15 - How Tech Will Improve Spartan Race 14:00 - Biggest Lesson Of The Last 24 Years 16:30 - Chasing Money vs. Purpose 18:30 - Acquiring Competition & Scaling 21:00 - Thoughts On Investing In The Fitness Industry 23:15 - Worst Fitness Trend That Joe Fell Into 26:25 - How To Approach Fitness In The New Year 31:40 - Training For Spartan Race 33:25 - What Joe Is Most Excited About For 2025 #podcast #investing #venturecapital #business #saas

In this episode, Molly O'Shea speaks with Cyan Banister and Lee Jacobs to discuss the unique investment strategy of Long Journey Ventures, focusing on their ethos of 'Magically Weird.' Their investments include breakout companies like SpaceX, Uber, Anduril, Crusoe, Notion, DeepMind, Loom, Postmates, and more. We explore how they build a community of independent thinkers, create memorable events, and foster authentic connections among founders. "We're looking for misfits, free thinking people." - Cyan The conversation also goes deep on the rise of spirituality, the importance of aligning profit with purpose, and the shift in venture capital sentiment, highlighting the cynicism among founders and investors. The dialogue culminates in reflections on the future of startups and the significance of community and shared values in achieving meaningful success. Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Cyan on X: https://x.com/cyantist Lee on X: https://x.com/LeeJacobs Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS:

Lucy Guo is a prominent entrepreneur and investor, known for her role as a co-founder of various technology startups. She gained recognition as one of the early employees at the artificial intelligence startup, Scale AI. We recorded this episode live from Lucy's new studio in Los Angeles! In this conversation, we discuss building in the creator economy, signing huge names, building a creator HQ in LA, biggest misconceptions, raising $50M in 2 yrs, ditching web3,  and competitive fintech & data strategy. Molly on X: https://x.com/MollySOShea Lucy on X: https://x.com/lucy_guo Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!  https://www.sourcery.vc/ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Lucy To Sourcery!  2:20 - Future Of Consumer Social 6:15 - How To Become The 1% Of Creators 9:00 - Lucy's Studio In Los Angeles, The Next Gen Of Agencies 12:00 - Lucy's Goal For Passes 15:00 - Working With  Shaq, Kygo & Olivia Dunne - Any Dream Creators? 18:20 - Strategizing Brand Activation 21:45 - Regrets From Moving On From Web3? 24:00 - Misconceptions Of Passes 27:00 - LA Psychics  29:00 - Raising $50M In 2 Years - Fundraising Strategy 31:00 - Lucy's Long Term Goals #podcast #investing #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup

Today Molly O'Shea speaks with Dan Wright, CEO of Armada, backed with $100M to date from notable investors like Trae Stephens from Founders Fund, 137 Ventures, Lux, Dragon Global, Microsoft’s M12, 8VC, Shield Capital, among others. Armada is a leading edge computing company deploying servers for advanced AI applications in remote locations. More impressively, this company barely started 2 years ago and has been out of stealth for less than a year, while achieving critical milestones like partnerships with Starlink, Skydio, Hallibutron, and more, we’ll discuss shortly. Dan is a remarkable figure in the world of data coming from key executive positions at DataRobot and AppDynamics, while Armada’s COO Jon Runyan led Okta through its IPO, and CTO Pradeep Nair was VP of MSFT Azure. This is a great sneak peek into the early innings of one of the next most important rocket ship companies in technology. Disclosure: The Fund Molly works for is an investor in Armada  -- Follow on Twitter  https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/danwrightsf -- Check out Armada https://www.armada.ai/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/  -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ –- COMPANIES MENTIONED: Founders Fund: https://www.foundersfund.com 137 Ventures: https://www.137ventures.com Starlink: https://www.starlink.com Microsoft Azure: https://azure.microsoft.com SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com DataRobot: https://www.datarobot.com AppDynamics: https://www.appdynamics.com Okta: https://www.okta.com Halliburton: https://www.halliburton.com Skydio: https://www.skydio.com Cisco: https://www.cisco.com Palantir: https://www.palantir.com Anderol: https://www.anderol.com Rippling: https://www.rippling.com Ramp: https://www.ramp.com Goldman Sachs: https://www.goldmansachs.com OpenAI: https://www.openai.com Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com Databricks: https://www.databricks.com Cockroach Labs: https://www.cockroachlabs.com Metronome: https://www.metronome.com -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction & Founding of Armada  (01:29) The Role of Early Investors  (02:52) Recruiting Top Talent  (04:34) Armada's Product Suite: Connect, Edge, and OpsAI  (07:55) The Galleon: Design and Engineering  (09:58) The Marketplace and Partner Ecosystem  (12:30) Building vs. Partnering for AI Applications  (14:20) Go-to-Market Strategy and Global Expansion  (16:46) The Go-to-Market Team and Hiring Philosophy  (18:24) Pitching to Public and Private Sectors  (21:01) Addressing the Market's White Space  (22:42) Key Partnerships and Building a Moat  (24:02) Sourcing Hardware and Scaling Production  (25:51) Growth Strategies Across Companies  (27:52) Capital Allocation and Milestones  (30:39) Crazy Edge Cases, Team Expansion, and Hiring Priorities  (33:33) Wrap  (34:00) Post-Interview Advertisement RECOMMENDED PODCAST: 🎙️ Unpack Pricing Dive into the dark arts of SaaS pricing with Metronome CEO Scott Woody and tech leaders. Learn how strategic pricing drives explosive revenue growth in today's biggest companies like Snowflake, Cockroach Labs, Dropbox and more.  Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1765716600  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/38DK3W1Fq1xxQalhDSueFg

Molly O'Shea talks with Joshua Browder, Founder & CEO of DoNotPay, a $200M AI champion designed to help people fight against big corporations and beat bureaucracy. Joshua shares his journey from dropping out of Stanford for a Thiel Fellowship to founding DoNotPay. To date, DoNotPay has saved consumers $100M+ on over 1.6M cases and attracted significant venture capital interest. We go deeper into the innovative features of DoNotPay, its ‘spicy’ media strategy, and the importance of building a subscription-based business model. Browder also reflects on his experiences as a Thiel Fellow and his investment philosophy as “statistically” the most active Thiel Fellow investor. Our discussion concludes with his predictions for the future of the tech market and the potential for a new tech bubble. -- Follow on Twitter  https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/jbrowder1 -- Check out Do Not Pay https://donotpay.com/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/  -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ – COMPANIES MENTIONED: DoNotPay: https://donotpay.com Google: https://google.com Meta: https://meta.com Amazon: https://amazon.com Comcast: https://xfinity.com IBM Watson: https://www.ibm.com/watson Equifax: https://www.equifax.com Harper's Magazine: https://harpers.org McDonald's: https://www.mcdonalds.com Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com Polymarket: https://polymarket.com Character AI: https://character.ai Riverside: https://riverside.fm Figma: https://www.figma.com Andreessen Horowitz: https://a16z.com Founders Fund: https://foundersfund.com Kotu Capital: https://www.kotucapital.com Index Ventures: https://www.indexventures.com Lux Capital: https://www.luxcapital.com Tribe Capital: https://tribecap.co Day One Ventures: https://www.dayoneventures.com DST Global: https://dst-global.com Owner.com: https://www.owner.com Wanda: https://www.wanda.co Robinhood: https://robinhood.com Umami Burger: https://umamiburger.com -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Preview (01:03) DoNotPay: Fighting Big Corporations and Bureaucracy (02:13) A Modern-Day David vs. Goliath (03:33) AI and DoNotPay: Not Just Agents, But Robots (04:20) Scale and Impact: DoNotPay's Success Stories (05:17) Key Use Cases: Free Trial Credit Card and Robo Revenge (07:10) Unexpected Allies: Warren Buffett and IBM Watson (10:50) Media Strategy: Tapping into Anger and Current Events (12:40) Supreme Court Challenge: A Million Dollar Offer (14:55) Sponsor: Archer (15:39) Enemies and Good Media Strategy (17:05)) Business Model: Subscription, Profitability, and Dividends (21:40) Investor Relations: Favorable Relationships and Strategies (23:40) Thiel Fellowship: Investing in Young Entrepreneurs (29:40) The State of Entrepreneurship: Challenges and Opportunities (33:00) Leadership: Values and Influences (35:10) 2025 Predictions: Voice AI, Tech Bubble, and M&A (37:55) Wrap -- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: 🎙️ Unpack Pricing Dive into the dark arts of SaaS pricing with Metronome CEO Scott Woody and tech leaders. Learn how strategic pricing drives explosive revenue growth in today's biggest companies like Snowflake, Cockroach Labs, Dropbox and more.  Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1765716600  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/38DK3W1Fq1xxQalhDSueFg

Molly O'Shea interviews Jason Fiedler, Managing Partner at Left Lane Capital, a $2B+ venture fund focused on consumer and internet businesses. They discuss his unique investment strategies focused on consumer goods, sports, and the evolving retail landscape, diving into specific subcategories and his portfolio companies. Jason shares insights on the importance of NPS Delta, the application of software frameworks to consumer investing, his Sims City vision, pearls & strings system, and the rapid growth of his firm. He emphasizes the significance of sourcing deals through a rigorous process, keeping track of 'crazy' ideas, and the big opportunity for innovative beverage brands in a changing market. The discussion also touches on the risks of fast growth and the future trends in consumer behavior. -- Follow on Twitter ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ https://x.com/jfeedler -- Check out Left Lane Capital: ⁠https://www.leftlane.com/⁠ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: ⁠https://www.sourcery.vc/ ⁠ -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ -- COMPANIES MENTIONED: Investment Companies: Left Lane Capital: ⁠https://www.leftlanecap.com/⁠ Insight Partners: ⁠https://www.insightpartners.com/⁠ Left Lane Capital Portfolio Companies: Blank Street: ⁠https://www.blankstreet.com/⁠ Kings League: ⁠https://kingsleague.pro/⁠ Olipop: ⁠https://drinkolipop.com/⁠ Holy (German beverage): ⁠https://drinkholyfood.com/⁠ League One Volleyball: ⁠https://www.l1volleyball.com/⁠ Jason's Personal Investments: Farmer's Dog: ⁠https://www.thefarmersdog.com/⁠ Figs: ⁠https://www.wearfigs.com/⁠ Major Companies Referenced: Coca-Cola: ⁠https://www.coca-cola.com/⁠ Pepsi: ⁠https://www.pepsi.com/⁠ Monster Energy: ⁠https://www.monsterenergy.com/⁠ Starbucks: ⁠https://www.starbucks.com/⁠ McDonald's: ⁠https://www.mcdonalds.com/⁠ Driscoll's: ⁠https://www.driscolls.com/⁠ TCBY: ⁠https://www.tcby.com/⁠ All Birds: ⁠https://www.allbirds.com/⁠ Liquid Death: ⁠https://liquiddeath.com/⁠ Rao's: ⁠https://www.raos.com/⁠ -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Preview and Intro (01:50) Inspiration from Starbucks and Investment Strategy (04:07) Subcategories of Interest (05:14) Applying Frameworks from Software to Consumer (06:56) LTV to CAC and LTV to CapEx (08:43) The Sims Framework (10:35) NPS Delta(11:51) Growth and Current Stats (14:50) Sponsor: Archer (15:33) Number of Investments and Board Seats (16:15) Sourcing Deals and Thematic Approach (19:18) Identifying Breakout Companies (20:41) The App Store Influence (21:29) Risks of Rapid Growth (23:08) Olipop Investment (25:24) The Holy Investment and Powder-Based Beverages (29:25) Conviction on Sports Investments (31:51) Crazy Ideas and Future Investment Areas (34:10) The Next Big Trends (37:08) Outro and Next Steps RECOMMENDED PODCAST: 🎙️ This Won't Last Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics. Apple Podcasts:⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/id1765665937⁠ Spotify:⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSz⁠ YouTube:⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWontLastpodcast⁠

Molly O’Shea interviews Saurav Shroff, Founder & CEO of Starpath, a company developing megascale propellant production systems for lunar and Mars operations. For full show notes, visit: https://highlightai.com/share/65820d0a-9323-4de8-a526-9bb3aca1baeb -- Follow on Twitter https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/SauravShroff5 -- Check out Starpath https://starpath.space/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ -- Companies mentioned: SpaceX https://www.spacex.com/ Blue Origin https://www.blueorigin.com/ NASA https://www.nasa.gov/ Investors: 8VC https://www.8vc.com/ Fusion Fund https://fusionfund.com/ Day One Ventures https://www.dayoneventures.com/ Hummingbird https://hummingbird.vc/ -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction and multi-planetary discussion (01:19) Starpath's mission and fundraising (02:50) Breakdown of core systems (04:50) Technical details of mining operations (08:30) Regulatory considerations for lunar mining (10:10) Energy demand and power generation (12:30) Sponsor break (13:14) Market context and SpaceX developments (15:06) Prototyping and scaling strategy (16:40) Power generation system design (21:30) Testing methodology (24:09) Lunar night survival challenges (25:40) Facility and operations (26:40) Business model and revenue strategy (28:19) Competition landscape (29:30) Founder's conviction and vision (31:00) Hiring plans and closing remarks -- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: 🎙️ This Won't Last Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/id1765665937 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSz YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWontLastpodcast

In this fascinating episode of Sourcery, host Molly O'Shea sits down with Richard Socher, founder and CEO of You.com and co-founder of AIX Ventures. Richard shares insights on building an AI-powered productivity engine, the future of AI agents, and his journey from academic researcher to successful entrepreneur and investor. Special offer for Sourcery listeners: https://www.you.com/business/sourcery For full show notes, visit: https://highlightai.com/share/43165ac6-1745-4dbb-bd68-18f13862e8db -- For key insights on the podcast, visit: https://highlightai.com/share/c297f6aa-b0d3-4c10-8c37-a862d495b0dc -- Follow on Twitter  https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/RichardSocher -- Check out You.com https://you.com/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/  -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ -- Companies mentioned: Anthropic - https://anthropic.com  OpenAI - https://openai.com  Google - https://google.com  AIX Ventures - https://aix.ventures  Salesforce - https://salesforce.com  Hugging Face - https://huggingface.co  Perplexity - https://perplexity.ai  Weights & Biases - https://wandb.ai  Whisper - https://whisper.ai  Georgian - https://georgian.io  NVIDIA - https://nvidia.com  GenDigital - https://gen.com  SBV Asia (formerly SoftBank Ventures Asia) - https://softbank.com  DuckDuckGo - https://duckduckgo.com  DayOne Ventures - https://dayoneventures.com  Minecast - https://mimecast.com  Moon Hub - https://moonhub.ai - TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro and Preview  (02:33) Series B Funding and Growth Plans  (08:08) User Growth and API Traffic  (09:33) Load Distribution and AI Agents  (13:32) Sponsor: Archer  (14:16) Competitive Landscape: Accuracy vs. Features and Marketing  (18:56) Ensuring Accuracy and Reliability  (25:04) Introducing Multiplayer Functionality for Teams  (31:07) Key Customers and Their Growth Potential  (34:25) The Marginal Cost of Intelligence and its Impact  (38:16) Future of You.com and AI Agents  (40:52) Richard's Journey into AI: From Research to Founding You.com  (45:26) Investing in AI Agents: Opportunity and Challenges  (51:04) AI Funding Market Landscape  (52:31) Investment Thesis and Portfolio Highlights  (53:50) Excitement for the Future of AI  (56:05) Hiring Opportunities at You.com  (56:34) Final Thoughts and Appreciation - RECOMMENDED PODCAST: 🎙️ This Won't Last Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/id1765665937 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSz YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWontLastpodcast

Molly talks to Jeff Morris Jr (JMJ), GP of Chapter One and infamous product leader at Tinder. As emerging funds face an existential crisis, JMJ explores the stark realities of an industry in flux. From the looming specter of industry consolidation & shutdowns, to the relentless pressure to prove relevance, JMJ challenges conventional wisdom about what it takes to succeed in modern VC. JMJ offers a candid look at the struggles and strategies of today's fund managers, painting a picture of an ecosystem where only the most adaptable will survive. He talks about the delicate balance between chasing deals and building a sustainable franchise, all while navigating a landscape where past glory holds diminishing returns. This conversation isn't just about the state of VC – it's a glimpse into the future of innovation financing. As traditional models are upended and new players emerge, JMJ's insights offer a roadmap for those daring enough to reimagine the role of venture capital in shaping tomorrow's tech giants. The discussion also touches on the solo GP experience, product development, and the significance of location in building a venture career (AKA why LA is the best city). JMJ was a former VP of Product Revenue and an early employee at Tinder and is a seed investor in 13 unicorns, including Mercury, Superbase, and Compound Finance. Chapter One is a product-driven early-stage venture fund based in LA backed by notable institutions including Cendana Capital, Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, and Marc Andreessen. -- Follow on Twitter: https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/jmj -- Check out Chapter One: https://www.chapterone.com/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/  -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ -- Companies mentioned: Tinder: https://tinder.com/ Snap: https://www.snap.com/ SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/ Anduril: https://www.anduril.com/ Mercury: https://mercury.com/ Superbase: https://superbase.com/ Compound Finance: https://compound.finance/ Captions AI: https://www.captions.ai/ Lux Capital: https://www.luxcapital.com/ Equal Ventures: https://www.equal.vc/ Sapphire Ventures: https://sapphireventures.com/ Allocate: https://allocate.co/ Bessemer Venture Partners: https://www.bvp.com/ Andreessen Horowitz: https://a16z.com/ Index Ventures: https://www.indexventures.com/ Variant: https://variant.fund/ Kleiner Perkins: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/ Social Capital: https://www.socialcapital.com/ Bonfire Ventures: https://www.bonfirevc.com/ General Catalyst: https://www.generalcapital.com/ Lafamilia: https://www.lafamilia.vc/ -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro and Preview (00:40) VCs in LA: The Quiet Majority (02:02) The Tweet: Emerging Fund Consolidation (02:34) Venture Capital Shakeup: Uncertainty and Options (05:14) Conversations with Beezer: Institutional Backing (08:32) Current Conditions for Emerging Managers (13:42) Recent Consolidation Examples (14:50) Sponsor: Archer (15:33) Consolidation Challenges: Timing and Culture (17:47) Structuring and Incentive Alignment in Consolidation (20:43) Venture Capital Landscape: Numbers and Consolidation (25:08) Venture Fund Consolidation: Future Projections (31:02) The Battle of the Brands: Attracting Talent and Founders (35:06) The Solo GP Life: A Reality Check (42:20) Chapter One's Future Product Plans (50:46) LA vs. The Bay: A Perspective on Ecosystem Differences (53:21) Embracing the Ecosystem Debates (53:26) Wrap -- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: 🎙️ This Won't Last Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/id1765665937 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSz YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWontLastpodcast

Molly O’Shea is joined by Alex Kolicich, Founding Partner of 8VC. Before his venture capital career, Alex was an engineer and early product advisor at companies like Clarium, Palantir, and Google. In this discussion, Alex talks about the current investment landscape citing the "AI capabilities gap," the potential for a "trough of AI disillusionment," and highlights the tension between AI's promise and its current limitations. Why is Silicon Valley suddenly embracing the Pentagon? Alex explains how defense has transformed from a controversial investment to a sought-after opportunity, citing successes like Anduril, Palantir, and SpaceX, and details 8VC’s approach to investing in defense startups, including their "build program" and shares resources for government engagement. Alex and 8VC were early investors in defense technology companies when it was not a popular area for venture capital. Some of their investments include Anduril, Saronic, Epirus, and Chaos Industries. 8VC has a "build program" where they incubate and co-found defense technology companies, providing resources like capital, government relations expertise, and shared infrastructure. -- Follow on Twitter https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/alexkolicich -- Check out 8VC: https://www.8vc.com/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ -- Companies mentioned: OpenAI: https://openai.com/ Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/ Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/ Google: https://www.google.com/ Nvidia: https://www.nvidia.com/ Amazon (AWS): https://aws.amazon.com/ Palantir: https://www.palantir.com/ SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/ Anduril: https://www.anduril.com/ Inflection AI: https://inflection.ai/ Adept AI: https://www.adept.ai/ Raytheon: https://www.rtx.com/ Epirus: https://www.epirusinc.com/ Saronic: https://www.saronic.com/ Case Text: https://casetext.com/ Sequoia Capital: https://www.sequoiacap.com/ Kleiner Perkins: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/ Character AI: https://beta.character.ai/ CRV (Charles River Ventures): https://www.crv.com/ Founder's Fund: https://foundersfund.com/ xAI: https://x.ai/ -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Preview and Intro (01:01) AI Optimism & Uncertainty (06:51) Public & Private Market Dynamics (12:34) Sustainable Multiples & Oversupply of Capital (13:49) Sponsor: Archer (14:33) Risk & Returns of Mega Checks (22:35) Opportunities Within the Gap (27:18) The Exit Environment & Acquihires (31:14) The Defense Wave (40:26) Resources for Defense Startups (46:42) Startup Advice for Defense (46:51) Technical Excellence, Government Relations & Fundraising (49:23) Surprises & Changes in H1 2024 (49:55) Shifting Views on Application Layer & OpenAI (52:44) Wrap -- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: 🎙️ This Won't LastEavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/id1765665937 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSz YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWontLastpodcast

Molly O'Shea talks to Sam D’Amico, founder of Impulse Labs which has created one of the highest quality battery-powered induction stoves, offering unparalleled power, precision, and energy storage. Following a strong career in consumer electronics, including work at Google Glass and Oculus, Sam envisions a future where distributed battery storage in appliances could help balance grid load and reduce the need for grid infrastructure upgrades. All the while, delivering a premium performance cooktop fit for Michelin-star chefs to pancake fanatics.  Sam discusses the evolution of battery technology, particularly the advancements made by the U.S. and Tesla to Chinese manufacturers in lithium iron phosphate batteries. Going deeper into the ongoing shifts in global battery manufacturing and the potential for increased U.S. production. Learn how Impulse Labs, which has raised a $20 million Series A round led by Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital in 2022, aims to be a "Trojan horse" for decentralized battery-powered homes, potentially revolutionizing home energy management and grid stability.  -- Follow on Twitter  https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/sdamico -- Check out Impulse Labs:  https://www.impulselabs.com/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/  -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ -- Companies mentioned: Lux Capital - https://www.luxcapital.com/ Tesla - https://www.tesla.com/ Google - https://www.google.com/ Oculus - https://www.meta.com/quest/ Meta - https://about.meta.com/ Bosch - https://www.bosch-home.com/ Thermador - https://www.thermador.com/ Gaggenau - https://www.gaggenau.com/ Samsung - https://www.samsung.com/ LG - https://www.lg.com/ Viking - https://www.vikingrange.com/ Fisker - https://www.fiskerinc.com/ CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited) - https://www.catl.com/en/ BYD (Build Your Dreams) - https://www.byd.com/ Gotion - https://www.gotion.com.cn/en/ Ford - https://www.ford.com/ Restoration Hardware (RH) - https://rh.com/ TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro  (01:04) Sam's Journey: From Pizza Ovens to Battery-Powered Homes (02:22) Early Influences: Oculus & Google Glass (08:14) Funding & the Landscape of Home Energy Usage (10:20) Energy Usage Trends & Appliance Distribution (12:08) Innovation in the Stove: Power, Precision, and Efficiency (15:13) The Advantage of Battery Integration: Faster Cooking & Efficiency (19:34) Sponsor: Archer (20:18) Integrating Battery-Powered Stoves into Homes (22:54) Pricing & Market Positioning: Premium Performance & Incentives (27:47) The Science of Pancakes: Temperature Control & UI/UX (31:08) The 20-Year Vision: Decentralized Energy & Home Self-Sufficiency (34:57) Decentralized Grid & Emergency Power Solutions (38:39) Marketing & Distribution: Targeting Various Markets (41:12) The Battery Revolution: Technological Advancements & China's Influence (48:03) Lithium Mining & the Future of Battery Manufacturing (52:57) A New Economy & the Everyday Appliance Revolution (53:54) The Path Ahead: Shipping the Product & Scaling the Vision (54:29) Looking Ahead: Exciting Times for Impulse Labs (55:07) Wrap RECOMMENDED PODCAST: 🎙️ This Won't Last Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/id1765665937 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSz YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWontLastpodcast

Molly O'Shea talks to Molly Alter, Partner at Northzone, a $1.2 billion fund with around $4 billion AUM and discusses her successful investments (Frame.io’s $1.2B exit to Adobe), founder qualities, VC biases and decision-making, as well as the firm's global approach to identifying opportunities. Alter believes in the potential of Europe's tech ecosystem, citing higher net IRR for European VC funds compared to North American ones over 10-15 year horizons. She shares perspectives on US and European VC landscapes, successful investments, and emerging opportunities in vertical AI and software for hardware. Focusing on meritocracy and founder-friendliness with a balanced approach between US and European investments, Alter also explains why she's bullish on workflow SaaS and vertical AI, despite changing market conditions and valuation multiples. -- Follow on Twitter https://x.com/MollySOShea -- Check out Northzone: https://northzone.com/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ -- Companies mentioned: Frame.io - https://frame.io/ Glia - https://www.glia.com/ Wayve - https://wayve.ai/ Spotify - https://www.spotify.com/ Klarna - https://www.klarna.com/ Spring Health - https://www.springhealth.com/ Adobe - https://www.adobe.com/ Mistral AI - https://mistral.ai/ -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro and Preview (03:07) Molly Alter’s Career Journey (07:26) Insights from Working in Different VC Firms (11:38) Investment Focus and Thesis (14:13) Sponsor: Archer (15:28) Impactful Investments: Frame.io and Glia (18:54) Qualities of World-Class CEOs and Founders (22:17) Northzone: History, Strategy, and Values (26:06) Global Reach and US-Europe Investment Split (29:13) Defending European Tech Ecosystem (32:27) Innovation from Restrictions in Europe (35:35) Software for Hardware: Opportunities and Challenges (42:08) Specific Areas of Interest in Software for Hardware (45:05) The Future of SaaS and Hybrid SaaS Models (47:30) Example of Hybrid SaaS: GovDash (50:26) Wrap – Recommended Podcast: 🎙️ This Won't Last - Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-wont-last-with-keith-rabois-kevin-ryan-logan/id1765665937 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSz YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxmO9C_PEjbMf0Z8lYjwT7Q

Molly O'Shea talks to Zamp's CEO, Rohit Bhadange as he shares his journey from Wall Street to founding the fastest growing sales tax compliance platform.  Zamp, an innovative platform is simplifying sales tax compliance for e-commerce and SaaS companies, recently raised a $10M Series A funding round led by Valor Equity Partners, bringing their total funding to $14 million. Learn about their rapid growth and vision for the future in helping e-commerce and SaaS companies automate complex tax processes and avoid costly mistakes. - Follow on Twitter  ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠ ⁠https://x.com/salestaxceo⁠ - Check out: Zamp: ⁠https://zamp.com/⁠ - Subscribe to Sourcery: ⁠https://www.sourcery.vc/⁠ - Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit ⁠https://www.archer.com/⁠ - Companies mentioned: Valor Equity Partners:⁠ https://www.valorep.com⁠  Rippling:⁠ https://www.rippling.com⁠  Yelp:⁠ https://www.yelp.com⁠  Amazon:⁠ https://www.amazon.com⁠  Day One Ventures:⁠ https://www.dayoneventures.com⁠  Soma Capital:⁠ https://www.somacap.com⁠  Misfits Market:⁠ https://www.misfitsmarket.com⁠  Avalara:⁠ https://www.avalara.com⁠  TaxJar:⁠ https://www.taxjar.com⁠  Shopify:⁠ https://www.shopify.com⁠  Stripe:⁠ https://stripe.com⁠  BigCommerce:⁠ https://www.bigcommerce.com⁠  Magento:⁠ https://business.adobe.com/products/magento/magento-commerce.html⁠  QuickBooks:⁠ https://quickbooks.intuit.com⁠  Cult Gaia:⁠ https://cultgaia.com⁠  Sanzo:⁠ https://drinksanzo.com⁠  Everyday Dose:⁠ https://everydaydose.com⁠  Glamnetic:⁠ https://glamnetic.com⁠  ProBuilt Software:⁠ https://www.probuilt.com⁠  Puzzle:⁠ https://puzzle.io⁠  Zeni:⁠ https://www.zeni.ai⁠  CBiz:⁠ https://www.cbiz.com⁠  Markham:⁠ https://www.markum.com⁠ -- RECOMMENDED PODCASTS: 🎙️ This Won't Last - Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1765665937 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSz YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWontLastpodcast

Molly O'Shea is joined by Astasia Myers, GP at Felicis, to discuss their new $825M fund, totaling Felicis’s AUM to $3B. Astasia goes deep on her focus on AI infrastructure, AI-enabled SaaS, and AI-enabled services and breaks down how AI is changing the face of enterprise software exploring the evolution of enterprise software and how AI is transforming data stacks. She explains how the AI landscape has evolved, highlighting the rise of alternative foundation models and AI agents, and emphasizes the importance of founder market fit and unique insights when evaluating startups. The conversation underscores the transformative potential of AI in empowering individuals and reshaping various industries, while also touching on the rapid pace of innovation and the need for adaptability in venture capital strategies. -- Follow on Twitter  https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/AstasiaMyers -- Check out:  Felicis: https://www.felicis.com/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/  -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ -- Companies mentioned: LaunchDarkly: https://launchdarkly.com/  Hex: https://hex.tech/  Superbase: https://www.superbase.com/   Google: https://www.google.com/  Cisco: https://www.cisco.com/  Cohesity: https://www.cohesity.com/  GuardiCore: https://www.guardicore.com/  RedPoint: https://www.redpoint.com/  Quiet Capital: https://www.quiet.vc/  Snowflake: https://www.snowflake.com/  Fivetran: https://www.fivetran.com/  Airbyte: https://airbyte.com/  Looker: https://looker.com/  dbt: https://www.getdbt.com/  PyTorch: https://pytorch.org/  TensorFlow: https://www.tensorflow.org/  OpenAI: https://openai.com/  Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/  Mistral AI: https://mistral.ai/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/  Runway: https://runwayml.com/  Poolside: https://www.poolside.ai/  11X: https://www.11x.ai/  Notion: https://www.notion.so/  Figma: https://www.figma.com/  Zendesk: https://www.zendesk.com -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction and Founding Story of Felicis Ventures (06:39) Astasia Myers' Background and Journey to Venture Capital (11:45) The Evolving Landscape of AI and Infrastructure (14:59) Sponsor: Archer (19:27) AI-Enabled SaaS and AI-Enabled Services (27:16) Technical Unlock: Foundation Models and AI Agents (33:30) Changing Perspectives and Emerging Trends in AI (37:47) Research and Identifying White Spaces of Opportunity (47:05) The Effects of Technical Unlock and Future of AI (50:36) Wrap – Recommended Podcast: What separates the most enduring and generation-defining venture firms? Turpentine VC talks to Ben Horowitz, Vinod Khosla, Alfred Lin, Mike Maples, Roger Ehrenberg, and more to find out. Subscribe: https://link.chtbl.com/TurpentineVC

Molly O'Shea is joined by Gené Teare, senior data editor at Crunchbase News, and brings her wealth of experience and insight to the world of venture capital and startup ecosystems. Gené Teare provides a comprehensive overview of the current venture capital landscape, highlighting the ongoing two-year slowdown in the VC market, and points out a trend towards concentration in late-stage funding. She also touches on the topic of diversity, reporting that female-founded companies received only 3% of total funding in 2023, despite representing 8% of deals.  Lastly, Gené touched on the growing concern about liquidity in the VC industry due to lack of exits, and the potential of AI as a catalyst for innovation, drawing parallels to the mobile wave that emerged after the 2008 financial crisis. Learn how AI funding is surging amidst a broader VC slowdown, why late-stage investments are concentrating, and what's happening with M&A and IPOs. Discover insights on unicorn trends, female founder funding, and the potential impact of AI on the tech industry's future. -- Follow on Twitter  https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/geneteare -- Check out:  Crunchbase News: https://news.crunchbase.com/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/  -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ -- Companies mentioned: Crunchbase - https://www.crunchbase.com/  OpenAI - https://openai.com/  Microsoft - https://www.microsoft.com/  Google - https://www.google.com/  Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/  Meta - https://about.meta.com/  Nvidia - https://www.nvidia.com/  Cloudflare - https://www.cloudflare.com/  Airtable - https://www.airtable.com/  Zapier - https://zapier.com/  Stripe - https://stripe.com/  Anduril - https://www.anduril.com/  Revolut - https://www.revolut.com/  Rippling - https://www.rippling.com/  Applied Intuition - https://www.appliedintuition.com/  Anthropic - https://www.anthropic.com/  Clio - https://www.clio.com/  Harvey - https://www.harvey.ai/  xAI - https://x.ai/ CoreWeave - https://www.coreweave.com/  Scale AI - https://scale.com/  EQT - https://eqtgroup.com/  KKR - https://www.kkr.com/ -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction and State of Technology in 2024  (02:05) Venture Slowdown and Funding Fluctuations  (06:04) The Rise of AI Funding  (09:15) Challenges in the M&A Markets  (13:48) Sponsor: Archer (24:26) Power Laws in VC: Concentration of Capital  (34:55) Representation of Female Founders in the Industry  (39:38) The Future of IPO Markets – Recommended Podcast:What separates the most enduring and generation-defining venture firms? Turpentine VC talks to Ben Horowitz, Vinod Khosla, Alfred Lin, Mike Maples, Roger Ehrenberg, and more to find out. Subscribe: https://link.chtbl.com/TurpentineVC

Molly O'Shea talks to Grace Isford of Lux Capital, the firm’s youngest Partner, on computational sciences, the current AI Landscape, her investment thesis on New York City's AI sector, and implementing AI in companies. Grace discusses the potential and challenges of AI agents, the current state of the technology as well as the companies making progress in this space. She also provides practical advice on how companies can implement AI, emphasizing the importance of defining your goals, finding the right tools, and proving value. Is it time to invest in AI? Listen to Grace’s insights and perspectives on the current investment climate and where opportunities lie in the evolving AI landscape, highlighting the potential and challenges of infrastructure and application companies. - Follow on Twitter ⁠⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://x.com/graceisford⁠⁠ -- Check out: Lux Capital: ⁠⁠https://www.luxcapital.com/⁠⁠ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: ⁠⁠https://www.sourcery.vc/ ⁠⁠ -- Sponsor: ArcherArcher's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit ⁠⁠https://www.archer.com/⁠⁠ -- Companies mentioned: Handshake: ⁠⁠https://www.joinhandshake.com/⁠⁠ Canvas Ventures: ⁠⁠https://www.canvas.vc/⁠⁠ Runway: ⁠⁠https://runwayml.com/⁠⁠ LangChain: ⁠⁠https://www.langchain.com/ ⁠⁠ Sakana AI: ⁠⁠https://sakana.ai/⁠⁠ Together AI:⁠⁠ https://www.together.ai/⁠⁠ Hugging Face: ⁠⁠https://huggingface.co/⁠⁠ Mosaic ML (now part of Databricks): ⁠⁠https://www.databricks.com/ ⁠⁠ Osmo AI: ⁠⁠https://www.osmo.ai/⁠⁠ Modal: ⁠⁠https://modal.com/ ⁠⁠ Bloomberg: ⁠⁠https://www.bloomberg.com/ ⁠⁠ Ramp: ⁠⁠https://ramp.com/ ⁠⁠ OpenAI: ⁠⁠https://openai.com/ ⁠⁠ Anthropic: ⁠⁠https://www.anthropic.com/ ⁠⁠ MongoDB: ⁠⁠https://www.mongodb.com/ ⁠⁠ Datadog: ⁠⁠https://www.datadoghq.com/⁠⁠ Factory AI: ⁠⁠https://www.factory.ai/⁠⁠ Maven AGI: ⁠⁠https://www.mavenagi.com/ ⁠⁠ Evolutionary Scale: ⁠⁠https://www.evolutionaryscale.ai/⁠⁠ Cilvr Lab: ⁠⁠https://wp.nyu.edu/cilvr/⁠⁠ Columbia University: ⁠⁠https://www.columbia.edu/⁠⁠ Cornell Tech: ⁠⁠https://tech.cornell.edu/⁠⁠ Princeton University: ⁠⁠https://www.princeton.edu/⁠⁠ Santa Fe Institute: ⁠⁠https://www.santafe.edu/⁠⁠ -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:01) Introduction and Background (00:50) Investment Strategy (03:13) API Economy and Research Process (05:58) Sourcing Strategy and Sakana AI Investment (10:28) Japanese AI Investment (14:59) Sponsor: Archer (15:22) Investment Stages (16:16) Hugging Face Business Model (17:59) Technical Evaluation of Companies (22:19) New York as an AI Hub (28:54) Current State of AI Investments (36:58) AI Agents (41:00) Implementing AI in Businesses (46:59) Wrap – Recommended Podcast: What separates the most enduring and generation-defining venture firms? Turpentine VC talks to Ben Horowitz, Vinod Khosla, Alfred Lin, Mike Maples, Roger Ehrenberg, and more to find out. Subscribe: ⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/TurpentineVC⁠⁠

Molly O'Shea is joined by Nucleus Genomics CEO Kian Sadeghi discussing the integration of DNA into daily life, from predicting health risks to unlocking personal insights. Nucleus Genomics launches Nucleus IQ, a report that analyzes your genetic contribution to intelligence. Throughout the discussion, Sadeghi emphasizes the potential of genetic information to transform healthcare and personal wellness, while also touching on some of the ethical and practical challenges in the field. Discover how Nucleus Genomics is using whole genome sequencing to provide personalized insights into your health and intelligence. Learn about the company's mission to democratize access to this groundbreaking technology and empower individuals with their own genetic data. -- Follow on Twitter https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/KianSadeghi5 -- Check out: Nucleus Genomics: https://mynucleus.com/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ -- Companies mentioned: 23andMe: https://www.23andme.com/en-int/ Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com/ Illumina: https://www.illumina.com/ LabCorp: https://www.labcorp.com/ Apple: https://www.apple.com/ Whoop: https://www.whoop.com/us/en/ Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/ Levels: https://www.levels.com/ -- TIMESTAMPS: [00:00:00] Introduction to Nucleus Genomics and Whole Genome Sequencing [00:01:44] Recent Product Launch: Nucleus IQ [00:03:58] Demonstration of Personal Nucleus IQ Report [00:08:12] Controversy in Providing Genetic Insights to Consumers [00:11:43] Differentiating Intelligence, IQ Tests, and Genetic Contributions [00:15:00] Sponsor: Archer [00:15:59] History of Consumer Genomics and 23andMe [00:19:48] The Future of Consumer Healthcare and Genomics Integration [00:23:59] Kian Sadeghi's Personal Story and Founding of Nucleus [00:27:28] Nucleus' Sequencing Partnerships and Process [00:29:25] Detailed Breakdown of Nucleus' Product Offerings [00:31:59] Nucleus' Business Model and Future Integration Plans [00:34:00] Composition and Expertise of Nucleus Team [00:35:39] Current and Potential Future Partnerships [00:36:59] Upcoming Product Launches and Growth Plans [00:37:37] Closing Remarks [00:37:59] Outro –- Recommended Podcast: What separates the most enduring and generation-defining venture firms? Turpentine VC talks to Ben Horowitz, Vinod Khosla, Alfred Lin, Mike Maples, Roger Ehrenberg, and more to find out. Subscribe: https://link.chtbl.com/TurpentineVC

In this episode, Molly O'Shea is joined by Jordan Noone, an aerospace engineer, former Founding CTO of Relativity Space, Co-Founder and General Partner at Embedded Ventures, and Executive Chairman at Zoo. Zoo is automating hardware development, and their Text2CAD technology - an AI-powered CAD engine that turns text prompts into real-world designs- enables engineers to focus on innovation. Zoo is building the world's first computational geometry engine based in the cloud that's GPU-optimized, API-accessible, and cloud-based. Join Molly and Jordan in discussing Zoo's impactful AI tools that's revolutionizing hardware development and impacting a trillion-dollar market. Explore Jordan’s journey from founding Relativity Space to leading Zoo, and how he is using his expertise to transform hardware design with Zoo's groundbreaking AI solution – Follow on Twitter https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/theJordanNoone -- Check out: Zoo: https://zoo.dev/ Embedded Ventures: https://www.embedded.ventures/ Relativity Space: https://www.relativityspace.com/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ -- Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ -- Companies mentioned: Autodesk: https://www.autodesk.com/ SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/ HRL (Hughes Research Lab): https://www.hrl.com/ Blue Origin: https://www.blueorigin.com/ Docker: https://www.docker.com/ Oxide Computer Company: https://oxide.computer/ OpenAI: https://openai.com/ GitHub: https://github.com/ Venrex: https://www.venrex.partners/ – TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (01:02) Understanding Zoo's Mission and Market (02:32) Challenges in Hardware Development (04:42) Zoo's Innovative Solutions (06:15) Target Industries and Adoption (09:18) Core Products and Future Plans (13:32) Sponsor: Archer (16:09) Onboarding and Open Source Strategy (21:47) Meet the Team: Jordan Noone's Background & CEO Jessie Frazelle (24:53) Transition to Zoo (26:28) Challenges in Hardware Design Automation (28:47) Founding and Growth of Zoo (30:45) Team Composition and Expertise (35:58) Building a Local Data Center and Factory (45:55) Funding and Strategic Partnerships (47:44) Future Growth and Exciting Features – Recommended Podcast: What separates the most enduring and generation-defining venture firms? Turpentine VC talks to Ben Horowitz, Vinod Khosla, Alfred Lin, Mike Maples, Roger Ehrenberg, and more to find out. Subscribe: https://link.chtbl.com/TurpentineVC

In this episode, Molly O'Shea talks to John Coogan, EIR at Founders Fund and co-founder of Lucy and Soylent. They cover topics such as his role as an EIR at Founders Fund, his journey from starting Soylent & going through YC, becoming a successful YouTuber (over 430K subscribers & over 8M views), as well as his insights into the history of nicotine & tobacco with his company Lucy. John dives into all of the complexities of startup entrepreneurship, the importance of really good storytelling in marketing, working in a regulated industry, as well as shares some hot takes in the VC/tech world. Learn the misconceptions about nicotine, the realities of “big tobacco,” the future of nicotine replacement therapy, and his business journey building & marketing Lucy. Lucy was founded to help adult tobacco users who are looking to try high-quality alternatives to cigarettes and traditional tobacco products, without the carcinogens. Nicotine is an addictive chemical, use responsibly. Follow on Twitter https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/johncoogan Check out: John Coogan: https://www.johncoogan.com/ Founders Fund: https://foundersfund.com/ Lucy: https://lucy.co Soylent: https://soylent.com/ Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ Sponsor: Archer Archer's Midnight is a piloted four-passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. Learn more about how Archer is set to open up a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live, visit https://www.archer.com/ Companies mentioned: Helium: https://www.helium.com/ Coinbase: https://www.coinbase.com/ Flexport: https://www.flexport.com/ Varda: https://www.varda.com/ SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/ Palantir: https://www.palantir.com/ Zyn: https://www.zyn.com/ph/en/home.html Juul: https://www.juul.com/ Altria: https://www.altria.com/en Nicorette: https://www.nicorette.com/ Dollar Shave Club: https://us.dollarshaveclub.com/ Warby Parker: https://www.warbyparker.com/ Red Antler: https://www.redantler.com/ Swedish Match: https://www.swedishmatch.com/ General Snus: https://www.generalsnus.com/ Newport: https://www.newport-pleasure.com/ TiVo: https://www.tivo.com/ Vita Coco: https://vitacoco.com/ Pepsi: https://www.pepsi.com/ Casamigos: https://www.casamigos.com/en-us Teramana: https://teremana.com/ Rabbit R1: https://www.rabbit.tech/ Rizz: https://rizz.app/ Tinder: https://tinder.com/ TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) The Origin Story of Lucy (00:41) Introducing John Coogan (01:20) What does an EIR at Founders Fund do? (04:22) The Birth of Soylent (08:31) The Viral Success of Soylent (10:50) Challenges in the Nutritional Supplement Space (12:40) The Regulatory Landscape of Nicotine Products (14:46) Sponsor: Archer (16:42) The Juul Phenomenon (22:59) The Complexities of Tobacco Regulation (36:25) Debunking Nicotine Myths (37:38) Nicotine as a Stimulant (39:33) The Smoking Epidemic (40:31) Regulatory Challenges and Big Tobacco (42:48) Building a CPG Company (47:30) Marketing and Storytelling (55:46) Tech Hot Takes and AI Gadgets (59:38) The Future of AI in Consumer Products (1:07:23) Closing Thoughts and Reflections Recommended Podcast: What separates the most enduring and generation-defining venture firms? Turpentine VC talks to Ben Horowitz, Vinod Khosla, Alfred Lin, Mike Maples, Roger Ehrenberg, and more to find out. Subscribe: https://link.chtbl.com/TurpentineVC

In this episode, Molly O'Shea is joined by Eric Newcomer, founder of "Newcomer”. Eric shares insights from the New York Cerebral Valley Summit, where VCs and founders explored the move beyond foundation models to applications, the rise of AI in established businesses, and the future of creativity in a generative AI world. Eric Newcomer, founder of the newsletter “Newcomer” on the startup and venture capital industry, discusses the evolution of the AI market and his experiences hosting the Cerebral Valley Summit in this interview. He notes a shift in focus from building foundational AI models to developing applications leveraging existing models. He highlights the emergence of AI-powered applications in various fields, including music creation, coding assistance, synthetic data generation, and customer support. He also shares his observations on the VC downturn and the challenges facing emerging managers, as well as his thoughts on the importance of innovation and the need for companies to demonstrate viable exit strategies. Newcomer expresses his enthusiasm for continuing to report on the evolving AI landscape and shares his plans for future events and expansions of his company. -- Follow on Twitter https://x.com/MollySOSheahttps://x.com/EricNewcomer -- Check out: Newcomer: https://www.newcomer.co/ – Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ – Companies mentioned: AI Companies: OpenAI: https://openai.com/ Inflection: https://inflection.ai/ Adept: https://www.adept.ai/ Suno: https://suno.com/ XAI: https://x.ai/ Runway: https://runwayml.com/ Writer AI https://writerai.netlify.app/ Poolside AI: https://poolside.ai/ Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/company Harvey: https://www.harvey.ai/ Lambda: https://lambdalabs.com/ Modal: https://modal.com/docs/guide/gpu Databricks: https://www.databricks.com/ Other Companies: MongoDB: https://www.mongodb.com/ Data Dog: https://www.datadoghq.com/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/ Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/ Intercom: https://app.intercom.com/ Goldman Sachs: https://www.goldmansachs.com/ Snowflake: https://signup.snowflake.com/ Thompson Reuters: https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en.html Madrona Venture Group: https://www.madrona.com/ Sequoia Capital: https://www.sequoiacap.com/ Lux Capital: https://www.luxcapital.com/ Hewlett Foundation: https://hewlett.org/ Yale: https://www.yale.edu/ – TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction and Evolution of the Cerebral Valley Summit (00:44) Takeaways from the New York Summit: Shifting Towards Building Applications (02:28) LLMs Find PMF? (04:10) OpenAI's Transition from Enterprise to Consumer Product (05:21) Other Themes: Creativity, Open Source, and Established Businesses (07:44) Debate on Open Source and the Pragmatic Cycle of AI (11:23) Themes from Breakout Groups: AI Agents and Open Source (13:44) State of the Tech Markets and Predictions for the Future (13:40) Sponsor: Archer (17:07) Expectations for Q2 and Disillusionment with Foundation Models (a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y_bxPtrDFM&t=1109s" r

In this episode, Molly O'Shea sits down with Jake Harper and Amol Kapoor of Soot, a spatial, self-organizing file system that revolutionizes how they interact with their data. Joining the group is Soot investor Kobie Fuller, GP at Upfront Ventures. Jake talks about Soot as a consumer-grade vector database with a user-friendly GUI, simplifying data navigation and making AI tooling accessible. He emphasizes the importance of beauty and user experience, aiming to empower and inspire users. Amol also highlights how the company prioritizes seamless user experience with advanced AI capabilities hidden behind the scenes. They aim to empower users with a spatial, self-organizing view of their data, enabling intuitive exploration and collaboration. From an investor’s perspective, Kobie believes Soot is a game-changer in how we interact with digital assets, emphasizing its spatial organization and intuitive design, and its ability to streamline content discovery, along with its potential to revolutionize file management. Soot's founders discuss how their platform is revolutionizing design workflows and empowering creatives to share their work in new ways. – Follow on Twitter https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/kobiefuller https://x.com/freakthefilter https://x.com/theahura_ -- Check out: Upfront Ventures: https://upfront.com/ Soot: https://www.soot.com/ . – Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ – Companies mentioned: Soot: https://www.soot.com/ Upfront Ventures: https://upfront.com/ Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/ Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/ap/ Zoox: https://zoox.com/ Google: https://www.google.com/ Figma: https://www.figma.com/ Goat: https://www.goat.com/ Telfar: https://telfar.net/ Meta: https://about.meta.com/ Gucci: https://www.gucci.com/us/en/ Jordan: https://www.nike.com/jordan Miles and Milan: https://milesandmilan.com/ Revolve: https://www.revolve.com/ Dazed: https://www.dazeddigital.com/ – TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction & Context (02:00) Kobe's Perspective on Soot (03:33) Jake's Explanation of Soot: (07:09) Emphasis on Beauty & Emotional Response (09:50) Team Background & Founding Story (12:30) Team Composition & Hiring (16:37) Soot Demo & Functionality (22:37) Kobe's User Testing Experience (25:24) Technical Aspects & Underlying AI (29:40) Graphics Performance & Design Decisions (33:20) Target Customer Profiles & Future Features (37:05) Soot as a Vector Database & User Feedback (38:23) The Rainforest Analogy & Search Efficiency (43:22) Design in Service of Technology (44:20) Closing Thoughts

In this episode, Molly O'Shea interviews Mark Suster, Managing Partner of Upfront Ventures, about venture capital investing strategies and market insights.  Mark discusses the value of disciplined investments at lower valuations, diverse buyer outcomes, the exit landscape, and Upfront Ventures' focused investment in seed stage, early growth, and secondary funds. He emphasizes the importance of founder-market fit, market timing, and the influence of macroeconomic trends on investment decisions.  Mark explores the challenges of traditional IPOs and highlights alternative exit paths for startups in today's market, while also reflecting on the lessons from his time as a CEO, and offers perspectives on promising sectors such as healthcare, national defense, and space. The interview concludes with book recommendations, showcasing Suster's interest in historical context and its relevance to understanding current trends. He emphasizes the importance of informed perspectives on issues like geopolitical tensions, technological advancements, and the history of Israel. – Follow on Twitter  https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/msuster -- Check out:  Upfront Ventures: https://upfront.com/ – Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/  – Companies mentioned: Upfront Ventures: https://upfront.com/ Invoca: https://www.invoca.com/ Density: https://www.density.io/ Nanit: https://www.nanit.com/ Maker Studios: https://t.co/oIlCqwIhjg Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/ap/?ir=1 Rula (formerly Path): https://www.rula.com/blog/brand-announcement/ Pragma: https://www.pragma.co/en/  Bionaut: https://bionautlabs.com/ Apex (satellite bus company): https://www.apexspace.com/ Anduril: https://www.anduril.com/ Oura Ring: https://ouraring.com/ Whoop: https://www.whoop.com/us/en/ Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/ Peloton: https://www.onepeloton.com/  Apple: https://www.apple.com/ Riot Games: https://www.riotgames.com/en Google: https://www.google.com/ Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ Ring: https://ring.com/ NVIDIA: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/ Yahoo: https://www.yahoo.com/ Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/ SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/ – Book Recommendations: Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II - Arthur Herman: https://www.amazon.com/Freedoms-Forge-American-Business-Produced/dp/0812982045 Chip War: The Quest to Dominate the World's Most Critical Technology Audible Logo Audible Audiobook – Unabridged Chris Miller: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TX24J5Y The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization by Peter Zeihan: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+End+of+the+World Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth: https://www.amazon.com/Israel-Simple-Guide-Misunderstood-Country/dp/B08R7VV25R/ref=sr_1_1 TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Preview (03:00) Upfront Ventures' Fund Structure and Investment Approach (12:30) Conviction Factors: Founder, Market, and Upfront Fit (18:58) The Barbell Strategy and Upfront's Integrity (23:43) Lessons Learned as a Founder and the Importance of Directness (27:29) Emerging Categories and Macro Trends (33:36) Challenging the Misconceptions About Capital-Intensive Categories (36:06) Hardware and the Evolving Software Landscape (40:13) Exit Opportunities and Market Dynamics (42:12) The Future of Exits: Private Equity and M&A (47:20) Book Recommendations and Closing Thoughts

Hunter Walk discusses the evolution of his venture capital firm, Homebrew, and their contrarian decision to become a self-funded fund in a world of increasingly large megafunds. Homebrew focuses on working with early-stage companies and keeping things simple, without the constraints of a traditional fund structure. He explains the differences between their fund structure and traditional funds, highlighting their commitment to aligning incentives with founders. He also shares some of their successful investments, such as Chime, Plaid, Gusto, and Cruise, and emphasizes the importance of being a true partner to entrepreneurs. Hunter also talks about the creation of Screendoor, a fund of funds that backs emerging managers, and explains the purpose of ScreenDoor and how it provides access to venture capital for investors who can't buy it in the ' stock market’ of venture capital returns. He emphasizes the importance of building a successful firm and the need for differentiated strategies in the venture industry. Walk also offers advice for emerging managers, including being self-aware, honest, and confident, and not changing too much too quickly. -- Follow on Twitter https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/hunterwalk -- Check out: Homebrew: https://homebrew.co/ Screendoor: https://www.screendoor.co/ -- Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction & Homebrew's Self-Funded Fund (01:55) Homebrew's Origins & The Shift to Self-Funding (07:25) Addressing Common Misconceptions & The Impact of Fund Size (12:00) Traditional Fund Structure vs. Homebrew's Model (21:00) The Need for a Different Playbook & The Power of Concentration (25:00) Homebrew's Investment History (33:00) Introducing Screendoor & Its Mission (41:00) Screendoor's Approach & Investment Criteria (51:00) The Evolution of Screendoor's Screening Process & Advice for Emerging Managers (57:00) Fundraising Strategies for Emerging Managers (1:04:00) Final Advice & Takeaways

Sourcery’s Molly O’Shea sits down with Doug Bernauer, Founder and CEO of Radiant, a company pioneering portable nuclear reactors designed to replace traditional diesel generators. Doug shares insights from his experience working with Elon Musk at SpaceX and delves into Radiant’s mission and key innovations. He discusses their ambitious goal of fuel testing by 2026 and provides a technical deep dive into the technology, history, and safety measures of nuclear power. Discover how Radiant aims to meet clean energy needs in remote locations with their one-megawatt transportable nuclear reactors. Quick Stats on Radiant: 1 MW electric 1.9 MW heat, recoverable up to 80 degrees Celsius Unit lifetime of 20 years with 4 cores, cores are replaced at the factory Transportable by land, air, sea Passive safety features TRISO fuel is meltdown-proof and handles temperatures up to 1600 C Helium coolant does not become radioactive, eliminating the impact of a release Passive cooling air jacket keeps fuel and vessel temperatures controlled even if power is lost Planning to test Kaleidos at the Idaho National Lab DOME in 2026, first commercial units in 2028 - Follow on Twitter  https://x.com/MollySOShea https://x.com/DougBernauer Check out:  https://radiantnuclear.com/ Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/  -  Companies mentioned: SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/ Radiant Nuclear: https://radiantnuclear.com/ Idaho National Lab: https://inl.gov/ Oak Ridge National Lab: https://www.ornl.gov/ Union Square Ventures: https://www.usv.com/ A16z: https://a16z.com/ – TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (01:42) Meet Doug Bernauer: Founder and CEO of Radiant (02:30) Doug's Journey at SpaceX (04:38) The Radiant Team and Their Backgrounds (07:27) Founding Radiant Nuclear (10:45) Innovative Nuclear Technology (14:05) History of Nuclear Energy (18:56) Public Sentiment and Nuclear Energy (23:01) Challenges in Nuclear Industry (24:42) Radiant's Commitment to Innovation (25:25) Vertical Integration and Product Development (27:28) Microreactors: A New Frontier (28:40) Building the Nuclear Playbook (32:09) Funding and Financial Strategy (33:09) Remote Communities and Nuclear Power (37:41) Technical Insights and Safety (41:25) Team Building and Future Goals (44:55) Wrap

Accelerating US Skilled Immigration to Power Technological Progress This episode features Minn Kim, founder of Lighthouse, an early-stage company offering skilled immigration solutions for technology pioneers. The discussion, led by Molly O'Shea, highlights the problematic nature of the current U.S. employment-based immigration system, which Minn describes as outdated and heavily reliant on a lottery system due to the high demand for a limited number of visas. Lighthouse aims to streamline the complex visa application process for the world's brightest in the startup and tech industries, using software to enhance efficiency and provide a high-quality U.S. immigration experience. Minn shares her personal journey from a career in financial services and venture capital to founding Lighthouse, fueled by the ambition to democratize access to high-skilled immigration. The conversation also delves into the specifics of visa categories like the O-1 'extraordinary alien' visa and how Lighthouse is leveraging technology to simplify and expedite the application process. Minn elaborates on the broader potential of Lighthouse to transform the landscape of legal immigration services, touching on future goals and partnerships, and concludes with a note on her experiences as an immigrant and the vibrant culture of San Francisco as a hub for tech innovation. -- Follow on Twitter https://twitter.com/mollysoshea https://twitter.com/minney_cat Check out: https://lighthousehq.com/ -- Companies mentioned: Bloomberg Beta: https://www.bloombergbeta.com/ On Deck: https://www.beondeck.com/ Fragomen: https://www.fragomen.com/ Ericsson: https://www.theericssonlawfirm.com/ Ogletree: https://ogletree.com/ USCIS: https://www.uscis.gov/ -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) The Visa Lottery Challenge: A Deep Dive (01:55) Minn Kim's Journey: From New York to Lighthouse Founder (05:38) Lighthouse: Revolutionizing Immigration for Tech Talent (16:53) The O-1 Visa: Silicon Valley's Best Kept Secret (22:15) Building Lighthouse: A New Approach to Immigration Services (28:32) The Future of Lighthouse and Immigration Innovation (34:18) Minn Kim's Personal Reflections and The SF Hype (40:12) Closing Thoughts: Lighthouse's Goals and Opportunities

This episode of Sourcery features an in-depth conversation with Jared Hecht, Venture Partner at USV and 2x exited founder of Fundera and GroupMe.  Fundera, Grew to a profitable $100M+ annual revenue business with 1M+ monthly visitors to the marketplace. It was acquired by Nerdwallet in 2020.  GroupMe, with over 100M+ people have used GroupMe, including 25M MAU and virtually every college student in the country. It was acquired by Skype/MSFT in 2011 Jared shares his journey from starting his career at Tumblr to founding successful companies Fundera and GroupMe and eventually transitioning into venture capital at USV, emphasizing the importance of honesty and support from VCs.  This episode surfaces Jared’s uniquely personal insights into the tech industry, behind the scenes at USV, his characterization of the personality types in VC, and the personal growth that comes from traversing the world of startups as a founder and an investor. Fun fact: Jared was a national chess champion at a young age - Follow on Twitter  https://twitter.com/mollysoshea https://twitter.com/jaredhecht -  Companies mentioned: Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ USV: https://www.usv.com/ Fundera (by Nerdwallet): https://www.fundera.com/ GroupMe: https://groupme.com/ Skype/Microsoft: https://www.skype.com/en/ - TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Preview and Intro (02:59) Jared's Career Journey: From Tumblr to Founding Two Companies (10:16) Taking a Break and Joining USV (25:24) Investment Focus and Areas of Interest (28:47) Interacting with Founders (33:11) The Romanticized View of Entrepreneurship (34:21) The Unique Approach of USV (41:34) What Some Investors Get Wrong (45:04) The Evolution of New York's Tech Scene (48:28) From Chess Champion to Venture Partner (50:31) Wrap

In this episode, Molly O'Shea talks with Willem Sundblad, co-founder and CEO of Oden Technologies which has just announced a $28.5M Series B led by Nordstjernan Growth, a 130-year old Swedish investment institution. Their conversation covers the massive opportunity in optimizing factory operations and product quality on the ground level, the labor challenge plaguing the industry, why more talent should consider manufacturing operator careers, how Oden found PMF with Process AI, how to sell into manufacturing, and where Oden fits into the paradigm of American Dynamism and US reshoring. Willem, who grew up on the factory floor, offers a deep dive for those looking to understand granularly what it’s like to work in a manufacturing setting, the tangible problems to solve, and the potential outsized impact one can make working in the field. - Follow on Twitter  https://twitter.com/mollysoshea https://twitter.com/WillemSundblad  - Resources: *Check out Oden's demo of Process AI: https://oden.io/ * Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ - TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Preview and Intro (02:09) Oden Technologies' Series B Round Composition (04:25) Willem's Childhood Journey to Manufacturing (06:42) How to Sell to the Manufacturing Industry: Oden's Approach and Impact (09:05) The Huge Challenge of Operator Turnover In Manufacturing (10:38) What an Actual Day Looks Like for an Operator Inside a Manufacturing Facility (14:07) The Quality Prediction Problem that Led to Process AI  (18:19) Selling to Legacy Industries (24:37) AI-driven Solutions for Manufacturers (30:37) Labor Challenges (38:55) Growth Plans for Oden (44:14) The Larger Impact of Joining the New Wave of Tech-Enabled Manufacturing Companies (46:44) Wrap

In this episode, Molly O'Shea interviews Kyle Harrison, General Partner at Contrary and writer of the popular Investing 101 substack, discusses his career in venture capital and the focus of Contrary. Contrary is a VC fund that backs companies from seed to scale with an emphasis on talent and research. They aim to identify the smartest people early on and support them throughout their careers. Contrary has a very impressive research arm that produces reports, memos, and conversations to provide insights into private tech companies. Kyle shares his approach to writing and the importance of putting his thoughts into words. The conversation explores the themes of hard work, ambition, and the divide between different work philosophies. It also touches on the power of storytelling and the influence of narratives on shaping reality. The discussion highlights the importance of nuance and individual beliefs, as well as the cycles of hype and deflation in the tech industry. Overall, the conversation provides insights into the dynamics of the startup ecosystem and the evolving perspectives on work and success. Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/MollySOShea https://twitter.com/kwharrison13 Resources https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-harrison-9274b278/ Investing 101: https://investing1012dot0.substack.com/ Popular Investing 101 Pieces The Blackstone of Innovation: https://investing1012dot0.substack.com/p/the-blackstone-of-innovation Institutionalized Belief in The Greater Fool: https://investing1012dot0.substack.com/p/institutionalized-belief-in-the-greater Puritans of Venture Capital: https://investing1012dot0.substack.com/p/the-puritans-of-venture-capital Historical Futurism: https://investing1012dot0.substack.com/p/historical-futurism Renaissance of Rise & Grind: https://investing1012dot0.substack.com/p/the-renaissance-of-rise-and-grind Check out Contrary: https://www.contrary.com Contrary Research: https://research.contrary.com Trending Reports: SpaceX: https://research.contrary.com/company/spacex Notion: https://research.contrary.com/reports/notion SHEIN: https://research.contrary.com/company/shein Midjourney: https://research.contrary.com/company/midjourney Ramp: https://research.contrary.com/company/ramp Anduril: https://research.contrary.com/company/anduril Deep Dive: The Openness of AI: https://research.contrary.com/reports/the-openness-of-AI The Great Bank Unbundling: https://research.contrary.com/reports/great-bank-unbundling Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ Companies Mentioned Lyft: https://www.lyft.com/ TVC: https://www.tcv.com/ TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Preview and Intro (00:56) Kyle Harrison: A Journey from Filmmaker to Venture Capitalist (06:16) The Evolution and Strategy of Contrary VC (09:35) Open Source Research in Venture Capital (15:37) Finding And Helping The Greatest People On The Planet (17:47) Investing 101: The Art of Writing and Reflection (21:00) Reflecting on Personal Writing: Hits and Misses (23:17) Exploring the Impact of Social Media and Work Culture (23:57) The Philosophical Divide in Work Ethic and Ambition (27:30) Techno Optimism and the Power of Positive Narratives (28:52) Reflections on Storytelling and Reality (34:20) The Influence of Location on Perspective and Innovation (39:07) Looking Forward: The Age of Acquisition and Hype Cycles (45:56) Wrap

In this episode, Molly O'Shea interviews Morgan Housel, a New York Times bestselling author and partner at The Collaborative Fund. They discuss the role of luck and risk in success, the complexities of genius visionaries like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Jensen Huang and more outliers, and the VC mindset. Follow us on Twitter * @MollySOShea * @morganhousel Resources * Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes * The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness * Check out Collaborative Fund: https://collabfund.com/ *Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ Companies Mentioned NVIDIA: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/ ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/ Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ph Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ Tesla: https://www.tesla.com/ FTX: https://ftx.com/ WeWork: https://www.wework.com/ Chipotle: https://www.chipotle.com/ Timestamps (00:00) Preview(01:00) Intro(01:46) Morgan Housel's Trajectory to Bestselling Author(06:02) Luck, Virality, and the Unforeseeable Nature of Success(10:20) Serendipity and Achieving Outlier Success(13:24) Negative Connotations of Luck or Large Successes(17:40) Understanding the Complex Personalities of Outliers(25:46) Morgan's latest: 'The Same as Ever': A Guide to Navigating Change(29:55) The Slow but Significant Impact of Major Technologies(34:38) Hype and Reality of Startup Valuations(40:31) Challenges of Believing In A Company's Future(45:22) The Future of VC: Adapting to New Realities(48:05) Surviving and Thriving: Advice for Investors in Tough Times(50:10) A Light-hearted Finale: The Chipotle Chronicles(52:17) Wrap

In this podcast, Molly O'Shea interviews Chris Power, Founder & CEO of Hadrian, a vertically integrated deep tech manufacturing company. Hadrian recently raised a $117M Series B to support its mission of revitalizing American manufacturing. The company experienced strong customer demand, leading to an accelerated fundraise to meet the needs of large customers and expand its factory and operations to multiple states to support its growth. The company's vertical integration, focus on software and robotics, and emphasis on talent and workforce development, create an industry-leading moat. The conversation covers the importance of manufacturing for global competitiveness, America's position in global politics, building a "Tesla-hard" business, the strong vibe shift in the industry, recruiting and investor momentum, the early days of Hadrian, reflecting and resetting as a scaling Founder, drilling holes in servers, and building for the future. Hadrian is actively hiring software engineers and other roles to continue scaling its operations. Email: [email protected] or visit https://www.hadrian.co/careers Follow us on Twitter @MollySOShea @2112Power Resources Check out Hadrian: https://www.hadrian.co/ Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ Companies Mentioned Software/ Tech: Tesla https://www.tesla.com/ Anduril https://www.anduril.com/ Palantir https://www.palantir.com/ Rippling https://www.rippling.com/ SpaceX https://www.spacex.com/ Ramp https://ramp.com/ Netflix https://www.netflix.com/ AWS https://aws.amazon.com/ VC: Construct Capital https://constructcap.com/ Andreessen Horowitz https://a16z.com/ Founders Fund https://foundersfund.com/ Lux Capital https://www.luxcapital.com/ RTX Ventures https://www.rtx.com/ Timestamps (00:00) Preview (02:02) Hadrian's Massive Series B Raise and Mission to Revitalize American Industry (05:24) The Strategic Decision Behind Hadrian's Emergency Fundraise (07:32) Chris' Backstory and the Challenges/Opportunities in Manufacturing Software (12:55) Scaling Operations and the Future of Hadrian's Factories (14:51) On Hadrian's Vertical Integration and Moat (18:39) Recruiting and Training: The Backbone of Hadrian's Success (22:15) Pitching to Software Engineers and the Engineering Challenges at Hadrian (25:33) Expanding the Team and the Future Goals for Hadrian (26:52) Chris Power's Bullish Stance on American Manufacturing (30:42) Vibe Shift in the Venture Capital Ecosystem (36:10) Foundational Challenges of Deep Tech Startups (40:28) Reorienting and Resetting While Scaling a Company (48:26) Future Outlook for Hadrian and Deep Tech Innovation (51:09) Wrap

In this episode, Molly O'Shea is joined by Nick Abouzeid, co-founder of Rivet, a newly launched corporate and personal tax preparation firm. Prior to starting Rivet, Nick was a growth leader at Ramp, Main Street and Product Hunt. Molly and Nick deep dive on how to really drive growth, the misconceptions around growth marketing, and the supposed 'secret sauces’ strategies. They also discuss why venture-backed fintech startups need to focus on revenue generation in 2024 and why Nick took on venture capital to scale Rivet in a traditionally fragmented tax prep industry. Follow us on Twitter @MollySOShea @Nickabouzeid Resources Check out Rivet: https://www.rivet.tax/ Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/  Companies Mentioned VCs: XYZ Ventures https://www.xyz.vc/ Shrug Capital https://www.shrug.vc/ Fintech/ Insurance/ Software: Ramp https://ramp.com/ Deel https://www.deel.com/ Newfront https://www.newfront.com/ AngelList https://www.angellist.com/ Product Hunt https://www.producthunt.com/ MutinyHQ https://www.mutinyhq.com/ Timestamps (00:00) Preview (01:02) Intro - Nick Abouzeid (02:35) Nick's Journey: Product Hunt, AngelList, Mainstreet, Ramp (05:51) Growth Marketing: No Shortcuts, Just Hard Work (13:11) Test Your Buttons - A Story About Ramp (18:32) From Ramp to Rivet (22:48) Building a Scalable, Venture-Backed Tax Firm (26:07) Choosing the Name 'Rivet' and Its Significance (27:41) Long-Term Goals and Aspiring to Be Like Ernst & Young (29:30) Gaining Customer Trust in a Sensitive Industry (31:00) Catering to the Wide Range of Tax Needs (33:39) Partnerships and Future Plans for Rivet (36:24) Navigating the Fintech Cold Spell and Building a Real Business (39:51) Advice for Aspiring Founders On When to Make the Leap (42:18) Wrap

In this podcast episode Molly O'Shea interviews Delian Asparouhov, Partner at Founders Fund and Co-Founder and President of Varda Space Industries, who dives into his experience building and investing in biotech, aerospace, and manufacturing. Asparouhov also discusses the evolution of his investment strategies, the difference between Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund, the evolution of El Segundo, & creating more inclusive cultures. Resources Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/  Companies Mentioned Varda Space Industries https://www.varda.com/  Starlink https://www.starlink.com/  Elektrofi https://www.elektrofi.com/ Halozyme https://halozyme.com/  TSMC https://www.tsmc.com/ Rocketlab https://www.rocketlabusa.com/ Founders Fund https://foundersfund.com/  Khosla Ventures https://www.khoslaventures.com/  Timestamps (00:00) Preview (03:03) The Idea Maze That Led to Varda Space Industries (06:00) The Potential of Low-Earth Orbit Spacecraft (09:03) Exploring the Economic Viability of Space Manufacturing (11:15) Navigating the Competitive Landscape of Space Manufacturing (14:56) On Pharma and Varda's Strategic Business Direction (20:40) Gravity Research for Space Manufacturing (25:48) Taking the Plunge into DeepTech: Biotech, Space Tech, & Manufacturing (28:23) Transitioning from Operator to Investor (33:31) The Difference Between Khosla Ventures & Founders Fund (36:58) Miami vs. SF (40:00) The Future of El Segundo & Creating Inclusive Cultures (47:06) The Fulfillment of Fatherhood (52:26) Wrap

In this episode, Molly O'Shea talks with David Weisburd, Co-founder and Co-Head of Venture Capital at 10X Capital. They discuss the strategies for achieving alpha in VC, the significance of LP-GP dynamics, VC’s track record on predicting trends versus fads, and delve into David’s AI thesis. Follow us on Twitter⁠ @MollySOShea ⁠⁠@DWeisburd Resources David's Podcast: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2MHgyKMmJgznPI66MLxZfC⁠ David & J-Cal's Podcast: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2T64PheDtaMDmFH9pS3GgK⁠ OpenLP Powered by Sapphire: ⁠https://openlp.sapphireventures.com/⁠ Subscribe to Sourcery: ⁠⁠https://www.sourcery.vc/ ⁠Companies Mentioned 10X Capital https://www.10xcapital.com/ Rabbit https://www.rabbit.tech/ Perplexity AI https://www.perplexity.ai/ Worldcoin https://worldcoin.org/ Timestamps (00:00) Intro (00:55) David's Journey in Venture Capital (02:01) Transition from Venture Capital to Podcasting (05:25) Podcaster Secrets (08:42) High-Level Learnings in Venture Capital and Investment Strategy (10:57) Don't Try to be a Macro Investor (14:51) The Future of AI (19:21) Extreme Alpha in VC (21:45) Unpacking the Systematic Bias in the LP World (31:55) Advice for Founders and GPs in the Current Market (35:26) Wrap

In this podcast episode, Molly O'Shea interviews Alex Kolicich, founding partner at 8VC, about 8VC’s portfolio construction, the VC ecosystem, the rate of innovation with AI, and the opportunities ahead. The conversation also covers the importance of understanding the limitations to AI and areas where these technologies will likely have the most impact. Follow us on Twitter @MollySOShea @AlexKolicich Resources Alex’s Writing: https://www.alexkolicich.com/ Subscribe to Sourcery: https://www.sourcery.vc/ Companies Mentioned Ollama https://ollama.com/ PerplexityAI https://www.perplexity.ai/  Copilot https://docs.github.com/en/copilot  Magic.dev https://magic.dev/ Timestamps (00:00) Intro and Alex's Background (00:54) Origins and Evolution of 8VC (01:52) Investment Strategy (07:02) The Current State of VC (14:09) Alex's Predictions and Insights on AI (27:13) Alex's Take on Verticalization  (35:15) Moats  (39:11) What's With the Number 8? (43:31) Advice for Founders - Seed to Series B Stage

Summary In this podcast episode, Molly O'Shea interviews Xander Oltmann about his venture capital fund, Commodity Capital, and his investment thesis on complex, vertically integrated monopolies. They discuss the challenges and opportunities with declining software development costs, if SaaS is really dead, and where AI comes into play. Xander shares his insights on the competition with multi-stage firms and the dislocation in valuations and prices. He also highlights some of the companies in his portfolio, such as Hadrian and Armada, and shares his 2024 predictions. Follow us on Twitter Molly O’Shea Xander Oltmann Resources Commodity Capital LP Letters Subscribe to Sourcery