Invest Like the Best

Gili Raanan is the founder of Cyberstarts, a VC firm focused on cybersecurity. We cover how AI is redefining the cybersecurity industry, the most important signal of a quality founder, and the best lessons from his early investment in Wiz.

Kelly Granat is the co-CIO and Managing Director of Lone Pine Capital. We cover the building blocks behind Lone Pine's investment decisions, why the market frequently misprices the ability to execute, and the investing industry's problems with aligning incentives and duration.

Marc Andreessen is the co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz. We cover what DeepSeek's R1 model means for the tech arms race between the US and China, the trade-off between competition and cooperation in geopolitics, and the factors behind the sweeping backlash against traditional media and political institutions.

Tal Zaks is a Partner at OrbiMed. We cover the challenges that make investing in biotech different from fields like software, the importance of seeking lessons in your successes as well as failures, and why the pursuit of returns makes large-scale capital flows into science and innovation possible.

Jared Kushner is the founder of Affinity Partners. We cover his formative experiences as a real estate investor, the major accomplishments from his time in government, and the people who have shaped his investing and geopolitical worldviews.

Scott Wu is the co-founder and CEO of Cognition. We cover the history of programming from punch cards to LLMs, how AI agents like Devin can 10x a software engineer's productivity, and why he's optimistic about the future of jobs in the industry.

Chetan Puttagunta is a General Partner at Benchmark and Modest Proposal is a money manager who is one of the most respected thinkers in financial markets. We cover the current scaling challenges of frontier AI models, the incredible proliferation of open source models, and the investing implications across private and public markets.

Andrew Homan is a Managing Partner at Maverick Silicon and Chris Miller is the author of Chip War. We cover the geopolitical implications of the race for superior chip technology, how venture capital is playing the AI-driven boom in the industry, and where innovation is happening beyond just Nvidia.

Tobi Lütke is the co-founder and CEO of Shopify. We cover the biggest changes he's observed in the wider tech ecosystem with the advent of AI, his unique way of interpreting and implementing "founder mode" at Shopify, and how we can promote more entrepreneurs to build on "islands of innovation" away from the mainstream.

Matt Perelman and Alex Sloane are the Co-founders and Managing Partners of Garnett Station Partners. We cover the story behind GSP's early days and first successful deal, what they've learned about brand building and innovation in the franchise world, and why building strong relationships is the key to any successful partnership.

Kareem Zaki is a General Partner at Thrive Capital. We cover why being a generalist allows for more creative investment ideas, how Thrive spotted "category-defining" companies like SpaceX and OpenAI early, and how to solve some of the biggest problems in the healthcare industry.

Bret Taylor is the co-founder of Sierra and chairman of the board at OpenAI. We cover his legendary experience rewriting Google Maps in one weekend, the myriad applications of AI agents beyond chat bots, and the one question every company should ask itself.

Gavin Baker is the Managing Partner and CIO of Atreides Management. We cover the competition at scale among the Magnificent Seven, what he's learned from observing Nvidia's growth over a quarter-century, and how investors should approach the current AI paradigm.

Hemant Taneja is the CEO and Managing Director of General Catalyst. We cover the motivation behind GC's focus on critical industries such as healthcare, the value of a long-term approach to building deals and relationships, and how to be successful at succession.

Martin Casado is a partner at Andreesen Horowitz. We cover the ways AI will unleash a revolution in creativity over the next decade, why human innovation is still critical, and how the modern data stack came to be.

Modest Proposal is one of the most thoughtful investors in financial markets. We cover the historical context behind today's market dynamics, the state of active management versus index investing, and why there's no shortage of exciting opportunities despite high valuations.

Robert Greene is the bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power. We cover the most prominent historical and modern examples of power, how to find life's purpose through mastery, and why socializing is critical to understanding the human experience.

Pat Grady is a longtime growth investor at Sequoia. We cover what he's learned from Sequoia's legendary partners, how to become a great business writer, and his criteria for separating truly legendary companies from the rest.

Frank Blake is the former chairman and CEO of Home Depot. We cover how the inverted pyramid structure gives the employee experience primacy of place, what the role of a CEO should be, and his favorite stories from his time at Home Depot.

Howie Liu is the co-founder and CEO of Airtable. We cover the practical applications of AI for making workflow more productive, the most important variables for software investors to consider, and some of the difficult challenges he's faced while building Airtable.

Mark Groden is the Founder and CEO of Skyryse. We cover the history of safety standards in general aviation, the motivation behind his mission to bring fatalities to zero, and how autonomous modes of transport will shape our future.

Dev Ittycheria is the CEO of MongoDB. We cover how to navigate a major technology transition, the importance of databases as a foundational building block of today's technology, and how he's built a culture of performance and accountability at Mongo.

Nico Wittenborn is the founder of Adjacent. We cover what makes consumer subscription businesses a compelling market to invest in, his toolkit for identifying great products, and what advice he'd give to anyone looking to build a business for the long-term.

Marc Lasry is the CEO of Avenue Capital Group. We cover the highs and lows of building a big investment firm, why sports is full of exciting opportunities, and why success requires a combination of book smarts and street smarts.

Bill Gurley is a General Partner at Benchmark and Michael Mauboussin is the Head of Consilient Research for Counterpoint Global. We cover their thoughts on the development of AI, what the VC industry should be doing differently, and what it's like to work with a genius.

Aravind Srinivas is the founder and CEO of Perplexity. We cover the advantages of an AI-powered answer engine over traditional search, the component mechanics used to build in this space, and how Perplexity's business model can compete with the likes of Google and OpenAI.

Ali Hamed is a Co-Founder and partner at CoVenture. We cover the biggest lessons learned from scaling CoVenture to $2.5b in AUM, which asset classes hold the most exciting opportunities today, and his approach to evaluating everything from credit to LPs and early-stage companies.

Alex Telford is the founder of Convoke. We cover the ins and outs of developing and pricing new drugs, what can be done to shorten the time it takes to bring drugs to market, and why AI won't be a silver bullet for the industry.

Michael Ovitz is the co-founder of CAA. We cover the best stories and lessons from Michael's all-star cast of clients, why speed and scale were critical ingredients to CAA's success, and how he's translating his legendary work ethic and talent spotting to the investing arena.

Justin Ishbia is the Founding Partner of Shore Capital. We cover the repeatable system he has built for acquisitions, how to construct successful boards and incentive structures, and why microcaps are the last inefficient component of private markets.

Charlie Munger was the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. In this conversation with Stripe's John Collison, recorded last year, he shares the ingredients for long-term business success, his thoughts on American society writ large, and what makes Berkshire special.

Peter Fenton and Victor Lazarte are General Partners at Benchmark. We cover Benchmark's unique investing playbook, why drive is such a major tailwind for success, and the dislocating effect of megacap tech's dominance on markets.

Aswath Damodaran is a Professor of Finance. We cover the major sources of uncertainty in today's macro environment, how he developed an unconventional method of valuing businesses, and his take on the AI boom and Nvidia's meteoric growth.

Will England is the CEO and Co-CIO of Walleye Capital. We cover the mechanics and complexity behind the multi-strategy model, the importance of finding managers with aligned incentives, and how to instill a culture of performance at a firm.

Lee Ainslie is the founder of Maverick Capital. We cover how his career at Tiger helped him build Maverick, the impact of rates on hedge fund returns, and the biggest lessons he's learned about the craft of investing.

Chris Paik is a General Partner at Pace Capital. We cover his frameworks for investing in technological change, the state of consumer investing and social content platforms today, and how to think about value creation and capture in businesses.

Jeremy Giffon is a private markets investor. We discuss what makes for a perfect investment, tactics for discovering what makes people tick, and the best advice he's ever received.

Dave Yuan is the Founder of Tidemark Capital. We cover what makes vertical market software an interesting space to invest in, why the best vertical SaaS entrepreneurs started out as customers, and the greatest case studies that highlight the business model in action.

Scott Goodwin is the co-founder and managing partner of Diameter Capital Partners. We cover the major thematic differences between the 2010s and 2020s, the importance of speed, and the role of imagination in credit investing.

Kieran Goodwin is the founder of Panning Capital Management. We cover the state of private credit in today's rates environment, the value of emotional intelligence as a determinant for success in capital markets, and how to incorporate long volatility strategies into daily life.

Karen Karniol-Tambour is the co-CIO at Bridgewater Associates. We cover why AI is set to up-end the macro cycle status quo, the most important variables few people are thinking about, and whether gold and other asset classes are overrated or underrated right now.

David Einhorn is the President of Greenlight Capital. We cover the highs and lows of an illustrious career, his views on the current issues facing the banking sector, and how he has evolved as an investor over time.

Doug Leone is a Partner at Sequoia Capital. We cover his lessons from four decades at Sequoia, what makes for great go-to-market motions, and survey the changing landscape of venture and founders.

Dan Rose is the chairman of Coatue Ventures. We cover the story behind Amazon’s Kindle, the relationship between innovation and constraints, and how he would build a Frankenstein of effective leadership styles.

Carl is a portfolio manager at Capital Group. We cover the biggest changes in markets over the last two years, what everyone can learn from Apple and oil companies, and his approach to finding diamonds in the rough.

Daryl Morey is President of Basketball Operations for the Philadelphia 76ers. We cover what makes for a great sports match, using systems thinking to improve decision-making, and why superstar athletes are key to success in basketball.

Miles Grimshaw is a General Partner at Benchmark. We cover his biological approach to investing, the differences between pure API companies and other software businesses, and why software development is as much art as it is science.

John Fio is a product inventor and entrepreneur who has bootstrapped multiple products. We cover his thoughts on product positioning, how to create an enduring brand that is separate from its founder, and what he learned from working for Justin Bieber.

Amjad Masad is the founder and CEO of Replit. We discuss the Steve Jobs black pill, how to reduce friction for developers, and how emerging AI tools will affect the incumbent tech giants.

Michael Mauboussin is the Head of Consilient Research at Counterpoint Global. We discuss his research on market share and capital allocation, examples of the relationship between value creation and market power, and which recent market phenomena have provided the biggest surprises.

Jeremiah Lowin is the founder and CEO of Prefect. We cover the new class of AI models, what's happening under the hood of the popular chatbot ChatGPT, and what else he’s watching closely in the space.

Bill Lenehan is the CEO of Four Corners Property Trust. We cover the impact of trends such as COVID and climate change on commercial real estate, how rising rates are influencing its return profile, and how retailers are adapting to rising costs in today's economy.

Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are co-founders of Imagine Entertainment. We cover how they've kept their their creative spark alive through their careers, the value of trust and curiosity, and the biggest storytelling mistakes they've come across.

Parker Conrad is the co-founder and CEO of Rippling. We explore Rippling's place in the B2B infrastructure stack, the notion of a compound startup, and what Parker has learned about leadership, motivation, and communication.

Bob Elliott is the CEO and CIO of Unlimited. We cover the relationship between rates and inflation for different asset classes, why we're seeing a return to boring economic cycles, and how to find alpha in private markets through quantitative strategies.

Jason Droege is a venture partner at Benchmark. We cover what he learned building Uber Eats, transferrable lessons for other marketplace businesses, and what it's like to work in a business that evokes strong public opinion.

Paul Orfalea is the founder of Kinko's. We cover his leadership style, what he learned about hiring well, and why entrepreneurship was his only path out of school.

Madhavan Ramanujam is the author of Monetizing Innovations. We cover different monetization models, common mistakes when pricing products, and why positive feedback doesn’t necessarily equate to dollars spent.

Trina Spear is the co-founder and CEO of FIGS. We cover the original insight that led to FIGS' founding, what the basic financial profile of an apparel retailer looks like, and the biggest lessons for builders of product-centric businesses.

Harley Finkelstein is the President of Shopify. We cover the different dimensions of entrepreneurship, the most interesting trends in e-commerce today, and the lessons learned from Shopify's transition to public markets.

Mitch Lasky is a partner at Benchmark. This covers the most important features of the modern gaming business model, how platforms like Twitch and Discord have re-shaped the industry and what to look for when investing in gaming businesses.

Robert Smith is the founder, Chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. We cover what makes a business an ideal fit for Vista, the importance of capital cycles on price and sentiment, and what he's learned from building an iconic investing franchise.

Ravi Gupta is a partner at Sequoia. We cover the importance of keeping the main thing the main thing, why the best leaders are both demanding and supportive, and how mentorship works within Sequoia's culture.

Will Thorndike is author of The Outsiders and host of 50X. We cover the hallmarks of great compounders, how the best serial acquirers deliver outsized returns, and what he's learned about developing conviction.

Matthew Ball is the Managing Partner of EpyllionCo. We cover the 3D engines powering the Metaverse, why interoperability is so important, and the types of companies that stand to do well under a shift to the Metaverse.

Lydia Jett is the Managing Partner of SoftBank Investment Advisors. We cover her evolution as an investor working alongside Masayoshi Son, the most valuable lessons for e-commerce founders, and upside down approaches to e-commerce.

Josh is the co-founder of Lux Capital and Chris is the founder of advanced manufacturing start-up, Hadrian. We cover the fragmented structure of precision manufacturing today, how Hadrian's factories can modernize the industry's supply chain, and the effect of a higher cost of capital on deep tech companies.

Aswath Damodaran is a Professor of Finance. We cover why inflation is such a dominant force in today's market, the importance of narrative when valuing companies, and his contrarian thoughts on the future of ESG.

Tyler is an economics professor and Daniel is the founder of start-up accelerator Pioneer. We cover all aspects of identifying, pricing, and evaluating talent, the correlation between talent and happiness, and why talent is a potential rate limiter on global progress.

Jeff Jordan is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. We cover how to build and invest in businesses that create consumer marketplaces, the importance of healthy communication between founders and investors, and the unique aspects of the Andreessen Horowitz business model.

Dmitry Balyasny is the Managing Partner and CIO of Balyasny Asset Management. We cover the origin story of his unique multi-strategy firm, the common traits that great portfolio managers share, and how to incentivize talented investors.

Antonio Gracias is the founder, CIO, and CEO of Valor Equity Partners. We cover his concept of pro-entropic investing, what he learned as a 25-year-old running a manufacturing business, and his methods for eliminating biases when making investments.

Gaurav Kapadia is the founder of investment firm XN. We cover his approach to building XN around a culture of rigor and kindness, how he finds remarkable businesses to invest in, and the imperative to increase diversity and inclusivity in the industry.

Garry Tan is the founder and managing partner of Initialized Capital. We cover what’s missing in the investment world, how to best systematize venture investments, and the most common bad ideas for startups.

Eric Mandelblatt is the founder and CIO of Soroban Capital. We cover how the global push towards decarbonization could have massive impacts on the industrial economy, the supply and demand forces at work in commodities production, and why energy and materials represent such a small share of the market today.

Frank Slootman is the chairman and CEO of Snowflake. We cover the ways he evaluates teams, why he hates incrementalism, and the importance of narrowing your focus.

Joey Levin is the CEO of IAC, a holding company that builds world-class digital businesses. We cover how he approaches capital allocation, why he tries to avoid centralization between businesses, and what he has learned from working with Barry Diller.

Peter Chernin is the co-founder of The Chernin Group. We cover lessons learned from his time running News Corp and Fox, how he has been able to identify powerful secular tailwinds across his varied career, and his thesis of investing in content that people are passionate enough to pay for.

John Pfeffer is an entrepreneur and investor through his private family office, Pfeffer Capital. We cover the difference between value creation and value capture, why John has made such a big bet on Bitcoin, and why adaptation has become more important than ever.

Geoffrey Moore is a tech author, consultant, and venture partner at Wildcat Ventures. We define what makes a company a "Gorilla", explore the lifecycle of technology adoption, and discuss how Geoffrey has updated his thinking over a long career.

Gavin Baker is the managing partner and CIO of Atreides Management. We cover the current state of growth equities, the disconnect between private and public markets, and how semiconductors have evolved.

Sam Englebardt and Richard Kim are general partners at Galaxy Interactive. We cover the digital art market, the social impact of Web3, and elements that create successful game communities.

Orlando Bravo is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Thoma Bravo. We cover Orlando’s first software deal, why high growth and high margins are not mutually exclusive, and what he’s learned about selling well.

Philip is the creator of Second Life and Bill is a general partner at Benchmark. We cover their key learnings from building Second Life's virtual world, their views on the current metaverse opportunity, and what excites them most about today's focus on virtual realities.

Francis Davidson is the founder and CEO of Sonder. We cover Francis’s unique views around customer-centric focus, the nuances of hiring a team, and how they approach decision-making at Sonder.

Niraj Shah is the CEO and co-founder of Wayfair. We cover how the competitive frontiers in e-commerce have changed, what it was like to build out a proprietary logistics operation, and what makes the home goods market more attractive than other physical goods markets.

Will Marshall is the co-founder and CEO of Planet. We cover the untold space story, how space is going through an internet moment where cost reductions and performance enhancements have led to a seismic shift in what’s possible above our atmosphere, and how that can drastically improve life on Earth through unique datasets like the one Planet is piecing together.

Roelof Botha is a partner at Sequoia. We cover the seismic change Sequoia is making to its investing model, what's changed over the course of his career, and what he’s learned from businesses like MongoDB, Square, YouTube, and Unity.

Sarah Friar is the CEO of Nextdoor. We cover what excellence looks like in a number of different executive roles, the lessons Sarah ported over from her time as an equity analyst, and how Nextdoor is fostering connections between people and businesses in their local areas.

Alex Rampell is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. We cover Alex’s framework for positive selection in investing, why the best investments are often operating systems or systems of record, and Alex’s views on the future of fintech.

Jenny Lefcourt is an equal General Partner at seed-stage venture firm, Freestyle Capital. We cover Jenny's investment frameworks, why she believes a deep understanding of the customer is key for founder success, and what makes great go-to-market strategies.

Jay Hoag is the co-founder of TCV. We cover his own journey founding TCV, what advice he has for visionaries, and why he sees advantages for private to public crossover investors.

Carl Kawaja is a long-time portfolio manager at Capital Group. We cover Carl’s criteria for building conviction around long-term holdings, his views on uncertainty, and his belief that failure is key to a great investing career.

Steve Mandel is the founder of Lone Pine Capital, one of the most successful hedge fund and investment firms of this generation. We cover how the investing business has evolved since Steve started in the 1980s, why it’s so difficult to drive alpha by shorting stocks today, and why Steve still loves to get into the guts of a business.

Howard Marks is the co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management. We cover how the last eighteen months have compared to market history, the importance of understanding psychology, and what he’s learned about writing well and the utility of doing so.

John Harris is the Managing Partner of Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb, the flagship Sequoia Fund. We cover John’s approach to finding businesses that can be owned for the long-term, what goes into their diligence process, and the importance of resilience for investors.

Paul Enright is the managing partner at Krainos Capital, with previous buy-side and sell-side experience at Viking Global and Morgan Stanley. We demystify high finance – exploring the buy-side and sell-side, the different kinds of funds, and the skills required for success.

Zach Fuss is a Vice President at Continental Grain. We cover where profits tend to sit in a specific value chain, how legacy food businesses are creating their 2nd acts as digital businesses, and explore what makes Domino's Pizza so interesting and special.

Ram Parameswaran is the founder of Octahedron Capital and previously a partner at Altimeter Capital. We cover the potential for internet scale business, explore the common characteristics of these businesses, and the most important qualities for 8 business models.