The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) interviews the world's greatest venture capitalists with prior guests including Sequoia's Doug Leone and Benchmark's Bill Gurley. Once per week, 20VC Host, Harry Stebbings is also joined by one of the great founders of our time with prior founder episodes from Spotify's Daniel Ek, Linkedin's Reid Hoffman, and Snowflake's Frank Slootman.
If you would like to see more of The Twenty Minute VC (20VC), head to www.20vc.com for more information on the podcast, show notes, resources and more.
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Matan Grinberg is the Founder and CEO @ Factory, an AI research lab, bringing autonomy to software engineering. Matan has raised over $220M for the company from the likes of Sequoia, Khosla, NEA, Evantic and 20VC. Last round valued the company at a whopping $1.5BN. AGENDA: 00:00 – Why AI Means Everyone Will Become a Builder 04:55 – Will AI Finally Break the 200-Year GDP Growth Ceiling? 06:45 – The Rise of the 100x Engineer & Load-Bearing Talent 08:00 – The New Executive Job: Allocating Token...
The discussion navigates the complexities of SpaceX's massive IPO and Elon Musk's unique pricing strategy, along with its broader implications for generational wealth and LP expectations in the venture ecosystem. It also examines OpenAI's decision to go public and Sam Altman's vision for persistent AI, contrasting with Apple's Siri strategy. Further insights include Uber's HR reductions due to AI, founders' viral fundraising horror stories, and the rise of lean, high-revenue startups like Lovable, exploring how AI drives efficiency and reshapes go-to-market strategies.
Roman Chernin is Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of Nebius , one of the fastest-growing AI infrastructure companies in the world. Today, Nebius operates some of the largest AI compute clusters globally and serves leading AI labs, enterprises, and developers. Today, Nebius has a market cap of $57BN. AGENDA: 00:00 — Why AI Infrastructure Is Not a Bubble 05:00 — The Real Impact of Open Source on OpenAI & Anthropic 11:00 — Jevons Paradox: Why Cheaper AI Creates More Demand 13:00 — The Four...
Jacob Lauritzen serves as the CTO at Legora, the fastest growing B2B enterprise company in history; hitting $100 million in ARR in just 18 months . Legora boasts a valuation of $5.6BN and has raised a total of $866 million in funding. Legora's investors include the likes of Accel, Benchmark, and Bessemer Venture Partners, alongside strategic tech giants NVIDIA (NVentures) and Salesforce Ventures. AGENDA: 05:01 - How to Hire the Best Product Talent in 2026 06:21 - The New Product Bottleneck: Shif...
The 20VC panel dissects the week's biggest tech news, including Anthropic's IPO and Cognition's $1BN raise, prompting a discussion on a new "billion-dollar position" era for VCs. They explore the "SaaS Apocalypse" aftermath, the rise of agentic AI products, and the emerging corporate panic over token budgeting, predicting a future where AI tokens replace human engineers. The episode also touches on Big Law's AI investments, Robinhood's move into automated financial planning, and the debate around intense startup work ethics amidst the push for white-collar automation.
Brendan Foody is the Founder and CEO @ Mercor, one of the leading data providers to the largest labs on the planet including OpenAI. In the last two years, Brendan has scaled the company to $1.5BN in ARR and a valuation of $10BN. AGENDA: True or False: Mercor lost Meta and OpenAI as a customer with the hack? Mercor has been poaching competitor talent, paying them millions? Mercor revenue is not real revenue and is only GMV? 12:56 Would Brendan sell Mercor for $30 billion? 14:23 Why everyone is w...
Nico Laqua is the Co-Founder and CEO of Corgi Insurance, an AI-native insurance carrier built for startups. Corgi is the most intense workplace culture in America. The team works 7 days per week. The founder sleeps in the office. ⅔ of the first 30 team members have a Corgi tattoo. This week, Corgi raised $106M, valuing the company at a whopping $2.6BN. AGENDA: 06:35 Why going to university was a massive waste of time 09:42 Why we work seven days a week 11:58 Why we do work trials and how that is...
The hosts delve into the real-world economic impacts of AI, questioning the anticipated productivity gains by companies like Uber and Microsoft, while analyzing NVIDIA's massive quarter. They discuss recent tech layoffs at ClickUp and Cloudflare, debating whether they stem from AI efficiency or past overhiring. The episode also scrutinizes the S1 filings of OpenAI and SpaceX, comparing their competitive strategies and valuations, and highlights significant private market investments in AI infrastructure, such as Polsia, Exa, and OpenRouter, ultimately exploring the future of human-AI collaboration.
Andrew Feldman is the co-founder and CEO of Cerebras Systems. This month, Cerebras went public achieving a market cap of $70BN, the largest semiconductor IPO in history. Cerebras has a massive commercial backlog with a monumental, multi-year $20 billion compute agreement from OpenAI. AGENDA: 05:58 - Why we are not in an infrastructure bubble and it is just the start 08:00 - Sam Altman's superpower is his ability to forecast capex spend. 08:58 - Anthropic did not get a good deal with Elon. They g...
Chad Peets is one of the most straight-talking, no BS sales leaders of our time. Today, he partners with founders of the fastest growing companies in the world, like Harvey, Factory to build the best sales teams in a world of AI. Chris Degnan is a legendary technology sales leader who achieved the historic feat of scaling Snowflake from $0 to $4BN in ARR. AGENDA: 00:00 – The $100M CRO Packages Nobody Believes Are Real 04:10 – Why Most "Elite" Salespeople Are Actually Just Order Takers 08:00 – Th...
The hosts dive into Anthropic's soaring $900B valuation and Andrej Karpathy's strategic move, alongside Salesforce's substantial AI token expenditures and its implications for tech budgets. They analyze the strong public market rebounds of Figma and Datadog, contrasting it with the struggles of traditional web builders like Wix, and assess the sustainability of the compute and hardware boom. Discussions also cover the highly successful Cerebras IPO, the eagerly anticipated SpaceX debut, the controversy surrounding Elon Musk's OpenAI lawsuit, and the looming political backlash from mass tech layoffs due to AI.
Josh Browder is my favourite emerging manager. As the Founder of Browder Capital he has been the first check into unicorns like Micro1, Owner.com and Yuzu Health to name a few. He turned his Thiel Fellowship Grant of $100K into a whopping $10M angel portfolio. All new investments move into Josh's Four Seasons Residence where he then trains them on company building. They are only allowed to leave when they raise their seed round. In addition to this, Josh is the Founder & CEO @ DoNotPay, the ...
Shiv Rao is the CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge, a leader in generative AI for healthcare. The company reached a $5.3 billion valuation following a $300 million funding round with investors including Jensen Huang, Henry Kravis, USV, Bessemer Venture Partners and Elad Gill. A practicing cardiologist, Shiv has scaled the company to 450 employees and partnered with major health systems like Emory and Yale. AGENDA: 04:00 — You just have to survive long enough to not die 06:00 — Did USV liking music ma...
This episode delves into major tech news, including Anthropic's compute deals with Elon Musk and Google, and their secondary market restrictions. The hosts analyze Goldman Sachs' token consumption predictions and debate whether AI models will "eat" the application layer, impacting verticals like legal and CX. Public market performance of SaaS companies like HubSpot and Monday.com is reviewed, alongside the Cerebras IPO and Ramp's valuation, concluding with a discussion on the sacrifices required for entrepreneurial success.
Patrick Forquer is the Chief Revenue Officer at Legora , the fastest growing enterprise business to ever hit $100M in ARR and now on track to hit over $250M in ARR by the end of the year. They recently raised a $550 million Series D at a $5.55 billion valuation, led by Accel, note 20VC did participate and is an investor in the company. AGENDA: 0:00 – How Jude Law Generated $50 Million in Qualified Pipeline 4:00 – Why Implementation is Your Secret Weapon to Win in AI 5:50 – Why AI Enterprise Sale...
Cliff Weitzman is the Founder & CEO of Speechify AI. He solved his dyslexia and ADHD in college by building a Voice AI agent that's now used by over 60 million people and has over 1 million five-star ratings. Over 200 software and AI engineers work on Speechify which won the Apple Design award last year. AGENDA: 00:00 — Until You Hit $100K Do Not Spend on any Channel Other than Meta 04:53 — How I hacked the college system by applying to 26 universities 06:33 — The "Great Guy" yearbook prank ...
The episode offers a deep dive into the latest Big Tech earnings, scrutinizing Google's cloud and AI search dominance, contrasting it with Microsoft and Meta's substantial AI investments and their struggle for clear ROI. The discussion highlights Palantir's unique position in large-scale enterprise AI adoption and the re-acceleration of certain SaaS companies post-apocalypse. Furthermore, it unpacks Anthropic's staggering $50 billion raise, the economics of token spend, and the implications of the Musk vs. Altman trial. The hosts conclude by exploring how AI is reshaping corporate structures, emphasizing a shift towards individual contributors and challenging traditional management roles.
Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify, provides a provocative and wide-ranging discussion on critical global issues. He argues that AI is being unfairly blamed for mass layoffs, which he attributes to overhiring, and instead sees AI as a catalyst for a new era of entrepreneurship, significantly boosting productivity. Lütke also critiques the current state of charitable giving, emphasizing the need for more scrutiny on its effectiveness over good intentions, and expresses skepticism about government intervention, advocating for policies that enable rather than direct economic growth. Additionally, he touches on geopolitical dynamics, the value of building and creating wealth, and the role of AI in discerning truth.
Becca Lindquist is Head of Sales at Clay, one of the fastest-growing AI companies to reach $100M+ ARR. She previously helped scale dbt Labs into a category-defining data platform, building and leading high-performing sales teams. Before that, she was an early sales leader at Heap, where she played a key role in scaling the GTM motion. AGENDA: 00:00 Why most sales reps plateau—and when you should leave your company 02:45 Should you jump from SaaS to a hot AI startup right now? 05:30 How long is t...
The podcast delves into major recent events in tech and venture capital, including Anthropic's massive funding rounds and OpenAI's growth challenges. It explores the transformative impact of AI agents on software and business models, questioning the future of SaaS. The hosts also analyze the collapse of private equity exit routes, exemplified by Thoma Bravo handing Medallia to creditors, and the implications for startup valuations and fundraising in a new era dominated by AI and "fewer but bigger" winners.
Adam Foroughi is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Applovin, one of the most underdiscussed but incredible businesses. Applovin has a market cap of $160BN, the company does $5.48BN in revenue and has an astonishing $10M EBITDA per head. The margins; 80%+. There is almost no other business in the world like it. AGENDA: 00:00 – Why Winning (Not Fear) Drives the Best Founders 04:30 – When Money Stops Mattering: The Real Founder Motivation 07:15 – $83M CEO Payday: The Truth Behind the Headlines 10:45 – The H...
Amjad Masad, CEO of Replit, explores the profound impact of agentic AI, emphasizing the move from "learn to code" to "create" and how it's reshaping developer tools and business models. He details Replit's multi-model strategy, the economics of AI tokens, and challenges the future of traditional SaaS and IDEs. The conversation also delves into the evolving roles of product and sales teams, alongside personal reflections on leadership and overcoming obstacles.
Harry Stebbings, Rory O'Driscoll, and Jason Lemkin analyze major tech news including Cursor's $60B acquisition by xAI, Tim Cook's departure from Apple, and Anthropic's trillion-dollar valuation. They delve into AI's "maiming" effect on incumbents like Figma, Adobe, and Netflix, discuss Salesforce's headless strategy and the "agent fabric," and examine the funding landscape for AI startups and the Cerebras IPO, offering predictions for future M&A.
Aaron Levie discusses the profound impact of AI on enterprises, advocating for AI as an augmentation tool that will lead to more specialized jobs like "agent operators." He explains how SaaS companies must adapt to a "headless" software paradigm with robust APIs to leverage agent capabilities. Levie also addresses cybersecurity risks, the shift in enterprise IT spending towards OpEx for AI, and the slower, more complex reality of AI adoption in large, regulated organizations.
Jake Paul and Geoffrey Wu discuss Anti Fund's unique venture capital strategy, leveraging attention as a new form of capital. They delve into Paul's diverse business empire, his meticulous approach to content creation, and his "uncancelable" persona. The conversation also explores AI's impact on society, Paul's potential political aspirations, and his deep-seated motivations stemming from personal experiences, revealing a more complex side to the public figure.
AGENDA: 00:00 — Anthropic Unveils Mythos: The Model "Too Good at Hacking" to Release 05:56 — Why Mythos is a Quantum Leap in Cyber Risk 10:11 — The "Boy Who Cried Wolf": Jason's Critique of Dario Amodei 14:00 — The Oppenheimer Moment: Are Founders Using Doom as a Marketing Tool? 19:22 — Amazon's $20B Secret: Is NVIDIA's Chip Stranglehold Finally Loosening? 22:28 — Claude vs. Lovable & Replit: Anthropic Moves into App Building 25:24 — The 60% Death Spiral: Why Public SaaS Stocks are Entering ...
Anj Midha provides an in-depth look at the current state of AI, addressing the "scaling laws are dead" misconception and outlining four critical bottlenecks: context feedback, compute, capital, and culture. He shares insights from Anthropic's tough early days and explains Europe's drive for a sovereign AI stack. The discussion also covers the crucial need for compute standardization, the challenges of GPU wastage, China's advanced full-stack AI strategy, and the importance of an "iron dome" for Western inference models, alongside a critique of current VC investment patterns.
Carles Reina, VP of Sales at ElevenLabs, shares insights on evolving the CRO role for the AI era, including how AI agents can drive revenue and the need for high-performing, well-compensated sales teams. He also delves into innovative strategies for global market entry, the importance of brand, effective marketing channels like F1 sponsorships and executive dinners, and leveraging corporate VCs for distribution. The discussion extends to his perspective as an operator-investor, emphasizing helpfulness over capital and the future of foundational AI models.
Harry Stebbings, Rory O'Driscoll, and Jason Lamkin analyze major tech news, starting with Anthropic's significant revenue growth and cost efficiency compared to OpenAI, prompting a management reboot and controversial acquisition at the latter. They discuss SpaceX's projected $2 trillion IPO and the "Big Three"s dominance in venture. Other topics include Doug Leone's return to Sequoia and YC's expulsion of Delve over ethical breaches. The episode also explores Open Router's LLM marketplace, Supabase's growth as the database for AI agents, the increasing threat of AI-driven cyber attacks, and the disruptive, sometimes ethically questionable, future of AI-powered marketing from a $1.8B two-person company.
Demis Hassabis discusses AGI's definition, current progress, and the likelihood of achieving it within five years. He delves into AI's bottlenecks, the future of model development, and DeepMind's pivotal role in breakthroughs like AlphaFold. The conversation also explores AI's potential in drug discovery, the critical need for international safety regulations, and the profound societal impacts of AGI on jobs, inequality, and the energy crisis, concluding with reflections on Europe's tech ambitions and AI's philosophical implications.
