Grit

#231 CEO & Co-Founder Harvey, Winston Weinberg w/ Ilya Fushman: Worthy Sacrifices


Listen Later

Guests: Winston Weinberg, CEO & co-founder of Harvey; and Ilya Fushman, partner at Kleiner Perkins

“If you think about pretty much any job out there in the world, we will have some sort of [AI] copilot,” says Kleiner Perkins partner Ilya Fushman. “The question is, who are the right folks to build it, and what’s their vision?”

For Harvey CEO & co-founder Winston Weinberg, the vision is clear: Silicon Valley cannot and should not try to disrupt the legal profession by automating the job of lawyers. Instead, he says, they need to have “respect for the industry” before designing AI solutions that speed up specific tasks.

“These industries are incredibly complex,” Winston says. “Legal is one of the oldest professions known to man. There are firms that are over a hundred years old. There are firms that are hundreds of years old, and having a brand that says, ‘We are partnering with the industry to transform it’ versus ‘We are just going to steamroll the industry’ is really important for us.”


Chapters:

  • (01:16) - The zeitgeist switch
  • (02:58) - What is Harvey?
  • (06:10) - Chief Law Officers
  • (07:58) - Agentic workflows
  • (09:43) - Ilya’s investment thesis
  • (12:48) - Collaborating with AI
  • (16:05) - Task automation
  • (20:52) - Why is it called Harvey?
  • (23:14) - Respecting the legal industry
  • (26:43) - Winston’s past jobs
  • (28:47) - First steps
  • (32:13) - Scaling the company
  • (35:02) - Scaling yourself
  • (37:19) - Who works for Harvey
  • (40:50) - Making mistakes
  • (43:15) - Making sacrifices
  • (45:51) - Growing too fast
  • (50:50) - Setting priorities
  • (54:54) - Harvey’s competitors
  • (57:38) - Internal virality
  • (01:00:46) - Testing Harvey’s limits
  • (01:03:29) - Who Harvey is hiring
  • (01:04:01) - What “grit” means to Winston

  • Mentioned in this episode: ChatGPT, the Fortune 500, Microsoft Copilot, Gabe Pereyra, Activision, Excel, Counsel AI Corporation, Suits, Harvard University, Netflix, Dell, O'Melveny & Myers, Hueston Hennigan, Meta, Reddit, Jason Kwon, Anthropic, Marissa Mayer, Eric Schmidt, Google, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Glean.


    Links:

    Connect with Winston

    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn

    Connect with Ilya

    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn

    Connect with Joubin


    Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

    This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    GritBy Joubin Mirzadegan

    • 4.9
    • 4.9
    • 4.9
    • 4.9
    • 4.9

    4.9

    183 ratings


    More shows like Grit

    View all
    This Week in Startups by Jason Calacanis

    This Week in Startups

    1,281 Listeners

    a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

    a16z Podcast

    1,008 Listeners

    The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch by Harry Stebbings

    The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

    525 Listeners

    The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors by SaaStr

    The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

    179 Listeners

    Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy by Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

    Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

    2,329 Listeners

    All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg by All-In Podcast, LLC

    All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

    8,385 Listeners

    Business Breakdowns by Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

    Business Breakdowns

    337 Listeners

    The Logan Bartlett Show by by Redpoint Ventures

    The Logan Bartlett Show

    189 Listeners

    Revenue Builders by Force Management

    Revenue Builders

    152 Listeners

    No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups by Conviction

    No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

    106 Listeners

    The Social Radars by Jessica Livingston

    The Social Radars

    94 Listeners

    Crucible Moments by Sequoia Capital

    Crucible Moments

    88 Listeners

    BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley by BG2Pod

    BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley

    419 Listeners

    AI + a16z by a16z

    AI + a16z

    26 Listeners

    Training Data by Sequoia Capital

    Training Data

    31 Listeners