In this special episode of Generative Now, Lightspeed Partner Michael Mignano talks with Semil Shah, founder and partner of Haystack VC and partner at Lightspeed. Together, they have a wide-ranging, unfiltered conversation on the state of AI, venture capital, and the future of media. They get into everything from Meta’s high-stakes AI talent spree and Apple’s uncertain strategy, to the Figma IPO, to the evolution of the seed stage, and the brewing battle between AI agents and the open web. Semil also shares hard-earned insights on founder strategy, brand building, and why design still wins.

Episode Chapters: 

00:00 Introduction

00:30 Reflecting on Long Island

01:47 M&A Frenzy and Talent Wars

02:10 Meta's Strategic Moves

06:30 Apple's AI Strategy

11:12 Figma's IPO Success

21:33 The State of Seed Investing

25:30 The Model's Mathematical Basis

26:00 Case Study: Firebase Acquisition

27:19 Seed Fund Strategies and Challenges

30:30 Founders' Incentives and Signal Risk

36:40 AI Agents vs. CDNs: A Legal Playground

42:57 The Evolution of Podcasts and Media

51:31 The Future of AI Branding

56:03 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

In this episode of Generative Now, Lightspeed Partner Michael Mignano sits down with Rahul Vohra, founder of the email client Superhuman, to unpack the future of AI-powered productivity. Rahul shares the origin story of Superhuman, how game design principles shaped its blazing speed and keyboard-first UX, and why time—not email—is the real problem it solves. He dives into the thinking behind their recent acquisition by Grammarly, his vision for an AI-native productivity suite, and what it means to build both apps and agents for the future.

Episode Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Guest Overview

01:00 The Superhuman Email Experience

02:28 Building Superhuman: Challenges and Innovations

04:50 The Importance of Speed and Efficiency

05:36 Superhuman's Unique Features and Early Decisions

11:44 The Acquisition by Grammarly

15:35 The Vision for an AI Native Productivity Suite

22:32 Exploring Verticalized Workflows

22:52 The Excitement of the Superhuman-Grammarly Deal

24:23 The Strategy of Bundling

28:10 AI's Role in Future Productivity

32:26 Superhuman's Use of AI

41:53 Lessons from Previous Acquisitions

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• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co

• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. The views expressed by our guests do not necessarily represent the views of Lightspeed. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

In this episode of Generative Now, Lightspeed Partner Michael Mignano sits down with two co-investors: Steve Jang, Co-Founder and Partner at Kindred Ventures, and Scott Belsky, Partner at A24 and founder of A24 Labs. Together they explore the current state and future of consumer AI, from why most products still look like chatbots, to what’s next in AI-powered hardware, browsers, and personal agents. They dive into the concept of “personal AI,” discussing memory, context, and the emerging opportunities (and risks) around consumer data and model control. They also touch on use cases like AI-powered dating wingmen, simulated versions of ourselves, and the next generation of AI-first operating systems.

Episode Chapters: 

(00:00) Welcome and Introductions

(00:43) The Current State of AI Products

(02:48) Surprises and Challenges with LLMs

(05:24) Future of Consumer AI and Personal AI

(15:49) Memory and Personalization in AI

(21:52) Potential Risks and Business Models

(24:22) The Battle for User Data in AI

(25:11) Optimism in AI Model Inference

(27:00) The Role of Open Source Models

(28:13) The Future of AI Hardware

(28:54) Challenges and Opportunities in AI Hardware Startups

(30:29) The Evolution of Consumer Hardware

(38:36) The Reinvention of Browsers

(46:23) The Potential of AI-Enhanced Browsers

(47:54) Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co

• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

In this episode, Lightspeed Partner Michael Mignano sits down with the Foundation for American Innovation’s Chief Economist Sam Hammond to talk AI policy. Sam breaks down the key infrastructure needed for AI developments and how policymakers are adapting to rapid technological change. He also shares insights on AI training data and fair use, workforce disruption, and how, when it comes to AI, everything can change in just a few months.

Episode Chapters: 

00:00 Introduction 

00:55 Meet Sam Hammond: Background and Role

03:06 The Big AI Policy Issues

05:09 Energy and Chip Policy

06:47 Fair Use and Copyright in AI

13:37 The Urgency of AI Regulation

17:03 Potential AI Crisis and Legislative Response

20:25 Challenges in AI Regulation

21:39 Acceleration vs. Regulation in AI Development

22:34 AI Safety and National Security

23:51 Fair Use and Copyright in AI Training Data

25:39 AI-Induced Labor Disruptions

33:36 State-Level AI Regulation 

36:02 Global Cooperation on AI Safety

37:29 Advice for AI Startups

38:34 Optimism for AI and Policy Advancements

41:07 Conclusion

Stay in touch:

• www.lsvp.com

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• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeedventurepartners/

• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co

• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

In this episode of Generative Now, Lightspeed partner Michael Mignano sits down with the former Stitch Fix COO and founder of The Yes, Julie Bornstein. They talk about Julie’s latest venture: Daydream, an AI-powered fashion discovery engine built for the LLM era. Julie shares how her decades at Nordstrom, Sephora, and Pinterest shaped her vision, why now is the moment for natural language search in shopping, and how AI will transform fashion.

Episode Chapters: 
00:00 Introduction to the Interview
01:06 Julie Bornstein's New Venture: Daydream
02:44 The Evolution of E-commerce and AI
03:28 From Nordstrom to Daydream
05:35 Technological Innovations in Fashion
12:02 The Yes: Launching During a Pandemic
15:15 Acquisition by Pinterest and Future Plans
17:49 The Vision for Daydream
22:57 Introduction to Style Passport
23:27 Iterative Shopping Experience
24:02 Bringing Brands Together
24:45 Technical Implementation of Models
25:24 Challenges with Large Models
26:12 Building Mini Models for Fashion
27:28 Competition from Large Model Providers
30:25 Video Shopping and Social Media Integration
31:43 The Role of Agents in Shopping
35:20 Future of Shopping Interfaces
37:13 Being a Serial Founder
41:48 Launch and Future Plans
43:09 Conclusion and Farewell

Stay in touch:

• www.lsvp.com

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• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeedventurepartners/

• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co

• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

This week, Lightspeed Partner Mike Mignano sits down with his colleague Bucky Moore, a fellow partner at Lightspeed to explore the rapidly shifting landscape of AI and infrastructure. They unpack the evolution from hardware to cloud to AI-native architectures, the growing momentum behind open-source models, and the rise of AI agents and reinforcement learning environments. Bucky also shares how his early days at Cisco shaped his bottom-up view of enterprise software, and why embracing the new is the key to spotting trillion-dollar opportunities.

Episode Chapters: 

(00:00) Introduction to the Conversation

(00:38) Bucky Moore's Background and Early Career

(01:39) Insights from Cisco: Old World Meets New World

(03:54) Transition to Venture Capital

(08:15) The Evolution of Infrastructure Investment

(15:50) Impact of AI on Infrastructure

(24:37) Training AI Agents: Challenges and Innovations

(25:07) The Future of Reinforcement Learning Environments

(25:51) Infrastructure for AI Agents

(26:49) Emerging Opportunities in AI Infrastructure

(28:58) The Impact of Salesforce's Data Policies

(33:00) The Evolution of AI Compute

(39:47) The Role of New AI Architectures

(42:47) The Future of Venture Capital in AI

(46:44) Predicting the Next Trillion-Dollar AI Companies

Stay in touch:

• www.lsvp.com

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• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeedventurepartners/

• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co

• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

This week, Lightspeed Partner Mike Mignano sits down with Moritz Baier-Lentz, Partner and Head of Gaming and Interactive Media at Lightspeed. From the world’s #1 ranked Diablo II player to Goldman Sachs banker to VC, Moritz has lived multiple lives—all shaped by a deep passion for games. In this episode, Moritz joins Michael Mignano to talk about the AI revolution in gaming: how generative tech is transforming studios, gameplay, and player experiences. They dive into what makes games work in 2025 and why the next billion-dollar games may not look like games at all. 

Episode Chapters: 

00:00 Introduction and Guest Overview

01:16 Moritz Bayer's Gaming Journey

02:53 The Economics of Gaming

06:28 Competitive Gaming and Personal Growth

09:32 Marathon Adventures and Life Philosophy

13:16 Venture Capital in Gaming

24:38 AI's Impact on Gaming

29:50 Future of Gaming and AI

39:40 Game Theory Podcast and Final Thoughts

Stay in touch:

• www.lsvp.com

• www.lsvp.com/gametheory 

• X: https://twitter.com/lightspeedvp

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeedventurepartners/

• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.com

• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

What is the future of AI in the workplace? What kinds of jobs would you trust an AI to do? In this episode of Generative Now, host and Lightspeed Partner Michael Mignano explores how AI is transforming the workforce, with insights from four sharp thinkers: Semil Shah, founding general partner at Haystack and Lightspeed Venture Partners, on the risks of replacing junior talent with agents, Suno Co-founder Mikey Schulman on AI’s power to unlock creativity, Anu Atluru, founder, physician and angel investor, on how AI is reshaping medicine, and Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Yahoo and current CEO of Sunshine, on what companies must do now to adapt—or risk being left behind.

Episode Chapters

00:00 Introduction: AI and the Future of Work
00:20 Exploring AI's Impact on the Workforce
01:14 The Co-Pilot Phase of AI
02:47 AI in Investment Banking and Consulting
06:00 Artificial Super Intelligence: The Next Frontier
09:33 Mikey Shulman on AI's Role in Creativity
11:59 Anu Atluru on AI Transforming Medicine
20:18 Marissa Mayer on AI's Organizational Impact
26:56 Conclusion: Embracing AI's Potential

Stay in touch:

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• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co

• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

This week, Lightspeed Partner Mike Mignano sits down with Gabriel Stengel, founder and CEO of Rogo, to explore how AI is transforming the world of finance. Gabe shares his journey from sleepless nights as a junior investment banker at Lazard to building Rogo, a cutting-edge AI platform that automates the grueling work of benchmarking, earnings analysis, and pitch deck creation in seconds. They discuss the origins of Rogo from Gabe’s time at Princeton, the challenges of building AI tools for elite financial institutions, and why the next generation of analysts might just be digital. Gabe also unpacks the technical edge that sets Rogo apart and the ways in which financial services may look very different in the near future. 

Episode Chapters: 

(00:00) Introduction to the Interview

(00:55) Gabe Stengel's Background and Rogo's Inception

(02:44) Early Challenges and Evolution of Rogo

(07:29) The Role of AI in Finance

(12:07) Investor and Customer Reception

(13:49) Pivotal Moments and Product Market Fit

(21:53) Balancing Enterprise Security and Feature Development

(23:45) Navigating the Challenges of AI Startup Speed

(25:45) Rogo's Impact on Investment Banking Workflows

(28:34) AI's Role in Professional Services and Legal Work

(32:33) Future of Rogo and Financial Services

(37:18) Challenges and Strategies in Enterprise Sales

(42:02) Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Stay in touch:

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• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeedventurepartners/

• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co

• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

This week, we are revisiting a conversation between Lightspeed partner Michael Mignano and Anthropic’s head of product, Mike Krieger. Mike is known for co-founding Instagram, one of the most beloved pieces of consumer technology, and now he has taken his talents to Anthropic. They discuss the challenges AI product builders face and the evolution of product innovation and draw parallels between two transformative eras: the social media revolution that gave birth to Instagram and today's AI renaissance.

Episode Chapters: 

(00:00) Introduction

(00:54) Mike Krieger's Journey to Anthropic

(03:17) Building Product Strategy at Anthropic

(07:43) Rapid Iteration and Safety

(10:58) Differentiating AI Models and User Experience

(17:57) Impact of AI on Consumer Products and Business Models

(24:39) Enterprise vs. Consumer Product Strategy

(29:19) AI in Personal Life Management

(30:15) Open Source and Claude Integrations

(33:09) AI-Assisted Product Development

(37:13) Scaling Teams and Processes at Anthropic

(42:17) Reflections on AI and Future Prospects

Stay in touch:

• www.lsvp.com

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• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co

• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.