Infinite Curiosity Pod with Prateek Joshi

Amit Jain is the cofounder and CEO of Luma AI, an AI platform to create realistic looking videos. They're backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Amazon, and AMD. He was previously at Apple where he worked on VisionPro.

Amit's favorite book: Skunk Works (Authors: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos)

(00:01) Introduction
(00:26) How Can AI Models Generate Realistic Videos
(02:38) The Current Landscape of Video Generation
(06:16) Teaching AI Models the Laws of Physics
(09:47) Founding Luma: Deciding on the First Product Version
(12:56) Validating Market Need & User Feedback
(16:42) Key Learnings from Ray 1 Before Launching Ray 2
(21:24) Growth Hacks That Moved the Needle
(24:27) From Zero Users to Today: The Growth Journey
(27:53) Building a Community Around Luma
(30:57) Luma’s Technology Stack & AI Infrastructure
(36:42) Biggest Technical Challenges in Building Luma
(39:24) The Future of Video Generation & AI's Role
(41:54) Rapid Fire Round

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Where to find Amit Jain:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gravicle/

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Where to find Prateek Joshi:

Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com 
Website: https://prateekj.com 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 
X: https://x.com/prateekvjoshi 

Zach Lloyd is the cofounder and CEO of Warp, the intelligent terminal powered by AI. They recently raised their $50M Series B led by Sequoia Capital. He was previously the cofounder of SelfMade and the interim CTO of TIME.

Zach's favorite book: The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Author: Leo Tolstoy)

(00:01) Introduction
(00:07) Basics of the Terminal: What It Does and Why Developers Use It
(01:48) Foundation of Warp: Addressing Terminal Shortcomings
(05:00) Initial Feature Set: Building Warp’s Early Product
(07:19) Product Iteration and Retaining Early Users
(10:15) AI Integration in Warp: Initial Use Cases and Evolution
(14:00) Technical Challenges: Building Warp in Rust
(16:25) Feature Prioritization: Balancing Feedback and Vision
(18:26) Warp's Tech Stack: Languages, Frameworks, and Tools
(22:22) Cross-Platform Development Challenges
(23:07) Importance of Design: Competitive Advantage in Dev Tools
(26:10) Hiring for Design in Early-Stage Startups
(30:22) Warp’s Vision for the Next Five Years
(32:15) Lessons from Scaling Warp: Advice to Younger Self
(34:02) Rapid Fire Round

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Where to find Zach Lloyd:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachlloyd/

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Where to find Prateek Joshi:

Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com 
Website: https://prateekj.com 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

Amias Gerety is a partner at QED Investors, a fintech-focused VC firm with $3.8 Billion under management. He was previously the Assistant Secretary at the US Department of Treasury. And he graduated from Harvard.

Amias's favorite finance book:
Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market (Author: Walter Bagehot)

(00:01) Introduction
(00:46) Why Do Robots Need Insurance?
(03:04) Challenges for Insurance Companies with Robot Liability
(07:34) Risks of Autonomous Robots in Industrial vs. Domestic Settings
(12:22) Cybersecurity and Hacking Risks in Robotics
(15:41) Importance and Challenge of Historical Data in Robotics Insurance
(18:52) Leveraging Telemetry Data for Risk Modeling
(22:09) Creating a Functional Insurance Market for Robotics
(26:42) Should Robots Be Independent Legal Entities?
(28:34) Should Robots Buy Their Own Insurance?
(32:30) Partnerships Between Insurers and Robotics Companies
(37:11) Regulatory Framework for Robotics Insurance
(38:57) Advice for Founders in Robotics Insurance
(40:07) Rapid Fire Round

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Where to find Amias Gerety:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amias-gerety/

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Where to find Prateek Joshi:

Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com 
Website: https://prateekj.com 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

Jordan Tigani is the cofounder and CEO of MotherDuck, a data warehouse platform based on open source database DuckDB. They've raised $100M in funding from amazing investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis, Madrona, and Altimeter. He was previously the CPO at SingleStore and spent 11 years at Google before that. He has a degree in electrical engineering from Harvard. 

Jordan's favorite book: The Master and Margarita (Author: Mikhail Bulgakov)

(00:01) Introduction
(00:08) Founding of MotherDuck
(01:12) The Philosophy of Shipping Products at MotherDuck
(05:02) Founding Story and Identifying the Market Opportunity
(10:57) Building the First Version and Overcoming Early Challenges
(12:23) Validating Customer Needs and Asking the Right Questions
(18:24) Deciding What Features to Prioritize and Exclude
(21:30) Positioning a New Product in a Mature Market
(27:36) Overcoming Challenges in Scaling MotherDuck
(32:29) Measuring Success of New Features in Enterprise Products
(36:20) Structuring the Organization for Effective Execution
(41:09) Preparing MotherDuck for the AI Native Era
(43:28) Rapid Fire Round

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Where to find Jordan Tigani:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordantigani/

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Where to find Prateek Joshi:

Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com 
Website: https://prateekj.com 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

Amias Gerety is a partner at QED Investors, a fintech-focused VC firm with $3.8 Billion under management. He was previously the Assistant Secretary at the US Department of Treasury. And he graduated from Harvard.

Amias's favorite book: The Origin of Species (Author: Charles Darwin)

(00:01) Introduction and Setting the Stage
(00:29) The Status Quo: AI Agents and Online Purchases
(02:20) The Current Payment Infrastructure Explained
(04:42) Automation Today: Auto-Complete and Recurring Payments
(06:09) Why AI Agents Need Dedicated Financial Infrastructure
(08:29) Historical Examples: Auctions, Bots, and Payment Systems
(09:32) Identifying and Verifying AI Agents in Commerce
(11:59) Risks of Agentic Commerce: Lessons from Knight Capital
(14:47) Stripe’s Role in Agent Payments: SDKs and Gaps
(19:46) Opportunities for Startups in Agentic Frameworks
(22:49) Challenges: Disputes, Chargebacks, and Reversals
(26:32) Regulation and Governance in Agentic Payments
(28:24) Building Merchant Trust in AI Transactions
(30:11) Needs of AI Developers: Reliability in Transactions
(33:04) The Future of Agentic Commerce and Microtransactions
(35:42) Building Consumer Trust in Agentic Systems
(38:45) Broader AI Applications in Finance
(40:13) Rapid Fire

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Where to find Amias Gerety:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amias-gerety/

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Where to find Prateek Joshi:

Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com 
Website: https://prateekj.com 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

Cody Coleman is the cofounder and CEO of Coactive AI, a multimodal AI platform to accelerate metadata generation. They recently raised their $30M Series B co-led by Cherryrock Capital and Emerson Collective along with participation from Greycroft, Andreessen Horowitz, and Bessemer Venture Partners. He has a masters degree from MIT and a PhD from Stanford.

Cody's favorite books:
- The Inner Game of Tennis (Author: W. Timonthy Gallwey)
- Gettine More (Author: Stuart Diamond)

(00:01) Introduction: Setting the Stage for Metadata
(00:21) What is Metadata? Structure in Unstructured Data
(01:37) Metadata in Real-World Visual Data Analysis
(03:01) Automating Metadata Generation: Challenges and Approaches
(06:57) Introduction to Multimodal AI: What and Why
(11:25) Managing Trade-Offs in Multimodal AI Systems
(13:31) Labeling Challenges in Multimodal Datasets
(16:23) Characteristics of an Ideal Metadata Language
(18:22) Linking Metadata Quality to Model Effectiveness
(20:56) Measuring Efficiency of Metadata Extraction Engines
(22:55) Role of Synthetic Data in Metadata and AI
(25:30) Evolution of Data Labeling and Future of Metadata
(27:27) Exciting Technological Advancements in AI
(29:29) Rapid Fire Round

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Where to find Prateek Joshi:

Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com 
Website: https://prateekj.com 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

Gilwoo Lee is the founder and CEO of Zordi, a company that builds and operates autonomous greenhouses with mobile robots and AI. They raised $20M in their most recent funding round led by Khosla Ventures. She has degrees from MIT, CMU, and University of Washington.

Gilwoo's favorite book: Masayoshi Son's 300-Year Plan (Author: Takashi Sugimoto)

(00:01) Introduction
(00:08) What is a Greenhouse?
(01:08) Greenhouse Usage in Different Regions
(02:45) Advantages and Challenges of Greenhouses
(06:15) Crops Suitable for Greenhouses
(08:23) Introduction to Autonomous Greenhouses
(10:40) Technology Stack of Autonomous Greenhouses
(12:17) Factors Affecting Crop Growth and Automation
(14:00) Data Requirements for AI Models in Greenhouses
(15:14) Upgrading Traditional Greenhouses to Autonomous
(17:26) Tasks Managed by Robots in Greenhouses
(18:45) Engineering Challenges in Robotics for Greenhouses
(20:16) Future of Robotics in Greenhouses
(21:39) Robotics Supply Chain and Standardization
(23:23) Verticalized vs. General-Purpose Robots
(27:16) Robotics Foundation Models
(29:52) Economics of Autonomous Greenhouses
(33:16) Future of Autonomous Farming
(34:01) Rapid Fire Round

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Where to find Prateek Joshi:
 
Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com 
Website: https://prateekj.com 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

Vivas Kumar is the cofounder and CEO of Mitra Chem, the first lithium-ion battery materials product company focused on shortening the lab-to-production timeline by over 90%. They recently raised more than $80M in funding from Social Capital, General Motors, Alpha Wave Ventures, and others.

Vivas's favorite book: Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela (Author: Nelson Mandela)

(00:01) Introduction
(02:25) How Lithium-Ion Batteries Work
(04:56) Evolution of Battery Materials
(06:46) Development of Lithium-Ion Battery Technology
(08:10) Optimizing Battery Properties: Cost, Energy Density, and Cycle Life
(10:52) Supply Chain of Battery Materials
(13:16) From Lab to Production: Key Bottlenecks
(15:26) Using AI to Accelerate Synthesis Design
(18:18) Battery Cell Qualification: Process and Importance
(20:13) Managing Risk in AI-Driven Battery Experiments
(21:20) Data Generation for AI-Driven Battery Development
(22:52) Challenges in Manufacturing Large-Scale Batteries
(25:02) Current Limitations in Battery Materials Development
(26:39) Next-Generation Battery Materials in the Pipeline
(27:50) Advancements in Battery Technology Beyond Materials
(29:52) Advice for New Founders in the Battery Industry
(31:42) Rapid Fire Round

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Where to find Prateek Joshi:

Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com 
Website: https://prateekj.com 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

Alan Cowen is the cofounder and CEO of Hume, a company building voice-to-voice foundation models. They recently raised their $50M Series B from Union Square Ventures, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, and others.

Alan's favorite book: 1984 (Author: George Orwell)

(00:01) Introduction
(00:06) Defining Voice-to-Voice Foundation Models
(01:26) Historical Context: Handling Voice and Speech Understanding
(03:54) Emotion Detection in Voice AI Models
(04:33) Training Models to Recognize Human Emotion in Speech
(07:19) Cultural Variations in Emotional Expressions
(09:00) Semantic Space Theory in Emotion Recognition
(12:11) Limitations of Basic Emotion Categories
(15:50) Recognizing Blended Emotional States
(20:15) Objectivity in Emotion Science
(24:37) Practical Aspects of Deploying Voice AI Systems
(28:17) Real-Time System Constraints and Latency
(31:30) Advancements in Voice AI Models
(32:54) Rapid-Fire Round

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Where to find Prateek Joshi:

Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com 
Website: https://prateekj.com 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

Hassaan Raza is the cofounder and CEO of Tavus, a video API platform for digital twins. They've raised more than $28M in funding from investors such as Sequoia and Scale VP.

Hassaan's favorite book: Go Like Hell (Author: A. J. Baime)

(00:01) Introduction
(00:38) Overview of AI in video generation
(01:44) AI models used in video generation
(03:35) Capturing intricate facial movements in real-time
(06:46) Data capture and 3D modeling from basic video input
(09:01) Explanation of neural radiance fields and Gaussian splatting
(10:14) Capturing facial expressions for video generation
(15:22) Temporal coherence in video generation
(18:05) Challenges in conversational video, including lip-syncing and emotion alignment
(20:38) Inference challenges in conversational video
(22:47) Bottlenecks in the pipeline: LLMs and time-to-first-token
(26:58) Multimodal models and trade-offs
(27:36) Advice for founders running API businesses
(30:04) Pitfalls to avoid in API businesses
(32:15) Technological breakthroughs in AI
(34:10) Rapid-fire round

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Where to find Prateek Joshi:

Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com 
Website: https://prateekj.com 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi