Motion Blur

It’s the end of the year, so Grant and Hammad decided to revisit some of the most popular 2024 tech predictions and evaluate how accurate they were. We open with Grant’s maritime prediction from his time at a16z, and then we shift to robotics, crypto, Apple’s Vision Pro, and geopolitics. Hammad then wraps the show by sharing his favorite idea from Satya’s recent podcast interview. This is a lively back and forth episode that culminates with some reflections on the first year of Motion Blur.

This will be our last episode for 2024. We’ll see you in 2025! Happy Holidays, everyone.

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🌀 About Motion Blur

Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is an investor at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts:

If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes.

Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠

Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

Grant and Hammad discuss how the act of creating a company is like surfing a monster 100 foot wave. Grant begins by sharing a surfing metaphor that explains what it’s like to build a company. Hammad steps in to share his pushback, and then the conversation transitions to some stories about John Doerr, Tesla, and Navy SEALs and sledgehammers. They conclude the show by discussing some of the deep currents they’re focusing on today.

🔗 Show Resource Links

🎙️ Podcast Links

🌀 About Motion Blur

Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is an investor at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts:

If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes.

Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠

Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

Larry’s tone was in the friendly advice-category. He teed it up this way: I had a choice. I could be an insider or I could be an outsider. Outsiders can say whatever they want. But people on the inside don’t listen to them. Insiders, however, get lots of access and a chance to push their ideas. People — powerful people — listen to what they have to say. But insiders also understand one unbreakable rule: They don’t criticize other insiders. — Elizabeth Warren, A Fighting Chance

Grant and Hammad discuss the concept of Insiders and Outsiders and how this applies to founders and investors alike. Grant pulls the curtain back on how these relate to hiring, fundraising, and more. Hammad talks about his first impression of Grant in the Susa Fellowship program and Grant shares his path into venture. Hammad closes us out with sage advice: Play the hand of cards you’re dealt (and enjoy it while you do!)

🔗 Show Resource Links

🎙️ Podcast Links

🌀 About Motion Blur

Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is an investor at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts:

If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes.

Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠

Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

In this special Thanksgiving-inspired episode, Grant and Hammad share a few thoughts on an app, book, and person that they each are grateful for.

We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and wonderful start to the Holiday season. Thanks for listening!

🎙️ Podcast Links

🌀 About Motion Blur

Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is an investor at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts:

If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes.

Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠

Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM, or so the saying goes.

Grant and Hammad talk about how that same sentiment has pervaded everything from Boeing to Venture, and what that means for today’s startup environment, as well as ways to address it. Hammad shares some perspectives on growth, and Grant wraps us up by talking about some founder stories from the last few eras of Venture.

We’re iterating on this as we go. Please let us know what you think.

🎙️ Podcast Links

🌀 About Motion Blur

Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is an investor at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts:

If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes.

Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠

Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

Episode 3: The iconic line.

Everyone’s heard it. We’ve joked about it. Today we’re talking about it. Grant and Hammad cover everything from how multistage firms support portcos to founder dinners. Grant tells us his gold standard for helping founders, and then closes us out with some comments on his time working with Hammad and Susa.

We’re iterating on this as we go. Please let us know what you think.

🎙️ Podcast Links

🌀 About Motion Blur

Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is an investor at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts:

If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes.

Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠

Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

Episode 2: Software strikes back!

In today’s episode, Hammad leads a discussion about the history of software and how it brought us to today's venture landscape. Hammad details how incrementalism has come to dominate investing decisions and why he eschews that in favor of embracing true outlier-type opportunities. Grant and Hammad closes us out with their excitement around what this next era of venture-backed companies can become.

We’re iterating on this as we go. Please let us know what you think.

🎙️ Podcast Links

🌀 About Motion Blur

Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is an investor at ⁠Cantos⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠Susa⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts:

If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes.

Intro music credit: ⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠

Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠Subscribe⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

You know the saying: Hardware is hard!

In today’s episode, Grant and Hammad discuss why that’s the case. They examine the software investing frameworks that also apply to hardware, and also explore new frameworks that offer some predictability in the built world. Hammad closes us out with some thoughts on his perspective on the Near Frontier / Dynamism categories, and gets us ready for an upcoming episode on his software world view.

We’re iterating on this as we go. Please let us know what you think.

🎙️ Podcast Links

🌀 About Motion Blur

Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is an investor at Cantos where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, Susa’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts:

If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Wednesday for new episodes.

Intro music credit: ⁠Will Harrison⁠

Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! Subscribe to get notified for future episodes.