Real Time

How does Peter Fenton decide who to back, and what keeps him committed through the difficult years? The Benchmark partner joins ClickHouse CEO Aaron Katz to talk about founders, the business of open source, whether we’re in an AI supercycle, and Benchmark’s relationship with Uber founder Travis Kalanick. Aaron also shares a few stories about what it’s actually like to have Peter in your corner, from the boardroom to a demanding day of backcountry skiing.

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:32 Nearly 30 years of backing founders

00:06:18 What did Peter see in ClickHouse

00:10:10 Turning open-source adoption into a business

00:14:27 Benchmark and Uber

00:21:51 Helicopters and an eight-hour ski trip

00:25:21 Silicon Valley ambition and a global engineering team

00:32:32 Why Benchmark is evolving its investment approach

00:40:58 AI’s long-term potential and the financial cycle

00:45:55 Curiosity, risk-taking, and making failure cheap

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