Running Through Walls

Ethan Batraski speaks with Astronomer CEO Pete DeJoy several months into taking the helm at the company he cofounded over 8 years ago. They discuss the company's journey from their earliest days stewarding the Apache Airflow open-source project to how they're driving the renaissance of the data engineer in the age of AI today, and the team's remarkable authenticity and resilience when the Coldplay kiss cam put the company on the the national stage.

Farzad Mostashari, CEO and founder of Aledade, and Sunny Kishore, Associate Professor at UCSF, join Bob Kocher for a conversation about why U.S. blood pressure control has stalled for two decades despite having the tools to do far better. Sunny and Bob recently co-authored a piece in the New England Journal of Medicine about this paradox, and Farzad launched the Million Hearts campaign to prevent heart attacks so they are uniquely positioned to break down the problem and identify solutions. The episode offers practical guidance for clinicians and patients alike: combine focused lifestyle changes with timely treatment intensification, make blood pressure visible and urgent, and treat prevention as both lifesaving and economically smart care.

Bryan Mistele, co-founder and CEO of INRIX, joins Venrock's Brian Ascher to deep dive on the company's use of their Innovation Week to maintain startup-style innovation two decades into their journey. Their conversation serves as a master class for how to foster new ideas from within, from geographic and departmental diversity, to encouraging junior team members to lead, to how they've accelerated implementation with AI. And it's not just morale boosting, they've seen over 70% of projects turn into active deployments and operational improvements for INRIX.

One of the critical questions in our first annual Beyond the Battlefield survey was how we more effectively get technology from the private sector to the battlefield. Who better to discuss that than the man responsible for making those decisions for the US Department of Navy, Chief Technology Officer Justin Fanelli. He joins Morgan Hitzig for a deep dive on the results and what they mean for the future of our warfighters.

Ezekiel Emanuel joins Venrock's Bob Kocher to talk about his newest book, Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life and dive deeper on what surprised him and how his own life changed through his research. From the magnitude of the impact of social relationships to how to build new neural pathways and expand your mind to fiber becoming the new protein supplement, their conversation is a fun ride through his New York Times bestseller.

Morgan Hitzig speaks with two of Forterra's leaders, Josh Araujo, CEO, and Scott Sanders, CGO about how they refounded Forterra in flight and their approach to implementing autonomy at scale. Their conversation serves as a roadmap for building in defense tech, from finding investors who understand the market to the right approach to dual-use and shoring up supply chains– and when to light things on fire and start over.

Dominik Schumacher, CEO and co-founder of Tubulis GmbH, joins Venrock's Nimish Shah to dive deeper on the company's ADC technology which specifically targets cancer cells thereby reducing side effects on the rest of the body, dramatically improving outcomes and quality of life for patients. They cover how their chemistry sets them apart from similar ADC treatments, what other diseases their breakthrough can target, and how staying data-driven helped him seamlessly move from the lab to leadership.

Siobhan Nolan Mangini, Bob Kocher and Bryan Roberts delve deeper into their 2026 predictions for healthcare in this special episode of Running Through Walls. They discuss what they've already gotten right on AI, what they see ahead for inflation and TrumpRx, and more. To read all 10 of their annual predictions, plus 2 bonus predictions, check out their article in Fortune Magazine.

Hunter Smith, Rhythm Pharmaceutical's Chief Financial Officer, joins Venrock's Nimish Shah for a conversation about how he manages the financial intricacies of a public company to enable them to change the lives of patients with rare neuroendocrine diseases. They go deep on how Hunter and the rest of the leadership team's journey took the stock from single-digits to over $100 today, how they motivated their team along the way, and the unique considerations for healthcare companies ahead of and after an IPO.

Matt Holt, Managing Director & President, Private Equity at New Mountain Capital speaks with Venrock's Bryan Roberts and Siobhan Nolan about how the healthcare industry should come together to build a system that optimizes for patient outcomes through the rebuilding of trust on all sides. While there's significant work to do, they're optimistic about how AI can help us get past regulatory complexity and upside down incentive structures faster.