Navin Chaddha has spent three decades at the forefront of innovation—first as a founder, and now as managing partner at Mayfield, one of Silicon Valley’s oldest venture firms. A 17-time member of Forbes’ Midas List, Navin has guided generations of entrepreneurs through waves of technological change, from the dot-com boom to the AI era. At Mayfield, he champions a philosophy rooted in the firm’s founding ethos: investing in people, not markets. That approach has shaped his perspective on what it takes to build enduring companies. In this conversation, Navin shares why $1 trillion in infrastructure spending is fueling a new hardware renaissance, how stealth startups are going from zero to billions in a year, and what it means for the future of innovation.

We explore:

• How “vibe coding” is democratizing technology creation through conversational, collaborative, and cognitive interfaces
• Why Navin believes the “vibe economy” will transform how we work, live, and play
• How Mayfield’s 56-year focus on “backing the jockey, not the racetrack” shapes its investment approach
• The massive opportunity in AI hardware infrastructure
• How stealth AI hardware startups are going from zero to billions in under a year
• How India’s tech ecosystem has evolved and where the real opportunities are today
• How cricket taught Navin crucial lessons about company building

—

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Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/the-trillion-dollar-ai-hardware-opportunity

—

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(04:52) Cricket and its parallels to venture capital

(08:13) Navin’s journey to Silicon Valley

(10:28) Growing up in an entrepreneurial family

(12:00) Early mentors and becoming an “accidental entrepreneur”

(13:46) Navin’s first company and unconventional fundraising approach

(17:35) How Navin moved from founder to venture capitalist

(20:11) What has worked in India’s tech market and what hasn’t yet taken off

(23:31) The future of outsourcing in the AI era

(27:14) How Navin landed at Mayfield

(30:36) How Mayfield’s people-first approach works in practice

(34:50) Why Navin sees AI and vibe coding as the next great wave of innovation

(38:13) Why Navin believes AI will push humans to level up their skills rather than lose them

(44:50) The hardware opportunities that excite Navin and where Mayfield is investing

(48:49) An overview of photonics and why it matters now

(50:06) How Mayfield balances market insight, big ideas, and the people behind them

(52:50) The surprising pace of growth in AI hardware

(54:54) The timeline from idea to product and scale in hardware startups

(56:26) Final meditations

—

Follow Navin Chaddha

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

X: https://x.com/navinchaddha

—

Resources and episode mentions: https://www.generalist.com/p/the-trillion-dollar-ai-hardware-opportunity

—

Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

From a child prodigy in a genetics lab to building a company that can pause life itself, Laura Deming has made a career out of chasing time. At just eight years old she became obsessed with aging. At eleven, she joined Cynthia Kenyon’s pioneering longevity lab. At seventeen, she launched The Longevity Fund—one of the first venture firms dedicated to extending human healthspan. Now, she’s tackling her boldest challenge yet: building a “pause button” for biology.

As the co-founder of Until, Laura is developing reversible cryopreservation: the ability to cool living tissue to ultra-low temperatures, hold it there, and then bring it back fully functional. By achieving vitrification (the process of turning tissue into glass instead of ice), Until aims to make organ preservation, and eventually medical hibernation, a reality.

We cover:

• Why longevity was once stigmatized, and what changed to make it one of the most credible fields in biotech today

• Why Until’s approach focuses on preserving the living, not the dead

• The physics and biological challenges of scaling reversible cryopreservation from embryos to human-sized organs

• How vitrification is making cryopreservation possible

• How this breakthrough could transform organ transplantation by eliminating time constraints (and eventually enable medical hibernation)

• The philosophical and social implications of being able to “pause” life and effectively time travel into the future

• How growing up homeschooled in New Zealand shaped Laura’s unconventional way of thinking

• The story of how legendary biologist Cynthia Kenyon invited 11-year-old Laura into her lab, sparking her lifelong obsession with aging

• How she learned to embrace her weirdness and trust it as her creative superpower

—

Thank you to the partners who make this possible

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Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/biological-time-travel-laura-deming

—

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(04:55) How Laura became interested in longevity at such a young age

(07:40) The impact of homeschooling on Laura’s thinking

(09:29) The invitation from Cynthia Kenyon that set Laura on her path at age 11

(10:39) Why pursuing longevity once meant working in the shadows

(14:20) Why Laura shifted into VC at The Longevity Fund

(17:24) How longevity transformed from fringe science to a legitimate field

(19:40) Why Laura was driven to start Until

(21:08) A simple explanation of reversible cryopreservation

(23:10) Science fiction’s explorations of cryo

(25:38) What sparked Laura’s interest in reversible cryo

(27:35) How cryonics and reversible cryo differ, and the mechanisms behind each

(29:00) Until’s roadmap, beginning with cryopreserved organs for transplantation

(34:00) The biggest challenges in developing preservable organs

(35:53) How cryopreservation works

(38:30) Until’s building philosophy

(42:34) How Laura learned to trust her weirdness

(49:10) Finding the right co-founder in Hunter Davis

(51:17) Future applications beyond medical necessity

(53:00) Unanswered questions in cryopreservation

(55:05) What’s missing in Hollywood’s portrayal of genius

(56:21) Laura’s unique process for exploring ideas

(59:58) Personal longevity practices

(01:01:30) The positive impact of Bryan Johnson’s work

(01:02:38) Final meditations

—

Follow Laura Deming

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-deming-b255362a/

X: https://x.com/laurademing

Website: https://www.ldeming.com/

—

Resources and episode mentions: https://www.generalist.com/p/biological-time-travel-laura-deming⁠

—

Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Martin Casado has lived through multiple tech waves—first as a founder, now as a16z’s leading voice on AI and infrastructure. He helped pioneer software-defined networking, then moved from academia to entrepreneurship, and today backs founders building at the frontier of technology as a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. In this conversation, Martin shares his unique perspective on the AI boom, his market-first investment philosophy, and why he believes we’re still in the early days of AI’s impact.

We explore:

• Martin’s path from game engines and simulations to investing at Andreessen Horowitz

• Why Martin believes we’re only in “1996” of the AI boom cycle with years to run before any bubble

• Why Martin approaches investing “from markets in” rather than “from companies out”

• Why the AI coding market represents a potential $3 trillion opportunity

• The transformation of Andreessen Horowitz from a small generalist partnership to a specialized 600-person organization

• The concerning dominance of Chinese companies in open source AI models

• Why Martin thinks AGI discussions encourage “lazy thinking” and obscure meaningful conversations

• How World Labs is solving the 3D representation problem that could unlock robotics, VR, and more

—

Thank you to the partners who make this possible

Auth0: Secure access for everyone. But not just anyone.

Brex: The banking solution for startups.

Persona: Trusted identity verification for any use case.

—

Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/this-feels-like-1996-martin-casado

—

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(04:50) Martin’s early career

(08:35) Martin’s shift from academia to founding his own company during an economic downturn

(11:25) The story behind Martin joining Andreessen Horowitz

(17:55) Ben Horowitz’s most impactful advice

(19:49) How Andreessen Horowitz has transformed since 2016

(22:20) Why product experience matters more than technical prowess for infrastructure investing

(26:26) Martin’s market-first investment philosophy

(28:39) Andreessen Horowitz’s framework for assessing founders and startups

(33:14) Why Martin thinks Hock Tan may be the best CEO today

(35:18) The controversy around non-consensus investing in early stages

(38:42) Why today’s AI boom reminds Martin of the mid-’90s tech environment

(44:38) How today’s AI boom differs from 2021’s tech bubble

(47:10) Why the promise of AI in organizations remains largely unrealized

(50:29) How Martin uses AI for coding and as a reading thought partner

(52:56) Why Martin doesn’t use AI for writing

(53:24) Martin’s interest in Eisenhower and historical parallels to today

(55:33) Two equally important paths for AI’s future

(58:33) Why Cursor stood out as the leader in AI coding tools

(01:01:14) The lack of inherent defensibility in AI and how to build moats

(01:03:30) World Labs’ mission to transform 2D images into 3D environments

(01:06:42) 3D’s emerging use cases and why the VR market may expand

(01:11:50) Why Martin isn’t an “AGI guy” and how the term erodes conversation quality

(01:14:59) How seeing AI as a continuum creates room for future products and investment

(01:16:28) The security and regulatory challenges of Chinese open-source AI models

(01:19:23) Final meditations

—

Follow Martin Casado

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

X: https://x.com/martin_casado

—

Resources and episode mentions

—Books—

• The Weirdest People in the World: https://www.amazon.com/WEIRDest-People-World-Psychologically-Particularly/dp/1250800072/

• The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World: https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Infinity-Explanations-Transform-World/dp/0143121359

...References continued at: https://www.generalist.com/p/this-feels-like-1996-martin-casado⁠

—

Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Cate Hall is the CEO of Astera, a private foundation focused on AI risk and frontier technology. Before leading Astera, Cate’s unconventional career path took her from practicing law (including work on Supreme Court briefs) to becoming the world’s top-ranked female poker player in 2016. After overcoming personal struggles with addiction, she co-founded Alvea, a biotech company developing shelf-stable vaccines for pandemic response, before joining Astera. In this conversation, Cate shares insights on human psychology, agency as a learnable skill, and why she believes AI’s biggest risk may be a “soft takeover” in which humans gradually lose independence and meaning.

We explore:

• How Cate’s approach to poker focused on reading people rather than pure game theory, and why this contrarian strategy worked

• Why people who always try to “play” high status in conversations often have psychological issues

• The critical difference between ambition and agency, and why they’re often confused

• How LSD helped Cate break out of her career path and discover her own agency

• Why Cate believes we need a slowdown in AI development to develop the social technologies to manage it

• The challenge of maintaining meaning in human life as AI systems increasingly mediate our experiences

• How Astera is using investment as a philanthropic tool to help steer frontier technology development

—

Thank you to the partners who make this possible

Auth0: Secure access for everyone. But not just anyone.

Brex: The banking solution for startups.

—

Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/how-to-be-agentic-in-the-age-of-ai-cate-hall

—

Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction to Cate Hall

(03:56) Cate’s role as CEO of Astera

(04:52) Cate’s poker career and focus on live reading

(07:02) The intuitive ‘people radar’ Cate has in identifying exceptional talent

(11:16) Status dynamics in conversations

(16:13) The parallel between poker and startup evolution

(19:18) The German wave in poker and game theory

(24:22) Cate’s legal career and Supreme Court experience

(27:05) The difference between ambition and agency

(29:13) How LSD helped Cate discover her agency

(31:26) Leaving poker and dealing with mental health issues

(34:26) The founding story of Alvea

(38:14) The founding story of Astera

(43:15) Cate’s journey into AI risk

(45:50) The concept of a “soft takeover” and how AI might hollow out human experience

(49:46) The overwhelming challenge of addressing AI risk

(51:20) Astera’s approach to steering technology development

(53:15) Astera’s investment in Last Energy

(54:20) How philanthropy and investing work together at Astera

(57:22) Practical ways to increase personal agency

(1:07:20) Final meditations

—

Follow Cate Hall

X: https://x.com/catehall

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cate-hall-9a81a35/

Newsletter: https://usefulfictions.substack.com/

—

Resources and episode mentions

—Books—

• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future: https://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804139296/

• Impro: https://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178

• Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies: https://www.amazon.com/Superintelligence-Dangers-Strategies-Nick-Bostrom/dp/0198739834/

• The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion: https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777/

—People—

• Jed McCaleb on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jed-mccaleb-4052a4/

• Charlie Carrel on X: https://x.com/charlie_carrel

• Seemay Chou on X: https://x.com/seemaychou

• Ben Kuhn on X: https://x.com/benkuhn

Episode resources continued at: https://www.generalist.com/p/how-to-be-agentic-in-the-age-of-ai-cate-hall

—

Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

David Krakauer is a leading complex systems researcher and the president of the Santa Fe Institute, a unique institution dedicated to studying complex systems across disciplines. In this episode, David challenges conventional wisdom about AI, arguing that large language models pose a more immediate threat to humanity than commonly discussed existential risks—not by destroying us directly, but by eroding our cognitive capabilities through addictive, low-quality information.

We explore:

• Why David believes LLMs aren't intelligent at all and how the AI community misunderstands emergence

• The three dimensions of intelligence: inference, representation, and strategy—and which one LLMs lack

• How AI acts as a "competitive" rather than "complementary" cognitive technology, atrophying our thinking abilities

• What makes great minds unique, from analogical reasoning to the cultivation of unconscious creativity

• How Cormac McCarthy's approach to knowledge and creativity offers lessons for the AI age

• Why David believes the greatest threat from AI isn't existential risk but cognitive atrophy

• How to protect your mind against AI's addictive pull and maintain cognitive autonomy

—

Thank you to the partners who make this possible

Brex: The banking solution for startups.

Enterpret: Transform feedback chaos into actionable customer intelligence

Persona: Trusted identity verification for any use case

—

Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/maintaining-human-intelligence-in-the-ai-era-david-krakauer

—

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(04:39) The Santa Fe Institute’s approach to complex systems

(06:45) Murray Gell-Mann’s ‘Odysseus vs. Apollonian’

(10:35) How SFI was shaped by the legacy of Los Alamos

(12:45) Traits David looks for in great minds

(14:43) Cormac McCarthy on naivety and how thoughtful people treat knowledge

(19:24) A simple explanation of complexity science

(22:50) Why vantage point doesn’t matter when studying systems

(24:36) Aesthetic preferences among complexity scientists

(26:07) Films and directors with complexity science themes

(29:57) Why David argues LLMs are not intelligent

(32:10) What’s missing in the study of LLMs

(36:40) The three qualities of intelligence and how LLMs measure up

(42:19) Lessons from "The Glass Bead Game"

(44:00) David’s perspective on reinforcement learning

(45:38) The greatest threat of LLMs: overreliance and the decline of thinking

(47:40) Competitive vs. complementary cognitive artifacts

(51:55) Why exposing yourself to quality ideas matters

(54:00) How to derisk LLM use

(58:32) Cormac McCarthy’s legacy at SFI and beyond

(1:02:40) The Kekulé Problem: cultivating the unconscious

(1:05:01) Why David and McCarthy were inspired by Wittgenstein

(1:09:00) What Cormac McCarthy liked to talk about

(1:12:20) David’s questions to a higher being

(1:14:46) Final meditations

—

Follow David Krakauer

Website: https://davidckrakauer.com/

—

Resources and episode mentions

—Books—

• “The Hedgehog and the Fox”: https://www.amazon.com/Hedgehog-Fox-Tolstoys-History-Second/dp/069115600X

• The Birds and The Frogs: https://www.amazon.com/Aristophanes-Frogs-Birds/dp/B000QBPUTY

• The Glass Bead Game: https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Bead-Game-Magister-Novel/dp/0312278497

• Frankenstein: https://www.amazon.com/Frankenstein-Mary-Shelley/dp/0486282112

• Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Meridian-Evening-Redness-West/dp/0679728759

• Stella Maris: https://www.amazon.com/Stella-Maris-Cormac-McCarthy/dp/0307269000

• The Passenger: https://www.amazon.com/Passenger-Cormac-McCarthy/dp/0307268993/

• Pale Fire: https://www.amazon.com/Pale-Fire-Vladimir-Nabokov/dp/0679723420

...Episode resources continued at: https://www.generalist.com/p/maintaining-human-intelligence-in-the-ai-era-david-krakauer

—

Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Salar al Khafaji is the CEO and founder of Monumental, a company building autonomous robots that assemble buildings, starting with its bricklaying system. After selling his previous software company to Palantir, Salar took time to explore big industries ripe for disruption before landing on construction—a sector that represents a significant portion of GDP yet has seen decades of productivity stagnation.

We explore:

• Why construction represents a massive opportunity for technological innovation

• How Monumental's system of three robots works together to lay bricks autonomously

• Why Europe's severe bricklayer shortage has created wages as high as €80/hour

• The post-WWII shift away from beautiful architecture and how to bring it back

• Why operating as a subcontractor rather than selling robots makes business sense

• The challenges of building a hardware startup in Europe's tech ecosystem

• How Palantir's "cult-like" culture influenced Monumental's approach to company building

• The balance between structure and productive chaos in scaling a startup

• Why the best robotics companies solve specific problems rather than building general-purpose machines

• How to foster ambition in Europe's startup ecosystem

—

Thank you to the partners who make this possible

Enterpret: Transform feedback chaos into actionable customer intelligence.

Brex: The banking solution for startups.

Persona: Trusted identity verification for any use case.

—

Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/building-beautiful-homes-with-robots-salar-al-khafaji

—

Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction to Salar

(04:44) Overview of Monumental’s work and mission

(06:25) Salar’s journey after selling his company to Palantir

(11:46) Stagnation in the construction industry

(14:21) The mental shift from software to hardware entrepreneurship

(16:10) Salar’s funding framework

(18:21) The post-WWII decline in constructing beautiful buildings

(20:23) Choosing bricklaying as the first construction trade to tackle

(25:20) Why Monumental operates as a subcontractor

(28:38) The limitations of 3D printing and prefab construction

(33:15) The technology and pricing bets Salar made

(33:45) Lessons from Palantir's culture

(39:35) Monumental's company culture

(42:31) An overview of a construction job from start to finish

(45:50) Precision and tolerances

(47:50) Surprising challenges in the construction industry

(49:10) The current state of Monumental and what’s next

(54:00) Why humanoid robots don’t make sense for Monumental

(56:16) Building an ambitious company in Europe

(01:00:56) Monumental’s approach to hiring

(01:03:10) The state of European tech and what needs to change

(01:06:00) Salar’s optimistic take on the current state of tech in Europe

(01:10:46) Final meditations

—

Follow Salar al Khafaji

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

X: https://x.com/salar

Website: https://sal.ar/

—

Resources and episode mentions

—Books—

• Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre: https://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178

• Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX: https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973

• Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed: https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-like-State-Certain-Condition/dp/0300078153

• The Little Big Number: How GDP Came to Rule the World and What to Do about It: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Big-Number-World-about/dp/0691166528

—

Episode resources continued at: https://www.generalist.com/p/building-beautiful-homes-with-robots-salar-al-khafaji

—

Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Sara Walker is a theoretical physicist who studies the origins of life and the author of Life as No One Knows It. As AI prompts us to rethink what consciousness, intelligence, and life really mean, Sara’s work offers a provocative framework for understanding these questions. In this conversation, Sara shares how she developed assembly theory—a revolutionary approach suggesting that complex objects like DNA molecules (and even microphones) are evidence of life’s processes.

We explore:

• Why Sara believes we need entirely new laws of physics to understand life

• How assembly theory quantifies the transition from non-life to life with a measurable threshold

• Why complex objects like DNA and microphones are evidence of evolutionary processes

• How our perception of objects as “physical” or “abstract” depends on their temporal scale

• Why traditional definitions of life fail as scientific frameworks

• How assembly theory could revolutionize our search for extraterrestrial life

• The surprising connection between urban atmospheres and biosignatures

• Why Sara sees fundamental differences between computation and physical construction

• How assembly theory views AI systems and large language models

• The creative parallels between theoretical physics and conceptual art

—

Thank you to the partners who make this possible

Tezi: The AI agent for recruiting high-quality candidates quickly

Brex: The banking solution for startups

—

Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/what-makes-something-alive-sara-walker

—

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(03:32) Sara’s background and approach to studying the origins of life

(08:21) Sara’s journey to theoretical physics

(11:40) How the “origin of life” field has evolved since she began her research

(17:35) Introduction to assembly theory and its core principles

(23:11) How assembly theory differs from traditional definitions of life

(25:53) The historical parallels between assembly theory and Newtonian physics

(31:45) Life vs. alive

(34:33) How dabbling across disciplines led to Sara’s focus and partnership with Lee Cronin

(40:43) The connection between theoretical physics and art

(42:32) The probabilistic nature of assembly theory’s threshold

(45:05) The time–size continuum

(48:06) New threads that have emerged after Life as No One Knows It

(50:27) Why assembly theory may be our best tool for finding life beyond Earth

(54:04) The second feature of assembly theory: the copy number

(55:39) The challenges of detecting life on exoplanets versus in our solar system

(01:00:50) How recent AI developments have impacted Sara’s thinking about life

(1:05:48) Whether large language models qualify as “life”

(1:13:05) Final meditations

—

Follow Sara Walker

X: https://x.com/sara_imari

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

—

Resources and episode mentions: https://www.generalist.com/p/what-makes-something-alive-sara-walker

—

Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Eli Dourado is Head of Strategic Investments at Astera Institute, a foundation funding transformative science and technology across energy, aerospace, AI, and other frontier sectors. Before joining Astera, he worked as a "regulatory hacker" at Boom Supersonic, where he helped navigate complex aviation regulations to make supersonic flight viable again.

In our conversation, we explore:

• How Eli's refusal to be pigeonholed led to a career reviving forgotten technologies

• How lifting the 1973 ban on supersonic flight could reshape aviation, after decades of stagnation and regression

• Why airships need to be massive to be economical, and how they could transform global logistics

• The untapped potential of geothermal energy and why drilling economics are the key bottleneck

• Why titanium could be the next material to undergo a manufacturing revolution

• How reading regulatory fine print can unlock trillion-dollar industries

• Why AI might not automatically solve our productivity problems

• The relationship between technological stagnation and potential civilizational collapse

• The fascinating possibility of harvesting antimatter in space

—

Thank you to our sponsor: Brex—The banking solution for startups: https://www.brex.com/mario

—

Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/reviving-forgotten-technologies-eli-dourado

—

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro and Eli's background

(04:11) Eli’s work at Astera Institute

(07:53) The frontier sectors Astera is betting on

(08:57) Eli’s path from academia to tech investing

(13:06) How Eli became involved with supersonic flight

(15:42) Why the airline industry entered “the great regression”

(18:38) The origins of the overland supersonic flight ban

(20:37) Working as a "regulatory hacker" at Boom Supersonic

(27:30) The current state of supersonic flight technology

(30:40) Eli’s cargo airship research

(37:20) What sparked Eli’s interest in airships

(40:23) Why airships fell out of favor as a way to travel

(42:53) How Jim Coutre found a path to profitable airships

(47:00) The pros, cons, and profit potential of airship travel

(50:08) A case for geothermal energy

(55:37) Understanding the “idiot index” and scaling titanium production

(58:36) Thoughts on AI and avoiding complacency

(01:02:00) The risks fueling a potential societal collapse

(01:06:10) Final meditations

—

Follow Eli Dourado

Newsletter: https://www.elidourado.com/

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

X: https://x.com/elidourado

—

Resources and episode mentions: https://www.generalist.com/p/reviving-forgotten-technologies-eli-dourado⁠

—

Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Hemant Taneja is the CEO and Managing Partner of General Catalyst, a venture capital firm that has evolved into what he describes as a "strategic conglomerate with venture capital at its core." Under his leadership, GC has expanded beyond traditional investing to become an organization focused on transforming entire industries from healthcare to call centers to insurance.

In this conversation, Hemant unpacks General Catalyst's unusual structure and ambitious mission. He shares why his firm acquired the hospital system Summa Health in Ohio, why AI roll-ups will create some of the most valuable IPOs in the coming decade, and how servant leadership principles have reshaped his approach to building organizations.

We explore:

• How General Catalyst evolved from a traditional VC firm into a multi-business "strategic conglomerate"

• Why Hemant believes the next decade requires completely rethinking what excellence means in company building

• How GC's healthcare transformation company (HATCo) is working to reinvent the American healthcare system

• Why GC made the unprecedented move to acquire Summa Health, a hospital system in Ohio

• How servant leadership principles learned from Ken Chenault transformed Hemant's approach to building organizations

• Why AI is accelerating transformation across industries faster than anyone predicted

• How General Catalyst built its global seed practice through unusual acquisitions of La Famiglia, Venture Highway, and Wayfinder

• Why Hemant believes AI roll-ups of labor arbitrage businesses will become some of the most valuable IPOs in the next decade

• The changing profile of successful founders in an era of rapid technological change

• How General Catalyst thinks about balancing profit and purpose across its portfolio

—

Thank you to our sponsor: Brex—The banking solution for startups.

—

Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/inside-general-catalyst-hemant-taneja

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Timestamps

00:00) Intro

(02:16) General Catalyst’s ambition to help shape the future

(04:23) How General Catalyst challenges founders to think bigger

(06:05) GC's structure as a strategic conglomerate

(10:44) Balancing profit and purpose in venture investing

(12:19) The unusual role of CEO in a venture firm

(15:11) How Hemant approaches decision-making in operations vs. investing

(16:43) Lessons from Ken Chenault and the case for servant leadership at GC

(20:55) What Hemant has learned from Amazon, McKinsey, and Nvidia’s cultures

(23:37) The Berkshire Hathaway model—and how GC’s strategy differs

(25:19) Why Hemant felt GC needed a fundamental rethink

(28:33) What has changed since Hemant wrote his book on AI in 2018

(31:07) Why great founders have shifted from hackers to iterative builders

(32:55) The origin of HATCo and GC’s push into healthcare transformation

(39:32) Why HATCo acquired Summa Health

(43:48) What HATCo is planning next

(46:30) Hemant’s thoughts on policy and responsible AI self-governance

(48:49) Europe’s AI lag, the cloud wave it missed, and the case for sovereign infrastructure

(52:38) Why companies move to the US

(54:22) How to transform traditional industries with AI

(56:37) Rollout vs. buyout, and why starting small makes more sense now

(58:56) How rapid model progress unlocks new opportunities to reinvent businesses

(1:01:10) What companies need to be good partners in the creation portfolio incubator

(1:05:13) Why General Catalyst made rare acquisitions based on deep conviction in people

(1:11:34) Final meditations

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Follow Hemant Taneja

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

X: https://x.com/htaneja

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Resources and episode mentions: https://www.generalist.com/p/inside-general-catalyst-hemant-taneja

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Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Jesse Walden is the founder and managing partner of Variant Fund, an early-stage crypto fund backing projects like Uniswap, Phantom, World, Morpho, Flashbots, Farcaster, Blockaid, Blackbird, and many more. Before launching Variant in 2020, he was an investor at a16z crypto, where he supported early-stage builders shaping the future of Web3.

In this episode, Jesse offers a wide-ranging view of where crypto stands today, and where it’s headed. He unpacks the rise of stablecoins, the role of meme coins in capturing attention, and why NFTs are evolving rather than disappearing. We explore the challenges of interoperability between blockchains, the shift from invention to productization, and the intersection of crypto and AI, two technologies that may supercharge one another’s progress.

In our conversation, we explore:

• The fundamental difference between AI (technology of abundance) and crypto (technology of scarcity), and why the two technologies are complementary

• How the GENIUS Act is transforming the regulatory landscape for stablecoins and creating unprecedented bipartisan support

• How DAOs 2.0 will return to their original vision: automation at the center with humans at the edges

• How meme coins generate hype and the value of attention

• Why user experience still holds Web3 back and what needs to change

• What still needs to be solved to scale crypto, including true cross-chain interoperability

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Thank you to our sponsor: Brex—The banking solution for startups.

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Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/the-future-of-crypto-jesse-walden

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Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(02:19) An overview of Variant’s work

(03:03) Jesse’s vision of a tokenized future and why it makes sense

(06:19) The state of crypto since 2022

(10:46) The GENIUS Act: what it is and how it could reshape stablecoins

(14:28) How stablecoins are both a payment tool and a communication layer

(17:07) Why stablecoins are not yet convenient in the US

(19:06) Variant’s investment in stablecoins and blockchains

(21:33) The policy and regulation crypto still needs to mature

(24:15) Speculation vs. stablecoins

(27:06) Meme coins and the attention economy

(31:53) The shift from invention to productization

(33:47) How the user experience is evolving in crypto, and what’s still needed

(38:15) Phantom and other companies Jesse is bullish on

(42:20) The short-term dip and long-term rise in developer talent

(47:48) Jesse’s heuristic for determining a founder’s passion in the crypto space

(50:37) Where AI and crypto collide (and what they can do for each other)

(56:48) Why there’s still opportunity for NFTs

(01:01:57) An explanation of DAOs and DAO 2.0’s opportunity for humans

(01:07:04) Final meditations

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Follow Jesse Walden

X: https://x.com/jessewldn

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

Website: https://jessewalden.com/

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Resources and episode mentions

—Books—

• Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events: https://www.amazon.com/Narrative-Economics-Stories-Economic-Events/dp/0691182299

• The White Paper: https://www.amazon.com/The-White-Paper/dp/1999675924

—People—

• Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama

• Vitalik Buterin on X: https://x.com/vitalikbuterin

—Other resources—

• Bitcoin: https://bitcoin.org

• Stablecoin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stablecoin

• Beyond Speculation and Stablecoins: Crypto's Next Phase?: https://jessewalden.com/beyond-speculation-and-stablecoins-cryptos-next-phase/

• What is DeFi?: https://www.coinbase.com/learn/crypto-basics/plp-what-is-defi

• Morpho: https://morpho.org/

• Pump.fun: https://pump.fun/

• Zora: https://zora.co/

• Docker: https://www.docker.com/

• Privy: https://www.privy.io/

• Stripe: https://stripe.com/

• Kraken: https://www.kraken.com/

• Phantom: https://phantom.com/

...References continued at: https://www.generalist.com/p/the-future-of-crypto-jesse-walden

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Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].