Vlad Tenev is the co-founder and CEO of Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD), which transformed financial services by introducing commission-free stock trading and democratizing access to the markets for millions of investors. As of Q3 2025, the company is doing $1.27 billion in revenue with 11 business lines each doing roughly $100 million.

We discuss the evolution of online brokerage platforms from Schwab to E-Trade to now Robinhood. Vlad delves into the launch of Robinhood, the impact of the global financial crisis, and how mobile and high-frequency trading have transformed finance. The conversation explores the rise and success of prediction markets, the importance of engaging younger generations, and how AI is enhancing the future of trading.

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(00:27) History of online brokers

(4:15) The rise of Robinhood

(9:15) Changing sentiment among generations

(14:18) Incentive alignment with customers

(18:47) The emergence of prediction markets

(25:50) Economic value vs entertainment

(28:26) Growing degree of risk taking

(35:21) Tokenization and private markets

(39:33) The impact of AI on Robinhood

(43:35) What excites Vlad about AI

(46:59) Reflections on being a founder

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More on Vlad:

https://robinhood.com/us/en/

https://x.com/vladtenev

More on Jack:

https://www.altcap.com/

https://x.com/jaltma

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https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod

Email: [email protected]

Kyle Vogt is a serial entrepreneur and engineer often recognized as the co-founder and former CEO of Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company acquired by General Motors for $1 billion. Before Cruise, he co-founded Twitch, which transformed how people watch and share gaming online. Kyle is now building a new company at the frontier of intelligent home automation, aiming to bring advanced robotics into everyday life.

A few highlights:

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Introduction

(0:34) Why robotics is suddenly booming

(1:48) AI unlocking the next wave

(3:31) Special-purpose vs generalized

(5:32) Designing robots people actually use

(9:00) Building for scale, impact, and affordability

(12:17) The myth of the humanoid robot

(15:04) Trust, safety, and privacy in your home

(17:51) The data powering robotics intelligence

(21:01) Why Kyle keeps starting hard companies

(22:32) The 100-person rule and elite teams

(26:10) How to move fast and actually ship

(27:28) What home robotics will do first

(35:05) Home security applications

(37:07) Robots should elevate our standard of living

(38:41) Lessons from Tesla vs Waymo

(41:08) Thoughts on when to sell the company

(42:41) Running marathons on every continent

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More on Kyle:

https://www.bot.co/

https://x.com/kvogt

More on Jack:

https://www.altcap.com/

https://x.com/jaltma

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https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod

Email: [email protected]

Dylan Field is the co-founder and CEO of Figma, a design software company that went public in July 2025. Founded in 2012, Figma transformed how people design, prototype, and build products together. After a $20 billion acquisition attempt by Adobe collapsed in 2022 because of regulators, Dylan helped Figma rebound stronger than ever. Just three years later, Figma listed its shares at nearly $20 billion and its stock price more than tripled on its first trading day.

A few highlights:

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(0:37) The first 5 years of Figma

(5:14) Slow build vs AI gold rush

(13:01) The role of the human designer

(18:55) Small companies with $1B in revenue

(21:28) Expanding a sleepy market

(27:49) Leading with empathy as CEO

(32:51) Connecting with young people

(41:37) Getting stronger despite Adobe

(48:43) AI impacting Figma’s roadmap

(52:02) Final bastion of human designers

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More on Dylan:

https://www.figma.com/

https://x.com/zoink

More on Jack:

https://www.altcap.com/

https://x.com/jaltma

---

https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod

Email: [email protected]

Alex Pall is half of the Grammy Award-winning duo The Chainsmokers. Beyond music, Alex is entrepreneur and co-founder of Mantis VC, a venture firm that invests opportunistically in early stage tech-enabled startups. Some of their investments include Alchemy, Chainguard, Kalshi, Roblox, and Rogo. We had a wide ranging conversation that broke down the creative stories behind a few of their top hits including “Closer,” “Something Just Like This,” and “Don’t Let Me Down.” We also explored the creative process at the highest level and how Alex’s experience in music influences the way he approaches venture investing.

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(1:04) Stories behind the songs

(4:58) Coldplay collaboration

(9:57) Creating Closer

(13:25) Dependencies vs creative fuel

(18:09) Letting songs be promiscuous

(19:45) How “Don’t Let Me Down” happened

(22:57) Art vs playing the favorites

(26:18) Balancing music and business

(29:49) Albums telling stories

(35:42) Tension behind growth as an artist

(39:28) Inspiration drives creativity

(41:20) AIs impact on music

(44:34) Outlier talent

(47:22) Building a venture firm

(54:46) Experiencing elite circles

(1:01:17) Importance of momentum

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More on Alex:

https://www.mantisvc.com/

https://x.com/AlexPallNY

More on Jack:

https://www.altcap.com/

https://x.com/jaltma

---

https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod

Email: [email protected]

Thomas Laffont is the co-founder of Coatue, one of the world’s largest technology investment platforms active in both the public and private markets. Thomas leads the firm’s private investment platforms across early-stage and growth, and oversees their software investments across private and public markets. Coatue has partnered with some of the most enduring and impactful companies of the last two decades, including Applied Intuition, Canva, Databricks, Figma and Rippling. Thomas began his career at the Creative Arts Agency, where he represented artists in film and television.

A few highlights:

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(0:25) Making sense of the current cycle

(5:31) Investing from inception through IPO

(10:36) Depreciation of the system of record

(14:04) Value beyond databases

(18:46) Winning strategies in venture

(23:43) Operating at early-stage

(28:56) Navigating investing conflicts

(34:29) Wide aperture lens of investing

(36:45) Star quality being a reality

(40:30) Firm strategy and decision making

(48:25) Everything that’s great about golf

(54:34) Working with family

(57:20) Advice to young professionals

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More on Thomas:

https://www.coatue.com/

https://x.com/thomas_coatue

More on Jack:

https://www.altcap.com/

https://x.com/jaltma

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https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod

Email: [email protected]

Roelof Botha joined Sequoia in 2003 and serves as the managing partner and steward. Roelof led early investments in YouTube, Instagram, Natera, and MongoDB among others. He currently sits on the board of Natera, Unity, Block (fka Square), MongoDB, Ethos, Pendulum, Airtime, and Flow Engineering. Roelof also co-led Sequoia’s backing of Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter (now X) in 2022. Prior to Sequoia, Roelof was the CFO of PayPal and led the company’s IPO at the age of 28, and later through its acquisition by eBay.

We covered:

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(0:52) Becoming the steward

(5:16) Keeping healthy paranoia

(9:26) Drivers of joy as a leader

(11:17) Current venture playing field

(13:38) Venture is not an asset class

(18:50) Advice to new managers

(19:47) Decision making at Sequoia

(30:11) Investing across stages

(37:12) Component of cost

(46:57) Conflicting investments

(50:48) The next trillion dollar markets

(59:30) Team building

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More on Roelof:

https://x.com/roelofbotha

https://www.sequoiacap.com/people/roelof-botha/

More on Jack:

https://www.altcap.com/

https://x.com/jaltma

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https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod

Email: [email protected]

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This episode is presented for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities. The discussion herein similarly does not constitute a solicitation with respect to any Sequoia fund or an offer of investment advisory services. Investments identified herein are discussed solely for illustrative purposes and there is no guarantee that current or future investments of Sequoia will be similar in quality or kind.

Vince Hankes is a Partner at Thrive Capital where he’s worked on investments in OpenAI, SpaceX, Databricks, and Stripe among others. Vince invests across all stages and currently sits on the board of Airtable, Benchling, Console, Isomorphic, Lattice and Rogo. Prior to joining Thrive, Vince was an investor at Tiger Global.

We covered:

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(0:50) The evolution of Thrive

(4:22) Instagram, Github, and Stripe

(7:57) Qualitative, then quantitative

(9:39) Writing massive checks

(16:48) Winning strategies in venture

(25:58) Buying Carvana at the bottom

(32:50) Managing conflicts

(36:13) AI’s impact on the market

(42:25) East meets West Coast investors

(45:19) Vertical specific workspaces

(49:53) Scale and timing of robotics

(51:31) OpenAI vs everything else

(55:59) What matters most for Thrive

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More on Vince:

https://x.com/vhankes

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincent-hankes/

More on Jack:

https://www.altcap.com/

https://x.com/jaltma

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https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod

Email: [email protected]

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This episode is presented for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities. The discussion herein similarly does not constitute a solicitation with respect to any Thrive fund or an offer of investment advisory services. Investments identified herein are discussed solely for illustrative purposes and there is no guarantee that current or future investments of Thrive will be similar in quality or kind.

Ali Rowghani is the founder of First Harmonic, a go-to-market program purpose-built for seed stage founders.

Ali has had a long, distinguished career in tech. He worked with Steve Jobs and Ed Catmull at Pixar for nine years holding various roles including CFO and SVP of Strategic Planning, took Twitter from $0 in revenue through IPO as the CFO and COO, and most recently was the founding Managing Director of Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund where he led investments in DoorDash, Stripe, Coinbase, Zapier, among many others. Ali has also invested as an early angel in several breakout AI companies, including Mercor, Decagon, and Cursor. He’s seen the arc from inception to IPO many times and recognizes what separates winning startups from the pack.

We covered:

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(0:53) Pixar’s miracle factory

(6:28) Working with Steve Jobs

(13:23) Ed Catmull and John Lasseter

(16:28) Crazy years at Twitter

(18:30) Getting monetization right

(19:56) Learnings in hindsight

(22:37) Elon Musk observations

(24:03) Beginning of YC’s growth fund

(29:31) Between pre and post traction

(33:23) The second job of a CEO

(34:35) First Harmonic

(35:31) Beliefs in venture

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More on Ali:

https://www.firstharmonic.com/

https://x.com/ROWGHANI

More on Jack:

https://www.altcap.com/

https://x.com/jaltma

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Link to Ali’s referenced blog post:

https://www.ycombinator.com/library/3k-the-second-job-of-a-startup-ceo

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https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod

Email: [email protected]

Lulu Cheng Meservey is the leading voice in the new age of PR and comms and is the founder of Rostra, an advisory firm helping founders go direct.

Lulu has been a trusted voice for founders like Palmer Luckey at Anduril, Eric Glyman at Ramp, and Brian Armstrong at Coinbase. She previously ran corporate affairs and communications for Activision Blizzard and was the head of comms for Substack.

Lulu writes an acclaimed newsletter called Flack, where she proposes her new playbook for communications and shares tactical advice for how to help win over the people who matter, without wasting time or inducing cringe.

A few memorable moments:

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(0:50) Comms having a moment

(3:43) Breaking through the noise

(6:30) What makes a great story

(9:58) Creating story arcs

(17:29) Flow and stock

(20:29) All press is good press

(23:25) Leaning into authenticity

(28:10) Word choice

(35:09) Impact on recruiting

(42:48) The business of comms

(45:48) Comms predictions

(48:18) Tech & media relationship

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More on Lulu:

https://x.com/lulumeservey

https://www.getflack.com/

https://rostra.co/

More on Jack:

https://www.altcap.com/

https://x.com/jaltma

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https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod

Email: [email protected]

Balaji Srinivasan is an angel investor, tech founder, and WSJ bestselling author of The Network State. He is currently the founder of The Network School, a frontier community for techno-optimists.

Formerly the CTO of Coinbase and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, he is an early investor in many successful tech companies, including Anduril, Perplexity, OpenSea, Alchemy, StarkWare, Dapper Labs, Benchling, and Polymarket to name a few. Balaji also led the launch of USDC as Coinbase CTO, and was an early investor in many important crypto protocols including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana among others.

In this conversation, we discuss the evolving political landscape, emphasizing the disruptions caused by technology and the internet. Balaji outlines the four factions in the current political climate: the internet, Blue America, Red America, and China. We also explore the implications of tariffs, the rise of AI, and the future of network states.

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(0:19) The Network School

(1:24) Mapping the political landscape

(3:38) Tech and the media

(6:19) China and the trade war

(11:32) Tariffs and economic strategy

(24:30) Global economic shifts

(27:41) Rise of the global anti-woke coalition

(31:11) Unholy alliances that might form

(37:18) Class warfare instead of race warfare

(41:21) The answer may not be in America

(46:56) The Network State

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More on Balaji:

https://x.com/balajis

https://ns.com/

https://thenetworkstate.com/

More on Jack:

https://x.com/jaltma

https://www.altcap.com/

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https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod

Email: [email protected]