Venture with Grace

Olga Megorskaya is the founder and CEO of Toloka AI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~She established the company in 2014 and has since transformed it from a crowdsourcing and microtasking platform into a leading provider of high-quality training data for large language models and generative AI systems. Olga Megorskaya is also the CEO of Mindrift.ai, Toloka's platform for sourcing domain experts for AI training projects. Under her leadership, Toloka has grown into a trusted data partner for major AI developers including Anthropic, Amazon, and Microsoft.TopicsWhy expert human data remains essential for training, evaluating, and improving frontier AI modelsBuilding scalable quality-control systems for AI training data, from crowdsourcing to specialized domain expertiseEvaluating AI agents for real-world performance, reasoning, and safety beyond conventional benchmarks#ArtificialIntelligence #AITraining #AIEvaluation #AISafety #MachineLearning

Eugen Alpeza is the Co-Founder and CEO of Edra, an enterprise AI startup building systems that reverse-engineer business workflows from tools such as Slack, ServiceNow, Jira, and Salesforce to create auditable knowledge libraries for AI agents. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Founded in 2025, Edra raised a $30 million-plus Series A led by Sequoia Capital, 8VC, A*, and HubSpot Ventures. Before founding Edra, Eugen spent seven years at Palantir Technologies, progressing through roles as Deployment Strategist, Enterprise Lead, US Commercial Lead, and Co-Head of Forward Deployed AI Engineering. His experience spans enterprise AI deployment, commercial strategy, and engineering, giving him a practical perspective on bringing AI into complex organizations. Earlier in his career, he worked as a Machine Learning Engineer at Skimlinks and a Data Scientist at Upwork. He holds a master’s degree in Computational Statistics and Machine Learning from UCL and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Edinburgh.Topics

• Turning enterprise workflows and company data into reliable, auditable knowledge for AI agents
• Lessons from Palantir on deploying AI in complex organizations and translating technical capabilities into business value
• Building enterprise AI products that automate work while preserving context, reliability, and organizational knowledge

#ArtificialIntelligence #AIAgents #EnterpriseAI #AIInfrastructure #Startups

Darren Bechtel is the Founder and Managing Director of Brick & Mortar Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage technologies modernizing architecture, engineering, construction, and facilities management. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Since founding the firm in 2015, he has backed more than 70 companies developing software and hardware for the built environment. In 2019, Brick & Mortar announced a $100 million fund backed by industry leaders including Autodesk, Cemex, Hilti, United Rentals, and Sidewalk Labs. Its portfolio includes PlanGrid, BuildingConnected, Fieldwire, Rhumbix, Levelset, and EverCharge. Before Brick & Mortar, Darren founded and led South Park Ventures and served as CEO of medical device company Encapsule Medical Devices. With a background spanning architecture, product design, engineering, and venture capital, he focuses on bringing technology and industry expertise together to make construction and infrastructure projects safer, more productive, and less costly. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering/Product Design and an MBA from Stanford University.Topics

• Why construction remains ripe for technology adoption across design, building, and infrastructure operations
• Investing in early-stage software and hardware that improve construction productivity, safety, and cost efficiency
• How venture capital and established industry leaders can accelerate innovation across the built environment

#ConstructionTech #VentureCapital #BuiltWorld #ArtificialIntelligence #Infrastructure

Ali Partovi is the CEO of Neo, a venture capital firm and mentorship community that brings together experienced technology leaders to support ambitious founders. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Neo has backed companies including Cursor and Kalshi, while Ali’s earlier angel investments include Airbnb, Dropbox, Facebook, and Uber. He is ranked #1 in the United States on the Forbes Midas Seed List. Ali co-founded Code.org, helping launch the Hour of Code initiative, and previously co-founded LinkExchange and iLike. He is also the co-founder of Sway, a platform focused on reimagining democracy through crowd voting. An entrepreneur and investor with a background in computer science from Harvard, Ali focuses on identifying exceptional founders early and helping them build category-defining companies.Topics

• How Neo identifies exceptional founders and builds a mentorship-driven venture capital community
• Investing in AI-native startups and recognizing breakout companies at the earliest stages
• Lessons from backing companies like Airbnb, Dropbox, Cursor, and Kalshi across different technology cycles

#VentureCapital #ArtificialIntelligence #AIInvesting #Startups #Founders

Fred Parietti is the CEO and co-founder of Multiply Labs, a robotics company developing automated manufacturing systems for individualized medicines, including cell therapies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Since co-founding the company in 2016, he has raised more than $25 million from investors including Casdin Capital, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and Fifty Years. Multiply Labs has developed GMP-compliant robotic manufacturing technology for individualized pharmaceuticals and is building robotic systems designed to work with existing GMP instruments used in cell therapy production, helping manufacturers automate processes without significantly changing established protocols. Fred leads a team of more than 35 robotic engineers, pharmaceutical scientists, and FDA experts. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, where his research focused on advanced robotic systems and earned the Mechanical Engineering De Florez Design Award. His work spans more than 30 peer-reviewed robotics publications and 12+ patents and patent applications, with over 2,000 citations.Topics

• How robotics can scale the manufacturing of individualized medicines and cell therapies
• Automating cell therapy production while working within existing GMP processes and regulatory requirements
• Building a robotics company at the intersection of advanced engineering, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and patient access

#Robotics #Biotechnology #CellTherapy #PharmaManufacturing #HealthcareAI

Joo-Young Kim is the CEO of HyperAccel and an Associate Professor at KAIST, where his research focuses on specialized AI hardware and large language model inference. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~He founded HyperAccel in 2023 after spending more than seven years at Microsoft, contributing to the Catapult project, which developed FPGA accelerators for cloud data centers. His work included accelerating workloads such as data compression, encryption, video transcoding, and machine learning across Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure. At HyperAccel, he is developing the LLM Processing Unit (LPU), a specialized AI processor designed to run large language models with lower latency and improved cost and power efficiency. His career bridges academic research, hyperscale cloud hardware, and semiconductor entrepreneurship, with a focus on addressing the infrastructure bottlenecks that emerge as generative AI scales.Topics

• Why large language model inference requires a different approach to AI chip architecture
• Designing specialized AI semiconductors to improve inference speed, energy efficiency, and operating costs
• Turning academic research and hyperscale cloud experience into a semiconductor startup

#ArtificialIntelligence #AIChips #Semiconductors #LLMInference #AIInfrastructure

Jeffrey Lolley is Chief Information Officer at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he leads global technology strategy, AI adoption, data infrastructure, information security, and technology innovation across the firm. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Before becoming CIO, he served as the firm’s Deputy CIO and CISO, following leadership roles as CISO at Wilson Sonsini and Hogan Lovells. He co-founded Hogan Lovells’ legal sector cybersecurity consulting practice and previously led IT security at Marriott International, overseeing security across 6,000 properties and $11 billion per year in credit card transactions. Earlier, he worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories and was part of the venture that became Verizon Cybertrust. Jeff also serves as an advisor to technology companies including Box and Dropbox and teaches cybersecurity, risk, and emerging technology at the University of Maryland.Topics

• Building AI-enabled technology infrastructure for the modern legal industry
• Why data, governance, and cybersecurity are becoming the gating constraints on enterprise AI adoption
• What two decades in cybersecurity reveal about AI trust, risk, and transformation

#ArtificialIntelligence #LegalTech #Cybersecurity #EnterpriseAI #AIInfrastructure

Akshaya Srivatsa is Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Maxima, an agentic accounting platform built to automate the month-end close, reduce errors and audit risk, and give accounting teams more time for strategic work. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~At Maxima, he leads product, design, security, and post-sales while working directly with every signed customer. Previously, he was an Engineering Leader at WhatsApp, where he led teams responsible for messaging integrity across 50M businesses and 2B+ users, including machine learning systems for anti-spam, fraud, and messaging quality and WhatsApp’s large-scale OTP authentication system. Before WhatsApp, he spent more than three years as VP of Engineering at Bolt, where he helped build checkout, payments, and fraud prevention products from an early stage and led a team of 30+ engineers. Earlier in his career, he worked on large-scale distributed systems at Twitter and systems engineering at Marvell, and conducted research in inexact computing at Rice University.Topics

• Can agentic AI finally transform an accounting industry that has barely changed in two decades?
• What does it take to build AI agents that can handle complex, company-specific financial workflows reliably?
• What can product leaders learn from building high-scale systems at WhatsApp and Bolt?

#Maxima #AgenticAI #AccountingAI #AI #Fintech

Apoorv Bhargava is the CEO and co-founder of WeaveGrid, a software company integrating electric vehicles into the grid to accelerate the energy transition. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Since co-founding WeaveGrid in 2018, Apoorv has helped build the company to nearly 90 employees serving more than 15 utilities across the U.S. Previously, he worked at Opower, NRG Energy, Joby Aviation, and Capricorn Investment Group, where he focused on energy, transportation, and climate technology. He holds an MBA and MS from Stanford and dual degrees from Rice University in Chemical Engineering and Energy Economics.Topics

• How software can coordinate millions of electric vehicles with utilities, turning EV charging from a growing grid challenge into a flexible energy resource.
• The infrastructure, utility partnerships, economics, and technology needed to connect EV adoption with renewable power grid.
• Lessons from climate-tech ecosystem about turning complex infrastructure problems into scalable businesses.

#ClimateTech #ElectricVehicles #EnergyTransition #CleanEnergy #GridTech

Scott Beechuk is a Partner at Norwest, where he invests in early-stage enterprise software companies, with a focus on agentic systems, CX, customer support, sales enablement, e-commerce infrastructure, and marketing.~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~ His active investments include Connect The Dots, Coval, Fabric, Generalist AI, Harness, Kustomer, and You.com. Before Norwest, Scott spent seven years at Salesforce, where he led the Service Cloud and Desk.com product organizations. He previously co-founded three startups, including eMassive, an enterprise e-commerce platform. Scott holds 13 U.S. patents and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan.TopicsInvesting in the next generation of agentic enterprise software and AI systemsHow AI agents are transforming customer experience, support, and salesLessons from building startups and leading products at Salesforce#ArtificialIntelligence #AgenticAI #EnterpriseAI #VentureCapital #SaaS