Venture with Grace

Venture with Grace

By Grace GongBusinessInvesting
Download on the App Store

Venture with Grace episodes

  • Tyler Carlson, Salesforce, SVP Head of AppExchange on Partner Ecosystems

    Tyler Carlson is SVP and Head of Product for AppExchange & Ecosystem at Salesforce.~~~~~~~~~~~~~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~~~~~~~~~~~~~Driving the product vision for AppExchange 2.0 as a modern SaaS marketplace where customers discover, try, buy, and securely install apps, integrations, and agents extending Salesforce products. With over 10 years at Salesforce, he progressed from Principal Solution Engineer to leading strategic partnerships with Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple, Stripe, OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, and Snowflake for Data Cloud and Generative AI initiatives. Previously spent 5+ years at Model N rising from Associate Consultant to Principal Solutions Consultant in revenue management for life sciences, technology, and manufacturing companies.Topics

    • How AppExchange 2.0 enables agent discovery without integration silos
    • Scaling Salesforce partnerships with OpenAI Anthropic through GenAI launches
    • Growing Agentforce 360 ecosystem during AI-native partner expansion

    #AppExchange #Salesforce #Agentforce #Ecosystems #Startups

    30 min
  • Nancy Xu, Salesforce, VP AI & Agentforce on Autonomous Recruiting

    Nancy Xu is VP of AI & Agentforce at Salesforce after selling Moonhub. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~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~~~~~~~~~~~~~The world's first fully autonomous AI Recruiter delivering 3.5x+ ROI for hundreds of enterprises at $100M+ valuation backed by Khosla, GV, Salesforce, and Marc Benioff. Stanford AI Lab PhD and MBA (Knight-Hennessy Scholar, NSF Fellow) pioneering AI agents research under Chris Re with dual undergrad degrees in math and CS. General Partner at Xu Ventures backing Cartesia, Replit, Gecko Robotics, Inception AI, Prism, Ambience Healthcare, and others including exits like Replicate (acq. Cloudflare) and Dorsal (acq. Commure). Named TIME100 Most Influential in AI and co-founder of The Gradient publication.Topics

    • How Agentforce scales autonomous recruiting without manual screening pipelines
    • Scaling Moonhub 3.5x ROI through enterprise AI agent adoption to Salesforce exit
    • AI agent research readiness from Stanford lab to enterprise production at $100M scale

    #AIAgents #Salesforce #Moonhub #XuVentures #Startups #VC

    20 min
  • Vihaar Nandigala, Orange Slice, Co-Founder on AI Sales Prospecting

    Vihaar Nandigala is Co-Founder of Orange Slice (YC S25). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~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~~~~~~~~~~~~~The AI agent platform inside spreadsheets helping sales teams discover high-intent companies already in-market through real-time signals from websites, news, social, court records, and building permits—raising $5.3M seed led by 1984 Capital/Moxxie Ventures with Paul Graham; built with Michigan sophomore co-founder Kishan Sripada (Bollywood dance team origin story) targeting sales engineers at startups like Novoflow/Pirros; solves core sales timing problem replacing static lists with living, actionable account lists at 23 years old with YC-backed playbook for accessible growth engineering.Topics

    • How Orange Slice finds in-market buyers without static lists or growth engineer hires
    • Growing Orange Slice $5.3M seed during launch phase with Paul Graham backing
    • AI prospecting readiness with real-time signals at spreadsheet-native scale

    #AISales #OrangeSlice #YCS25 #SalesProspecting

    1 hr 4 min
  • Eric Schurenberg, Alliance for Trust in Media Founder on Journalism

    Eric Schurenberg is the Founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media.~~~~~~~~~~~~~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~~~~~~~~~~~~~A nonprofit focused on rebuilding trust between journalists and audiences through research, media literacy programs, and newsroom partnerships. He previously served as CEO of Mansueto Ventures, where he led Inc. and Fast Company through a major expansion into events, video, podcasts, and data, delivering record profitability. A longtime media executive and award-winning journalist, he has held senior roles at Inc., CBS MoneyWatch, Money Magazine, Fortune, and Business 2.0, and is a Loeb Award and National Magazine Award winner. Today, he also serves as Editor-in-Chief at Amplify Publishing Group and a distinguished instructor at the University of Chicago.Topics

    • How Alliance for Trust rebuilds newsroom-audience relationships without engagement gaps
    • Scaling Inc./Fast Company to profitability through events video podcasts diversification
    • How legacy media brands evolved into multi-platform business ecosystems

    #Disinformation #GrowthStrategy #Founder #Journalism #Trust

    48 min
  • Vijay Krishnan, Turing Co‑Founder: Advancing Superintelligence

    Vijay Krishnan, Turing Co‑Founder: Advancing SuperintelligenceVijay Krishnan is the Co‑Founder of Turing.~~~~~~~~~~~~~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~~~~~~~~~~~~~Turing is a company at the forefront of advancing and deploying superintelligent systems. With over two decades of experience in machine learning and AI, Vijay has built large‑scale intelligent platforms and research‑driven products that connect, optimize, and accelerate human and machine collaboration.Before Turing, he co‑founded Rover (acquired by Revcontent), where he scaled its flagship AI recommendation platform Flipora to 40M users through deep personalization and search relevance modeling. Earlier, as Senior Data Scientist at Yahoo, he led applied ML efforts across ads, search, and personalization spanning billions of users. Vijay holds a Stanford MS in Computer Science (AI) and a B.Tech from IIT Bombay and is widely cited in NLP, deep learning, and data mining.Topics:

    • Advancing and deploying superintelligence in the real world
    • From large‑scale ML systems to autonomous AI platforms
    • Turing’s evolving approach to integrating advanced AI into development and decision workflows
    • Lessons from scaling AI‑driven products like Rover and Turing#Superintelligence #AI #Startups #MachineLearning

    59 min
  • Stefan Weitz, HumanX, Co-Founder & CEO on AI Event & Transformation

    Stefan Weitz is the co-founder and CEO of HumanX, the world’s preeminent AI conference. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~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~~~~~~~~~~~~~Venture-backed and aligned with enterprise needs, HumanX helps turn inspiration into action. An 18-year Microsoft veteran, he led technologies used by over a billion people worldwide, and later helped grow and exit North America’s 2nd largest independent eCommerce company. A best-selling author, multi-patent holder, and GP at SilverCircle, he’s invested in 31 startups since 2021.Topics

    • How HumanX transforms AI inspiration into enterprise action without strategy gaps
    • Scaling Bing 4x market share through search platform and global product launches
    • Growing Radial $250M revenue 7x during growth phase to $850M BPost acquisition

    #ProductLeadership #eCommerce #Hypergrowth #Founder #BigData

    24 min
  • Sri Viswanath, Sycamore Founder & ex-Atlassian CTO on Enterprise AI

    Sri Viswanath is the Founder & CEO of Sycamore and former CTO of Atlassian. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~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~~~~~~~~~~~~~Where he led the company’s cloud transformation and scaled engineering through hypergrowth from $500M to $2.5B+ in revenue. With leadership roles across Groupon, VMware, and Sun Microsystems, and board experience at Splunk and SendGrid, Sri has spent decades building and scaling complex enterprise systems. Today, he’s focused on a new frontier with Sycamore—creating the trusted infrastructure layer that enables enterprises to deploy, govern, and orchestrate AI agents with security, oversight, and continuous learning built in from day one.Topics:

    • How Sycamore deploys trusted AI agents without governance gaps or deployment friction
    • Scaling Atlassian 5x from $500M to $2.5B through cloud engineering transformation
    • AI infrastructure readiness with enterprise security built-in at Sycamore launch scale

    #EnterpriseAI #Startups #VC #CloudScale #AIAgents

    1 hr 2 min
  • Amit Zavery, ServiceNow President, CPO & COO on AI at Enterprise Scale

    Amit Zavery is president, chief product officer, and chief operating officer at ServiceNow.~~~~~~~~~~~~~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 leads the company’s AI platform, products, engineering, cloud infrastructure, and user experience while overseeing enterprise-wide operations, digital technology, and security to drive disciplined execution from idea to impact. Previously vice president, general manager, and head of platform at Google Cloud, he helped grow the business from $7B to over $41B in annualized revenue by defining product strategy and scaling its application platform, and before that served as executive vice president and corporate officer at Oracle, leading a 4,500+ person global organization across cloud infrastructure, middleware, Java, and analytics that generated more than $6B annually. He holds a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and an M.S. in Information Networking from Carnegie Mellon University.Topics:

    • What Amit learned scaling Google Cloud from $7B to $41B in revenue and how that shapes his product playbook today
    • Integrating AI across ServiceNow’s cloud platform to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency
    • Leading a 4,500-person global engineering team generating $6B+ annually

    #AIPlatform #EnterpriseAI #ProductLeadership #CloudComputing

    55 min
  • Katie Burke, Harvey COO on Scaling Culture & People Strategy in AI

    Katie Burke is Chief Operating Officer at Harvey 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~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Where she oversees people, workplace, communications, business technology, and customer engagement—after 11.5 years at HubSpot scaling as Chief People Officer and VP Culture leading global recruitment, D&I (20% women in leadership increase), and employee experience to #1 Glassdoor Best Place to Work amid 34% revenue growth and post-IPO expansion across countries. Katie is also a board member at the Boston Red Sox Foundation and previously served on the board of Paycor with early marketing leadership at Athletes' Performance launching Core Performance wellness for Intel/Google/Walgreens and Glover Park Group doubling revenues while promoting Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Culture innovator turned ops leader with playbook for remarkable workplaces at unicorn scale.Topics

    • How Harvey scales AI adoption without fragmented people ops and siloed teams
    • How culture, hiring, and leadership systems become growth drivers as companies scale globally.
    • Transitioning from Chief People Officer to COO and building operational foundations for AI-native startups.

    #PeopleOps #HarveyAI #HubSpot #Paycor #Startups #HRTech

    58 min
  • Div Garg, AGI Inc. Founder & CEO on Everyday AGI Agents

    Div Garg is Founder and CEO of AGI, Inc., ~~~~~~~~~~~~~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~~~~~~~~~~~~~The AI neolab designing everyday AGI with universal assistants that act across devices as naturally as humans—topping industry benchmarks for mobile-use (AndroidWorld) and computer-use (OS World), backed by Anthropic, Menlo Ventures, Charlie Songhurst (Meta Board), Songyee Yoon (HP Board), Ali Rowghani (ex-YC MD), and frontier AI lab leaders. Co-founder/CEO of MultiOn (hottest '24 consumer AI agent, first Computer-Use pioneer, $30M+ Series A from General Catalyst/Amazon/Samsung), Stanford CS adjunct faculty who created/taught CS 25: Transformers United (1M+ YouTube views with Hinton/Vaswani/Karpathy), first software engineer/AI Lead at Collaborative Robotics (Sequoia/Bezos), NVIDIA 3D Diffusion PhD intern, Cornell CS alum—bridging research to production AGI.Topics:

    • How AGI Inc builds on-device superintelligence topping AndroidWorld/OS World benchmarks
    • Pioneering MultiOn as 2024's hottest AI agent before spinning out AGI Inc with elite backers
    • From Collaborative Robotics first engineer to everyday AGI that books flights without errors

    #AGI #AIAgents #MultiOn #StanfordCS #Transformers

    52 min

About Venture with Grace

From the publisher's feed

I host a top VC podcast called Smart Venture Podcast (SVPpro.com). Past guests include C-level/VPs of Google, Meta, Amazon, Sephora, Dunkin' Donuts, Chipotle, Pepsi, Instagram, Deloitte, Reddit, Lyft, etc. Managing Partners of top funds (many were featured on the Forbes Midas List) and unicorn founders (founders of Craigslist, Square, Loom, Cruise, etc.) Venture with Grace is my new spin-off series that features top LPs, GPs, solo GPs, Angel Investors, top AI founders, and other experts in tech and business to cover specific domain expertise.