StrictlyVC Download

In this episode, we talk with Halter founder and CEO Craig Pigott about building a $2 billion agtech company that’s transforming how farmers manage livestock. Using solar-powered collars and virtual fencing, Halter helps ranchers increase productivity, monitor animal health, and rethink how land is used. Craig shares his journey from Rocket Lab to agriculture, why farming is still underserved by technology, and how AI and hardware are reshaping one of the world’s oldest industries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WHOOP founder and CEO Will Ahmed joins Connie Loizos and Alex Gove on StrictlyVC Download to discuss the company’s evolution from a niche wearable for elite athletes into a fast-growing health platform. The three talk about WHOOP’s unconventional decision to skip a screen, its subscription-driven business model, and how it won over top athletes early on. They also dig into the company’s push into medical-grade monitoring, blood testing, and AI-driven insights, and what it all means for the future of continuous health tracking Chapters: 00:00 — The Rise of Whoop 02:45 — From Athlete to Founder 04:50 — Rejection and Early Challenges 06:10 — Why Whoop Skipped the Screen 08:25 — How Whoop Broke Through 13:30 — The Subscription Model 20:45 — Expanding Into Health and AI 27:50 — The Future of Wearables Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ring founder Jamie Siminoff joins Connie Loizos and Alex Gove on StrictlyVC Download to discuss the company’s new AI-powered Search Party feature, which aims to help neighbors find lost dogs but has sparked debate about surveillance and privacy. The three discuss how the feature actually works, the company’s decision to abandon a partnership with Flock Safety, what Ring ultimately hopes to build in neighborhoods around the world, and how much control over that vision Ring really has. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos and Alex Gove sit down with MIT AI researcher Max Tegmark to discuss the growing clash between AI companies and the U.S. government and the bigger question of who should control increasingly powerful AI systems. From the Trump administration’s move to phase out Anthropic’s technology to the broader race toward superintelligence, Tegmark argues that the real risk isn’t just geopolitical competition, but losing control of the systems we’re building. He makes the case for treating AI like any other high-stakes industry by implementing binding safety standards and independent oversight before the technology outpaces our ability to manage it. A broad coalition, including Tegmark's Future of Life Institute have released The "Pro-Human AI Declaration" outlining a path forward in which AI would best serve humanity. View the statement here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos talks with Bill Gurley, longtime venture capitalist, former Benchmark partner, and author of the new book Running Down a Dream. After stepping back from day-to-day investing, Gurley has turned his focus to a different question: how people build meaningful, enduring careers—and what they might do differently if given the chance to start over.In this conversation, Gurley reflects on why nearly 60% of professionals say they would rethink their career paths, how to know when it’s time to pivot, and why “regret minimization” can be a powerful decision-making framework. He shares his views on mentorship, peer networks, and the risks of following conventional career tracks in the age of AI. Gurley also weighs in on Silicon Valley’s shifting work culture, the resurgence of 996-style intensity, and why he believes the best way to future-proof your career isn’t to avoid technology—but to run straight at it. It’s a candid discussion about ambition, reinvention, and designing a career you won’t second-guess. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos talks with Stacy Brown-Philpot, founder and managing partner of Cherryrock Capital. After a decade at Google and leading TaskRabbit through its acquisition by IKEA, Brown-Philpot is now building a venture firm focused on Series A and Series B software companies led by under-invested founders—targeting what she sees as a critical gap in today’s venture ecosystem. In this conversation, Brown-Philpot explains why she launched Cherryrock in a difficult fundraising environment, how the firm evaluates product-market fit at scale, and why quality revenue matters more than headline ARR. She discusses how AI is reshaping enterprise software, how her board roles at HP and StockX inform the way she assesses companies, and why she believes strong businesses will continue to get funded despite a bifurcated venture market. It’s a grounded look at building durable companies—and backing them at a pivotal stage of growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos talks with Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, the company behind USDT, the world's largest stablecoin. With 536 million users globally, Tether has quietly become one of crypto's most powerful players—and now it's evolving far beyond stablecoins. Ardoino is transforming Tether into what he calls "the stable company," a diversified operation making bold bets on decentralized AI, agriculture, telecommunications, and gold-backed tokens.In this conversation, Ardoino explains how Tether generates billions in profit from U.S. Treasury holdings, why the company is building AI platforms that run locally on smartphones for emerging markets, and how its relationship with U.S. regulators has shifted dramatically. He also discusses Tether's geographic expansion, particularly in El Salvador and across Latin America, and makes the case that all of these seemingly disparate investments—from cattle ranching to brain-computer interfaces—are part of an interlocking strategy to serve the billions of people left behind by traditional finance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos and Alex Gove talk with Howie Liu, co-founder and CEO of Airtable. On Tuesday, Liu announced the launch of Superagent, Airtable’s first standalone product outside of its core platform—and this isn’t just another AI feature bolted onto an existing product. Superagent represents a bit bet on autonomous agents that handle tasks end-to-end, rather than chatbots that provide text-based answers. In this conversation, Liu walks us through why he decided to build Superagent as a separate product rather than just another Airtable feature, how it actually works under the hood—from native integrations to browser automation—and the early signals that suggest he might be onto something big. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Connie Loizos speaks with Mary Jane Rubenstein, a professor of religion and science and technology studies at Wesleyan University and author of "Worlds Without End: The Many Lives of the Multiverse"—a book that served as research material for the Oscar-winning film "Everything Everywhere All at Once." As the space economy heats up and venture capital pours into startups promising everything from asteroid mining to lunar gas stations, Dr. Rubenstein offers a critical perspective on the ethics and values shaping humanity's expansion beyond Earth. Dr. Rubenstein discusses how religious stories have shaped space exploration from the Apollo missions to today's commercial ventures, examines how science fiction has influenced the industry (sometimes as cautionary tales that get misread as instruction manuals), and makes the case for why space debris might be the issue that brings nations together—ultimately challenging listeners to consider whether we're truly imagining new possibilities in space or simply extending the worst of what we have here on Earth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, we're sharing a conversation with Goodwater Capital founder Chi-Hua Chien and Scribble Ventures founder Elizabeth Weil. They discuss why consumer AI hasn't lived up to the hype yet and what's coming next. Beyond ChatGPT and Gemini, the consumer AI landscape feels sparse. In this conversation, they explore why we're still in the "command line era" of AI, how form factors will unlock new use cases, and what it means to build AI-native products versus retrofitting existing platforms. They also dive into trust barriers, changing user behaviors, and why the next generation of founders needs to rethink everything from social networks to home maintenance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos and Alex Gove talk with Jon Callaghan, managing partner at True Ventures. Callaghan has spent two decades building True Ventures into one of Silicon Valley's most successful seed-stage firms, managing nearly $4 billion across 12 funds while staying deliberately quiet in an increasingly loud venture landscape. In this conversation, Callaghan unpacks why True prioritizes founders over headlines, how the firm maintains remarkably high ownership in portfolio companies despite the bubbly market, and why duration is a feature, not a bug, of early-stage investing. Jon also shares his contrarian views on the AI wave, explains why mega-rounds and consensus capital often miss the real outliers, and reveals where he sees the biggest opportunities in consumer applications, personal software, and AI-powered biology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, we’re sharing a conversation from our event in Palo Alto, where TechCrunch reporter Marina Temkin spoke with Mina Fahmi, the founder and CEO of Sandbar, and Toni Schneider of True Ventures. Mina Fahmi is the CEO and co-founder of Sandbar, a startup building the Stream ring—an AI wearable designed to capture your whispered thoughts. Toni Schneider is a partner at True Ventures who backed Fitbit, Peloton, and Ring, and was initially skeptical of AI wearables until he saw Sandbar's demo – and to be clear, Schneider says he’d seen a whole lot of demos. In this conversation, they unpack what it takes to build hardware that people actually want to wear, why "self-extension" beats AI companions, and how privacy through whispering changes everything. They also discuss competing with OpenAI's rumored device with Jony Ive, why devices must do one thing brilliantly before doing ten things adequately, and what Sandbar learned from two years of prototyping to get the interaction model right. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos spoke with Conlin Angle, the founder and former CEO of iRobot. Fom his living room into a household name, Angle spent 30 years turning iRobot into one of the most pioneering companies in the robotics industry stepping down as CEO following the failed Amazon acquisition. In this conversation, he unpacks why he considers iRobot's bankruptcy "avoidable and a tragedy," what regulators got catastrophically wrong in blocking the $1.7 billion Amazon deal, and why the FTC's office walls covered with "blocked deals" as trophies revealed a deeply misguided approach to protecting innovation. Angle also shares the brutal reality of fighting regulators for 18 months while producing over 100,000 documents, why nascent American tech industries keep getting handed to overseas competitors, and what he's building next with his stealth startup, including his contrarian take on humanoid robots and why Rodney Brooks is "never factually wrong, but not necessarily answering the question you think he's answering." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pat Gelsinger spent 35 years across two stints at Intel, most recently as CEO. Nicholas Kelez is the CEO of X-Light, a semiconductor startup developing breakthrough EUV laser technology for next-generation chipmaking. In this conversation, they unpack what it takes to wake Moore's law from its nap, why the U.S. government just became X-Light's second-largest shareholder, and how faith and deep tech are shaping the future of American competitiveness in the AI era. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos spoke with Science Corp founder Max Hodak to discuss how brain-computer interfaces are arriving faster than anyone realizes. The Neuralink co-founder and former president shares how his company recently achieved what may be the biggest breakthrough in vision restoration in decades, enabling 80% of blind patients to read again with a tiny retinal implant smaller than a grain of rice. In this conversation, the two also explore the near-term commercial path for BCIs through medical applications, the long-term potential for cognitive enhancement and “binding” multiple brains together, and why Science, which has so far raised $260 million from investors, is keen to generate revenue while it invests in its future products. Not last, Hodak addresses the practical and ethical questions around hacking, enhancement, and why he thinks it may well be possible in the not-too-distant future to “move consciousness” outside of the body. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, TechCrunch's editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, sits down with Kevin Hartz, the serial entrepreneur behind Zoom and Eventbrite who's now managing partner of A-Star Capital, a $300 million generalist fund. Recorded live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, Kevin shares his unique perspective as a founder, investor, and LP—discussing why staying in the market matters even when two-month-old companies are raising at $60 million valuations. The two explore the dramatic rise in teenage founders, with Kevin revealing that 20% of his recent investments now include teams with a teenage founder, up from just 5% two years ago. Kevin also discusses A-Star's approach to differentiated deal flow through company incubations, including Sauron, his autonomous drone security startup applying self-driving car technology to home security. They dive into the controversial question of whether venture capital is truly an asset class, the lessons learned from taking companies public through both traditional IPOs and SPACs, and why the abundance of private capital is keeping quality companies out of the public markets indefinitely. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we're sharing an interview from our friends over at Equity. After a small startup exit and being turned down by every VC firm he applied to, Tim Chen began angel investing and eventually stumbled into raising his own fund. Now, as the solo investor behind Essence VC, he just closed his ⁠fourth fund at $41 million⁠ "without even trying." Chen's secret weapon? Being technical enough to debate PhD founders on implementation details while understanding the market dynamics that turn scrappy startups into category leaders. Today on TechCrunch's ⁠Equity⁠ podcast, Julie Bort sat down with Tim Chen to explore the rise of solo VCs and who's rewriting the traditional venture playbook. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why the YC playbook of "revenue at all costs" doesn't work for infrastructure startups, and what Chen tells technical founders to focus on instead The strategic pivot Chen pushed one portfolio company to make that completely changed their trajectory What being a "small exit founder" taught Chen about venture capital, and why he thinks the industry has it backwards Subscribe to Equity on⁠ Apple Podcasts⁠,⁠ Overcast⁠,⁠ Spotify⁠ and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on⁠ X⁠ and⁠ Threads⁠, at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TechCrunch’s editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, sits down with Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at Alphabet’s X, to explore what it takes to build a factory for truly radical innovation. Astro reveals the three components that define a true moonshot—a huge problem, a science fiction-sounding solution, and a glimmer of breakthrough technology—and why X deliberately kills 98% of its ideas early. Teller also explains why X keeps teams incredibly small, how it decides between spinning companies out independently versus keeping them as Alphabet “other bets” like Waymo and Wing, and his take on AI hype—why we should stop treating it like magic and start treating it like electricity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, TechCrunch’s editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, and StrictlyVC’s Alex Gove, sit down with Winston Weinberg, co-founder and CEO of Harvey, the legal AI startup that’s quietly become one of the most talked-about companies in Silicon Valley. Winston shares the origin story of how a first-year associate at O’Melveny used GPT-3 for Dungeons & Dragons before realizing it could transform legal work—leading to a cold email to Sam Altman on July 4, 2022, that changed everything. The three discuss Harvey’s rapid growth to more than $100 million in ARR, why 33% of the startup’s revenue now comes from corporates rather than just law firms, and the technical challenges of building a truly multiplayer platform that navigates complex ethical walls and permissioning across 63 countries. Winston also addresses the “ChatGPT wrapper” criticism — and he explains why he believes professional services will be less disrupted than people think. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode recorded live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, TechCrunch's editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, talks with Vinod Khosla about entrepreneurship in the age of AI and the massive disruptions ahead. They discuss why Khosla believes every profession represents a startup opportunity, his investment thesis of building AI workers rather than tools, and why he asks entrepreneurs to envision their company in 2030 before anything else. Khosla also shares his prediction that Fortune 500 extinction rates will triple by 2035, his controversial idea for sharing corporate wealth through a national pool, and why he thinks we'll have a hugely deflationary economy with free healthcare, education, and legal services. They also cover his early bet on OpenAI, the collision course between AI and climate (which he disputes), his investments in fusion and super-hot geothermal energy, and why the Trump administration's immigration policies represent "the worst damage possible" for American innovation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode recorded live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, TechCrunch’s editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, talks with Roelof Botha about Sequoia’s approach to finding and backing outlier companies — just days before he announced he was stepping down. They discuss why he thinks venture capital isn’t really an asset class, how Sequoia’s partners make investment decisions through fierce debates and consensus voting, and what the firm looks for in its Scout program. Botha also shares his perspective on the current AI boom—whether we’re in a bubble, how quickly winners are emerging in different verticals, and why founders should be careful about raising successive rounds at skyrocketing valuations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Strictly VC Download, Connie Loizos sits down with Lee Roberts, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to discuss his ambitious plan to make AI the university’s “north star” amid a tumultuous year. Roberts walks through his decision to merge UNC’s School of Data Science and Society with its School of Information and Library Science, explaining why breaking down academic silos is essential when the technology moves faster than universities typically can. He addresses the $38 million in terminated federal research grants—concentrated in areas like public health—and why he’s less concerned about funding cuts than he was at the start of the year. Roberts also defends his $10 million annual commitment to Bill Belichick despite the team’s rocky start, explaining why football revenue is essential to supporting UNC’s 28 sports programs. Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction 1:46 - AI as UNC's North Star: Research, Operations, and Instruction 5:10 - Incentivizing Faculty Without Top-Down Mandates 6:41 - The Google Gemini Partnership and Avoiding Exclusivity 8:21 - Merging Two Schools: Breaking Down Academic Silos for AI 9:49 - Addressing Student Concerns About the Library Science Merger 11:38 - The $38 Million in Federal Funding Cuts: Impact and Outlook 13:18 - Concentrated Cuts in Public Health and Underserved Populations 14:19 - Diversifying Beyond Federal Research Funding 16:31 - The Bill Belichick Investment: Why Football Drives Athletics Revenue 18:48 - Dysfunction Allegations and Staying the Course 20:31 - The 900-Person Petition and the Search Process 22:30 - Leading Without Traditional Academic Credentials Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's episode of StrictlyVC Download features Hans Swildens, founder of Industry Ventures, discussing his firm's transaction with Goldman Sachs that comes during Industry Ventures' 25th anniversary year. Swildens walks through the 20-year evolution of the Goldman relationship—from LP investor to wealth platform partner to minority stakeholder in 2019—and explains why the firm decided now was the right time to fully join Goldman's external investing group. He discusses how secondaries have become "the new IPO" for venture-backed companies, shares insights from managing one of the world's largest portfolios of seed-stage venture funds with over 150 firms, and explains why the predicted wave of fund failures hasn't materialized in their portfolio. Swildens also explores the future of venture liquidity structures, from continuation funds to NAV loans, and why products that have been successful in private equity haven't yet crossed over to venture capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s episode of StrictlyVC Download was recorded live at the Elevate Festival in Toronto. TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos sat down with Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, to discuss the company’s newly launched video generation tool Sora, the complexities of copyright and fair use in AI training, and the massive infrastructure buildout required to keep pace with China. Lehane also explained OpenAI’s approach to iterative deployment, why the company believes it will need a gigawatt of energy per week in the near future, and what keeps waking him up at 3 AM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos speaks with Kara Nortman, co-founder of Monarch Collective, the first fund dedicated exclusively to women’s sports. Nortman launched this $250 million fund in 2023—right before women’s sports exploded into the mainstream. But she didn’t just get lucky: she helped create the market by co-founding Angel City Football Club, which went from zero to $30 million in revenue and proved you could pack stadiums for women’s soccer. The two discuss Monarch’s unusual approach, wherein the team makes highly concentrated bets, then invests time that most PE firms would not. They also discuss into whether the numbers work, where the revenue actually comes from (merchandise, sponsorships, ticket sales, media deals), and whether this boom is sustainable. 00:00 - Introduction 01:40 - From tech VC to women's sports: Kara's journey 03:30 - The fundraising strategy and pitch for Monarch Collective 05:00 - Did they see the Caitlin Clark boom coming? 06:45 - Learning from history: the Dick Kerr Ladies story 08:30 - The operational playbook: why passive doesn't exist 11:37 - Can this model scale? Seven to nine concentrated bets 13:40 - Franchise fee explosion: from $2M to $110M 15:00 - The ownership structure debate in women's sports 17:20 - How do you value a women's sports team? 20:00 - Revenue streams: where does the money come from? 23:29 - Competition and first mover advantage 25:00 - Why big PE firms are downstream from Monarch 27:00 - The LP base: family offices and institutions 29:01 - What's next: Europe and beyond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos and StrictlyVC's Alex Gove spoke with with Amjad Masad, founder and CEO of Replit, fresh off the company's $250 million Series C at a $3 billion valuation. They discussed Replit's remarkable journey from hovering around $2.8 million in ARR for years to hitting $150 million—and how a controversial pivot away from professional developers made it all possible. Masad explained why targeting non-technical users actually requires more compute power than serving experienced coders, and how his company survived a viral production database disaster that briefly threatened to derail everything. They also dove into the challenges of AI agent "reward hacking," why Replit pits multiple LLMs against each other, and what it means to build autonomous coding agents that can work for hours without human intervention. Plus, Masad shared his vision for creating a billion software developers and why he believes solving hard problems around safety and security will become Replit's competitive moat—much like privacy became Apple's Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 02:27 - From $2.8M to $150M: The Explosive Growth Story 05:00 - Eight Years of Struggle and Pivoting Business Models 06:41 - The Agent Revolution: Building Beyond Code 10:29 - Enterprise vs Consumer Pricing Strategy 11:59 - AI Inference Costs and the Token Economy 15:00 - The Jason Lemkin Database Incident 20:00 - Surviving Crisis and Building Trust 25:00 - From Palestinian Refugee Son to Silicon Valley Founder 27:32 - Reaching the Next Billion Users 30:00 - Why Replit Beats ChatGPT for Non-Coders 32:07 - The Future: Acquisitions, Agents, and Enterprise Expansion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos is joined by Francis deSouza, the renowned entrepreneur, operator and, since January of this year, COO of Google Cloud. They discuss his goals for Google Cloud and how the company maintains its competitive position by focusing on startups while giants like AWS and Oracle snap up major deals with leading AI companies — namely, OpenAI and Anthropic. The conversation also covers the tangled web of relationships in the AI ecosystem, where companies like Google Cloud provide infrastructure services while their parent companies compete fiercely in generative AI, even as those same parents hold investment stakes in their supposed rivals. They also discuss how Google Cloud approaches the GPU shortage as part of its strategy to attract customers — and keep them coming back for more. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and Francis deSouza's Background 05:00 - Google Cloud's Three-Pillar Strategy 08:55 - AI Startup Strategy and Revenue Commitments 10:00 - Competition with Oracle and AWS 12:30 - Partnership Strategy with Anthropic and Meta 14:00 - Balancing Competition and Neutral Infrastructure Provider Role 16:30 - TPUs vs GPUs: Technical Differentiation and Strategy 20:00 - Customer Lock-in Concerns and Technology Advantages 21:30 - Capacity Constraints and GPU Shortage 22:30 - Google Cloud Profitability and $80B CapEx Investment 25:00 - Health Data, Scientific Integrity, and Google's Role Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

his week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos sits down with former Vice President Al Gore and Lila Preston to explore their ninth annual Sustainability Trends Report and how the global climate transition is accelerating despite political headwinds. In fact, while traditional media focuses on Trump administration rollbacks, the three discuss why renewable energy economics have fundamentally shifted—with 65% of energy investment now flowing to renewables versus just 35% to fossil fuels, a complete reversal from a decade ago. They dive into how China has become the world's first "electro-state" with EVs representing 60% of new car sales, how AI's massive energy demands could either derail or accelerate climate progress through a $500 billion data center buildout, and Mr. Gore's theory that the fossil fuel industry's political capture is weakening as communities fight back against environmental injustice. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and EPA correction 02:23 - The big wheel turning: Global energy investment shift 08:18 - China becomes the world's first "electro-state" 11:55 - Climate data tracking and the EPA rollback 14:47 - AI data centers and the $500 billion Stargate Project 19:54 - Environmental justice and Elon Musk's Memphis facility 22:42 - Precious metals mining and sustainability 25:01 - Space launches, waste, and carbon emissions 26:28 - Most surprising takeaways and climate tipping points Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos and StrictlyVC's Alex Gove sit down with Marc Bhargava, partner at General Catalyst, to explore his ambitious $1.5 billion Creation Fund strategy that's targeting the $16 trillion global services economy through AI-powered rollups. They dive into how Bhargava's team proves AI automation works and why outcome-based pricing models are disrupting everything from legal services with Eudia to call centers with Crescendo. Plus, they discuss the mechanics of incubating AI-native companies with proven second-time founders, why relationship-driven and regulated businesses make the best targets, and Bhargava's theory that 95% of corporate AI pilots fail because applying AI technology effectively requires deep expertise that consulting firms simply can't provide. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and Marc's background 02:00 - From crypto to Coinbase Prime acquisition 05:00 - General Catalyst's Creation Fund strategy explained 10:00 - Fund administration vs. Carta comparison 15:00 - Titan MSP deep dive and $74M investment 20:00 - Udia's approach to disrupting legal services 25:00 - Why 95% of AI pilots fail and market opportunities 29:35 - Closing thoughts and General Catalyst's future initiatives Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos and StrictlyVC's Alex Gove sit down with Adeo Ressi, founder of Decile Group, and Sarah Lacy, the former TechCrunch journalist turned entrepreneur to explore how one of Ressi's newest projects -- VC Lab -- has quietly launched over 800 venture funds worldwide, averaging $12 million each. In fact, while traditional media focuses on emerging manager struggles, the four talk about why, according to Ressi and Lacy, small checks are becoming strategically advantageous in over-subscribed rounds, how accomplished professionals are locked out of traditional VC despite having unicorn angel track records, and Lacy's theory that diverse manager networks are unlocking untapped LP pools. Plus, they talk about Lacy's path from Palm Springs bookstore owner back to Silicon Valley ecosystem building, whether this micro-fund renaissance can actually achieve 50/50 gender parity in venture capital, and what Ressi, a former roommate of Elon Musk, thinks about Musk's time this year in federal government. 00:00 - Introduction 03:17 - From tech journalism to Palm Springs bookstore owner 05:05 - Scaling Founder Institute and the birth of VC Lab 06:39 - The disconnect between media narratives and ground reality 07:46 - The economics of Decile Group's free model 09:54 - Fund performance: 2x returns in 24 months 12:14 - The strategic advantage of small checks 14:24 - Breaking the VC paper doll cutout 17:19 - Finding capital: From network activation to fund of funds 18:57 - Success stories: From blockchain to African women managers 23:43 - Fighting misogyny and building gender equality in VC 26:18 - From tearing down to building up 29:52 - Fixing problems at scale through democratized venture 31:45 - The Elon factor: Politics, neurodiversity, and friendship Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Techcrunch EIC Connie Loizos talks with Uncork Capital honchos Jeff Clavier and Andy McLoughlin. They discuss how their seed-stage firm is positioning itself in this environment, from a recent investment in AI chip maker Groq to bets on AI-native companies attacking unsexy industries like material sciences and robotics. Plus, the three dig into Uncork's philosophy of finding companies with unique datasets before they become obvious to the market, how Uncork is advising its established portfolio companies to reinvent themselves in an AI-first world, and whether San Francisco's comeback -- driven by AI moolah -- is sustainable. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:48 - Market dynamics and late-stage firms entering seed stage 04:36 - Groq investment and AI chip industry insights 08:37 - Dave Agents investment and round economics 09:20 - Current AI investment themes and portfolio evolution 10:49 - Helping established portfolio companies adopt AI 13:58 - AI's impact on workforce and productivity 17:26 - Investing in unsexy industries with unique datasets 20:52 - Robotics investments and AI-driven automation 21:42 - Competitive positioning and value proposition 25:54 - Secondary market strategy and exit timing 27:37 - Private market democratization policy discussion 31:37 - San Francisco's resurgence as AI innovation center 35:02 - Closing remarks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos speaks with Katelin Holloway, co-founder of Seven Seven Six, the generalist firm that's raised over $1 billion across three funds. They discuss Seven Seven Six's unconventional investment thesis spanning AI-powered stone carving robots to commercial lunar mining, including her bet on Interlune—the first company to sell an off-planet resource back to Earth. Holloway explains why she believes helium-3 harvested from moon dust will generate returns within a decade, how climate tech and space tech are converging in unexpected ways, and why maintaining human connection remains critical as AI transforms the workforce. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:32 - Generalist investment approach 04:00 - Monumental labs: AI-powered stone carving revolution 07:00 - Space tech investment journey and philosophy 10:00 - Interlune: mining helium-3 from the moon 15:00 - The future of space commerce and exit strategies 22:00 - Human connection in an automated world 25:00 - The changing workforce and AI platform shift 30:00 - Closing thoughts and future outlook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos and Alex Gove of StrictlyVC speak with Lara Banks, who leads venture investing at Makena Capital Management. They discuss her firm's $3 billion venture allocation across 30 manager relationships, how she evaluates everything from solo GPs to the AI rollup trend sweeping traditional service businesses, and why she thinks AI companies' "astronomical" revenue growth justifies their sky-high valuations despite massive infrastructure costs. Banks also shares what LPs really learned from 2021's boom-bust cycle and how the secondary market is creating new liquidity opportunities as companies stay private longer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we're sharing an interview from the Equity podcast. Rebecca Bellan chatted with Deedy Das, principal at Menlo Ventures. Das has seen this shift from multiple angles, first as an engineer and product leader at Google, Facebook, and AI startup Glean, and now as an investor helping technical founders figure out how to build enduring companies in this new AI landscape. They discuss how compensation packages and acquisitions are warping startup hiring and retention and how VCs are thinking about key-person risk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos and Alex Gove of StrictlyVC speak with Dimitrious Kottas, the founder and CEO of Delian Alliance Industries. They discuss his journey from Apple's Special Projects Group to building autonomous defense systems in Greece, how his company is reimagining surveillance and strike capabilities using AI and commercial tech, and why he believes we're at the start of a decade-long technological race in autonomous warfare. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 02:04 - Dimitrios's background and journey from Apple to defense tech 05:00 - The founding moment: Why he left Silicon Valley for Athens 08:55 - Starting with surveillance towers: The perception-first strategy 13:21 - Current deployments in Greece and Ukraine aspirations 16:32 - Dual-use applications and critical infrastructure protection 18:39 - The Intercept-Egon series: Concealed autonomous weapons 21:52 - Cost advantages through vertical integration 24:46 - European defense tech landscape and procurement challenges 28:16 - Greece's defense industry and cross-border competition 31:04 - Modular vs. full-stack approach 32:54 - Thoughts on Anduril and the defense tech race 35:00 - Greek roots and the personal nature of European defense Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we're revisiting Connie Loizos' conversation with Aileen Lee, the founder of Cowboy Ventures. They discuss what’s on the horizon for Cowboy Ventures and how she’s thinking about AI’s impact on job creation, automation, and new business models—while also giving listeners a glimpse into Cowboy’s own recent team changes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Mayfield managing partner Navin Chaddha joins Connie Loizos at our event in Menlo Park to break down why the $5 trillion services sector is ready for AI disruption. Navin, an early investor in Lyft, Poshmark, and HashiCorp, explains why the next wave of winners in this space will combine human and AI teammates to deliver outcome-based services with software-like margins. They dive into why legacy firms like Accenture and McKinsey are vulnerable, what makes a true “AI teammate,” and how startups can serve the 100 million businesses priced out of traditional professional services. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 02:05 - Why AI will transform the $5 trillion services industry 05:09 - Lessons from offshoring and the path to AI-powered services 09:22 - The rise of outcome-based pricing and AI margins 10:48 - Backing Groove: A case study in AI-driven security 13:06 - The innovator's dilemma for Accenture and McKinsey 15:52 - Silicon Valley’s marketing problem around job displacement 18:22 - Long-term optimism vs. short-term pain 20:54 - AI valuations, the market disconnect, and FOMO is for sheep Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos is joined by Drive Capital co-founder Chris Olsen. Chris explains how Drive's contrarian approach to fund size, ownership stakes, and geographic focus is generating returns where others firms are right now struggling. Plus: why Silicon Valley billionaires are choosing Columbus, and what the "venture reckoning" means for the industry. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:28 - The $500M Distribution Week Strategy 03:08 - Why Venture Math is Broken for Mega Funds 05:00 - Thoughtful Automation Exit and Portfolio Returns 10:00 - Fund Strategy and Family Office Trends 12:00 - Secondary Sales and Series B Liquidity 15:00 - Post-Mark Kwame Evolution and Geographic Expansion 17:30 - Building Infrastructure Across Six Cities 18:30 - Beyond Pure Tech: AI in Traditional Industries 20:00 - Syndicate Strategy and Solo VC Approach 22:46 - 30% Ownership Stakes and Pricing Philosophy 25:00 - Silicon Valley Exodus to Columbus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Circle co-founder Sean Neville joins Alex Gove of StrictlyVC to discuss building banking infrastructure for AI agents. Fresh off Circle’s 450% IPO surge, Sean has raised $18 million from A16z to create Catena Labs, the first fully regulated AI-native financial institution. They explore what “agent-native finance” actually means, how AI agents will soon handle our payments and treasury management, and why the financial world needs new standards and protocols to make this safe and reliable. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and background 01:24 - Circle's IPO journey 04:12 - What is agent-native finance? 08:24 - Preventing AI hallucination in financial systems 11:07 - Building with real data and human oversight 13:53 - Building regulatory trust and compliance 16:21 - Competing with traditional financial institutions 19:02 - Creating standards for AI-to-AI payments 21:02 - Why this venture will move faster than Circle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, we're bringing you to our recent event in Menlo Park. Connie Loizos was joined by Katie Haun, founder and CEO of Haun Ventures, who shared an inside look at her contrarian "harpoon strategy" that targeted distressed crypto assets during the depths of crypto winter. They explored everything from stablecoin infrastructure to tokenization of real-world assets, to the regulatory landscape shaping crypto's future. They also get into what made Katie step away from A16z to start her own venture and why she believes we're still i the early days of crypto. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 02:58 - The harpoon strategy: investing during crypto winter 04:42 - Stablecoins and cross-border payment infrastructure 08:03 - User experience evolution and enterprise adoption 10:09 - Global investment strategy and A16z relationship 12:13 - Political influence and regulatory landscape 14:59 - The Genius Act: what Katie likes and dislikes 16:24 - Criminal use cases: a former prosecutor's perspective 18:50 - Trump family stablecoin and conflict of interest 20:53 - Tokenization of real-world assets 23:25 - Market adoption and fund updates 24:36 - How Haun Ventures differentiates itself Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Alex Gove and Connie Loizos are joined by Charles Hudson, Founder and Managing Partner of Precursor Ventures, a pre seed and seed stage venture firm that invests at the very beginning of company formation. They discuss his data-driven approach to portfolio management, how he's navigated many changes in the VC landscape, and his thoughts on the evolving LP expectations for liquidity given the recent market volatility. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Alex and Connie are joined by Justin Fanelli, the Acting Chief Technology Officer for the US Navy and Technical Director of Program Executive Office Digital, where he oversees billions of dollars in IT infrastructure and cybersecurity initiatives. He's also a venture partner at NextGen Venture Partners and serves as a senior fellow for the Open Forum for AI. In this episode, they discuss the Navy's innovation adoption kit designed to bridge the "valley of death" between commercial technology and military implementation, the partnership with Defense Innovation Unit to streamline startup onboarding, and how the Navy is measuring success through new outcome-driven metrics that prioritize sailor time saved and operational resilience over traditional activity-based measurements. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and background 03:19 - Innovation adoption kit and valley of death solutions 05:43 - Partnership with Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) 08:27 - Onboarding non-traditional vendors and startups 13:22 - Current pain points and AI adoption challenges 15:37 - Technology modernization and team structure 17:39 - Measuring effectiveness with world class alignment metrics 21:23 - Common failure points in technology adoption 22:09 - America first policies and supply chain resilience Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Alex and Connie are joined by return guest Elad Gil, one of the world’s most renowned solo capitalists, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders in the AI investing space. He has backed companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Figma, and perplexity He’s also the co-host of No Priors. In this episode, they discuss the current landscape for AI investors and Elad offers a peek into what he believes is around the corner. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and Elad Gil's background 01:04 - AI's impact on company scaling and team efficiency 03:36 - AI relationships and the future of human-AI interaction 05:00 - AI hallucinations and setting safety standards 07:30 - Character AI investment and concerns about AI bias in education 10:00 - Open source vs. closed AI models debate 12:15 - AI tutoring for children and societal implications 15:00 - AI-driven business rollups and mature company transformations 20:00 - Market crystallization and winners in AI verticals 25:00 - Founder mode vs. delegation in leadership 30:00 - Identifying technology waves and current AI investments Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, we're bringing you to our recent event in Athens. Connie was joined by Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who shared an inside look at how the country is positioning itself as a refreshed hub for innovation, investment, and participation from the world's technology industry. They explored everything from policy changes to new global partnerships, to Greece's startup momentum — plus they offer a peek into why founders are starting to return to the country from shores near and far. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's episode was recorded live at StrictlyVC London, host Connie Loizos sat down with Accel partner Sonali De Rycker. They discussed Europe's regulatory challenges, compares US and EU tech ecosystems, and explores venture capital's evolving exit strategies in the absence of IPOs. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction to Strictly VC Download and Sonali de Rycker 01:48 - The "Queen of European VC" title and its origin 02:11 - Accel's 25th anniversary in Europe and early challenges 05:38 - Evaluating AI startup valuations in the current cycle 09:03 - European tech potential vs regulatory headwinds 11:37 - Impact of US-EU trade tensions on tech companies 14:22 - Defense tech investment opportunities in Europe 19:31 - Capital restructuring for founder alignment: The Kry example 21:27 - Founder liquidity and lessons from the Hopin experience 23:57 - AI talent retention and closing thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we're taking you with us to our StrictlyVC event in Athens. Connie led a panel discussion with some of Greece's most notable investors about Greece's evolving startup ecosystem. You'll hear from Panos Papadopoulos: Partner at Marathon Venture Capital, Apostolos Apostolakis: Partner at VentureFriends, Marco Veremis: Entrepreneur turned investor who founded and Upstream before co-founded Big Pi Ventures, Myrto Papathanou, Partner at Metavallon VC which invests in early stage companies; and Dimitrious Kottas: Founder of a defense tech startup who returned to Greece after working at Apple in Silicon Valley. The conversation covers everything from the current state of venture funding in Greece, the role of pension funds in the ecosystem, why ambitious founders are choosing to build in Greece, and what systemic changes could further accelerate the country's tech transformation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Alex Gove speaks with Eric Slesinger from 201 Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on seed-stage defense tech startups in Europe. They discuss Eric's journey from CIA to investor and how he recognized the untapped potential in European defense tech while others were dismissive, and how he's working to overcome the cultural taboo that once made defense investments "bad manners" in European VC circles. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and Eric's CIA background 04:17 - Why Europe for defense tech investments 06:32 - Changing European attitudes toward defense technology 09:00 - Ukraine as a testing ground for new technologies 11:24 - Launching 201 Ventures with NATO Innovation Fund 14:30 - Investment partnerships and sourcing strategies 18:07 - The Polar Mist story and maritime defense 20:15 - Gray zone dislocations and technology focus areas 22:59 - Evaluating government demand for new technologies 25:50 - Mission goals and the future of 201 Ventures 28:03 - Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices