We The Builders
Conversations with practitioners at the edge of their craft across business, media, startups, frontier technologies, investing. wethebuilders.us
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Ross Fubini of XYZ Ventures on Investing in Anduril, Advising Palantir and Funding Palantir Mafia
<p>Intro</p><p>I sat down with Ross Fubini, Founder and Managing Partner at XYZ Ventures. Ross has been a venture capitalist for 15 years, cofounded Village Global, and was an early investor in Anduril. XYZ now manages billions in AUM and has over 140 companies in its portfolio, 42 of them founded by ex-Palantir people.</p><p>When Anduril went to raise its A round, Ross couldn’t get firms to take a meeting. Investors were confident you couldn’t make money building products for the government.</p><p>We discuss why this moment feels like the dot com era, how AI c...
He Sold His Company for $2.5 Billion. Now He is Building AI for Logistics | Harish Abbott
<p>Intro</p><p>Every product we use depends on businesses coordinating behind the scenes. A shipment moves because someone calls a carrier, confirms an appointment, checks inventory, or follows up on an email. Those small interactions add up to an enormous amount of work.</p><p>I sat down with Harish Abbott, Cofounder and CEO of Augment. He previously cofounded Deliverr, which Shopify acquired for $2.5 billion, and spent part of his early career at Amazon. He is now building AI teammates for the people who keep goods moving.</p><p>One detail from our conversation stayed with me: Harish...
The Investment Thesis for Rebuilding America | Chris Buskirk (Cofounder of 1789 Capital)
<p>Intro</p><p>This is my first conversation with Chris Buskirk, Cofounder and Chief Investment Officer at 1789 Capital and author of America and the Art of the Possible. We explore his investment thesis for American renewal: backing technological innovation, rebuilding industry, and creating the conditions for a thriving middle class. We discuss defense tech, China, political conviction, charter cities, and what the people at the top of society owe the country.</p><p>What we cover:</p><p>• Inside 1789 Capital: the ambition to build a multi-strategy asset manager and why Chris backed defense technology before it became a popular in...
What Billion Dollar Founders Have in Common | Ali Tamaseb of DCVC
<p>Intro</p><p>This is my first conversation with Ali Tamaseb, General Partner at DCVC, a $5B AUM fund and author of Super Founders. Ali spent years studying billion dollar startups to understand what separates their founders from the rest. We discuss the myths around age, education, cofounders, and industry experience and what the data reveals about building exceptional companies.What we cover:</p><p>* The young founder myth: why age alone doesn’t predict success, and what Ali’s research reveals about billion-dollar founders.</p><p>* Why repeat founders have an advantage and the early signs of ambition, reso...
In Conversation with Bryon Hargis, Cofounder & CEO of Castelion ($13B defense technology company)
<p>Intro</p><p>My first conversation with Bryon Hargis, Cofounder and CEO of Castelion. This is a special edition of our show recorded at Reindustrialize. Since then, Castelion has announced a $1 billion Series C funding valuing the company at $13 billion making it one of the most valuable defense technology companies in the ecosystem. What we cover:</p><p>* Why Bryon sold his SpaceX stock to bootstrap Castelion and bet two-thirds of his savings on the mission.</p><p>* Why affordable, mass-produced hypersonic missiles are central to his vision of American deterrence.</p><p>* Building Blackbeard, winning the first Navy...
Michael Thompson, Board Member at Oklo & Joby on Betting on The Future
<p>Intro</p><p>My first conversation with Michael Thompson who is on the board of Joby Aviation ($JOBY) and Oklo ($OKLO). He previously started Reinvent Capital with Mark Pincus and Reid Hoffman where he was Managing Partner and made early investments in the physical economy through Joby, SpaceX, Nimble Robotics, Oklo and many other companies. This is a special edition of We The Builders conversation from Reindustrialize.</p><p>Watch on YouTube</p><p>Timestamps</p><p>00:00 Intro02:35 From hedge fund to physical-world techonolgies03:45 "Where is all this power gonna come from?" The case for nuclear04:50 Why nuclear stalled07:05...
Somesh Dash on IVP, Firm Building, Venture Investing, The AI Era and Immigration
<p>Intro</p><p>Somesh Dash has been investing in startups for over 20 years at IVP where he is a General Partner. IVP is one of the most prominent venture firms in growth stage investing founded in 1980. In the last almost five decades, they have invested in over 400 companies, with over 135 of them going public. </p><p>IVP is an investor in generational companies like Anthropic, Uber, Snap, Twitter, CrowdStrike, Snap, Robinhood, Figma, Discord, Coinbase. </p><p>I had a wide ranging conversation with Somesh about his thoughts on the craft of investing itself, immigration, IVP’s firm structure, his ro...
Adam Grosser, The Renaissance Man behind UP.Partners on 40 Years of Investing & Building in Silicon Valley
<p>Intro</p><p>This is my first conversation with Adam Grosser, a Silicon Valley OG. Adam has had a front row seat to what Silicon Valley is today from being at the centre of personal computing in the early days of Apple in the 1980s as Director of Engineering to directing products at LucasFilm in 1990s and investing in the still early internet days in the 2000s at Foundation Capital. Adam went on to be a Managing Director at prominent technology focused private equity firm SilverLake and co-created the Up Summit, an exclusive annual event for the future of...
Evan Burns on Building State Affairs, Backed by Khosla Ventures & Founders Fund, The Business of Policy Markets and State of Media
<p>Intro</p><p>This is my first conversation with Evan Burns, CEO of State Affairs. I think Evan is building one of the most interesting companies at the intersection of politics and capitalism, with the ambitious goal of creating the category of “policy markets” which he says is more important than financial markets. In this conversation we discuss the state of media, the thesis and business of State Affairs and more. </p><p>Keith Rabois was one of the first believers in the idea and they just came out of stealth with a $70m seed round funded by Khosla Vent...
Mike Solana of Founders Fund on Creating Celebrity Mafia featuring Tech Elite
<p>Intro</p><p>Mike Solana is the CMO of Founders Fund and Founder of Pirate Wires. Marketing and media teams in technology and venture seem to be in this competition of capturing attention of the right people. The consensus strategy is covering entrepreneurs and investors on a podcast. All that has its own place but you don’t create cultural institutions or artifacts while following consensus strategies. </p><p>I often think about how few cultural institutions get built that matter. They are usually decades in the making and when they arrive, they are timeless and etched in memory. Th...
