AI's Proactive Future: Building Unprecedented Companies
Related Episodes
AI Demand Drives Valuations, Space Economy Expands, Semiconductor Race Intensifies
Micron's strong earnings reveal robust AI demand, driving memory stock surges and enabling price increases amid hardware sector weakness. Private tech valuations are also soaring, blurring public and private market lines.
View Episode Notes →
AI-Driven Productivity and Rate Cuts Fuel Market Broadening
AI-driven productivity, Fed rate cuts, and deregulation fuel a broadening market beyond tech, favoring cyclicals and quality companies with strong pricing power.
View Episode Notes →
AI Agents, GPT-6 Science, Energy Limits, Accidental Persuasion
AI agents become core productivity tools, GPT-5 hints at AI science breakthroughs, and energy limits compute scaling, while accidental AI persuasion poses the greatest risk.
View Episode Notes →
Enterprise AI Success Hinges on Proprietary Data, Not Commoditized LLMs
Enterprise AI fails 95% of the time because true value comes from proprietary data and specialized workflows, not just commoditized LLMs. Build your AI moat.
View Episode Notes →
Seven Questions for Annual Review Driving Learning and Progress
Transform your year by reflecting on what truly drives energy, removing "boat anchors," and deconstructing fear to unlock unprecedented growth and success.
View Episode Notes →
Venture Capital Bifurcation and Capital-Intensive Innovation Shifts
Venture capital is bifurcating: subscale funds face extinction, while mega-funds become diversified asset managers, shifting focus from software to capital-intensive real assets and defense.
View Episode Notes →Resources
Resources & Recommendations
People Mentioned
- Karim (Ramp Co-founder) - Mentioned as one of the co-founders of Ramp who understood the need for automating expense management.
- Eric (Ramp Co-founder) - Mentioned as one of the co-founders of Ramp who understood the need for automating expense management.
- Brian Strang (Technical Operations Lead at Congress Asset Management) - Featured in a testimonial for Ridgeland, highlighting his positive experience with their asset management technology.
- David George (General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz) - The main guest of the episode, leading the firm's growth investing business.
- Patrick O'Shaughnessy (CEO of Positive Sum, Host of Invest Like the Best) - The host of the podcast.
- Ali Ghodsi (CEO of Databricks) - Described as a "technical terminator" founder who transitioned from a technical role to an excellent business leader.
- Mark Zuckerberg (Co-founder of Facebook) - Cited as an example of a "technical terminator" founder.
- Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla and SpaceX) - Cited as an example of a "technical terminator" founder.
- George Kurtz (CEO of Crowdstrike) - Cited as an example of a "technical terminator" founder who became a great business person.
- David Baszucki (Founder of Roblox) - Described as a technically brilliant founder, deep in the product, and ruthlessly competitive.
- Dylan Field (CEO of Figma) - Described as a "brutally ruthlessly competitive" founder despite a nice demeanor, leading a company with exceptional product.
- Michael (Cursor Founder) - Mentioned as a "very special founder" with a team aggressively pursuing the enterprise.
- Shiv Rao (Founder of Abridge) - A practicing cardiologist who shifted to building a technology company, showcasing relentlessness and intensity.
- Travis Kalanick (Co-founder of Uber) - Presented as a counter-example to the "technical terminator" archetype, ideal for a "pure battle" market.
- Ben Horowitz (Co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz) - Mentioned for his role in shaping the firm's culture and decentralizing decision-making.
- Marc Andreessen (Co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz) - Mentioned for his role in shaping the firm's culture and decentralizing decision-making.
- Bob Swan (Operating Partner at Andreessen Horowitz) - A mentor who provided advice on calendar management and leverage.
- John Donahoe - Mentioned alongside Bob Swan for their practice of reviewing and cutting 30% of their calendar activities annually.
- Peter Levine (Partner at Andreessen Horowitz) - Discussed his urgency to invest in Figma, highlighting the firm's competitive drive.
- Alex Rampell (Partner at Andreessen Horowitz) - Quoted for his saying: "the best businesses in the world don't have customers they have hostages."
- Fred Wilson (Co-founder of Union Square Ventures) - Referenced for his heuristic on selling investments ("sell a third, hold a third, hold a third forever").
- Martin (Andreessen Horowitz Partner) - Leads the infrastructure fund and noted for his enthusiastic reaction to Cursor's product-market fit.
Organizations & Institutions
- Congress Asset Management - Where Brian Strang works as a Technical Operations Lead, highlighted in a testimonial for Ridgeland.
- Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) - The venture capital firm where David George is a General Partner, discussed for its growth investing strategy and culture.
- Positive Sum - Patrick O'Shaughnessy's firm.
- Google - Referenced for its rapid growth with the example of ChatGPT reaching its scale four times faster. Also mentioned in relation to ad monetization and search.
- Facebook - Referenced for its ad monetization, user base, and for being an example of a consumer internet company.
- Shopify - Mentioned as a company whose finance teams use Ramp.
- Stripe - Mentioned as a company whose finance teams use Ramp.
- Sutton Bank - Card issuer for Ramp.
- Uber - Mentioned as a company where Travis Kalanick was a founder.
- Databricks - A company backed by a16z, with its CEO Ali Ghodsi mentioned as an example of a "technical terminator" founder.
- Figma - A company backed by a16z, with its CEO Dylan Field highlighted for his competitive drive.
- SpaceX - A company backed by a16z, mentioned in the context of American dynamism.
- Anduril - A company backed by a16z, mentioned for its strong product demand.
- OpenAI - A company backed by a16z, creators of ChatGPT, highlighted for its rapid growth and brand dominance.
- Cursor - An AI startup backed by a16z, mentioned for its viral growth and unique product.
- Harvey - An AI startup backed by a16z, mentioned for its growing customer engagement due to improved AI models.
- Abridge - An AI startup backed by a16z, with its founder Shiv Rao highlighted for his dedication.
- Snap - Mentioned as a consumer internet company that private markets looked at over 10 years ago.
- Twitter - Mentioned as a consumer internet company that private markets looked at over 10 years ago.
- Zendesk - Mentioned as a company with a seat-based business model for customer support.
- Apple - Referenced for the high consumer surplus provided by its products like the iPhone.
- Waymo - Google's self-driving car company, discussed as an example of a long-term technology investment that eventually saw explosive growth.
- Tesla - Mentioned in comparison to Waymo's self-driving efforts.
- DARPA - Referenced for its challenge that contributed to the development of autonomous driving technology.
- Lyft - Mentioned in comparison to Waymo's market share in San Francisco.
- Crowdstrike - A company whose CEO George Kurtz is cited as an example of a technical leader who became a great business person.
- Roblox - A company backed by a16z, with its founder David Baszucki highlighted for his technical brilliance and competitiveness.
- Genentech - Mentioned in the context of a co-founder of multiple successful companies.
- Salesforce - Used as an example of an incumbent enterprise software company that could be disrupted by AI-driven business model shifts.
- Workday - Mentioned as a market leader in its sector, similar to Salesforce.
- ServiceNow - Mentioned as a market leader in its sector, similar to Salesforce.
- TikTok - Referenced for its aggressive growth fueled by advertising on platforms like Facebook.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) - Mentioned as one of the major cloud providers.
- Microsoft Azure - Mentioned as one of the major cloud providers.
- Google Cloud Platform (GCP) - Mentioned as one of the major cloud providers.
- Coinbase - A company backed by a16z, mentioned as one of their largest investments.
- X.ai - A company backed by a16z, mentioned as one of their largest investments.
- Flock Safety - A company backed by a16z, mentioned as one of their largest investments.
- Palantir - Mentioned as a company whose alums contribute to the "know-how" of companies like Anduril.
Websites & Online Resources
- joincolossus.com - The podcast's website where listeners can find episodes and subscribe to Colossus Review.
- psum.com - Patrick O'Shaughnessy's firm's website.
Other Resources
- Colossus Review - A quarterly publication by Join Colossus featuring in-depth profiles of founders, investors, and companies.
- Glengarry Glen Ross (movie) - Referenced for the Alec Baldwin scene about a ruthless sales contest, used as an analogy for competitive technology markets.