WEBVTT - Alexis Ohanian on Life After Reddit 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:04.680 I'm Emily Chang and this is the circuit for two decades. 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:07.800 Alexis o'hannian has a master of fortune, betting on ideas 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:11.240 others overlook. He co founded Reddit when social media was 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:14.520 in its infancy, found success as an early stage investor, 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.960 and has helped launch the recent boom in professional women's sports. 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.720 So you're running a vac firm, advising dozens of startups, 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:25.239 raising two young daughters, trying to reinvent women's sports, all 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:29.600 while maintaining a very public profile. What batteries are you 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:31.280 running on? Because I want some of that. 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:33.840 I mean, it's caffeine, lots of it, a few cups 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:38.440 a day, And I really genuinely love what I do. 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:40.760 And then when the thing that you love doing also 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.680 compensates you really well for it, why would I not. 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:44.120 Want to do it. 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:48.520 O'hannian has also been no stranger to controversy. I caught 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:50.520 up with him in New York to unpack his exit 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:53.200 from Reddit, hear the advice given to him by his wife, 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:56.440 Tennis legend Serena Williams, and to learn about his efforts 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:59.960 to relaunch dig as a social media platform where real people, 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:04.560 not bots, are shaping what we see. Okay, so yes, 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:06.000 are you ready for your ama? 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:08.119 Bring it? Yeah? Oh yeah? 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:11.480 And what's nice you can say that we failed to trademarket, 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:12.720 so it's all yours. 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.800 So you have built your career around this idea of 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:18.480 not waiting for permission? Where does that come from? 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:20.520 I'm just a very impatient person. 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:25.560 And I also I think the middle aged me was 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.080 empowered by the Internet because, you know, I managed to 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:31.360 talk to my parents and getting me a computer. I 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:33.720 managed to talk them into you know, it's a big investment, 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:35.679 and then an Internet connection, and. 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:37.800 Even though they'd had no idea what I was doing. 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.559 On that computer, I found strangers on the Internet willing 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.720 to help me with learning how to code. And at 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:47.240 the time, I mean even just HTMLCSS web design felt 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:49.800 so empowering because I could build a website anyone in 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.240 the world could see and didn't have to really ask 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:55.240 freting permission. And there was something really powerful about that 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:58.120 that I got addicted to. And I'll also never forget 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:01.480 video games got me in a proming and I had 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:04.920 downloaded the Quake two source code. I was able to 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:08.440 change the power of the default blaster to instantly kill 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:10.320 a monster which doesn't seem like that big of a deal. 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:12.960 But as soon as I was playing a version of 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:15.280 this game that I loved that I had just remixed, 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:17.720 I had just changed the source code to make this 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:21.400 thing do my bidding, it felt like a superpower. And 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:24.080 so that feeling that software provided, and then the access 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.080 to the knowledge freely given by experts to me a 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:29.840 door key kid in my parents' house, was life changing. 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:33.079 And I think that altered my brain chemistry enough to think, Okay, 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:34.639 this tool can. 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:36.440 Be so enabling, so empowering. 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:38.360 And by the time I was getting ready to graduate 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:40.960 from high school, my dad, who had been a travel 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:42.880 agent in his whole life, he had started his own 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:46.080 small travel agency a few years earlier, just before the 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.280 rise of the OTA, the online travel agency. So my 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.040 poor dad's business went from making a little bit of 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.800 money every time you sold a plane ticket to zero. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:58.160 They were slashing agent commissions because the future of travel 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:03.960 agencies was dead. And I watched software, This technology, the Internet, 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.080 that I thought was just a fun toy, altered my 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:09.840 family's entire trajectory, and I saw what it did to 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:10.920 my dad and his business. 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:12.079 Thankfully he endured. 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:15.000 They pivoted and he figured out a way, never asked 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:17.960 for a bailout, He just adapted the business. And I said, well, 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:19.639 I want to be on the other side of this disruption. 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:22.560 And so those forces shaped me entirely from middle school 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:24.720 to high school and I just haven't gotten over it. 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.119 I guess you named your firm seven seven six after 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:29.839 the first Olympic Games. Yes, what is the thesis here? 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:31.160 In twenty twenty five AD. 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:34.639 It was a nod to my daughter Olympia. I didn't 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.280 want to name the firm after her, literally because my 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:40.000 wife pointed out if we had another kid, and spoiler 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:42.000 we had another kid, that kid would be jealous. 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:43.360 So good call. 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:45.839 And then the nice story that ties into it is 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.880 in that first Olympics, the first event was a foot race, 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.760 interestingly enough, that was run by a number of folks, 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:54.400 you know, the best athletes in the world, and there 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:57.400 was this cook who heard about the event. True story 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:59.680 gets called up. Besides that, I'm going to go compete, 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.280 runs this event and he's the first ever Olympic champion. 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:04.400 He wins the race a cook. My god, what a 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:08.040 great story, and it is. It's also an even better 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:10.280 story when you realize he wasn't the best athlete in 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:12.320 the world that day. He was the best athlete who 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:14.960 got invited. The Greeks didn't invite a whole ton of 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:17.400 people who just were outside of the Greek world, millions 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:19.520 of people, many of whom were probably faster than that 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.120 Greek guy. But worse, you know, women were not even 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:24.760 allowed to watch the Olympics back then, let alone participate, 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:27.719 so they were missing out in greatness in their own midst. 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:29.960 And the lesson for us that we've. 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:32.839 Architected the firm around is this idea of You know, 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:34.560 when I reflected on my own career at that point 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:36.360 five years ago starting this firm, I thought, well, damn, 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:37.360 this feels like I'm kind of. 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:41.000 Celebrating the cook, and yes, very proud of it. 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:45.000 But our job, especially as the earliest investors in many 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:48.839 of these ambitious ideas, is to not feel in any 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:51.200 way comfortable with the fact that we've done enough to 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:54.640 seek out greatness everywhere, and whether that is in the ideas, 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:56.799 whether that's in the founder. We have to push ourselves 0:04:56.880 --> 0:05:00.440 because otherwise we're just celebrating that cook and this idea 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:02.160 of always being on the starting line, that's our I 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:04.320 ripped off the Jeff Bezos day one thing, but that's 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:06.520 our version of it. And I know, I mean, I 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.280 have the I have seven seven six tattoo to my body. 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.240 This is the last literally literally on my bicycle. This 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:14.080 is this is the last company I'm going to start. 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.000 And I'm so proud of what we do and how 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:17.320 we do it. And I do believe. 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:19.320 You know, if I got to leave my daughters. 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.680 In the morning to go work on the farm, I 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.240 want a really good reason why. I do love the 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.200 time I spend with them, and I'm choosing to work. 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:29.440 But I'm choosing to work because I think one it's 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.679 going to be financially beneficial for the family, but also 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:34.880 more importantly, because I want them to be really proud 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.400 of that and to see these are the things dad 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:39.400 does to be useful and to have an impact and 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:41.840 again provide outside returns, but at the same time do 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:43.719 so in a way that aligns with values and in 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:45.320 a way that I hope makes them really proud. When 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.000 they're teenagers and they can ask me hard questions, I 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:49.440 want to have the best answers possible. 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:52.240 Yeah, you and your partners are on track to meet 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.400 with a thousand founders or have a thousand meetings with 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.360 various entrepreneurs over the course of the year. No, what 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.760 makes your playbook different from everyone else's, Like, why should 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:02.599 they take your money? 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:04.800 The fact that you know that number is one of 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:07.960 the reasons why. Because I've built an entire operating system 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:11.159 called Cerebro that runs our firm, so we actually have data. 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:13.800 We know where we spend our time, we know how 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.120 many intros we make for founders, we know our median 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.080 response time to founders. We literally put them live on 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.560 the homepage because it was so frustrating to me that 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.160 our entire industry kept talking about how useful they were 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.000 and oh, how value add they were, but they never 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.000 actually provided evidence. If I was out pitching my company 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:33.520 and all I did was use adjectives to convince investors 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:35.599 why people love my product, I'd get laughed out of 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.280 a room. They'd say, just show us the data. What 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.360 are you using all these words for? And yet every 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:42.479 VC does exactly that. We're making the case to founders, 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:44.440 So I let the data speak for itself. And we 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:46.839 want to build a culture of accountability to our founders, 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.560 to each other, and just build with software in order 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.600 to scale our networks in order to scale our distribution, 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:55.320 in order to scale all the things that software does 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:55.919 really well. 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.920 Most VC investments don't pay off, like most go to 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:01.000 zero power law. How do you know when to take 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:02.320 a ride and when to pass? 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:07.520 This is the this is the billionaither question, especially at 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.920 early stage, it is overwhelmingly the founder. I have just 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.960 become more and more confident in that fact the more 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:17.040 time I've spent being an early stage investor, and I've 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:19.120 been very lucky to be in early check in amazing companies. 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:25.160 I mean, Coinbase, instacart, row Health, Flock, Flexport, Patreon, the great, 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.680 great companies. The commonality there always comes back to the founder, 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:31.680 often the CEO, but at least one founder who is 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:34.840 really the one that you're betting on. And it's understanding 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:38.880 how much they empathize with the customer, how relentless they're 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:41.760 going to be in building the taste that they have, 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:43.440 And that kind of comes back to the empathy. 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:45.560 It's one thing you have to have that foundational empathy 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:46.080 for the customer. 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.400 Then it's also crucial to have the taste to say 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:50.120 like this is good enough for this isn't good enough. 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:52.760 And then timing is the one thing we can't control 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:55.880 where we still factored in, and I have to be 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.360 sympathetic to that because you know why Combinator rejected the 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:04.200 initial idea, which was my Mobile Menu or MMMM for short. 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:06.160 It was a this is two thousand and five. I 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.200 came up with that name too. See you didn't like it, 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:11.400 but that's okay. And the idea was you could order 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:13.640 food from your phone, but again it was it was five, 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:16.240 so no smartphones. Was a text message, and because I'd 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:18.320 worked in Pizza Hut and we would get those orders 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:20.600 in the kitchen that would come into the printer, it 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:22.560 just made sense to me that, you know, why not 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:24.880 just send the message, have the customer send the message. 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.880 Had that go through anyway? Why c thankfully rejected it 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:29.880 because it was too early. The tech was going to 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:32.920 be too hard to build into restaurants especially, and they said, 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:34.720 come back with some other idea in the next day. 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:36.920 As it goes, you know, we came back with this 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.120 idea and met with Paul and ended up being read 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.000 it software in a browser first, not on a phone, 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:45.040 and so timing killed my company, but in the best 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.360 way possible because we didn't spend the next God we 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:50.079 would have spent the next four or five years trying 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.520 to build, and then the smartphone revolution would have happened 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:54.280 and we probably would have run out of money before then. 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:56.800 So timing's one thing we have to try to anticipate 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:58.640 best we can. Knowing the founder can't affect that, but 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:00.000 really it's a bet on the founder. 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:00.960 Can they pull this off. 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:04.280 What's your snapshot on where venture capital is at the moment. 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:06.760 It's been a really difficult environment. 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:07.920 What's your take? 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:10.800 So, like you said, it's a power law business. So 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:13.839 a disproportion number of the returns that first fifty six 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.360 xdpi fund that came from Coinbase Instacart, there were probably 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:20.040 another fifty investments in that first fund that went to zero, 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:20.560 and that's fine. 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:21.240 It's the power law. 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:25.079 So just like the power law dictates returns in venture, 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:29.680 especially early stage, power law also dictates how venture firms 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:33.280 stack up. And I think you're in a business where 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:38.280 there are these outsized mega firms, right, the sequoias, the 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.120 and reasons, but also the sort of newer generations like 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:44.679 the thrives, and they will continue to get more and 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.400 more capital as they clearly are you know, the big 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:49.280 dogs with the war chest that can double down in 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:51.280 those big winners at the later stage, and then at 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:53.000 the early stage. There are firms I like to leave 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.040 seven seven six is one of them that can win 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:57.680 against all comers and that have a clear value proposition 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.600 and want to be the best early and we'll tell down. 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:01.200 In the bigger winners. 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.000 We just wrote a check in the Stoke SpaceX competitor 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:06.240 that's been doing well that we had seeded. But like 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:09.679 there's a middle of VC firms that are just as 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:12.199 the kids would say, mid that are probably going to 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.800 have a really hard time because they can't get into 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:17.480 the deals that the biggest and baddest firms can easily 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:19.680 get into and have the capital to get into, and 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:22.400 they're not able to get in or maybe even identify 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:24.840 those early stage companies that we feel like we have 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:26.520 an edge, and so I think it's gonna be a 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:28.440 hard time for them, but also for. 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:30.400 The industry as a whole. Look the biggest trend. 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.720 I had a chat with Sama at the robin Hood Summit, 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.800 that's the Foundation proud board member here in New York. 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:38.880 I was interviewing him and one of my clips with 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.440 him went viral because he said it's only a matter 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.440 of time until there is a one person billion dollar company, 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:47.319 and that has stuck in my head. 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:49.160 It's echoed in my head actually for years since. 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.800 You know, for pure software businesses, for sure, founders will 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.080 need less and less capital going forward, which is a 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:57.840 threat to venture. I think again, if you're in that middle, 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.840 you're gonna have a hard time. If you're where we sit, 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:03.880 and you know you can still be that first check. Really, 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:06.520 what it means is less dilution. As founders can get 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.040 to profitability sooner, they don't need to take on more funding, 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:11.000 which means you're not getting deluted, just like they're not 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.040 getting included. And I think I think it ends up 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:15.640 still being a big win. And then it's interesting. You know, 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.040 venture now has spent a lot more time in the 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:21.080 more costly spaces. So just like I said, we did 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:23.480 our first space tech investment five years ago, we're doing 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:25.840 more hardware than ever. You had a great interview with 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:28.600 Palmer Lucky. I was very proud to have been able 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:32.120 to invest in mod retro Is Electronics and Ssumer Electronics company. 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.320 Hardware has always been something that's really excited me as 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:38.200 a software guy because it's always felt a harder as 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:41.000 the name would imply, but it's as a software guy, 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:42.439 you're very in awe of. 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:44.840 Folks who build with atoms. I'll speak for myself. 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.920 Software feels easy by comparison, and I love the fact 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.720 that Venture is now pushing itself to be more ambitious 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:52.920 so that we get to invest in companies that are 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:57.520 building reusable rockets or video game consoles or supersonic jets. 0:11:57.559 --> 0:11:58.280 Are the things that we do. 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.480 You were in the inaugural dominator class, Yeah, two thousand 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:02.080 and five. 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.400 With twenty one years ago, almost twenty years ago. 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:08.040 With Sam Allman's good crew, Steve Hoffman, your co founder, 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:08.760 a Reddit. 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:10.600 The Twitch guys, Twitch guy's Justin Emett. 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:14.560 What advice would you give founders today that's different than 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:15.480 what you got back then? 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:16.480 Oh? 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:19.760 Boy, lots Well obviously look why c's changed a lot 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:22.000 since then. The easy one is the advice that I 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:25.080 would keep the same, which Paul Graham put it on 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:27.079 everyone's shirt, and I think it still holds true, which 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:28.640 is makes something people want. 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:30.920 In twenty years. 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:33.520 Now, I can say, having started multiple companies, seated many 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.000 many more, that founding principle never goes away. And if anything, 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:39.800 in this new world where attention is so scarce, and 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.680 you have to work so hard to get your first hundred, 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:46.040 first thousand, first one hundred thousand, whatever customers. Making something 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:49.040 that people truly want and best case scenario getting them 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:51.840 to prove it by paying money. That's the thing you 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:54.840 wake up for every morning. Even in building the Formula 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.600 one of track and field with athlos all we tell 0:12:57.640 --> 0:12:59.840 our team day over day over day, no matter how 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:01.880 much press we get the day before, no matter what 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:04.400 big moment happens with a brand partnership, or we have 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:08.200 to re earn attention all over again. The next morning 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.440 everyone has forgotten the internet has moved on earn it again, 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:15.040 and that mindset, whether it's earning it again with our athletes, 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.440 with our brand partners, with our fans like that never 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:20.520 goes away, and so that is more important than ever. 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:26.080 Probably the biggest thing I would change is ooh Okay. 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:29.640 So in two thousand and five, it was an eclectic 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.360 group of folks in that first YC batch. It was 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.280 not normal to want to do a startup in two 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:36.160 thousand and five, and that was the genius of YC. 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.679 They realized this opportunity before everyone else did. 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:39.840 Let's give for us. 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.520 It was twelve thousand dollars for two college kids to 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:44.640 go build a company. Maybe it could one day be 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.360 worth billions. Sam is the one exception. I think Sam 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:50.480 very much. He knew exactly what he wanted to build. 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.400 He knew I think he had a roadmap to what 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:56.640 tech could be in the world. Speaking for myself, I 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:58.760 was just happy to not have a boss. I was 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.800 just happy to build something that I cared about every 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.160 day and build something that just seemed fun. I think 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.240 the founders for today need to know just how much 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.160 responsibility they have, and actually most of them do in 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:13.600 what they're building. We can't hide from the fact tech 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:18.560 is undeniably the highest leverage industry in our world. And 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:20.760 you can look at the market caps of the biggest 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:22.280 companies in the world, or you can look at just 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.600 the fact that this technology shapes so much of our world. 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:29.520 And so what I would tell founders is look, and again, 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:30.800 most of them have They're. 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:32.320 Way less naive than I was twenty years ago. 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:34.040 They are very aware of this fact, and so I 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:39.480 would say, move decisively, move earnestly, be aware of what 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:43.080 you're building, and know that like this responsibility starts right now. 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:45.120 For building something that is going to have a very 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.000 big impact in the world and if you are successful, 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:49.200 that's undeniable now. 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:49.960 And I think. 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:54.560 Hopefully it also raises everyone's game up because we can 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:56.960 no longer just sort of dismiss it as like, yeah, sure, 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.080 you know, we build an app for cute cat photos 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.520 that people vote up. And it is I think very 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:04.040 clear just how big this all really is. 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.640 Your portfolio isn't as heavy on core AI as some 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:11.800 other No investments in the frontier labs that I can see. 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:14.920 Did you miss it or are they missing something? 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:18.080 Look, I think as an early stage investor, those frontier 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:20.400 labs have been priced out for a minute. We may 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.440 or may not have some shares in Anthropic, though directly 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.080 on the cap table, not those weird seven layer deep 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:27.800 SPVs that I've seen flown around. 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:31.640 Okay, well that is an you do have shares an Anthropic, yes. 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:33.520 But you know, for an early stage VC, I think 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:37.040 where I've gotten most fired up is at the application layer. 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:39.600 So I seated Flock it was like a decade ago. 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:40.600 Athellis is another one. 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.360 Both computer vision startups back in like twenty fourteen fifteen, 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:47.920 when it was still really basic computer vision. No one 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:50.800 really called it ai because we still hadn't obviously crossed 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:53.520 the threshold. But why those were compelling is that they 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:55.640 were solving a real palm people were willing to spend 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:57.640 money for, and it was, you know, a simple enough 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:01.800 technology that like you could do today. Where we've gotten 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:04.920 really excited is a good example of a company like Doji, 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:07.560 based here in New York that is brought to life 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:09.560 this fashion avatar, the. 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:11.560 Thing we've all wanted since clueless. 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:14.280 In this case, you take a few selfies, you take 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:17.360 a couple full body photos, and you have a beautiful 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:20.320 looking avatar that you can now drop in a URL 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:22.920 for any shopping website at Khulou Vuitton. It could be 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.360 old Navy and see yourself in those clothes here instantly. 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:28.600 And so that was a company we had funded pre 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:30.160 launched when it was just an idea, and a couple 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.360 of founders Thrive actually just invested quite a bit of 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:35.560 cash in that company in their latest round and we're 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:39.360 hopeful like that ends up being where Again, if you 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.760 go back to what makes a consumer app viable and popular, 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:45.600 it's a lot of the same funding principles that have 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:47.840 made Reddit successful and It's about building a great product 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.720 that people love, and I think those foundation folks are 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.880 going to keep thriving on some level. Obviously a lot 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:55.960 of money is going into all that to keep building. 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:59.600 But where I get excited is how our users actually 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:01.360 going to fall. I love the product that does something 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.600 so damn well that even when Google launch is there, 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:06.520 I think Google had some version of like. 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:07.840 Oh yeah, try on your clothes. 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.679 No startup has ever actually been killed by Google launching 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:14.159 a product because they don't understand how to create a 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:16.639 really amazing user experience in that way. 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:18.680 And if anything, it just gives you more validation. 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.560 So you're running a VC firm, advising dozens of startups, 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:26.159 raising two young daughters, trying to reinvent women's sports, all 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:30.560 while maintaining a very public profile. What batteries are you 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:32.400 running on? Because I want some of that? 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:36.560 I Emily, you should talk. You've got a prolific career yourself. 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:39.119 I mean, I think, what is it? I mean it's caffeine, 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:43.080 lots of it, A few cups a day, and I 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.560 really genuinely. 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:45.760