TBPN, Jack Altman, a16z, Now It’s Lightspeed's Media Move

[00:00] Claire Zhao, an investor who's also a creator. I think I've taken the most productized, techie approach to building content. When I first started, I told myself, I can just build this to like 10,000, 20,000 people who care deeply about tech and innovation. I'll be happy. I think across all platforms, I reached 350,000 plus people. Across all platforms, I've got 10 million impressions monthly. I had brands like Vanta, Perplexity, Meta, like all of them knocking on my door being like, please, can you share what we're building with our audiences and formal partnerships with them?

[00:30] Zowie talks. It wasn't honestly even a point of discussion. They're like, oh, obviously you'll continue to have your own platform in the same way that I think Fred Wilson at USV continues to have Durham Blog or Bill Gurley and BG2. And the army of A6 and Z. Yeah, and that too. Yeah, yeah. [00:54] Well, that was a dramatic reveal. I know. I felt bad because I was like... [00:58] what if it is underwhelming? They were like, we want, we want to capture what it's like when someone sees it for a first time.

And it's about, it's been fun. So it's so fun. I feel like I could look at everything for like an hour. I know. I feel like this could be Lightspeed's little museum of toy room. Yeah. Yeah. And everything, I mean, they have all, I actually think, um, we have little bits and pieces that are not support folio companies. So yeah. Does anybody call you [01:28] Name actually started because in middle school, that's what people would call me. Really? Yeah. And then I just kept it as Zowie. And like I would, you know, when you're in middle school, you have your jerseys and it would be Zowie.

And so that was my handle on Instagram for my personal account. And then I started posting in Spellf. [01:45] And I was like, I don't know what to do. I don't want to put like Claire Zhao Talks or like Claire Zhao Tech. So I used Zowie. Yeah. I just hear the song in my head, like Maui, wowi, Zowie, wowi. Maybe that should be my theme song. Yeah. Make it your theme song. Okay. So we have to talk about what we're doing in here. So what is going on right now? You are one of our first external guests in the Lightwork podcast room.

And we've actually been teaming this up for a while. Josh, who you met a couple of weeks ago. [02:15] had joined... [02:17] Lightspeed and he kind of [02:19] wanted to introduce this [02:21] next generation what lights would look like and part of that was [02:25] having obviously a new media presence. So [02:28] A big part of that was this podcast. And in order to have a podcast that represented all the things Lightseed was working on, the tastes behind it all, we have the space now. [02:37] So why and how did he manage to bring you in?

Yeah, it's funny because I [02:44] he found me through tiktok i think um which is actually was [02:48] one of my earliest platforms, I started posting in [02:52] March of 2025 and then it [02:55] on Instagram in June of 2025. And then- That's it? Yeah. I feel like you've like completely- [03:02] just dominated this base really yeah I don't know I mean part part of me sometimes feels like it's just this like internet side quest that I had and it's not real like I'm like oh that's just my like fake side job [03:13] But yeah, through it and...

[03:16] the fall I got an email from Josh and he had just joined Lightspeed and I'd I think seen him on TV and I was like oh this is cool [03:23] obviously a lot of noise around new media. And I thought he just wanted to chat about [03:28] the space, like exchange notes. I thought he was thinking about [03:31] building out TikTok and Instagram. And I was like, happy to yap about it. You know, there are not that many people. [03:37] who are thinking about [03:38] short form, who are thinking as deeply about new media as Josh does.

And so [03:43] I had the conversation and that kick-started our [03:47] discussions of what this could look like. And yeah, that's how I got brought into all this. [03:51] Yeah, Josh is a legend. Yes, yeah. And I had obviously seen all of his stuff at Redpoint and had... [03:57] been entertained by a lot of the Redpoint content. And so when he [04:01] to me there is this interesting opportunity to think a lot about what [04:06] how we could extend Lightspeed's brand beyond the tech and venture ecosystem, because it does have a really strong brand [04:12] even for me as someone who started in venture six years ago, [04:15] obviously New Lightspeed, as I was just starting, has followed a lot of its journey over the years.

But I think really recognizing that for the mainstream, [04:25] Mm-hmm. [04:26] figuring out who is kind of the go-to source for tech and meet, um, tech and startup content. I still feel like there's, um, there's a lot of white space there. This is why I'm so excited to talk to you. I was like really like fangirling over this because there are not many people in venture that join this like kind of like new media cult or whatever that aren't, you know, like as independent or build out a platform like that.

And then you built it out on Instagram and [04:56] is a huge difference in people with the expertise of the industries coming on and making stuff and explaining it out and so I guess before I keep on trying to yeah you know explain that further but could you just share like how and like what Zowie Talks is and like why you bring this differentiated perspective and like again I'll stop but yeah yeah I think I [05:20] I've obviously been in the venture space for a while now. [05:25] started as an associate six years ago.

I was at a firm called GSB. And so have been a consumer of a lot of venture content. I think I've swollen sorcery since 2023. I've been, you know, [05:37] just in awe of what you've been able to build, in awe of what people like Dora Cash and Lex Freeman, the like high quality content that is being put out in the space, seeing TBPNs rise. I'd been [05:48] observing all of this [05:51] But time and time again, every time I would have conversations with [05:54] my friends and family or my younger brother who's in college.

[05:58] It just felt like a lot of what I was seeing in this [06:01] you know, this unique window into the future, which I feel very privileged to have access to through my day job. [06:07] wasn't being translated [06:08] elsewhere. And so I was thinking a lot about where I could meet people, [06:12] I've always been big on writing. I have a sub stack that I wrote and my previous firm grew that to about 15,000 readers. [06:21] And that was great. I loved building community. I've always... [06:24] Love doing that.

Actually, fun fact, before I started all of this, I was big on Tumblr. That was like my first beret into community building. I think I, as a middle schooler, built a Tumblr following of like, [06:35] 20,000 people. What? Yeah. And I know that was like my other, I think my other side job. They've always been [06:43] very digitally native, thinking a lot about how you build community, even in digital spheres. And so [06:50] was taking all those lessons, was seeing all this adventure, and I just felt like, [06:54] there wasn't a place for people who wanted to understand what was happening [06:58] in venture and startups, I felt like having had conversations with people who were maybe [07:03] more outside of the traditional text here.

They only hear headlines or they see the funding announcements or they see [07:12] you know. [07:12] AI is going to take your job. Or they see content that's like, [07:16] Here are 10 prompts to... [07:19] make you a million dollars overnight. And so I just felt like there was a massive discrepancy in all the high quality stuff that I was seeing from you, from our cash, from TBTN. [07:27] And none of those insights [07:30] being translated to [07:32] people who are outside of tech. And I don't, I think people are genuinely curious and people are genuinely excited about innovation, about startups.

They just don't have like an easy entry point to that. So yeah, about a year ago, decided to just try posting one today. I honestly thought... [07:47] When I first started, I told myself, if I can just build this to like 10,000, 20,000 people who care deeply about tech and innovation, I'll be happy. And I can yap at them and share my thinking. [07:58] And yeah, it's just now slowly grown to what it is. We now reach, I think, across all platforms, I reach 350,000 plus people. We do like north of...

[08:09] across all platforms, getting 10 million impressions monthly. [08:13] which is just insane to think about because when I first started I was really the goal was like [08:17] I don't know, 20,000 people and maybe... [08:20] getting in front of 100,000 eyeballs a month. So what are the top performing types of content that you have? Is there like a specific kind that just always works? I have a series that I do called Hot Startup Rounds that has done really well. [08:34] I think [08:36] Contrary to like what we know as our daily jobs and, you know, it feels like we live and breathe this stuff.

A lot of people actually don't feel like they have visibility into startup fundraisers and where money is going. Like they'll hear about the open AIs and the anthropics of the world raising large rounds or, you know, pre IPO stories, but actual visibility into the earliest stages of building. [08:57] I realize that a lot of people are actually very interested in that, right? I think in what's being seeded, early stage ideas... [09:05] And [09:06] Oftentimes, [09:07] It's actually interesting. [09:08] I'll get comments like, where do you hear about certain fundraising? I'm like, [09:11] It's a no brainer, tech crunch, like textbook, crunch base.

It's all stuff that feels very intuitive to us. But I started externalizing a lot of that. And so once a week I would share [09:20] Two or three startups that I think were notable, they didn't necessarily have to be the largest fundraisers. It could be interesting tech, it could be interesting stories. [09:29] Those videos have done really well because I think people care about genuinely what's being funded, what type of technologies are emerging. And then I do a lot of content around breaking down general tech news, I would say. [09:42] Usually with the angle of what is this?

[09:45] Why does it matter? And why [09:47] where does the world move from here? I think [09:50] Oftentimes people get the headlines, but they don't really have the venture or startup perspective. Yeah, the context. Yeah. And so I try to bring that context and I try to make it accessible and accessible. [10:01] in a way where [10:03] I think oftentimes in the VC world, there's a lot of [10:06] VCs talking to VCs or startups talking to startups and [10:11] And recognizing that there's this opportunity to make sure that that narrative expands beyond the, you know, the circled out.

[10:17] we got access to. Yeah, going the route of Instagram, TikTok is totally different. And it is a completely, it's a more mainstream audience. Meanwhile, like there is a lot of people in tech that do watch TikTok. [10:32] TikToks all day and maybe Instagram reels all day. But like what, like what part of that aspect of talking to that audience has also like increased your perspective on like where we are in tech? Like, what do you see? Because there's obviously lots of headlines saying, well, [10:47] AI is horrible, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But like, what, what are you like, kind of seeing between the lines? Yeah. [10:53] I feel like [10:54] when I immediately when I started [10:56] It was actually pretty humbling because I was like, oh, this is very... [11:01] the reaction to these things are very different than what I'm seeing on Twitter. And it just felt like I was navigating two different universes. I think good examples are... [11:10] you know, when I talk about AI or when I [11:14] conceive information about AI [11:16] on tech Twitter. It's obviously very techno-optimist. We're excited about it.

[11:21] With anything being blasted to mainstream, there's [11:24] always [11:25] a lot of skepticism around big tech, a lot of skepticism around whether or not these technologies actually work, a lot of anger around this [11:33] you know, big tech is just coming in and taking all of our jobs. And so [11:37] It was interesting navigating both because I think for a while I was very insulated in this world. And, you know, by default, being in this job, you have to be optimistic about the future. You have to be like. [11:47] I think you have to be protected to be in venture, to believe in the promise of this technology.

[11:53] leading to like a collective net benefit for humanity. [11:58] And so I was sitting in this world [12:01] But then in the comments, I think recognizing that [12:04] that excitement didn't necessarily translate or spread because every headline they were seeing was, [12:12] very doom and gloom or like the most extreme versions of it. And so I think there was an interesting opportunity to basically try bringing some of that nuance and that excitement and that techno-optimism into the mainstream. [12:24] And also, I think recognizing that [12:27] You know, when I was...

[12:28] in college, I felt like [12:30] the general atmosphere around tech was [12:33] this opportunity to [12:35] improve [12:37] society with technology, this idea that you can go tinker and build stuff in your garage. And I felt like that was my view of tech, and it still is. [12:45] But I think some of that has been lost in the mainstream now. It's like a lot more about these AI overlords and jobs being taken and data centers and so on. [12:54] Yeah, I felt like there was an interesting opportunity to intermediate and hopefully translate some of those stories into...

[13:00] public sphere. So are you going to keep doing Zowie talks in this new role? Like, how is this being set up? Yeah. That was a really important... [13:10] point for me was that I think as [13:13] even an investor generally, like you should always have an opportunity to [13:19] hold your views independently and have [13:22] editorial control of what you say and how you think about the world. And I think [13:27] Most venture funds, and even at a place like Lightspeed, having differing [13:32] views is welcome. Like, it's what makes us all better.

And so I think for me, it was really important having Zowie Talks as the space that I could continue to refine my ideas, continue to interface with the public sphere. And in the same way that I think [13:46] when you have [13:48] in the VC ecosystem, a lot of people who have independent X accounts, or they have independent blogs, like those are places where they can share their independent thinking. And that in turns, actually, I think enriches, [13:59] the overall firm's collective understanding of, you know, [14:04] nuance and also understanding of different opportunities and like I think nurturing of like healthy discussion and so [14:10] It wasn't honestly even a point of discussion.

They were like... [14:15] obviously you'll continue to have your own platform in the same way that I think if you look at a [14:20] Fred Wilson at USV continues to have their own blog or the various exit counts of investors in the ecosystem or like Bill Gurley and BG2 or sorry, Brad Gershner and formerly Bill Gurley on BG2. This idea that like you can still have an outlet where you share ideas and it doesn't have to be absorbed into the firm. [14:39] And the army of A-16Z. Yeah, and that too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I am very envious of your role because you pulled off something... [14:47] no one thought could be achieved ever before. Yeah. You have a split role between investment team and media team. Yeah. How does that work? Yes. I think... [14:58] I'm so grateful that Lightspeed is a place where they kind of take bets on new ideas like this. I think [15:05] um, [15:06] when i was having conversations with the light seat team actually there wasn't that much [15:10] convincing that that needed to happen because... [15:13] It felt very intuitive when I had these conversations with the team.

[15:16] that this idea that you have investors, like the role of an investor is very [15:21] narrative oriented. You are... [15:23] often selling [15:25] a startup, you were selling [15:27] investors in your fund, you're selling partners on why they should pick you. And so I think this idea of storytelling, this idea of [15:35] Narrative driving is core to the job. [15:39] But people... [15:41] It's just never been, I think, [15:43] formalize, I guess. And you see it with like previous generations where [15:48] Investors have always been [15:50] writers. They've always been podcasters.

There's a reason why so many investors put their ideas out into the world, because it in turn brings them interesting opportunities. It builds their brand. Founders know what they stand for. And so I think... [16:03] In this sense, when I had conversations with the LightSeed team, [16:07] there wasn't ever a tension or you have to pick one side. It actually felt quite intuitive to have this role where, especially if you are the person that is driving a lot of, [16:17] New media, thinking a lot about [16:20] the brand and reaching [16:22] people even as their pre-founders and converting them and activating them into this ecosystem, then it's sort of a no-brainer to actually be also investing in those people as well.

And so I think of really my role as [16:35] building that massive wide net top of funnel into the Lightspeed community? How do we get people, even when they're a college kid, thinking about AI and tech? How do we get Stanford PhDs who might not have ever been exposed to the VC commercial world, but are still interested in tech and AI and can learn from the Lightspeed community? How do we get [16:55] operators who [16:58] similarly, haven't been exposed to like [17:00] How to be a founder. [17:01] And so really targeting these pre-founder archetypes and then [17:06] My job is to build that out and then think deeply about how we can systematically make sure that we're converting that talent density into interesting opportunities, especially at the early stages of precedency stage.

[17:19] Well, I think that's a great question. [17:20] We have to talk about the show. Yes. So what does the show entail? Are you going to do it every day? Are you going to be live streaming? What is it going to be? I mean, there's so much interesting stuff happening in the ecosystem with like, [17:34] MTS and TVPN, I feel like they're that [17:37] Space has been filled with a lot of high quality content. [17:42] I think you have really in-depth [17:44] interviews from folks like Dwarakash, you, the ability to see [17:49] the behind the scenes of some of these startups and spaces, I think, [17:54] there's opportunities there, but I really think of this as, [17:58] again, a space where [18:01] we can recap what's happening in the ecosystem.

I really felt like where I've had success in this space [18:07] has been playing translator for [18:09] people who are just starting to think about tech and AI and startups, uh, [18:15] and make sure that all those stories that we're seeing in Silicon Valley get told to these audiences. And so I think of Lightwork as our opportunity to introduce all those people into politics. [18:26] Lightspeed Sphere. We're not only going to cover Lightspeed stuff. I think there's [18:31] an immense opportunity to just be this place where people can [18:35] digest what's happening in startups, what's happening in deep tech, what's happening in AI.

And what we'll do is [18:41] cover a couple stories every week. [18:43] try make sense of the world. Josh and I will probably riff on our takes on these things. We'll have guests from Lightspeed. We'll have guests from portfolio companies. We'll have guests [18:53] even outside of our portfolio, experts who are building in this space and hopefully [19:00] that will allow some of the mainstream audiences to have this sort of entry point into [19:05] the Lightspeed universe and what we're thinking about. And in turn, not only just the Lightspeed universe, but also the venture startup ecosystem.

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There's that. I think a lot of people are very curious about this idea of an AI bubble. [20:56] uh, [20:57] I think... [20:58] there's [21:00] People have kind of seen the... [21:02] the rise and fall of crypto as this life-changing technology and haven't really [21:08] seen that tangibly reach their lives. [21:11] I do think [21:13] They're... [21:14] is this interesting moment where a lot of people have skepticism about [21:19] whether or not [21:20] AI is actually going to tangibly change our lives [21:23] for the better. And I can go, you know, into that whole narrative issue there.

I think people are curious about just, [21:31] the OpenAI, Anthropic, XAI, Google, who's going to come out of this? What happened to these big models? I think there's a lot of discussion around... [21:42] geopolitical tensions. I think [21:46] a lot of discussions around [21:49] the [21:50] Even like deep tech, I think there's excitement about robotics, excitement about autonomous vehicles, about space. [21:56] So those are probably the things that are kind of percolating in my mind right now. Well, what are you most excited about? I am... [22:05] I think for... [22:07] My role as plain translator, I've had to cover everything, but I am most excited about telling stories really about [22:13] the startups in the ecosystem and honestly a lot of the innovation happening.

I think a little less [22:19] I think there are a lot of people on the ground, for example, covering Elon Musk. [22:24] versus OpenAI trial. [22:27] I think there are a lot of people covering the politics of it all, but I think [22:31] what I would like to [22:33] inject in the space is what I frankly feel, which is this optimism around innovation and tech and startups. And this idea that we are in this unprecedented moment where [22:45] I'll... [22:46] we have never seen the sort of [22:48] step change in technology and we're really just [22:51] accelerating in ways that we've never seen before.

And so how do we make sure that we're sharing those stories that [22:58] What what does AI unlock and. [23:01] healthcare and medicine and climate. And it feels like in a world where all the headlines are centered around AI is going to take your job. [23:08] Elon and Sam are fighting. [23:10] AI data centers are going to ruin everything. [23:14] hopefully not not ignoring those stories I cover those often but also recognizing that this is [23:20] a very exciting time for humanity and for builders and for people who are curious about [23:25] future like this is truly just a once in a lifetime moment and so hopefully making sure we tell those stories so that people can feel like they they can be part of it too and not not necessarily locked out in [23:37] and

[23:38] the permanent underclass, if you will. One of the things I find really interesting about the AI narrative is that Stanford study on Gen Z, like hating AI, which I just think makes no sense because they actually don't know a world without AI. They would be going into investment banking. I don't know if they've changed and be like, you know, doing ridiculous menial types of tasks over and over again, all this like repetitive work. Yeah. Like it's they're technically like [24:04] The most jobs that [24:07] are being replaced or they're they're getting more efficient like or the ones that [24:13] you wanted to bang your head against your desk.

- Yeah. - It was funny 'cause we were talking about this yesterday. Even when I was doing my newsletter, [24:21] I thought this was like beneficial to me, but I just can't keep up with it anymore because it's so manual. I would go in every week and I would take all of the top funding announcements and I would put them in a newsletter. I would organize them. I'd make sure the links work, like all this stuff. It would take me like three hours. Yeah. [24:40] I still don't know how to do it.

But like there's jobs like that and jobs, especially in investing, where it's like you would have to pull from so many different sources to find actual information and data. But now you just click these buttons, you type these things and it's like ready to go. Yeah. So I don't know. I just I just think like. [25:00] One, I think those, like, narratives on, like, Gen Z is... [25:04] they're just so lucky that even if they are saying that, I don't think it's true because they just don't know a world without it.

And two, like... [25:13] it's only getting better like it's getting a lot better yeah and um the jobs that were once before like they just [25:20] You don't want to be doing repetitive work. That's what it's replacing. Yeah. I have a lot of thoughts on this because I also, having been at a firm where we... [25:29] covered a lot of like workforce tech and labor changes. I mean, my, I, [25:33] My thoughts on this are that it's very easy to... [25:37] overestimate the short term [25:39] impact of technologies and [25:42] very difficult to actually...

[25:44] remember the potential long term. And I think if you really zoom out, [25:50] to your point there were if you look at like 100 years ago um people had to go to libraries and read books yeah which i i still recommend but but i don't like to get like any sort of information any sort of financial information you'd have to like [26:05] read yes physical information but i'm just thinking even to your point around like the menial tasks that have [26:11] evolved right like we had people were literal door knock like alarm clocks human alarm clocks like they would walk around [26:17] but this was before we, the invention alarm clock, we had people, their jobs were to wake up in the morning and go to door to door to wake people up.

And so like, [26:26] Yes, that is a job, but [26:28] Mm. [26:29] that person now... [26:30] you know, 150 years later is probably doing something a lot more fulfilling and interesting than being a human alarm clock. Or we... [26:37] you know, I think when I think about computers, right, like we literally had [26:41] women plugging wires in and out to, to, [26:45] process compute and so [26:47] I think jobs will always evolve. [26:49] I think it's easy to look at today and [26:52] see this technology and [26:56] I don't even think there's really a...

[26:59] True. Maybe for... [27:01] certain roles like [27:02] coding, contact center work. [27:04] where you do see one-to-one replacements, but most times you see that labor being extracted to like a higher, more useful level. I think, for example, the banking system. [27:14] analogy, I did a video a couple of days ago on cloud finance agents and, you know, obviously a lot of fear around this is going to take multi analysts, what happens to analysts and I'm like, [27:23] when analysts were staying up till 2am moving logos around and [27:27] like manually typing notes, was that a fulfilling [27:32] task for them.

Probably a more fulfilling task is learning the judgment and storytelling around how to pitch or how to tell a story around an IPO. Like that's a much more interesting task for an analyst to do than manually moving logos, which AI can do now at 2am. And so I always, I think, [27:50] There's a little bit of a tunnel vision when it comes to this labor story. And I also do 100% agree. There's just... [27:57] And maybe this is where I feel like a strong... [28:00] Um, [28:01] passion about is just [28:04] this whole idea that like tech is [28:07] often [28:08] misinterpreted.

Like AI itself is just this [28:12] encompassing thing that people, they don't recognize like the ways that it's used already. It's, we've already had AI for Siri, facial recognition. And so this idea that you can now suddenly be like, I'm anti-AI is just, [28:25] To your point, so [28:26] foreign to me. And I hopefully through the content that I can put out, people can build that nuance and understanding that like, yes, AI can be used. [28:34] for personalized cancer vaccines. It can be used to create really cool Disney animatronics. And it's not just like better search engine or, you know, [28:43] uh ai girlfriend ai boyfriend which i feel like right now in people's heads that's what ai represents because you have such a strong like [28:53] pulse on [28:55] how people perceive things in the mainstream through these different social channels.

Given that you are an expert in this, it's your job. How do you think... [29:06] these big companies that are receiving like lots of backlash, how do they curb that image? Yeah. [29:12] Yeah. Whether it's open AI, anthropic, you know, like... [29:15] Yeah, I mean, I think generally [29:18] the AI world has [29:21] an issue around like expectations versus delivery of the, um, I think, um, [29:27] when we have these [29:29] very dramatic statements about white collar go [29:33] work going away or, um, [29:36] you know, [29:37] We will see...

We will have AGI by 2027. Like... [29:42] I think you feed into this frenzy and people are confused. They're trying to make sense of world. So they fall into this frenzy. But then time and time again, at least over the last few years, [29:52] it hasn't turned out that way. [29:55] So I think... [29:57] There was almost like a... [29:58] boy who cried wolf dynamics coming out of like the AI world sometimes where if you're deep in it and you're following the way that we do like I [30:06] I'm excited because every single thing feels like a step change.

And we're continually seeing the privacy, like, this technology is evolving faster than ever. I'm seeing the capabilities that get unlocked. But then I think if you're... [30:17] a person outside of tech, you're basically hearing like, this thing's going to become super intelligent and we're going to reach a singularity. [30:24] And then every time you see a new release, it's like, [30:26] Oh, wait, there are still hallucinations. Oh, wait, this thing actually can't do a lot of things. What are these tech bros saying? And so I think that's a dynamic at play here is...

[30:37] The tech industry, I think, can do a better job of inviting people in. I think there's a lot of [30:44] to what we were discussing, this like permanent underclass discussion is probably not very conducive to people [30:50] feeling excited about technology and innovation. I think there's opportunities [30:55] where people, especially when I've done videos, breaking down the technology, people have been like, "Wait, this is actually really cool." Or, "This is how AI should be." So I'm like, [31:03] Guys, this is how AI has been... [31:06] you know when i think about like isomorphic labs or what um demis and and his team are doing with all the fold like [31:13] Because these stories are not told, the...

[31:16] mainstream's conception of tech and AI is limited to the very scary headlines and less so the optimistic, exciting, [31:24] step changes that we're making in all of these important fields. [31:28] So yeah, I think [31:30] often the [31:32] The work to be done here is real... Or the job to be done here is to really... [31:36] hopefully externalize some of the [31:38] the progress that's being made in tangible ways. Because I think if you go to an average person and you say, [31:45] look like [31:46] uh, [31:48] whatever new model has now achieved xyz on what benchmark like that doesn't mean anything to [31:56] a person on the street.

And so how do we make sure that we we tell those stories and we make sure [32:01] that it's known that people in the Texas, like I think a lot of people in Texas genuinely believe in a better future. Like I don't think everyone is in this industry because everyone's trying to be a supervillain. And so how do we make sure that [32:12] there is some sort of leveling between these two spaces. [32:16] Who do you think tells the story best? [32:18] I think... [32:20] Dworkash does a really good job.

CEOs. Oh, CEOs. Um, I actually, I was having a discussion about this a few days ago. We had, uh, [32:29] Robbie had a book talk discussion with Sebastian Malaby. He recently wrote the infinity machine on Demis and, [32:37] I think of the prominent AI leaders [32:41] I think... [32:42] Demis does a pretty good job of actually... [32:46] translating the technology into... [32:49] more [32:51] quantifiable and tangible ways for like your... [32:54] every person because I think there's a lot of focus on like [32:57] benchmarks and a lot of focus on unlocking

[33:00] And you see the unlocking capabilities in certain deeply technical spaces like coding, [33:07] But I think [33:08] the work that Google and Demis has done around storytelling, around AlphaFold, around... [33:15] what they can unlock in games of [33:18] AlphaGo and AlphaZero. Like, I think that has been helpful because it's [33:22] tangible for people to see the step change in [33:25] gaming versus I think when you [33:27] just put a benchmark in front of a person. They're not really... [33:29] They don't know even how hallucinations work. So it's... [33:33] It's.

[33:34] hard to make them care about this technology when it doesn't really [33:38] impact their daily life. So I don't know, that's probably my answer. But I think, um, [33:44] I think Dario does a good job of [33:48] really prioritizing the safety aspect of all of this. I think that's [33:51] definitely on top of people's minds. Like that's when I think about comments, uh, from, uh, [33:57] from the mainstream, like, [33:59] one of the top concerns is that [34:01] we're kind of moving fast breaking things and so i think uh [34:06] Dario does a pretty good job of really making sure that safety is...

[34:10] is top of mind in anything that they're putting out there. Joining the mega fund that is Lightspeed, you have a whole new portfolio to learn off of. What portfolio companies are you excited to dig deeper into? There's a lot. [34:28] It's so fun because... [34:29] You know, when I was covering startup rounds, there were so many light seed portfolio companies. And now I have I'm like on the other side of that. [34:38] I think there are a couple even just more... [34:40] recent interesting ones [34:43] Like, I think there's so much happening in this new layer of infrastructure for agents.

[34:48] That's completely new. And so you have companies like Sycamore Labs that lights be just invested in. Raindrop just released something new. [34:57] this idea that [34:59] around [35:00] this [35:02] ecosystem of agents, you have to build audit trails, you have to build harnesses for them. And so there's all these different opportunities to base or build safety for agents. Like there's all these new [35:13] With this new paradigm, you have this new opportunity for all these [35:16] this tooling to support [35:19] which we've never had before. I think that's interesting, seeing what the team is doing in investing in even like mainline services, places where AI or tech traditionally hasn't touched.

So they recently invested in a company called Modus. [35:35] which is doing a lot in the audit space, which traditionally, like, [35:39] dominated by small, medium businesses or like the KPMGs of the world. Now you have an opportunity to build like an AI native audit service. And in that case, they actually bought an actual audit firm. So that's interesting to see, I think, seeing kind of the AI role at play. [35:54] even play out internally. And then obviously companies like Anthropic, which are, you know, Lightspeed has [36:02] played such an important role in [36:05] the anthropic journey.

And so being able to kind of see side by side the ways that Lightspeed is collaborating so closely with anthropic as it kind of enters this next era. [36:18] I don't know. It's just so fun. Like every day I go back and I'm just so energized by the conversations and the rooms I get to be in and the insights that I even just get by by osmosis of being in the room with some of the investors on this team. Yeah, that's amazing. That's a lot of it. Yeah. No, it's like truly a dream, you know, dream role where, you know, [36:35] This is the if you want to talk about like the frontier and where things are happening, these are rooms to be in.

And. [36:43] my passion of being able to translate [36:45] all that into [36:47] making it more inviting for people to [36:50] to be feel like they're part of it. There's just like not a better place to be able to do that. Today's episode is sponsored by VCX by Fundrise, the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. [37:05] Learn more at com. [37:08] Some of you may not have heard this yet, but our sponsor Public just launched something called Generated Assets, and it brings AI into investing in a way I've honestly never seen before.

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Visit com slash sorcery. That's D-E-E-L dot com slash sorcery. [38:40] Is there anything we haven't covered yet that you want to talk about? [38:43] Not really. I'm curious, like, your thoughts on all things new media. I mean, you're, like, truly a pioneer in this space. I distinctly remember when... [38:51] you had been starting Sorcery. I've been, you know, leveraging it. It was like, [38:55] so useful for me. And then when you went full time, I was like, [38:58] I love that. I cannot wait to see it grow and, you know, [39:03] grow it did.

I know. I mean, it's a lot of work. Yes. Content is, I think that's one of my takeaways is, um, content is a lot of work. Every time I think I've cracked it, I have not. And something changes and I got to redo it. And like, it's really awesome because I've gotten to the point now where I've, I, I have a team around me. I have like two people that I pay pretty much [39:33] - Yeah. [39:33] And, like, it's just... [39:36] Unlock so much more when you take... And, okay, so I think this was my biggest realization that would have benefited my...

[39:43] investing experience early on people always say like invest in someone who [39:48] is not doing this part-time like that is full-on locked in no risk like all all risk like no like hesitations once i went full-time on it and i saw the roi i was like holy shit this is insane like it went [40:04] boop yeah and then all of a sudden i'm getting alfred lynn and alex harpe and andrel and all these people and i think i think the fact of like building these arcs too is important like my arc my story has been [40:17] similar to yours like i i've been in investing for like six seven years yeah my whole career i started right after college and i started the newsletter like a year after yeah um just like starting work and so just like i've just like been building that for a while so i had some people that knew about me maintaining relevancy like once a week through the newsletter which is really cool and then um [40:39] I did become known for that.

And then I realized, oh, wait, if you market something, it grows. Yeah. And so I tried more things. We did the podcast. And, like, it wasn't until... [40:53] Yeah, it wasn't until I got my Breck sponsorship that I was like, oh my god, like, this is a real thing. Yeah. And maybe I could do both. Yeah. Right now, like, I'm really 100% focused on sorcery. I can't handle, like, multi-brain on this because it's [41:06] Like, it's me. It's all on me. Like, if it fails, it's my fault. But like, one day, I'll get back there.

I know a lot of people are always asking me, like, when I'm going to start a fund. Yeah. And so to be... [41:19] continued but i don't know so yeah but it's it's just like so much fun and it gives you so much of a more a greater perspective on things than being just so insular yes so like having this like exposure to the outside world um i'm building much better relationships with everyone i'm having my own relationships with people um it's not just you know under the guise of being an employee like i have like i'm texting most of my guests like we become friends afterwards like they're excited [41:49] to come on.

It's a really cool unlock that I just was not expecting. For sure. I think there is... It's such a helpful way to [41:57] build relation, like scale building relationships with people. [42:01] in a non-transactional way, because I do think Inventor is like, [42:03] It's the most transactional place on earth, especially in San Francisco. And so like with media, I found it to be like, how do you, how do you reach people? How do you, [42:12] build trust and credibility even before you've actually like met them in person um and a lot of people know what you stand for and i i think [42:20] you know, similar to you, I had this unlock when [42:22] I thought I was only going to reach like 20,000 people, and now it's grown to what it is.

[42:28] brands like [42:30] like brands like [42:31] Vanta, Perplexity, Meta, like all of them knocking on my door being like, please, can you, you know, share what we're building with our audiences and, you know, [42:40] formal partnerships with them. [42:42] And so that's when I was like, oh, wow, these are all these companies that I've been tracking in the space. And now, like, my little window is what you want to, like, I'm real. That's kind of when I realized that. [42:52] tech has a good job of or does a good job of marketing to each other, but they really have a tough time, I think, spreading that narrative outside.

So that was like kind of the moment for me. But yeah, I think there's [43:03] It's just been so fun building media platforms. I'm inspired by what you're doing. I'm excited for hopefully your fun. I'm sure you're seeing so many interesting opportunities out there. So like, you know, I view you as... [43:15] Someone in many ways who's like also pioneering this kind of hybrid role of someone who can build a brand, who can build a community. [43:22] and then translate that into very interesting opportunities and people that you come across.

[43:26] Yeah, my bank account can't really survive any more of these angel investments. Yeah. Yeah. Do you get recognized on the street? I, so it's so weird because in my head... [43:36] this is literally a side internet thing. Yeah. And then, yeah, I've been recognized in my building before in Soho. Um, [43:45] And SF and politics. I would say, like, where there are tech people. Yeah. Sometimes I will weirdly... This is, like, when I'm like, oh, my God, I'm actually... [43:52] perceived as a human. I walk around and exist in the world as a normal human and I don't think people recognize me.

And so the other two days ago, I got a DM that was like, [44:02] Were you in Shaq 15 taking a conference call? I think that was you. If so, I'm a fan, but I was like, that's so nice. But also, oh my gosh, I probably was like, so I think there are moments like that where I'm like, oh wait, I probably can't. [44:15] walk around like, [44:16] you know, [44:17] I have to sometimes realize that people are watching you. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, for the most part, I'm like, I am such a small person in the world.

[44:26] It's not like I have multi-millions of people following me. And for the most part, it's just a lot of fun being able to connect with people who are [44:33] in tech we're interested in tech like everybody that i've met through this has been so kind so cool um [44:39] And yeah, it's just... [44:42] For the most part, I'm still very much a regular person who is just excited about tech and excited I get to tell these stories. [44:48] Yeah, it's funny visiting San Francisco. I think that's when I get the most, oh my God, you're famous.

I know, and I'm like, wait, really? I just feel like I'm just a person who's like... [44:57] Honestly, most days I'm like, oh, this is just... [45:00] I think like I see the numbers grow, but I'm like, oh, you're just like posting stuff on the Internet. Yeah, it's hard. It's so it's so weird to me because I like I think similarly to you, it's like I'm constantly just like online. I don't think people actually and I do see who's liking it and all this kind of stuff. But like it doesn't.

[45:17] It's like not real real at all. It doesn't feel like, yeah, it just, it feels like some weird thing. And then I go to events and people are like, Oh my God, you're Molly. I'm like, Oh, [45:27] Yeah, that is me. I know. And then I'm like, oh, wait. So they actually watch something and I get a little embarrassed. Or hopefully now they watch something because sometimes I think people just say that, but they don't actually watch anything. Maybe they're just scrolling. So I'm hoping that converts some more listeners.

Yeah, yeah. I love that. [45:43] Okay, well, cool. As we wrap up, what are you most looking forward to in the next 12 months? I'm not going to say this year because it's like kind of halfway over, but... [45:50] So much. We have a lot of things in the works. The team here is amazing. Like just, again, so energized by being in the room of investors, by our marketing team, being able to work with Josh, with Ravi, Bejal. Everybody is just like, [46:05] operating at such high clock speed. And so from an investment standpoint, this is, you know, [46:10] again, the most exciting time to partner with some [46:15] emerging builders in these ecosystems.

So I'm excited to continue to meet people. I before was mostly investing in ed tech and workforce tech, and now I get to really expand beyond [46:24] to my interest in AI and Frontier. [46:28] So meeting people there, that's very excited for that. I think on the new media front, there's a lot of different initiatives we're hoping to drive. I think building more... [46:38] productizing and operationalizing a lot of that [46:41] that funnel from like, [46:42] How do we make sure that every investment or company we're interested in goes through kind of this, the light speed or light work?

[46:52] marketing machine and how do we make sure that [46:55] Their stories are being told to the mainstream, to the tech world. And yeah, I think there's just a lot of low-hanging fruit. One of the things I've realized with Lightspeed is... [47:05] you have this... [47:07] cohort of just [47:09] Very intelligent. [47:10] so thoughtful, so intellectually rigorous people. And I think, [47:16] there's they're so non-promotional as humans and i've had i walk away from every discussion i'm like [47:22] oh my gosh, I wish you would just write, or I wish you would share what you have in that brain of yours, because...

[47:28] 18-year-old me in college would have [47:30] loved and died to just like have access to some of these insights and so I think one of the [47:36] exciting things I'm hoping to unlock is the fact that you have this [47:40] density of just [47:42] big thinkers on this team in the portfolio, in the spheres around Lightspeed. [47:47] who [47:49] because they think it's just normal for them to be doing the things that they're doing, hopefully externalize all of that and make it accessible and recognize that these are [47:58] really [47:59] you know, [48:00] category, ecosystem shaping insights that hopefully will help [48:06] continue to nurture ecosystem.

[48:08] It's amazing. Yeah. Well, welcome to your new home. Thank you. I hope to have you on for more conversations. Josh and I love you. So we're going to hopefully have you on for more episodes in the future. Cool. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah. And hopefully we'll get to collab more. I know. And I can't wait for your, uh, your new music ringtone. It's going to be good. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks. Hey, it's Molly. If you enjoy our interviews, check out our newsletter, vc, where we [48:39] top deals, and tech headlines email, and also go deeper on our podcast interviews.

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