Uncapped with Jack Altman

• Uncapped #15 | Vinod Khosla from Khosla Ventures

  Vinod Khosla is an entrepreneur, investor and technologist. In 2004, Vinod formed Khosla Ventures to focus on both for-profit and social impact investments that have included OpenAI, Stripe, DoorDash, Commonwealth Fusion Systems and many more. After graduating college, Vinod co-founded Daisy Systems, the first significant computer-aided design system for electrical engineers, which led to an IPO. He later went on to co-found Sun Microsystems in 1982, serving as its first chairman and CEO. After joining Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers (KPCB), Vinod intubated the idea for Juniper Networks to take on Cisco System’s dominance of the router market, a company that would give KPCB a 2,500x return on its early investment. Vinod is driven by the belief that technology is a positive force multiplier to accelerate societal reinvention in food, health, climate, energy transportation, education, housing finance, media, retail and entertainment for billions around the globe. His greatest passion lies in being a mentor to entrepreneurs who are building companies to tackle society’s largest challenges. We covered: Uncanny ability to predict the future AI generating a new era of abundance Future of energy, transportation and medicine Increasing the consequence of success Khosla’s approach to venture Instigating change --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:26) Craziness of the current cycle (5:54) Predictions of the future (9:35) Role of humans with AI (16:20) Potential AI dystopia (23:18) Investing in OpenAI (33:21) Robotics being next (39:53) Incumbents not innovating (42:29) Mindset around risk (44:14) Bull case for energy (50:22) New transportation (54:18) Future of medicine (1:03:00) A different type of enjoyment (1:05:40) Approaches to venture (1:12:13) Khosla’s operating principles (1:16:17) Staying energized --- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Twitter: https://x.com/jaltma Email: [email protected]

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• Uncapped #14 | Dan Feder from the University of Michigan

  It was a pleasure to sit down with Dan Feder, Senior Managing Director with the University of Michigan Investment Office who leads the endowment’s investments in venture capital and private equity. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Dan was the Managing Director of Private Markets at the Washington University Investment Management Company. Dan’s career in endowment management began at the Princeton University Investment Company where he led the development of Princeton’s global private equity and venture capital portfolio. Dan has also served as the Managing Director of Private Markets for the Sequoia Capital Heritage Fund (an endowment-style investment fund sponsored by Sequoia Capital) and as a Senior Investment Manager in the endowment services area at TIAA-CREF. We covered: Endowment portfolio construction Incentive structures in LP land Backing conflicting strategies UMich’s framework to investing Picking individuals vs firms --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:40) Becoming an endowment manager (2:59) Constructing an endowment’s portfolio (9:10) Risk-based investing vs uncertainty (13:07) Incentive structures in LP land (16:28) Team construction (22:26) Backing strategies that are at odds (26:06) Why LPs invest in venture (27:38) UMich framework to investing (32:29) Picking individuals vs firms (36:40) Big vs small funds (40:48) How to pick fund managers (45:41) Herd mentality in LP land --- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Twitter: https://x.com/jaltma Email: [email protected]

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• Uncapped #13 | Sam Altman from OpenAI

  This was a fun one! Sam is my brother and the CEO of a small company in SF called OpenAI. I’m glad he was able to take time out of his busy schedule to give me a hard time and share his thoughts on the future of AI. We covered: AI discovering new science The risk of superintelligence What’s after reasoning Humans needing humans The latest with OpenAI Meta / Scale AI news Plenty of brotherly banter --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:48) AI discovering new science (5:40) Humanoids are the future (8:27) A world with superintelligence (11:20) Medium-term predictions (15:37) Potential OpenAI apparatus (19:01) Supply chain implications (21:51) Meta / Scale AI news (29:04) Personal reflections --- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Twitter: https://x.com/jaltma Email: [email protected]

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• Uncapped #12 | Marc Andreessen from a16z

  Marc Andreessen is a cofounder and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm that manages $45 billion in assets under management. He is an innovator and creator, one of the few to pioneer a software category used by more than a billion people and one of the few to establish multiple billion-dollar companies. Marc co-created the highly influential Mosaic internet browser and co-founded Netscape, which later sold to AOL for $4.2 billion. He also co-founded Loudcloud, which as Opsware, sold to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. He later served on the board of Hewlett-Packard from 2008 to 2018. Marc serves on the board of the following Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies: Applied Intuition, Carta, Coinbase, Dialpad, Flow, Golden, Honor, OpenGov, Samsara, Simple Things, and TipTop Labs. He is also on the board of Meta. We covered: Evolution of the venture playbook Small vs large funds Current AI landscape Politics and Silicon Valley Tech and the media A few highlights: Optimizing for the maximum amount of power Conflicts being the reason a16z isn’t even larger The middle is dead; you’re either Gucci or Walmart Only 8 companies in the S&P 500 are innovating We’ve lived in an era of intense preference falsification AI and machines making the ultimate decision --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:27) Evolution of the venture playbook (15:54) Small vs large funds (29:10) Becoming a top tier firm (35:33) Limiting factors to building big companies (40:11) Investing in AI (50:02) Developing investors (59:06) AI going wrong (1:09:20) Politics and Silicon Valley (1:11:39) Tech and the media (1:23:22) Preference falsification (1:31:10) Career advice  (1:34:07) Huberman “beef” (1:38:21) Question from X --- More on Marc: https://x.com/pmarca https://pmarca.substack.com/ https://a16z.simplecast.com/ More on Uncapped https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod https://x.com/jaltma --- Email: [email protected]

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• Uncapped #11 | Jordan Bramble from Antares

  Jordan Bramble is the CEO of Antares, a nuclear energy company that has raised over $50M to become America’s industrial base partner for special-purpose microreactors. Antares focuses on high-value use cases in power-constrained environments that wouldn’t be possible without nuclear power. They are developing resilient fission-based power systems for critical assets for the Department of Defense on earth and in space. Unlike grid-scale reactors, these use cases primarily favor kilowatt-scale systems. This focus on non-commodity energy applications with smaller scale reactors will enable Antares to develop its first deployments on faster timelines with less research and development and capitalization risk. Antares also partners with commercial companies in extractive industries, edge computing, and space power, in turn bringing the benefits of commercial scale back to the DOD. We covered: History of nuclear Demand for nuclear Small modular reactors Government collaboration Building in hard tech Scaling nuclear reactors A few highlights: First nuclear reactor built under UChicago’s football field A nuclear powered airplane that could fly indefinitely Net zero not being possible without nuclear Powering the AI demand for data centers The Golden Dome and lasers in space Working back from the mission effect Interdisciplinary problems attracting talent --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:22) History of nuclear (6:50) Radical decline in development  (10:51) Current appetite for funding (20:53) Small modular reactors (30:11) Selling to defense (34:30) LA becoming a hard tech hub (37:13) Fostering a culture in hard tech (43:42) How to scale nuclear reactors --- More on Antares: https://antaresindustries.com/ https://x.com/jordanbramble More on Uncapped: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod https://x.com/jaltma --- Email: [email protected]

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