Jack Altman
@jaltma • 220,564 subscribers
Partner @Benchmark. Previously founded Alt Cap and Lattice.
Videos
My conversation with tobi lutke, founder and CEO of Shopify. Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:49) A problem worth solving (5:58) Building products people love (10:14) Why originality matters (11:47) Conformity in Silicon Valley (15:47) Founder-led companies (18:44) Shopify’s AI transition (23:52) Building with urgency (26:52) AI for small businesses (35:18) Raising the standard of living (41:11) Predicting the future with AI (48:14) Changing perception on talent (55:34) Reading and curiosity
Jack Altman316,416 görüntüleme • 20 gün önce
"If you are building the same thing other people build, it can only be similarly good. It can't be actually much better. It can slightly look nicer, but you're bounded a couple percentage points either direction. If you want to build something great or much better, it has to be different. So this has to be your starting position."
Jack Altman144,907 görüntüleme • 20 gün önce
Uncapped with Joe Lonsdale, one of the most prolific builders and investors in tech. Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:32) Why Joe keeps building (3:53) Consensus and right (5:39) What Palantir got right (6:53) Pulling forward innovation (9:32) AI vs social media (12:23) Making AI work for America (18:03) Department of War (21:16) Betting on defense (26:51) Robotics, bio, and energy (32:16) Investing in the AI era (35:38) Peptides opportunity (38:35) Texas vs California (40:12) Political correctness
Jack Altman77,445 görüntüleme • 13 gün önce
As appreciated as it is, I think the power of storytelling is still somehow underrated. Lulu Cheng Meservey has advised some of the best companies (with the best auras) on comms such as Anduril, Cognition, Ramp, and many others. I loved having Lulu on Uncapped. We talked about the role of comms in company building, the elements of a good startup story, how vibes impact recruiting, and more. I learned a ton and had a great time. Hope you enjoy.
Jack Altman1,218,932 görüntüleme • 8 ay önce
I think this is a brilliant observation from Lulu: people root for you when they think you deserve more than you've got, and root against you when it's the opposite. It captures an essential element of good comms...how can you help people think you're underrated rather than overrated? People are very motivated to correct the record in either direction, or as Lulu puts it, "We're all kind of reputational karens."
Jack Altman1,151,868 görüntüleme • 8 ay önce
For this episode of Uncapped I got to sit down with my close friend Max Mullen, cofounder of Instacart 🥕 We talked about the key moments of Instacart...how it got started, critical wins, tough losses, competitive dynamics, earned insights, going public, and Instacart's future. Max is also an awesome startup investor, and we talked about what he looks for in founders, consumer investing, and what he's building with Workshop. He's one of the best people I know, hope you enjoy. (0:00) Intro (0:36) The inception of Instacart (4:55) Finding product market fit (7:20) Landing Trader Joe’s (11:04) Big levers for growth (13:36) Operationally complex businesses (14:55) Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods (17:50) COVID and Instacart’s IPO (20:02) Prioritizing profitability (23:21) Avoiding temptations (24:59) The future of Instacart (25:53) Investing in consumer (28:21) Irrationally optimistic founders (29:49) B2B vs consumer founders (30:35) How to work with investors (33:38) Building Workshop
Jack Altman218,733 görüntüleme • 1 ay önce
This week, on Benchmark's new podcast Uncapped 😂, I sat down with Bret Taylor, founder of Sierra and Chairman of OpenAI. He's easily one of the most impressive people I’ve met in tech or in general. We talked about AI and the saaspocalypse, the unique considerations of building an AI native / agent company, whether young or experienced founders have the advantage right now, Codex and OpenAI ads, and much more. Learned a ton from Bret, hope you enjoy. (0:00) Intro (0:20) The Saaspocalypse and systems of record (12:34) Sierra's landscape (17:05) Outcome-based pricing (24:22) The rapid evolution of AI support technology (28:21) Young founders vs. experienced founders (34:12) What comes next beyond support (38:47) Codex and the future of software engineering (51:49) OpenAI and advertising (54:59) Working with investors and boards
Jack Altman416,814 görüntüleme • 3 ay önce
New Uncapped with two of the greats, Vinod Khosla and Keith Rabois. I don't think I've seen them on a podcast together so I was especially excited about this. I asked them about how they work together, how they see the world, what's changed in tech, and of course a little bit about their politics. Enjoy. (0:00) Intro (0:58) The working relationship (4:26) Pie chart on what’s discussed (7:11) Ethos of investors today vs the past (10:42) Comparing FF and KV (12:46) What makes a great founder (22:56) Alpha in today’s market (30:05) Themes in AI (38:23) How AI companies are built (46:23) Interests outside of AI (53:12) Their politics on X (58:24) Evolution of political leanings
Jack Altman488,861 görüntüleme • 4 ay önce
In many ways, Thrive is helping define the current era of venture capital. Vince Hankes is one of the best in the business; he's behind their investments in OpenAI, SpaceX, Databricks, Stripe, and many more. He's also an excellent board member and friend. Excited for more people to hear his thinking, hope you enjoy.
Jack Altman852,334 görüntüleme • 8 ay önce
This was an exceptionally cogent articulation from Roelof about the state of venture capital. "There's a lot more talent than really interesting companies to be built. And I think we're spreading a lot of that talent thin right now." "Venture is a return-free risk."
Jack Altman743,560 görüntüleme • 7 ay önce
I asked Vince if he would rather invest in $10B companies that could go to $100B rather than $1B companies trying to go to $10B. He said usually yes and gave an incredibly clear articulation for why. "There've been 75 companies in the last decade that have reached $100B or more. There were only a few hundred in the $10B bucket. So if you think about picking the 75 out of a few hundred, that has much better odds than trying to pick from the thousand of unicorns which might get to $10B."
Jack Altman709,267 görüntüleme • 8 ay önce
Such a good story about how Ravi Gupta helped Instacart focus on profitability when he was COO. At an all hands he said "we okay we can spend $25k a month on blue bottle, leasing teslas, acquiring 5,000 customers, or 1,000 shoppers. Raise your hand if you want the blue bottle!"
Jack Altman145,769 görüntüleme • 1 ay önce
a16z just announced their newest fund - $15 billion! I had benahorowitz.eth on Uncapped to discuss how they run the firm, how he thinks about venture talent, a16z's overall investment approach, deploying capital at scale, media, and more. He's easily one of the most impressive people I've gotten to have on the podcast. Hope you enjoy.
Jack Altman372,427 görüntüleme • 5 ay önce
New episode of Uncapped with Dylan Field. I think he's one of the best founders of our generation. I always feel smarter and clearer and after talking to him. We talked about the slow build of Figma vs. the dizzying start of today's AI startups, the role of AI and humans in design, the importance of staying connected to young people, and what it takes to be a strong and empathetic leader.
Jack Altman451,438 görüntüleme • 7 ay önce
I had one of the legends of angel and seed investing on Uncapped, Ron Conway. He's the founder of SV Angel been an early backer of companies like Google, Facebook, Airbnb, and many more. We talked about the evolution of tech, being an actively involved investor, the power of being a relationship broker, fighting hard for founders, and some of his stronger feeling in politics. It was a pleasure to sit down with him. (Also fun to record a podcast episode at a live event, thank you TrueBridge) (0:00) Intro (1:50) From semiconductors to AI (8:39) Two investments that changed everything (11:46) Non-passive angel investing (14:57) Becoming a relationship broker (18:00) Building authentic relationships (24:48) Going deep with OpenAI and Airbnb (29:19) Fighting for founders (31:39) Remarkable returns at seed (33:20) The state wealth tax (37:17) Tech and politics
Jack Altman162,015 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
"I think in a way, people are somewhat overestimating the founders of companies, and massively underestimating what you can do when the founder is still present and in charge." Tobi talked about how it's not that founders themselves are some kind of super heroes, but that the *role* of a founder is incredibly important because of what the natural moral authority allows them to do.
Jack Altman43,234 görüntüleme • 19 gün önce
I sat down with Sequoia's new stewards, Pat Grady and Alfred Lin. Maybe a bit selfishly, I spent almost the entire time asking them about the tactics of how to do venture capital well. I got a ton out of it and hope you do too. Search Uncapped on youtube, spotify, or apple to listen there. (0:00) Intro (1:01) Mindset as stewards (4:30) The business of outliers (6:27) Managing inputs in venture (12:11) Sourcing coverage goals (17:57) Seeing the right companies (22:36) Proprietary map of talent (24:39) What a single engineer can do (29:06) Picking winners with conviction (36:26) Coaching asymmetry into picking (43:16) Disagreeing with younger investors (46:45) Frameworks on picking (53:20) What it takes to win (58:32) How to start working with a founder (1:02:59) Proudest board roles (1:06:12) Looking ahead
Jack Altman341,349 görüntüleme • 6 ay önce
