Best Andrew Xu Podcasts (2025)

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Francis Fukuyama on Liberal Democracy at a Crossroads 57:26

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3d ago57:26

57:26

Francis Fukuyama is a Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He is known for his book The End of History and the Last Man, which argued that liberal democracy represented the endpoint of humanity's ideological evolution. In this episode, I got a chance to speak with him about whether his end of hi…

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Transformers: The Discovery That Sparked the AI Revolution 9:18

2d ago9:18

9:18

Nearly every modern AI model, from ChatGPT and Claude to Gemini and Grok, is built on the same foundation: the Transformer.In this video, YC's Ankit Gupta traces how AI learned to understand language — from early RNNs and LSTMs to attention mechanisms and the breakthrough 2017 paper Attention Is All You Need — the discovery that unlocked the modern…

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David Brooks: Seeing People Deeply in a World of Shallow Interactions 56:45

4d ago56:45

56:45

New York Times columnist and bestselling author **David Brooks** joins Srini Rao to unpack what it really means to know and see another person — and how our ability to connect deeply has deteriorated in a world dominated by distraction, paradigmatic thinking, and judgment. Drawing from his latest book *How to Know a Person*, Brooks explores emotion…

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YC Partners Answer Your Questions | Office Hours 38:32

4d ago38:32

38:32

Every founder faces moments where they’re not sure what to do next — such as how to go to market with AI products, when to pivot, and who/when to hire. In this episode of Office Hours, YC partners Pete Koomen, Brad Flora, Nicolas Dessaigne, and Gustaf Alströmer answer real questions from founders and share stories about how great teams build convic…

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Damon Centola: Why Change Spreads from the Edges—Not the Influencers 56:51

6d ago56:51

56:51

Damon Centola, sociologist and author of *Change: How to Make Big Things Happen*, dismantles the myth of the influencer and introduces a radically different model of how ideas and behaviors actually spread. In this thought-provoking conversation, Centola explains why change doesn’t come from social media stars with massive followings—but from dense…

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Jennifer Wallace: Raising Resilient Kids in a Culture That Says They're Never Enough 51:53

7d ago51:53

51:53

Jennifer Wallace is a journalist, researcher, and mother of three who set out to answer one of the most pressing questions in modern parenting: *Why do our kids feel like they're never enough — and what can we do about it?* Drawing on insights from her book *Never Enough* and years of reporting, Wallace explains how achievement culture, status anxi…

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Laura Huang: Creating an Edge in a World That Won’t Hand You One 1:05:42

9d ago1:05:42

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In this powerful and perspective-shifting episode, Harvard Business School professor and author **Laura Huang** shares a deeply human and practical roadmap for transforming disadvantage into advantage. Drawing from her book *Edge*, she breaks down the four-part EDGE framework—Enrich, Delight, Guide, and Effort—showing how each of us can flip bias, …

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Emily Fletcher: The Science and Simplicity of Unlocking Human Potential Through Meditation 46:52

10d ago46:52

46:52

Emily Fletcher, founder of Ziva Meditation and a former Broadway performer, shares how her journey from the stage to spiritual leadership reshaped her understanding of success, fulfillment, and mental resilience. In this candid and practical conversation, Emily explains the science behind stress, its impact on performance, and how meditation can tr…

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What Everyone Is Getting Wrong About AI And Jobs 8:00

13d ago8:00

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For years, we've heard two major narratives about AI. One predicting the end of human work, the other dismissing it as hype. The truth is more nuanced, and more hopeful.From radiology to software engineering, the pattern repeats: as technology makes tasks cheaper and faster, demand for human creativity and judgment grows.YC's Garry Tan explores wha…

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How To Design Products That Truly Stand Out 35:49

14d ago35:49

35:49

Karri Saarinen is the co-founder and CEO of Linear, the issue tracking tool used by thousands of high-growth companies. Before Linear, he was the first designer at Coinbase and later a lead designer at Airbnb.On Design Review with YC's Aaron Epstein, Karri shares how his design background shaped Linear’s product philosophy, why quality and craft ma…

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Marshall Kosloff on Why Liberalism Needs New Stories 1:22:14

17d ago1:22:14

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Marshall Kosloff is a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center and the host of the podcast The Realignment. His work covers the nature of coalitional change in American politics since the rise of Donald Trump, and how Democrats can accomplish the policies of the Abundance agenda at the state level. In this episode, I got a chance to speak with him abou…

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The World's First Commercial Mobile Carbon Capture Device 12:46

18d ago12:46

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Paul Gross and his team at Remora are trying to do something that’s never been done before. They're building mobile carbon capture devices for commercial trucks and trains—capturing CO2 from moving vehicles before it enters the atmosphere, then turning those emissions into revenue by selling it to customers that can turn the liquified CO2 into new …

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Every AI Founder Should Be Asking These Questions 40:35

20d ago40:35

40:35

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Courtney Harding: Building the Future of Human Connection Through XR, Education, and Digital Agency 50:29

21d ago50:29

50:29

Courtney Harding, founder of Friends with Holograms and a leading voice in spatial computing, joins Srini to discuss the real-world applications and philosophical implications of immersive technologies like VR and AR. Drawing from her background in music journalism, activism, and public policy, she unpacks how virtual experiences are reshaping educ…

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Daniel Lieberman: Dopamine, Desire, and Why Enough is Never Enough 51:43

25d ago51:43

51:43

In this mind-expanding conversation, psychiatrist and author Daniel Lieberman unpacks the role of dopamine — the brain's molecule of motivation — and how it shapes nearly every aspect of our lives, from love and ambition to addiction and impulsive behavior. Drawing from his bestselling book *The Molecule of More*, Lieberman explains why we’re wired…

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Anthropic Head of Pretraining on Scaling Laws, Compute, and the Future of AI 1:04:04

26d ago1:04:04

1:04:04

Ever wonder what it actually takes to train a frontier AI model?YC General Partner Ankit Gupta sits down with Nick Joseph, Anthropic's Head of Pre-training, to explore the engineering challenges behind training Claude—from managing thousands of GPUs and debugging cursed bugs to balancing compute between pre-training and RL. We cover scaling laws, d…

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Annie Duke: Why Knowing When to Quit Is a Superpower 1:10:48

27d ago1:10:48

1:10:48

In this powerful third appearance, bestselling author and decision strategist Annie Duke dismantles the myth that grit is always good — and makes the case for why strategic quitting is essential for success. Drawing from cognitive science, personal experience, and examples like Muhammad Ali, Dave Chappelle, and Stuart Butterfield (Slack), Duke illu…

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The Science of Mastery: Anders Ericsson on Deliberate Practice 45:52

28d ago45:52

45:52

Psychologist Anders Ericsson, the originator of the concept of deliberate practice, shares the foundational principles behind how experts are made—not born. Drawing on decades of empirical research, he explains how world-class performance emerges through structured effort, targeted feedback, and the development of mental models over time.Ericsson c…

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Steve Teles on the Promise of Abundance in America 53:38

1M ago53:38

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Steve Teles is a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University, and a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center. He is one of the main advocates of the abundance agenda, which champions supply-side solutions to many of the problems of modern economies, including housing unaffordability, clean energy, public infrastructure, and more. In this ep…

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GSB at 100: The Magic 20:44

1M ago20:44

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This week on If/Then, we’re sharing an episode of GSB at 100, a limited audio series created especially for Stanford Graduate School of Business’s Centennial. GSB at 100 presents a scrapbook of memories, ideas, and breakthroughs, as the GSB celebrates its first century and looks around the corner to what the next hundred years may hold. The first e…

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Fintech 3.0: Now Is The Best Time To Build In Crypto 42:00

1M ago42:00

42:00

We are entering the era of Fintech 3.0. Regulatory clarity, growing consumer adoption, and low-cost chains have paved the way for a golden age of building in crypto — and at YC, Base, and Coinbase we want to fund builders to seize this moment. In this episode of Main Function, YC's Harj Taggar and Base's Jesse Pollak sat down to discuss what kinds …

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The Operating System of Transformation: Salim Ismail on Exponential Thinking, Leadership, and Inner Engineering 57:33

1M ago57:33

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In this episode, Salim Ismail — founding executive director of Singularity University and author of *Exponential Organizations* — maps out what it takes to adapt, lead, and build in a world defined by accelerating change.He unpacks the frameworks behind exponential growth, the future of learning, and the architecture of modern organizations. But th…

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Dennis Xu: Designing Tools That Think Like We Do 47:01

1M ago47:01

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Dennis Xu, co-founder of Mem, unpacks the future of personal knowledge and how it’s being reshaped by networked thinking, cognitive design, and human-centered AI. Drawing on his Stanford background, founder journey, and product philosophy, Dennis challenges the folder-based paradigms of information management — replacing them with malleable, graph-…

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Aaron Levie: Why Startups Win In The AI Era 40:27

1M ago40:27

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For nearly two decades, Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie has been at the frontlines of how technology reshapes work—guiding the company through the rise of mobile, the cloud, and now the age of AI.In his fireside with YC General Partner David Lieb at AI Startup School, Aaron reflects on what it means to adapt a company over the long term, the har…

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The Science of Focus: Gloria Mark on Attention Rhythms, Flow Myths, and Digital Control 52:12

1M ago52:12

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Cognitive scientist Gloria Mark explains why modern knowledge work sabotages attention — and how to fight back. Drawing from her decades of research, she breaks down internal vs. external distraction, meta-awareness, cognitive rhythms, and the misunderstood nature of flow states. This episode delivers practical insights for reclaiming agency over y…

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Sonkhe Ahrens: Building a Thinking System That Generates Insight, Not Noise 46:13

1M ago46:13

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Sonkhe Ahrens shares how traditional approaches to knowledge — highlighting, tagging, collecting — fail to support actual thinking. Drawing from Niklas Luhmann’s Zettelkasten method, Ahrens explains why insight isn’t something you plan for, but something you engineer into existence by connecting information deliberately over time. The conversation …

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The Future of Software Creation with Replit CEO Amjad Masad 42:01

1M ago42:01

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Amjad Masad is the co-founder & CEO of Replit, now valued at $3B after a recent $250M Series C. He's spent nearly a decade making programming accessible to all—and with the rise of AI, that vision is closer than ever.In this talk from AI Startup School on June 17, 2025, Amjad traces the arc of computing from mainframes to personal computers to a fu…

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Allie Volpe on Why You Should Talk to Strangers 58:52

2M ago58:52

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Allie Volpe is a correspondent at Vox. She writes extensively about the science of human connection—friendship, conversation, community, and the invisible threads that tie our well-being to the relationships around us. And let me tell you, these connections are vital. Take loneliness, for instance. Loneliness isn’t just a feeling; it’s a state of b…

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The FDE Playbook for AI Startups with Bob McGrew 50:42

2M ago50:42

50:42

Bob McGrew helped build some of the most influential technologies of the past two decades. Bob was an early engineer at PayPal, an early executive at Palantir, and was recently Chief Research Officer at OpenAI - where he led the development of ChatGPT, GPT-4 and the o1 reasoning model. During his time at Palantir, he was a pioneer of the Forward De…

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Michael Truell: Building Cursor at 23, Taking on GitHub Copilot, and Advice to Engineering Students 27:55

2M ago27:55

27:55

Michael Truell on June 17th, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco.At 25, Michael Truell has already built Cursor into one of the fastest-growing companies in AI coding, hitting $100M ARR in just a year. In this fireside chat with YC General Partner Diana Hu, he shares the lessons that came from years of failed projects with his co-founders, w…

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Kevin Surace — Building Smarter, Leading Better, and Adapting to AI 1:10:56

2M ago1:10:56

1:10:56

Kevin Surace breaks down how AI is reshaping the future of work — not by eliminating jobs, but by replacing repetitive tasks and redefining what humans are actually needed for. He explains why productivity, not headcount, will determine company growth in a labor-constrained world. Drawing from decades of applied AI experience, Surace outlines the e…

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GPT-OSS vs. Qwen vs. Deepseek: Comparing Open Source LLM Architectures 12:31

2M ago12:31

12:31

OpenAI recently released its first open-weights model since GPT-2, entering a field led by DeepSeek and Alibaba's Qwen.YC's Ankit Gupta breaks down everything you need to know about these top OSS models, including what sets them apart under the hood. He’ll compare their approaches to mixture-of-experts, long-context training, and post-training tech…

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David French on Understanding the Rise of MAGA 1:01:33

2M ago1:01:33

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David French is an opinion columnist for The New York Times. Formerly a senior editor at The Dispatch and staff writer at National Review, David is known by many for his understanding of mainstream conservatism, and how Republican culture has changed significantly over the past decade. In this episode, I spoke with him about the history of populism…

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View From The Top: “Lisa Su Is Still Curious About How Things Work” 56:14

2M ago56:14

56:14

This week on If/Then, we’re sharing an episode of View From The Top: The Podcast, an audio series featuring leaders from around the world in conversation with MBA students. Recorded live at the CEMEX Auditorium at Stanford Graduate School of Business, episodes feature insights on effective leadership, the values that guide it, and lessons learned a…

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How This 25-Year-Old Built A $675M Legal AI Startup (With No Legal Experience) 45:25

2M ago45:25

45:25

In this episode of Founder Firesides, YC General Partner Gustaf Alströmer is joined by Max Junestrand, co-founder and CEO of Legora, one of the fastest-growing legal AI startups in the world. In just 13 months, Max and his team scaled from 10 to 100 people, raised $80M, and cracked the challenge of selling to one of the most skeptical industries. M…

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#201 - Taking Back the Narrative & Unmasking the Fetish with Kaila Yu 1:48:42

2M ago1:48:42

1:48:42

In this episode, Minji sits down with a woman who impacted her life from a very early age, model and singer turned author Kaila Yu. A cultural icon during the Azn Pride days of import cars, Nautica jackets, and tricked out html web pages, Kaila made an undeniable mark on the blossoming Asian American identity as one of the hottest Asian "it" girls.…

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The Sales Playbook for Founders | Startup School 18:38

2M ago18:38

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Navigating B2B sales for the first time can feel slow and overwhelming.Drawing from his experience founding Monzo and GoCardless, YC's Tom Blomfield shares his playbook for running a tight sales process that lands real, recurring revenue. He walks through each step—free and paid pilots, opt-out contracts, long-term deals—and shows how to prove valu…

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Jeremiah Johnson on Liberalism and How Social Media Shapes Us 55:10

2M ago55:10

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Jeremiah Johnson is the co-founder of The Center for New Liberalism, host of The New Liberal Podcast, and the writer behind the Substack Infinite Scroll. His writing lives at the strange intersection of serious policy and unserious online discourse—and he’s one of the few people I’ve come across who is willing to take both seriously. One day he’s w…

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The Joy of Discovery and Why Research Matters 16:25

2M ago16:25

16:25

As we celebrate the conclusion of the second season of the If/Then podcast, we present a bonus episode featuring Deborah H. Gruenfeld, the Joseph McDonald Professor and Professor of Organizational Behavior and a Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Gruenfeld, who appeared on the first season of If/Then…

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Figma CEO Dylan Field: How AI Will Transform Design 40:36

3M ago40:36

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Dylan Field on June 17th, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco.Dylan Field co-founded Figma to bring the design process online and make it multiplayer. From a meme maker built on WebGL to a design platform powering millions, Figma’s journey hit a major milestone with its IPO last week.In this conversation, Dylan shares the early challenges of…

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Bret Devereaux on the Norms of the US Military 1:25:46

3M ago1:25:46

1:25:46

Bret Devereaux is a military historian and a Teaching Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University. He writes the blog "A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry," which covers Roman history, the nature of power and violence in society, and the best sci-fi/fantasy stories. In this episode, I got a chance to speak with him about how George Wash…

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The Finance Startup Bringing Agentic AI to Wall Street 46:15

3M ago46:15

46:15

Brothers Chaz and Arnie Englander started Model ML after building and selling two YC companies. What began as a tool to help them analyze deals has grown into a full AI-powered workspace purpose-built for financial services, empowering firms to create automations and workflows that reflect exactly how their teams operate. And it's already being use…

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The Future of Everything: "The Future of Motivation" 34:02

3M ago34:02

34:02

This week on If/Then, we’re sharing an episode of The Future of Everything, a podcast hosted by Stanford School of Engineering professor and friend of the show Russ Altman. Everyone has goals — some are monumental, others modest — but every goal matters. Szu-chi Huang, an associate professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, is …

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Scaling and the Road to Human-Level AI | Anthropic Co-founder Jared Kaplan 40:47

3M ago40:47

40:47

Jared Kaplan on June 16th, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco.Jared Kaplan started out as a theoretical physicist chasing questions about the universe. Then he helped uncover one of AI’s most surprising truths: that intelligence scales in a predictable, almost physical way.That insight became foundational to the modern era of large language…

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Brand Design Tips From Linear Founder Karri Saarinen 43:41

3M ago43:41

43:41

For this episode of Design Review, YC’s Aaron Epstein is joined by Karri Saarinen, co-founder & CEO of Linear, one of the top designer-founders working today. Together, they'll review several sites from the YC community with an eye for how to build and maintain a high-quality brand. Thank you to these companies for volunteering to have their sites …

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Chelsea Finn: Building Robots That Can Do Anything 44:52

3M ago44:52

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Chelsea Finn on June 17th, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco.From MIT through her PhD at Berkeley, where she pioneered meta‑learning methods, and Google Brain, Chelsea Finn has built her career around teaching machines how to learn. Now an Assistant Professor at Stanford and co‑founder of Physical Intelligence, she’s using that foundation …

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Replit CEO Amjad Masad: Coding Agents, Autonomy, and the Future of Work 35:50

3M ago35:50

35:50

Amjad Masad started Replit to make programming accessible to anyone, anywhere. What began as a tool for learning to code has grown into a platform pushing the limits of AI-assisted software creation and recently surpassed $100M in ARR.On The Breakdown with Tom and Dave, Amjad shares the journey from his early days in Jordan, working on open-source …

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Karin Tamerius on Why Our Brains Struggle with Modern Politics 1:09:19

3M ago1:09:19

1:09:19

Karin Tamerius is a psychiatrist, a political psychologist, and the founder of Smart Politics. She writes the Substack "The Smart Politics Way," which has quietly become one of the most thoughtful guides to how we talk about—and think about—politics. The truth is, we’re living in a time where the news cycle is relentless. It’s not just a daily onsl…

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John Jumper: AlphaFold and the Future of Science 27:12

3M ago27:12

27:12

John Jumper on June 16, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco. John Jumper is a physicist-turned-computational biologist who led DeepMind’s AlphaFold team—and earned the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for solving protein folding, a decades-old scientific challenge. In this talk, he shares how a deep learning breakthrough at CASP14 turned into A…

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Aravind Srinivas: The Race to Build the AI Browser of the Future 43:12

4M ago43:12

43:12

Aravind Srinivas on June 16, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco.Aravind Srinivas started Perplexity with one goal: to rethink how we search, browse, and interact with information online. In this conversation, he shares the journey from hacking together a natural-language-to-SQL search tool to building a product used by millions around the w…