In this episode, TechCrunch’s editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, and StrictlyVC’s Alex Gove, sit down with Winston Weinberg, co-founder and CEO of Harvey, the legal AI startup that’s quietly become one of the most talked-about companies in Silicon Valley. Winston shares the origin story of how a first-year associate at O’Melveny used GPT-3 for Dungeons & Dragons before realizing it could transform legal work—leading to a cold email to Sam Altman on July 4, 2022, that changed everything. The three discuss Harvey’s rapid growth to more than $100 million in ARR, why 33% of the startup’s revenue now comes from corporates rather than just law firms, and the technical challenges of building a truly multiplayer platform that navigates complex ethical walls and permissioning across 63 countries. Winston also addresses the “ChatGPT wrapper” criticism — and he explains why he believes professional services will be less disrupted than people think. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode recorded live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, TechCrunch's editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, talks with Vinod Khosla about entrepreneurship in the age of AI and the massive disruptions ahead. They discuss why Khosla believes every profession represents a startup opportunity, his investment thesis of building AI workers rather than tools, and why he asks entrepreneurs to envision their company in 2030 before anything else. Khosla also shares his prediction that Fortune 500 extinction rates will triple by 2035, his controversial idea for sharing corporate wealth through a national pool, and why he thinks we'll have a hugely deflationary economy with free healthcare, education, and legal services. They also cover his early bet on OpenAI, the collision course between AI and climate (which he disputes), his investments in fusion and super-hot geothermal energy, and why the Trump administration's immigration policies represent "the worst damage possible" for American innovation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode recorded live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, TechCrunch’s editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, talks with Roelof Botha about Sequoia’s approach to finding and backing outlier companies — just days before he announced he was stepping down. They discuss why he thinks venture capital isn’t really an asset class, how Sequoia’s partners make investment decisions through fierce debates and consensus voting, and what the firm looks for in its Scout program. Botha also shares his perspective on the current AI boom—whether we’re in a bubble, how quickly winners are emerging in different verticals, and why founders should be careful about raising successive rounds at skyrocketing valuations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Strictly VC Download, Connie Loizos sits down with Lee Roberts, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to discuss his ambitious plan to make AI the university’s “north star” amid a tumultuous year. Roberts walks through his decision to merge UNC’s School of Data Science and Society with its School of Information and Library Science, explaining why breaking down academic silos is essential when the technology moves faster than universities typically can. He addresses the $38 million in terminated federal research grants—concentrated in areas like public health—and why he’s less concerned about funding cuts than he was at the start of the year. Roberts also defends his $10 million annual commitment to Bill Belichick despite the team’s rocky start, explaining why football revenue is essential to supporting UNC’s 28 sports programs. Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction 1:46 - AI as UNC's North Star: Research, Operations, and Instruction 5:10 - Incentivizing Faculty Without Top-Down Mandates 6:41 - The Google Gemini Partnership and Avoiding Exclusivity 8:21 - Merging Two Schools: Breaking Down Academic Silos for AI 9:49 - Addressing Student Concerns About the Library Science Merger 11:38 - The $38 Million in Federal Funding Cuts: Impact and Outlook 13:18 - Concentrated Cuts in Public Health and Underserved Populations 14:19 - Diversifying Beyond Federal Research Funding 16:31 - The Bill Belichick Investment: Why Football Drives Athletics Revenue 18:48 - Dysfunction Allegations and Staying the Course 20:31 - The 900-Person Petition and the Search Process 22:30 - Leading Without Traditional Academic Credentials Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's episode of StrictlyVC Download features Hans Swildens, founder of Industry Ventures, discussing his firm's transaction with Goldman Sachs that comes during Industry Ventures' 25th anniversary year. Swildens walks through the 20-year evolution of the Goldman relationship—from LP investor to wealth platform partner to minority stakeholder in 2019—and explains why the firm decided now was the right time to fully join Goldman's external investing group. He discusses how secondaries have become "the new IPO" for venture-backed companies, shares insights from managing one of the world's largest portfolios of seed-stage venture funds with over 150 firms, and explains why the predicted wave of fund failures hasn't materialized in their portfolio. Swildens also explores the future of venture liquidity structures, from continuation funds to NAV loans, and why products that have been successful in private equity haven't yet crossed over to venture capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s episode of StrictlyVC Download was recorded live at the Elevate Festival in Toronto. TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos sat down with Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, to discuss the company’s newly launched video generation tool Sora, the complexities of copyright and fair use in AI training, and the massive infrastructure buildout required to keep pace with China. Lehane also explained OpenAI’s approach to iterative deployment, why the company believes it will need a gigawatt of energy per week in the near future, and what keeps waking him up at 3 AM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos speaks with Kara Nortman, co-founder of Monarch Collective, the first fund dedicated exclusively to women’s sports. Nortman launched this $250 million fund in 2023—right before women’s sports exploded into the mainstream. But she didn’t just get lucky: she helped create the market by co-founding Angel City Football Club, which went from zero to $30 million in revenue and proved you could pack stadiums for women’s soccer. The two discuss Monarch’s unusual approach, wherein the team makes highly concentrated bets, then invests time that most PE firms would not. They also discuss into whether the numbers work, where the revenue actually comes from (merchandise, sponsorships, ticket sales, media deals), and whether this boom is sustainable. 00:00 - Introduction 01:40 - From tech VC to women's sports: Kara's journey 03:30 - The fundraising strategy and pitch for Monarch Collective 05:00 - Did they see the Caitlin Clark boom coming? 06:45 - Learning from history: the Dick Kerr Ladies story 08:30 - The operational playbook: why passive doesn't exist 11:37 - Can this model scale? Seven to nine concentrated bets 13:40 - Franchise fee explosion: from $2M to $110M 15:00 - The ownership structure debate in women's sports 17:20 - How do you value a women's sports team? 20:00 - Revenue streams: where does the money come from? 23:29 - Competition and first mover advantage 25:00 - Why big PE firms are downstream from Monarch 27:00 - The LP base: family offices and institutions 29:01 - What's next: Europe and beyond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos and StrictlyVC's Alex Gove spoke with with Amjad Masad, founder and CEO of Replit, fresh off the company's $250 million Series C at a $3 billion valuation. They discussed Replit's remarkable journey from hovering around $2.8 million in ARR for years to hitting $150 million—and how a controversial pivot away from professional developers made it all possible. Masad explained why targeting non-technical users actually requires more compute power than serving experienced coders, and how his company survived a viral production database disaster that briefly threatened to derail everything. They also dove into the challenges of AI agent "reward hacking," why Replit pits multiple LLMs against each other, and what it means to build autonomous coding agents that can work for hours without human intervention. Plus, Masad shared his vision for creating a billion software developers and why he believes solving hard problems around safety and security will become Replit's competitive moat—much like privacy became Apple's Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 02:27 - From $2.8M to $150M: The Explosive Growth Story 05:00 - Eight Years of Struggle and Pivoting Business Models 06:41 - The Agent Revolution: Building Beyond Code 10:29 - Enterprise vs Consumer Pricing Strategy 11:59 - AI Inference Costs and the Token Economy 15:00 - The Jason Lemkin Database Incident 20:00 - Surviving Crisis and Building Trust 25:00 - From Palestinian Refugee Son to Silicon Valley Founder 27:32 - Reaching the Next Billion Users 30:00 - Why Replit Beats ChatGPT for Non-Coders 32:07 - The Future: Acquisitions, Agents, and Enterprise Expansion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos is joined by Francis deSouza, the renowned entrepreneur, operator and, since January of this year, COO of Google Cloud. They discuss his goals for Google Cloud and how the company maintains its competitive position by focusing on startups while giants like AWS and Oracle snap up major deals with leading AI companies — namely, OpenAI and Anthropic. The conversation also covers the tangled web of relationships in the AI ecosystem, where companies like Google Cloud provide infrastructure services while their parent companies compete fiercely in generative AI, even as those same parents hold investment stakes in their supposed rivals. They also discuss how Google Cloud approaches the GPU shortage as part of its strategy to attract customers — and keep them coming back for more. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and Francis deSouza's Background 05:00 - Google Cloud's Three-Pillar Strategy 08:55 - AI Startup Strategy and Revenue Commitments 10:00 - Competition with Oracle and AWS 12:30 - Partnership Strategy with Anthropic and Meta 14:00 - Balancing Competition and Neutral Infrastructure Provider Role 16:30 - TPUs vs GPUs: Technical Differentiation and Strategy 20:00 - Customer Lock-in Concerns and Technology Advantages 21:30 - Capacity Constraints and GPU Shortage 22:30 - Google Cloud Profitability and $80B CapEx Investment 25:00 - Health Data, Scientific Integrity, and Google's Role Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

his week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos sits down with former Vice President Al Gore and Lila Preston to explore their ninth annual Sustainability Trends Report and how the global climate transition is accelerating despite political headwinds. In fact, while traditional media focuses on Trump administration rollbacks, the three discuss why renewable energy economics have fundamentally shifted—with 65% of energy investment now flowing to renewables versus just 35% to fossil fuels, a complete reversal from a decade ago. They dive into how China has become the world's first "electro-state" with EVs representing 60% of new car sales, how AI's massive energy demands could either derail or accelerate climate progress through a $500 billion data center buildout, and Mr. Gore's theory that the fossil fuel industry's political capture is weakening as communities fight back against environmental injustice. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and EPA correction 02:23 - The big wheel turning: Global energy investment shift 08:18 - China becomes the world's first "electro-state" 11:55 - Climate data tracking and the EPA rollback 14:47 - AI data centers and the $500 billion Stargate Project 19:54 - Environmental justice and Elon Musk's Memphis facility 22:42 - Precious metals mining and sustainability 25:01 - Space launches, waste, and carbon emissions 26:28 - Most surprising takeaways and climate tipping points Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos and StrictlyVC's Alex Gove sit down with Marc Bhargava, partner at General Catalyst, to explore his ambitious $1.5 billion Creation Fund strategy that's targeting the $16 trillion global services economy through AI-powered rollups. They dive into how Bhargava's team proves AI automation works and why outcome-based pricing models are disrupting everything from legal services with Eudia to call centers with Crescendo. Plus, they discuss the mechanics of incubating AI-native companies with proven second-time founders, why relationship-driven and regulated businesses make the best targets, and Bhargava's theory that 95% of corporate AI pilots fail because applying AI technology effectively requires deep expertise that consulting firms simply can't provide. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and Marc's background 02:00 - From crypto to Coinbase Prime acquisition 05:00 - General Catalyst's Creation Fund strategy explained 10:00 - Fund administration vs. Carta comparison 15:00 - Titan MSP deep dive and $74M investment 20:00 - Udia's approach to disrupting legal services 25:00 - Why 95% of AI pilots fail and market opportunities 29:35 - Closing thoughts and General Catalyst's future initiatives Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos and StrictlyVC's Alex Gove sit down with Adeo Ressi, founder of Decile Group, and Sarah Lacy, the former TechCrunch journalist turned entrepreneur to explore how one of Ressi's newest projects --  VC Lab -- has quietly launched over 800 venture funds worldwide, averaging $12 million each. In fact, while traditional media focuses on emerging manager struggles, the four talk about why, according to Ressi and Lacy, small checks are becoming strategically advantageous in over-subscribed rounds, how accomplished professionals are locked out of traditional VC despite having unicorn angel track records, and Lacy's theory that diverse manager networks are unlocking untapped LP pools. Plus, they talk about Lacy's path from Palm Springs bookstore owner back to Silicon Valley ecosystem building, whether this micro-fund renaissance can actually achieve 50/50 gender parity in venture capital, and what Ressi, a former roommate of Elon Musk, thinks about Musk's time this year in federal government. 00:00 - Introduction 03:17 - From tech journalism to Palm Springs bookstore owner 05:05 - Scaling Founder Institute and the birth of VC Lab 06:39 - The disconnect between media narratives and ground reality 07:46 - The economics of Decile Group's free model 09:54 - Fund performance: 2x returns in 24 months 12:14 - The strategic advantage of small checks 14:24 - Breaking the VC paper doll cutout 17:19 - Finding capital: From network activation to fund of funds 18:57 - Success stories: From blockchain to African women managers 23:43 - Fighting misogyny and building gender equality in VC 26:18 - From tearing down to building up 29:52 - Fixing problems at scale through democratized venture 31:45 - The Elon factor: Politics, neurodiversity, and friendship Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Techcrunch EIC Connie Loizos talks with Uncork Capital honchos Jeff Clavier and Andy McLoughlin. They discuss how their seed-stage firm is positioning itself in this environment, from a recent investment in AI chip maker Groq to bets on AI-native companies attacking unsexy industries like material sciences and robotics. Plus, the three dig into Uncork's philosophy of finding companies with unique datasets before they become obvious to the market, how Uncork is advising its established portfolio companies to reinvent themselves in an AI-first world, and whether San Francisco's comeback -- driven by AI moolah -- is sustainable. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:48 - Market dynamics and late-stage firms entering seed stage 04:36 - Groq investment and AI chip industry insights 08:37 - Dave Agents investment and round economics 09:20 - Current AI investment themes and portfolio evolution 10:49 - Helping established portfolio companies adopt AI 13:58 - AI's impact on workforce and productivity 17:26 - Investing in unsexy industries with unique datasets 20:52 - Robotics investments and AI-driven automation 21:42 - Competitive positioning and value proposition 25:54 - Secondary market strategy and exit timing 27:37 - Private market democratization policy discussion 31:37 - San Francisco's resurgence as AI innovation center 35:02 - Closing remarks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos speaks with Katelin Holloway, co-founder of Seven Seven Six, the generalist firm that's raised over $1 billion across three funds. They discuss Seven Seven Six's unconventional investment thesis spanning AI-powered stone carving robots to commercial lunar mining, including her bet on Interlune—the first company to sell an off-planet resource back to Earth. Holloway explains why she believes helium-3 harvested from moon dust will generate returns within a decade, how climate tech and space tech are converging in unexpected ways, and why maintaining human connection remains critical as AI transforms the workforce. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:32 - Generalist investment approach 04:00 - Monumental labs: AI-powered stone carving revolution 07:00 - Space tech investment journey and philosophy 10:00 - Interlune: mining helium-3 from the moon 15:00 - The future of space commerce and exit strategies 22:00 - Human connection in an automated world 25:00 - The changing workforce and AI platform shift 30:00 - Closing thoughts and future outlook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos and Alex Gove of StrictlyVC speak with Lara Banks, who leads venture investing at Makena Capital Management. They discuss her firm's $3 billion venture allocation across 30 manager relationships, how she evaluates everything from solo GPs to the AI rollup trend sweeping traditional service businesses, and why she thinks AI companies' "astronomical" revenue growth justifies their sky-high valuations despite massive infrastructure costs. Banks also shares what LPs really learned from 2021's boom-bust cycle and how the secondary market is creating new liquidity opportunities as companies stay private longer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we're sharing an interview from the Equity podcast. Rebecca Bellan chatted with Deedy Das, principal at Menlo Ventures. Das has seen this shift from multiple angles, first as an engineer and product leader at Google, Facebook, and AI startup Glean, and now as an investor helping technical founders figure out how to build enduring companies in this new AI landscape. They discuss how compensation packages and acquisitions are warping startup hiring and retention and how VCs are thinking about key-person risk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos and Alex Gove of StrictlyVC speak with Dimitrious Kottas, the founder and CEO of Delian Alliance Industries. They discuss his journey from Apple's Special Projects Group to building autonomous defense systems in Greece, how his company is reimagining surveillance and strike capabilities using AI and commercial tech, and why he believes we're at the start of a decade-long technological race in autonomous warfare. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 02:04 - Dimitrios's background and journey from Apple to defense tech 05:00 - The founding moment: Why he left Silicon Valley for Athens 08:55 - Starting with surveillance towers: The perception-first strategy 13:21 - Current deployments in Greece and Ukraine aspirations 16:32 - Dual-use applications and critical infrastructure protection 18:39 - The Intercept-Egon series: Concealed autonomous weapons 21:52 - Cost advantages through vertical integration 24:46 - European defense tech landscape and procurement challenges 28:16 - Greece's defense industry and cross-border competition 31:04 - Modular vs. full-stack approach 32:54 - Thoughts on Anduril and the defense tech race 35:00 - Greek roots and the personal nature of European defense Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we're revisiting Connie Loizos' conversation with Aileen Lee, the founder of Cowboy Ventures. They discuss what’s on the horizon for Cowboy Ventures and how she’s thinking about AI’s impact on job creation, automation, and new business models—while also giving listeners a glimpse into Cowboy’s own recent team changes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Mayfield managing partner Navin Chaddha joins Connie Loizos at our event in Menlo Park to break down why the $5 trillion services sector is ready for AI disruption. Navin, an early investor in Lyft, Poshmark, and HashiCorp, explains why the next wave of winners in this space will combine human and AI teammates to deliver outcome-based services with software-like margins. They dive into why legacy firms like Accenture and McKinsey are vulnerable, what makes a true “AI teammate,” and how startups can serve the 100 million businesses priced out of traditional professional services. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 02:05 - Why AI will transform the $5 trillion services industry 05:09 - Lessons from offshoring and the path to AI-powered services 09:22 - The rise of outcome-based pricing and AI margins 10:48 - Backing Groove: A case study in AI-driven security 13:06 - The innovator's dilemma for Accenture and McKinsey 15:52 - Silicon Valley’s marketing problem around job displacement 18:22 - Long-term optimism vs. short-term pain 20:54 - AI valuations, the market disconnect, and FOMO is for sheep Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos is joined by Drive Capital co-founder Chris Olsen. Chris explains how Drive's contrarian approach to fund size, ownership stakes, and geographic focus is generating returns where others firms are right now struggling. Plus: why Silicon Valley billionaires are choosing Columbus, and what the "venture reckoning" means for the industry. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:28 - The $500M Distribution Week Strategy 03:08 - Why Venture Math is Broken for Mega Funds 05:00 - Thoughtful Automation Exit and Portfolio Returns 10:00 - Fund Strategy and Family Office Trends 12:00 - Secondary Sales and Series B Liquidity 15:00 - Post-Mark Kwame Evolution and Geographic Expansion 17:30 - Building Infrastructure Across Six Cities 18:30 - Beyond Pure Tech: AI in Traditional Industries 20:00 - Syndicate Strategy and Solo VC Approach 22:46 - 30% Ownership Stakes and Pricing Philosophy 25:00 - Silicon Valley Exodus to Columbus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices