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

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Circle co-founder Sean Neville joins Alex Gove of StrictlyVC to discuss building banking infrastructure for AI agents. Fresh off Circle’s 450% IPO surge, Sean has raised $18 million from A16z to create Catena Labs, the first fully regulated AI-native financial institution. They explore what “agent-native finance” actually means, how AI agents will soon handle our payments and treasury management, and why the financial world needs new standards and protocols to make this safe and reliable. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and background 01:24 - Circle's IPO journey 04:12 - What is agent-native finance? 08:24 - Preventing AI hallucination in financial systems 11:07 - Building with real data and human oversight 13:53 - Building regulatory trust and compliance 16:21 - Competing with traditional financial institutions 19:02 - Creating standards for AI-to-AI payments 21:02 - Why this venture will move faster than Circle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, we're bringing you to our recent event in Menlo Park. Connie Loizos was joined by Katie Haun, founder and CEO of Haun Ventures, who shared an inside look at her contrarian "harpoon strategy" that targeted distressed crypto assets during the depths of crypto winter. They explored everything from stablecoin infrastructure to tokenization of real-world assets, to the regulatory landscape shaping crypto's future. They also get into what made Katie step away from A16z to start her own venture and why she believes we're still i the early days of crypto. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 02:58 - The harpoon strategy: investing during crypto winter 04:42 - Stablecoins and cross-border payment infrastructure 08:03 - User experience evolution and enterprise adoption 10:09 - Global investment strategy and A16z relationship 12:13 - Political influence and regulatory landscape 14:59 - The Genius Act: what Katie likes and dislikes 16:24 - Criminal use cases: a former prosecutor's perspective 18:50 - Trump family stablecoin and conflict of interest 20:53 - Tokenization of real-world assets 23:25 - Market adoption and fund updates 24:36 - How Haun Ventures differentiates itself Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Alex Gove and Connie Loizos are joined by Charles Hudson, Founder and Managing Partner of Precursor Ventures, a pre seed and seed stage venture firm that invests at the very beginning of company formation. They discuss his data-driven approach to portfolio management, how he's navigated many changes in the VC landscape, and his thoughts on the evolving LP expectations for liquidity given the recent market volatility. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Alex and Connie are joined by Justin Fanelli, the Acting Chief Technology Officer for the US Navy and Technical Director of Program Executive Office Digital, where he oversees billions of dollars in IT infrastructure and cybersecurity initiatives. He's also a venture partner at NextGen Venture Partners and serves as a senior fellow for the Open Forum for AI. In this episode, they discuss the Navy's innovation adoption kit designed to bridge the "valley of death" between commercial technology and military implementation, the partnership with Defense Innovation Unit to streamline startup onboarding, and how the Navy is measuring success through new outcome-driven metrics that prioritize sailor time saved and operational resilience over traditional activity-based measurements. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and background 03:19 - Innovation adoption kit and valley of death solutions 05:43 - Partnership with Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) 08:27 - Onboarding non-traditional vendors and startups 13:22 - Current pain points and AI adoption challenges 15:37 - Technology modernization and team structure 17:39 - Measuring effectiveness with world class alignment metrics 21:23 - Common failure points in technology adoption 22:09 - America first policies and supply chain resilience Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Alex and Connie are joined by return guest Elad Gil, one of the world’s most renowned solo capitalists, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders in the AI investing space. He has backed companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Figma, and perplexity He’s also the co-host of No Priors. In this episode, they discuss the current landscape for AI investors and Elad offers a peek into what he believes is around the corner. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and Elad Gil's background 01:04 - AI's impact on company scaling and team efficiency 03:36 - AI relationships and the future of human-AI interaction 05:00 - AI hallucinations and setting safety standards 07:30 - Character AI investment and concerns about AI bias in education 10:00 - Open source vs. closed AI models debate 12:15 - AI tutoring for children and societal implications 15:00 - AI-driven business rollups and mature company transformations 20:00 - Market crystallization and winners in AI verticals 25:00 - Founder mode vs. delegation in leadership 30:00 - Identifying technology waves and current AI investments Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on StrictlyVC Download, we're bringing you to our recent event in Athens. Connie was joined by Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who shared an inside look at how the country is positioning itself as a refreshed hub for innovation, investment, and participation from the world's technology industry. They explored everything from policy changes to new global partnerships, to Greece's startup momentum — plus they offer a peek into why founders are starting to return to the country from shores near and far. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's episode was recorded live at StrictlyVC London, host Connie Loizos sat down with Accel partner Sonali De Rycker. They discussed Europe's regulatory challenges, compares US and EU tech ecosystems, and explores venture capital's evolving exit strategies in the absence of IPOs. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction to Strictly VC Download and Sonali de Rycker 01:48 - The "Queen of European VC" title and its origin 02:11 - Accel's 25th anniversary in Europe and early challenges 05:38 - Evaluating AI startup valuations in the current cycle 09:03 - European tech potential vs regulatory headwinds 11:37 - Impact of US-EU trade tensions on tech companies 14:22 - Defense tech investment opportunities in Europe 19:31 - Capital restructuring for founder alignment: The Kry example 21:27 - Founder liquidity and lessons from the Hopin experience 23:57 - AI talent retention and closing thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we're taking you with us to our StrictlyVC event in Athens. Connie led a panel discussion with some of Greece's most notable investors about Greece's  evolving startup ecosystem. You'll hear from Panos Papadopoulos: Partner at Marathon Venture Capital, Apostolos Apostolakis: Partner at VentureFriends, Marco Veremis: Entrepreneur turned investor who founded and Upstream before co-founded Big Pi Ventures, Myrto Papathanou, Partner at Metavallon VC which invests in early stage companies; and Dimitrious Kottas: Founder of a defense tech startup who returned to Greece after working at Apple in Silicon Valley. The conversation covers everything from the current state of venture funding in Greece, the role of pension funds in the ecosystem, why ambitious founders are choosing to build in Greece, and what systemic changes could further accelerate the country's tech transformation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices