Alfred Lin, Partner at Sequoia Capital and three-time #1 Midas List investor, has backed some of the most transformative companies of the past two decades. His portfolio spans early bets on Airbnb, DoorDash, Uber, Zipline, Kalshi, and Commure to growth-stage partnerships with OpenAI and Citadel Securities, consistently identifying founders and businesses that redefine entire markets.
He continues this track record today with next-generation category creators like Profound, which is building AI-powered brand visibility, Nominal, which is powering mission-critical engineering with a unified data stack, and Clay, which evolved into a go-to-market engine by relentlessly adapting to innovation.
In this conversation, Alfred shares his philosophy on founder-market fit, resilience, and backing visionaries who create new categories. He reflects on Airbnb’s near-collapse during COVID, DoorDash’s rise, and Sequoia’s landmark investment in Citadel Securities, while breaking down how he evaluates IPOs, valuations in the AI era, and why the next decade will be defined by reimagined consumer experiences.
Alfred Lin: https://x.com/Alfred_Lin
Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒
(00:00) Alfred Lin, Sequoia
(01:31) Why technology cycles move at 3-month speeds
(03:55) Why markets often consolidate to 2–3 leaders
(05:07) “Build for the world, not San Francisco”
(07:14) Airbnb’s COVID crisis and Brian Chesky’s leadership
(13:15) Culture under stress: resilience in tough times
(15:45) The essence of founder-market fit
(16:20) Motion ≠ progress: why velocity matters
(17:55) Resetting company culture in the AI era
(19:55) Clay’s pivot into a go-to-market engine
(21:10) Profound and the rise of AI-powered brand visibility
(25:15) Breaking through to invest in Citadel Securities
(29:45) IPOs, exits, and what makes a public company
(33:05) Performance metrics: numbers behind the numbers
(33:58) AI premiums, valuations, and when they turn reckless
(39:45) OpenAI’s $500B valuation and trillion-dollar potential
Sequoia Partner Alfred Lin joins Sourcery to share how one of the world’s most iconic venture funds, which has distributed over $43B to investors since 2020, continues to back outlier founders at the earliest stages. Sequoia just launched its latest early stage funds: Seed Fund VI: $200M and Venture Fund XIX: $750M, to continue partnering with the next generation of outlier founders at the start of their journey.
Sitting at Number 1 on the Midas list two years in a row, Alfred goes deep to share Sequoia’s company-building philosophy with stories from OpenAI, DoorDash, Kalshi, Commure, Zipline, and more.
Alfred explains how Sequoia thinks about partnering with founders four standard deviations above the mean, why efficiency matters more than capital, the role of pivots in scaling, and how to distinguish quality revenue from experimental revenue in today’s AI-driven market.
Topics include:
Alfred Lin: https://x.com/Alfred_Lin
Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery
• Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. https://carta.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
(00:00) Alfred Lin, Sequoia
(02:37) What makes an “outlier founder”
(04:15) Bespoke founder support: lessons from Airbnb & DoorDash
(07:10) Stories from Kalshi: regulation, elections & more markets
(14:00) Little “p” pivots vs. Big “P” pivots
(14:17) Zipline’s dramatic pivot to medical drones
(18:00) DoorDash vs. Uber: efficiency as a weapon
(19:49) When to pour capital into growth
(20:07) Growth vs. true product-market fit
(22:19) The race to $100M revenue – healthy or not?
(25:55) Pilot/experimental revenue vs. real ARR
(27:26) Breaking down revenue quality: SaaS vs. hardware vs. services
(29:00) AI cycle, hype, and founder pressure
(31:36) Why Sequoia expects more from this generation of founders
(34:21) Closing thoughts: measuring company velocity, not just revenue
Michael Barton, Sector Head at Coatue, joins Sourcery to unpack how one of the world’s largest hedge funds is navigating tectonic shifts in markets. From the Gamestop meme stock saga and the rise of retail investors, to Coatue’s $70B multi-strategy platform across public equities, privates, and credit, Barton shares a behind-the-scenes view into how ideas are generated, trades are sized, and risks are managed.
We cover Coatue’s unique approach, sitting at the intersection of public and private tech investing. And why AI is the biggest tech wave yet, bigger than Web1, Web2, or mobile. Barton explains where he sees value accruing in the AI stack, how retail sentiment now drives price action, and why the next hedge fund edge comes from integrating data science, practitioner insights, and AI-native workflows.
This conversation reveals how Coatue is positioning itself for the future of markets, and what founders, investors, and institutions should learn from these shifts.
KEY POINTS
Michael Barton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-lord-barton-jr-390b4145/
Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
SPONSORS
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
https://www.sourcery.vc/
Elad Gil joins Sourcery to unpack the story behind Brain Co, his new AI incubation venture with Jared Kushner (Affinity Partners) and Eric Wu (Opendoor).
Brain Co was founded to solve a glaring problem: Fortune 100s and government institutions desperately want AI adoption but lack the engineering depth and infrastructure to make it real. Backed by a $30M Series A led by Gil Capital and Affinity Partners, Brain Co is already pulling in some of the sharpest AI minds and heavyweight backers across tech and finance.
We dive deep into:
Elad Gil: https://x.com/eladgil
Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
https://www.sourcery.vc/
Chapters:
(00:00) Elad Gil
(01:32) The “rule of 3” in markets: why industries collapse to 2–3 winners
(04:56) From investor to incubator: why Elad started Brain Co
(05:16) The “Brain” naming story & Braintrust origins
(06:15) Meeting Jared Kushner & aligning on enterprise AI problems
(06:54) Why Fortune 100s can’t adopt AI alone
(07:13) Recruiting Eric Wu and assembling Brain Co’s founding team
(08:29) Skipping SMB/mid-market → going straight to enterprise
(08:51) Brain Co’s dual strategy: platform + bespoke apps
(10:50) MIT study on AI pilots—why most fail & how Brain Co differs
(12:26) Lessons from internet & mobile waves on long adoption cycles
(15:30) Who are the real early adopters in enterprise AI?
(16:38) The $30M Series A: Elad + Kushner co-lead, full angel investor list
(18:47) Why Brain Co attracted top-tier operators & angels
(19:23) Eric Wu post-Opendoor & Brain Co’s vision
(20:47) Redemption stories & second acts in tech
(22:54) Headlines vs. reality—what media gets wrong
(27:18) Worst advice ever & “culture = winning”
(29:04) Managing context switching & long-term planning
(32:03) Lightning predictions: AGI, Mars robots, aliens
(35:39) Outro & wrap-up
Elad Gil, of Gil Capital and Gil & Co, aka one of Silicon Valley’s most influential investors, sits down with Molly O’Shea to unpack it all.. from the 1999 IPO boom to the AI bubble, and what it really takes to build durable companies across cycles.
Elad has backed more than 200 companies, from Stripe, Airbnb, and Coinbase to next-gen AI leaders like Perplexity, Harvey, and Decagon. Today, he runs Gil Capital, a multi-stage investment firm potentially managing “billions,” and continues to be one of the most insightful voices on technology, capital, and company-building.
Did we mention he’s a bit of an enigma?
Portfolio includes: Abridge, Airbnb, Airtable, Anduril, Applied Intuition, Braintrust, Brain Co, Brex, Character, Checkr, Coinbase, dbt Labs, Deel, Decagon, Figma, Flexport, Gitlab, Gusto, Harvey, Instacart, Mistral, Navan, Notion, Opendoor, PagerDuty, Perplexity, Pika, Pinterest, Retool, Rippling, Samsara, Saronic, Square, Stripe etc.
In this conversation, Elad reflects on:
Elad Gil: https://x.com/eladgil
Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
Chapters:
(00:00) Elad Gil
(02:00) Elad’s career arc: Google, Twitter, Color, angel investing
(02:30) Technology as a force for good
(03:20) Why Elad is building monuments
(09:09) From angel investing to a potentially multi-billion-dollar fund
(11:03) Inside Gil Capital’s small but focused team
(11:45) Thesis-driven vs. opportunistic investing
(12:43) Backing 200+ companies across waves
(15:15) Stripe, Airbnb, Figma, Instacart & investing across competition
(17:08) Why every software company is now an AI company
(18:47) AI’s biggest bottleneck: energy & geopolitics
(22:10) Policy, crypto regulation, and AI’s political risks
(26:14) Lessons from the 1999 IPO boom & what it means for AI
(34:29) What it takes to build a trillion-dollar company
AI has eaten the internet, data labeling is so over, and $30 trillion of human work is on the verge of automation. Jonathan Siddharth, Founder & CEO of Turing, joins Sourcery to break down the power shift in AI training — from commodity data labeling to expert research — positioning Turing apart from AI data providers like Scale AI, Mercor, & Surge.
Turing has become a hidden force in the AI race, hitting $300M in ARR in 2024 (~3x YoY), achieving profitability, and raising $111M at a $2.2B valuation in March. That growth cements its position as one of the fastest-growing AGI infrastructure companies.
Today, frontier labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, & Amazon rely on Turing for the frontier data that pushes AI forward across the four pillars of superintelligence:
• Multimodality
• Reasoning
• Tool use
• Coding
We explore Turing’s expansion into the enterprise, closing the “gap” – where Fortune 500s in finance, insurance, and pharma are racing to build proprietary intelligence on their own data, creating durable moats in the $30T knowledge work economy.
PS Jonathan also explains how labs like OpenAI train models:
• Pre-training on filtered internet corpora (Common Crawl, GitHub, books, video)
• Post-training with supervised fine-tuning (human Q&A datasets)
• Reinforcement learning (RLHF + verifiable domains) to align models with human preferences
• Model-breaking data from Turing’s 4M+ engineers to close gaps and advance systems like GPT-5
1. Jonathan Siddharth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonsid/
2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
(00:00) AI Ate The Internet
(00:49) Training superintelligence: the race to AGI
(02:31) Viral tweet
(03:24) What Turing actually does
(04:43) The internet data is “used up” — where will new data come from?
(05:34) Four pillars of superintelligence: multimodality, reasoning, tool use, coding
(06:07) Automating $30T of global knowledge work
(09:18) The $1B revenue opportunity
(10:59) Why Turing is a research-first accelerator, not a data labeler
(13:45) Jonathan’s Stanford AI Lab roots and founding DNA
(17:57) How models are built: pre-training vs. post-training
(20:14) RLHF, reinforcement learning, and “breaking the models”
(25:19) GPT-5 and the myth of rapid takeoff
(30:46) Safety debates and human-in-the-loop systems
(34:53) Closing Enterprise Gap: finance, insurance, & pharma
(39:23) Why proprietary enterprise data is the next moat in AI
At just 2 years old, Base Power has become one of the fastest-growing distributed energy companies in the U.S. Founded by Zach Dell and Justin Lopas, the company just announced a $1 billion Series C led by Addition. All other major investors are re-investing, including Trust Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Thrive, Lightspeed, a16z, Altimeter, Stepstone, Elad Gil, 137Ventures, Terrain, and Waybury. New major investors include Ribbit, CapitalG, Spark, BOND, Lowercarbon, Avenir, Glade Brook, Positive Sum, and 1789.
Zach breaks down:
• How Base Power is reinventing America’s energy grid with distributed batteries.
• Scaling from $200M Series B to $1B Series C in < 6 months.
• Building Base Factory One in Austin and plans for more domestic manufacturing.
• Why AI and data centers make energy the new bottleneck for innovation.
• The culture, team, & investors powering one of America’s most ambitious startups.
5 Key Takeaways
1. Strategic Investor Network – Beyond top venture firms, Base Power’s backers include Lennar (homebuilding), Starwood (real estate), and university endowments like WashU. These strategic investors bring distribution channels, deployment partnerships, and institutional credibility
2. Hypergrowth Trajectory – The company grew 30% month-over-month, has thousands on its waitlist, and is already doing millions in monthly revenue.
3. Domestic Manufacturing – Base is building its first factory in downtown Austin, repurposing the old Austin American-Statesman printing press, with plans for a second plant already underway.
4. Grid Bottleneck & AI – Energy is now the key constraint for AI/data centers. Base’s distributed battery model offers faster, cheaper deployment than traditional interconnection queue.
5. Culture as Differentiator – Base Power embodies a “chop wood, carry water” culture, with IC-driven leadership, top-tier engineering hires from Tesla, SpaceX, Anduril, and a flat, hands-on team structure.
1. Zach Dell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-dell-a631a554/
2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
Andy Lowery, CEO of Epirus, & Joshua Steinman, CEO of Galvanick, join Molly O’Shea to break down the next frontier of defense, from drone swarms to industrial cyber threats.
Epirus has raised over $550M from StepStone, General Dynamics, T. Rowe Price, Gaingels, and 8VC, building its Leonidas™ solid-state, high-power microwave weapon to counter drones and drone swarms. Lowery explains how Epirus is pioneering the “sixth domain of warfare”—physical cyber attacks—and how their “one-to-many” defense approach gives the U.S. a strategic edge against mass drone threats.
Galvanick, meanwhile, is tackling the cyber front. Steinman, who served four years in the Trump White House on the National Security Council, breaks down why industrial control systems (ICS/SCADA) are America’s greatest vulnerability—and how Galvanick’s platform detects and neutralizes attacks that could cripple manufacturing, energy, and defense supply chains.
Together, we explore:
What the sixth domain of warfare means for modern conflict.
How Epirus’ Gen 2 systems are extending range and production readiness.
Why cybersecurity for industrial infrastructure is mission-critical.
The role of defense tech in America’s reindustrialization.
Where geopolitics, AI, and national security intersect in the decade ahead.
This conversation is part of Sourcery’s “Made in America” Mini-Series recorded at the Reindustrialize 2025 Summit.
1. Andy Lowery: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andylowery/
2. Joshua Steinman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmsteinman/
3. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
4. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
https://www.sourcery.vc/
Chapters:
(00:00) Future of Defense & Cyberattacks
(01:25) Origins of Epirus & next-gen jamming roots at Raytheon
(03:55) Defining the sixth domain of warfare
(06:35) America’s edge: cleverness, phased arrays, & underdog strategy
(08:47) Drones, consumer electronics, & the “one-to-many” defense approach
(11:15) Epirus’ Gen 2 Leonidas system: extended range and readiness
(15:00) Reindustrialization: manufacturing bottlenecks in amplifiers & rocket motors
(19:00) U.S. talent and supply chain challenges in electronics
(21:45) Epirus milestones & next Army tests
(23:15) Transition to Joshua Steinman, CEO of Galvanick
(24:00) Steinman’s background: Navy, Iraq, White House National Security Council
(27:00) Lessons from working under Trump at the NSC
(32:25) Galvanick’s mission: defending America’s industrial base from cyber threats
(34:00) Real-world ICS/SCADA attack examples (Iranian steel mills)
(39:15) The role of cybersecurity in reindustrialization and U.S. resilience
Astasia Myers (Felicis), Tony Wang (500 Global), & Patrick Salyer (Mayfield) joined Sourcery’s Molly O’Shea at the Startup Grind AI Summit, presented with Mayfield & Snowflake, for a conversation on what it really takes to raise from Seed to Series A in AI.
Together they unpack the realities of fundraising in AI today—from what traction truly looks like, to defensibility and integration moats, to shifting stage definitions and round compression. The panel digs into:
This panel goes beyond the hype to share what top VCs are really looking for when backing the next generation of AI companies.
Funding data provided by Carta.
5 Key Takeaways
1. Astasia Myers: https://x.com/AstasiaMyers
2. Tony Wang: https://x.com/TonyW
3. Patrick Salyer: https://x.com/patricksalyer
4. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
5. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
Chapters:
(00:00) Investor backgrounds
(01:39) Astasia on AI voice models
(04:02) ROI of voice-native apps
(05:02) Patrick on AI agents & TAMs
(07:27) Tony on MCP & voice agents
(09:15) Growth expectations from Seed → A
(11:15) Conversion rates & red flags
(13:29) Patrick on stage shifts & round compression
(15:36) Tony on hypergrowth traps
(19:08) Astasia on fastest-growing AI companies
(21:13) Patrick on AI supercycle & greenfield markets
(23:23) Panel on integration moats & stickiness
(25:41) How AI is reshaping business models & VC
(32:57) Building AI-native teams & learning velocity
(38:43) Hiring trends & younger AI-native talent
(40:48) Valuations, premiums & market realities
Navin Chaddha, Managing Partner of Mayfield, has guided more than 80 companies to positive outcomes. During his venture capital career, Navin has invested in over 60 companies, of which 18 have gone public and 27 have been acquired. Creating $120B+ in equity value and over 40,000 jobs. Navin has been named to the Forbes Midas List 17 times (Top 5 in 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024), becoming one of the most respected voices in venture capital.
Mayfield has $3B+ in AUM, 120 IPOs, and 225+ acquisitions.
In this episode of Sourcery, we cover:
Why AI is a 100x opportunity vs. past tech shifts
The collaborative intelligence stack from semiconductors to AI teammates
The difference between real vs. vibe revenue
Valuations, hype cycles, and Mayfield’s investment philosophy
5 Key Takeaways
1. Navin Chaddha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/navinchaddha/
2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
Chapters:
(00:00) Navin’s 17x Midas List Journey
(02:06) What It Takes to Build a Winning Company
(03:00) Why AI Is a 100x Opportunity
(04:00) Conversational Interfaces & Machines That Act
(06:35) The Rise of the “Vibe Era”
(06:53) AI Supercycle: Early Days, High Valuations
(09:23) Billion-Dollar Seed Rounds & Valuation Concerns
(10:45) Mayfield’s Investment Philosophy & Win-Win Model
(13:42) AI Premiums in Fundraising (Carta & NVCA Data)
(18:06) Building the Collaborative Intelligence Stack
(20:40) Where Value Accrues Across Hardware, Models, Apps
(22:50) Business Models: Subscription → Consumption Based
(24:19) The Race to $100M Revenue: Hardware, Labs, Agents
(31:47) Real vs. Vibe Revenue (Margins, Repeatability)
(39:08) Founder Traits: Authenticity, EQ, Team Orientation
America’s industrial base is being rebuilt by a new generation of founders at the intersection of aerospace, AI, and defense. In this Sourcery episode, host Molly O’Shea sits down with three leaders driving the reindustrialization movement, Eric Allison (Chief Product Officer, Joby Aviation), Filip Aronshtein (CEO, Dirac), and Steve Simoni (President, Allen Control Systems)
Together, their stories highlight how capital-intensive, frontier-defining companies are raising billions from elite venture funds and strategics like Toyota, Founders Fund, Coatue, Craft Ventures, 8VC, Baillie Gifford, and Uber. The conversation captures the urgency, conviction, and vision behind America’s reindustrialization — from flying cars in Dubai to AI factories in New York to autonomous defense systems in Texas.
This conversation is part of Sourcery’s “Made in America” Mini-Series recorded at the Reindustrialize 2025 Summit.
1. Eric Allison: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-m-allison/
2. Filip Aronshtein: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fila/
3. Steve Simoni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensimoni/
4. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
5. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: https://carta.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
Chapters:
(00:00) Flying Cars, AI Factories, & Defense Autonomy
(00:20) Eric Allison on Joby’s U.S. manufacturing expansion
(02:00) Why Joby doubled down on vertical integration
(03:30) FAA certification and building the first commercial air taxi
(05:00) Going public via SPAC with Reinvent Technology Partners
(07:00) Joby’s proving flights in Dubai & quiet aircraft acoustics
(10:00) What the consumer Joby air taxi experience will look like
(14:00) Scaling a 2,000+ person company with AI and data systems
(17:00) Filip Aronshtein on reindustrialization urgency in Detroit
(22:00) How Dirac’s BuildOS automates work instructions
(25:00) Launching BuildOS & massive inbound demand
(28:30) On-the-ground state of U.S. manufacturing
(34:00) Using AI & AGI in manufacturing software
(40:00) Steve Simoni on founding Allen Control Systems
(42:00) Building Bullfrog turrets: AI machine guns vs drone swarms
(45:00) The future of defense: robot-on-robot warfare
Factory just raised a $50M Series B from NEA, Sequoia Capital, NVIDIA, and JPMorgan, alongside angels like Frank Slootman, Nikesh Arora, and Aaron Levie. The company is pioneering agent-native development with its flagship “Droids” — autonomous software engineering agents that can handle everything from migrations and refactors to testing, documentation, and incident response.
In this Sourcery interview, Factory CEO & Co-Founder Matan Grinberg shares the journey from studying string theory at Berkeley to building one of the fastest-growing AI infrastructure companies in Silicon Valley. He explains why the shift from autocomplete to delegation is the most fundamental change in software development since the move to the cloud, and how Factory achieved real traction with Fortune 500 enterprises like EY, Nvidia, MongoDB, Zapier, Bayer, and Clari.
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Carta—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. Visit: carta.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
Keith Rabois, Opendoor ($OPEN) co-founder & newly appointed Board Chair, Managing Director at Khosla Ventures, & a core member of the PayPal Mafia, joins Sourcery for a masterclass on talent, culture, and contrarian thinking.
“You don't want to be the best in the world at what you do. You want to be the only one who does what you do.” Paraphrasing Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead
He shares how he scouts extraordinary individuals, why every successful startup begins as a cult, and the frameworks he’s developed to simplify complex problems into actionable advice. From the Barrels & Ammunition metaphor to building Olympian-level work cultures, Keith reflects on lessons from PayPal, Square, Opendoor, and Khosla.
We also dive into his takes on stress, sleep, and performance, his potential book, and why he believes venture capital is the best job for the intellectually curious.
Book Recommendations:
• Upside of Stress
• High Output Management
• The Score Takes Care of Itself
1. Keith Rabois: https://x.com/rabois
2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
Keith Rabois, Opendoor ($OPEN) co-founder & newly appointed Board Chair, Managing Director at Khosla Ventures, and a core member of the PayPal Mafia, joins Sourcery to discuss the activist turnaround being led at Opendoor.
Opendoor just named former Shopify executive Kaz Nejatian as CEO, with Rabois returning to reshape the company’s cost structure and culture. In his words to CNBC: “There’s 1,400 employees at Opendoor. I don’t know what most of them do. We don’t need more than 200 of them.” He says the business must slash its workforce by as much as 85% to achieve long-term viability.
The announcement sent Opendoor stock soaring 78% in a single day before retreating 13% the next — still up nearly 500% year-to-date, fueled by retail investors and hedge fund manager Eric Jackson’s campaign.
In this conversation, Rabois breaks down:
- Why he returned to Opendoor as Chairman & what went wrong.
- The decision to appoint Kaz Nejatian as CEO & why the right CEO changes everything.
- How AI will be the biggest unlock in making housing transactions faster, cheaper, & more affordable.
- The long-term mission to transform a $289 trillion real estate market.
- Lessons from PayPal, Square, and decades of building & backing companies at scale.
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
https://www.sourcery.vc/
Chapters:
(00:00) Keith Rabois
(01:49) Why Keith returned to Opendoor as Chairman
(03:28) Appointing Kaz Nejatian as CEO & why leadership is everything
(07:57) Activist turnaround playbook: talent, cost cuts, innovation
(09:41) What went wrong — interest rates, cost structure, & cycles
(13:09) AI as the biggest unlock for housing transactions
(15:08) The “Buy It Now” button for homes
(17:06) Why selling a home is broken — how Opendoor fixes it
(22:09) Why DC is becoming a hub for tech founders
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski joins Sourcery on the eve of their IPO to share the ultimate comeback story — from billion-dollar losses to profit, the hard layoffs, the AI rebuild, and why he let employees lead the charge with new tools. Recorded at the NYSE, this might be the best Sourcery interview to date.
We cover how Klarna balances playful branding — pink logos, surreal fish ads, and Snoop Dogg collaborations — with serious technology that powers 111M users and global expansion. Sebastian also addresses misconceptions: Klarna isn’t just “buy now, pay later,” but a full challenger to the $1.2T U.S. credit card market.
He explains why Klarna’s business model protects them in recessions, how AI is transforming culture and efficiency, and what he gets out of coding himself at night with Cursor. A company equal parts meme factory and trillion-dollar contender, this was so much fun.
1. Sebastian Siemiatkowski: https://x.com/klarnaseb
2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
EXCLUSIVE: Quantum’s SpaceX Moment? Ashlee Vance on PsiQuantum’s Moonshot
Core Memory creator, Silicon Valley’s Science Expert, & once–quantum skeptic Ashlee Vance sits down with PsiQuantum’s Co-Founder & CSO Pete Shadbolt for a candid, wide-ranging conversation.
After touring PsiQuantum’s secretive labs—more than five years after first covering the company—Ashlee found his skepticism shaken, likening PsiQuantum’s ongoing uphill climb to SpaceX’s decade-long, near-death march toward liftoff. Pete reveals why mission, mindset, and his mantra “always be impressive” are non-negotiables for a team attempting a moonshot that may take years to fully realize.
If PsiQuantum succeeds, this may be remembered as the conversation where skeptics began to believe.
1. Pete Shadbolt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-shadbolt-4b7541126/
2. Ashlee Vance: https://x.com/ashleevance
3. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
4. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
Chapters:
(00:00) Intro: Molly welcomes Pete & Ashlee
(00:53) Ashlee’s history covering quantum since 2007
(03:11) What makes PsiQuantum different
(05:11) Touring PsiQuantum labs: hardware challenges & scale
(07:20) Why Ashlee trusted PsiQuantum’s story
(08:43) Pete: “Come and see the wafers”
(10:23) The academic → startup culture gap in quantum
(13:24) Ashlee’s “mind palace” shoot in chaotic engineer’s office
(16:12) How PsiQuantum keeps its team motivated for a decade-long mission
(17:02) Apollo 11 as a model for focus & alignment
(20:01) Pete’s management mantra: “Always be impressive”
(20:25) The mud-slinging problem in quantum pitches
(22:51) Hardware timelines: SpaceX as a 10–15 year lesson
(24:47) Closing reflections: Quantum’s future and PsiQuantum’s place in history
Pete Shadbolt, Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder of PsiQuantum, unpacks the company’s landmark $1 billion Series E, bringing total funding to nearly $2 billion & valuing the company at $7 billion. Backed by BlackRock, Temasek, Baillie Gifford, and Nvidia’s venture arm, PsiQuantum is doubling down on its radical bet: you need 1 million qubits to unlock useful quantum computing.
Shadbolt explains why PsiQuantum rejected incrementalism, how the partnership with Nvidia and Jensen Huang strengthens the roadmap, and why quantum is positioned as the next wave of compute alongside AI and semiconductors. From photonic chip breakthroughs to government partnerships in Australia and Illinois, this is a rare inside look at the company leading the race to build the world’s first fault-tolerant quantum computers.
Previous lead investors include: Playground Global and Redpoint led the Series A in 2016, Founders Fund led the Series B in 2017, Atomico and M12 led the Series C in 2019, and BlackRock led the Series D in 2021.
5 Key Takeaways
• PsiQuantum closed a $1B Series E, bringing total funding to nearly $2B
• Investors include BlackRock, Temasek, Baillie Gifford, Macquarie, Nvidia (NVentures), Ribbit Capital, QIA,1789 Capital & more
• PsiQuantum is committed to an “N of 1 Million Qubits” strategy—skipping demos to build at scale
• Nvidia and Jensen Huang are strategic partners, collaborating on GPU-QPU integration, algorithms, and photonics
• PsiQuantum’s valuation hit $7B, making it the most well-funded quantum company in the world
1. Pete Shadbolt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-shadbolt-4b7541126/
2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
https://www.sourcery.vc/
(00:00:00) Intro and Recent Funding
(00:02:29) Building PsiQuantum: From UK to Silicon Valley
(00:03:55) Investment Strategy and Deep Tech Focus
(00:05:35) PsiQuantum's Differentiation: Going Big from Day One
(00:07:03) Rejecting Incrementalism for Large-Scale Vision
(00:09:13) The Rocket Engine Analogy
(00:10:59) Timeline Debates and NVIDIA Partnership
(00:15:36) Global Manufacturing and Facilities
(00:20:21) Path to Becoming a Trillion Dollar Company
(00:23:32) Revenue Model and Commercialization Strategy
(00:27:53) Working with Global Foundries
(00:31:27) Quantum Computing's Role in Semiconductor Industry
(00:38:28) Public Trust and Government Validation
(00:45:49) The Reality of Quantum Computing Valuations
(00:53:12) Zero to One Technology Approach
(01:00:19) Global Facilities and Infrastructure
(01:09:03) Reindustrialization and Strategic Importance
(01:34:02) Personal Journey and Vision
(01:44:23) Timeline for Useful Quantum Computing
(01:53:54) Looking Ahead: Next Steps and Future Vision
Ashlee Vance, best known as Elon Musk’s biographer, and now the creator of Core Memory, a frontier podcast and video series exploring space, science, and technology, joins Sourcery for a fun behind-the-scenes (BTS) on his most high profile guests.
We talk about why Ashlee shifted from journalist to founder, his vision for Core Memory, and the guests who have defined the show — including Palmer Luckey, Bryan Johnson, and Priscilla Chan. Ashlee also reflects on his relationship with Elon Musk and the lessons he’s learned from him on persistence, prioritization, and relentless focus.
Notable Guests:
• Palmer Luckey (Anduril founder)
• Bryan Johnson (Kernel, Blueprint, Don’t Die)
• Priscilla Chan (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative)
Connect with us:
1. Ashlee Vance: https://x.com/ashleevance
2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
Adam Goldstein (CEO of Archer), Billy Thalheimer (CEO of REGENT), and Mitch Lee (CEO of Arc) join Molly O’Shea to talk flying cars, flying boats, and the electrification of air & sea travel. Archer is scaling its Midnight aircraft for urban air taxis and defense applications; REGENT is launching high-speed seagliders that combine boats and planes; and Arc is bringing electrification to boats. From winning FAA support and building factories in Georgia and Rhode Island to preparing for the LA 2028 Olympics and contested logistics in the Indo-Pacific, these founders share how they’re creating entirely new transportation categories.
1. Adam Goldstein: https://x.com/adamgoldstein13
2. Billy Thalheimer: https://x.com/billythalheimer
3. Mitch Lee: https://x.com/dontmitch
4. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
5. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
https://www.sourcery.vc/
Chapters:
(00:00) CEOs of Archer, REGENT, Arc Boats
(02:16) Archer
(03:21) FAA's New Category & Industrialization
(04:39) Market Potential & Scaling Challenges
(11:19) Midnight Aircraft & Safety Innovations
(20:16) Commercial & Defense Partnerships(29:30) REGENT
(38:09) Revolutionizing Coastal Transportation
(38:47) Navigating Regulatory Challenges
(40:51) Mastering Waves & Weather
(43:52) Innovations in Manufacturing
(45:53) Future of Maritime & Aviation
(52:09) Arc Boats
(53:48) Reindustrializing the Boating Industry
(01:03:43) AI & the Future of Boating
*WARNING* Alex Cohen has one of the wildest founder journeys in tech. Fired by over 11 companies—including Elon Musk’s X, Meta, CrowdStrike, and even Wendy’s—he’s now the founder and CEO of Hello Patient, an AI platform transforming how healthcare practices engage with patients.
In this conversation, Alex and Molly O’Shea dive into his underdog story, the viral parody videos that turned heads across the Valley, his 220k+ X following, why storytelling is the ultimate founder superpower, and yes, shares his latest experiments with peptides... Which all leads to Alex announcing Hello Patient’s $22.5M Series A led by Scale Venture Partners, with continued support from 8VC, Bling Capital, Max Ventures, and Remus Capital. Building the future of conversational AI in healthcare.
Hello Patient builds conversational AI agents that handle patient-facing workflows across phone, text, and web chat. Instead of patients waiting on hold, missing appointments, or navigating clunky portals, Hello Patient automates scheduling, reminders, follow-ups, and inbound calls. The system is already deployed across urgent care, ENT, behavioral health, med spas, and primary care, giving clinics 24/7 coverage while reducing missed calls and boosting patient satisfaction. With staffing shortages across the healthcare industry, Hello Patient steps in as the digital front desk—scalable, HIPAA-compliant, and deeply integrated with practice management systems.
Highlights
• The Underdog Story: Alex was fired 11 times before founding Hello Patient, a history that fuels his authenticity and self-deprecating humor.
• Parody as Marketing: Launch videos parodying Humane and Sam Altman/Jony Ive weren’t gimmicks—they were strategic brand moments that drove massive inbound traction.
• Fundraising Success: Hello Patient raised a $22.5M Series A led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from 8VC, Bling Capital, Max Ventures, and others.
• Healthcare AI Impact: Hello Patient powers omnichannel patient engagement—calls, texts, and chatbots—for urgent care, ENT, mental health, med spas, and more, solving staffing shortages and missed appointments.
• The X Factor: With 220k+ followers, Alex’s shitposting persona is more than comedy—it’s storytelling that gives him investor access, customer inbound, and cultural relevance
1. Alex Cohen: https://x.com/anothercohen
2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
Brought to you by:
• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel.
As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery
• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: https://turing.com/sourcery
• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery
Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!
https://www.sourcery.vc/
Chapters:
(00:00) Underdog Story
(01:40) Getting Fired 11 Times
(02:38) Creating the Launch Video Parody
(03:32) Recreating Sam Altman's Look
(06:01) Reviewing Past Company Firings
(10:41) Transition from Carbon Health to Hello Patient
(13:02) Series A Fundraising Process
(14:35) Storytelling, Social Media & Fundraising
(30:03) Company Growth & Metrics
(31:55) Technical Stack & AI Partnerships
(38:08) Team and Hiring
(41:53) Deep Dive into Peptides
(46:23) Discussion on Weight Loss Peptides
(50:36) American Food System & Health
(53:03) Predictions on Jony Ive & Sam Altman's Device
