Best Main Vc Podcasts (2025)

1
The Sales Playbook for Founders | Startup School 18:38

5d ago18:38

18:38

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

1
Figma CEO Dylan Field: How AI Will Transform Design 40:36

12d ago40:36

40:36

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

1
The Finance Startup Bringing Agentic AI to Wall Street 46:15

20d ago46:15

46:15

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

1
Scaling and the Road to Human-Level AI | Anthropic Co-founder Jared Kaplan 40:47

22d ago40:47

40:47

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

1
Brand Design Tips From Linear Founder Karri Saarinen 43:41

26d ago43:41

43:41

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

1
Chelsea Finn: Building Robots That Can Do Anything 44:52

29d ago44:52

44:52

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

1
Replit CEO Amjad Masad: Coding Agents, Autonomy, and the Future of Work 35:50

29d ago35:50

35:50

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

1
John Jumper: AlphaFold and the Future of Science 27:12

1M ago27:12

27:12

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

1
Aravind Srinivas: The Race to Build the AI Browser of the Future 43:12

1M ago43:12

43:12

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

1
Andrew Ng: Building Faster with AI 43:57

1M ago43:57

43:57

Andrew Ng on June 16, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco.Andrew Ng has helped shape some of the most influential movements in modern AI—from online education to deep learning to AI entrepreneurship. In this talk, he shares what he’s learning now: why execution speed matters more than ever, how agentic workflows are changing what startups ca…

1
François Chollet: The ARC Prize & How We Get to AGI 34:47

2M ago34:47

34:47

François Chollet on June 16, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco. François Chollet is a leading voice in AI. He's the creator of the Keras library, author of Deep Learning with Python, and the founder of the ARC Prize, a global competition aimed at measuring true general intelligence. He's spent years thinking deeply about what intelligence …

1
Fei-Fei Li: Spatial Intelligence is the Next Frontier in AI 44:21

2M ago44:21

44:21

A fireside with Dr. Fei-Fei Li on June 16, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco.Dr. Fei-Fei Li is often called the godmother of AI—and for good reason. Before the world had AI as we know it, she was helping build the foundation.In this fireside, she recounts the creation of ImageNet, a project that helped ignite the deep learning revolution b…

1
Legendary Consumer VC Predicts The Future Of AI Products 35:46

2M ago35:46

35:46

Kirsten Green, founder of Forerunner Ventures, has backed some of the most iconic consumer brands of the past two decades — from Warby Parker to Chime to Dollar Shave Club. In this conversation with Garry, she shares how great products (not marketing tricks) still win, why AI is unlocking a new kind of emotional relationship between consumers and t…

1
Satya Nadella: Microsoft's AI Bets, Hyperscaling, Quantum Computing Breakthroughs 40:29

2M ago40:29

40:29

A fireside with Satya Nadella on June 17, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco.Satya Nadella started at Microsoft in 1992 as an engineer. Three decades later, he’s now Chairman & CEO, navigating the company through one of the most profound technological shifts yet: the rise of AI.In this conversation, he shares how Microsoft is thinking about…

1
Sam Altman: The Future of OpenAI, ChatGPT's Origins, and Building AI Hardware 42:44

2M ago42:44

42:44

A fireside with Sam Altman at AI Startup School in San Francisco.Sam Altman grew up obsessed with technology, broke into the Stanford mainframe as a kid, and dropped out to start his first company before turning 20.In this conversation, he traces the path from early startup struggles to building OpenAI—sharing what he’s learned about ambition, the …

1
Elon Musk: Digital Superintelligence, Multiplanetary Life, How to Be Useful 49:40

2M ago49:40

49:40

A fireside with Elon Musk at AI Startup School in San Francisco.Before rockets and robots, Elon Musk was drilling holes through his office floor to borrow internet. In this candid talk, he walks through the early days of Zip2, the Falcon 1 launches that nearly ended SpaceX, and the “miracle” of Tesla surviving 2008. He shares the thinking that guid…

1
Andrej Karpathy: Software Is Changing (Again) 39:31

2M ago39:31

39:31

Andrej Karpathy's keynote at AI Startup School in San Francisco.Drawing on his work at Stanford, OpenAI, and Tesla, Andrej sees a shift underway. Software is changing, again. We’ve entered the era of “Software 3.0,” where natural language becomes the new programming interface and models do the rest.He explores what this shift means for developers, …

1
Cursor CEO: Going Beyond Code, Superintelligent AI Agents And Why Taste Still Matters 37:28

2M ago37:28

37:28

Michael Truell, co-founder and CEO of Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, joins Garry to talk about building one of the fastest-growing startups of all time—and why he's betting on a future beyond code. He walks through the early insights that led his team to leave a promising AI-powered CAD project and instead chase a bigger dream: reinventing h…

1
Fusion Energy Is Tech's Next Big Unlock 8:07

3M ago8:07

8:07

Fusion may still sound like science fiction— but it might not be for much longer. With AI pushing demand for clean power to new highs, a breakthrough may finally be close. For Decoded, YC General Partner Gustaf Alstromer traces the history of fusion, the physics behind it, and the engineering challenges that stalled it for nearly a century. He also…

1
AI Apps Are Broken — Here's How To Fix Them 30:07

3M ago30:07

30:07

In this episode of The Breakdown, Tom and Dave are joined by fellow YC General Partner Pete Koomen to lay out a new vision for how AI should actually work: not as a chatbot bolted onto legacy software, but as a customizable tool that helps people offload the work they don't want to do. From editable system prompts to agents that act more like colla…

1
How AI Coding Agents Will Change Your Job 19:11

3M ago19:11

19:11

Coding agents are no longer a distant idea—they're already starting to reshape how we work. YC's Tom Blomfield and David Lieb discuss how AI coding tools are transforming software development, why small, high-agency teams will be able to do what once took armies of engineers, and why there's never been a better time to start something new. They exp…

1
How To Get The Most Out Of Vibe Coding | Startup School 16:39

4M ago16:39

16:39

AI can't yet one-shot an entire product—but with the rise of vibe coding, it's getting close. YC's Tom Blomfield has spent the last month building side projects with tools like Claude Code, Windsurf, and Aqua, seeing just how far you can push modern LLMs. From writing full-stack apps to debugging with a single paste of an error message, AI is becom…

1
How Zepto Became India’s Fastest Growing Startup 38:23

4M ago38:23

38:23

Imagine ordering groceries and having them show up at your doorstep in just 10 minutes. That’s the promise of Zepto, the fastest-growing e-commerce company in India. In this episode of How To Build The Future, Garry sits down with Aadit Palicha, the co-founder and CEO of Zepto, to discuss how they got started in a Whatsapp group, what it’s like goi…

1
Why America Stopped Innovating - And How We Can Start Again 34:12

5M ago34:12

34:12

Not long ago, America led the world in building and innovation. But over the past 50 years, bureaucracy and red tape have made it nearly impossible to get big things done. Still, there’s a growing movement to turn that around — to build faster, smarter, and better than ever before. In this episode of The Main Function, Garry sits down with Atlantic…

1
What Founders Can Do To Improve Their Design Game 20:43

5M ago20:43

20:43

In this special episode of Design Review, Aaron sits down with Raphael Schaad, the Head of Calendar at Notion to discuss his leap from designer to founder, why illustration is an important first step when building a new product, and what ultimately makes designers uniquely qualified to start a company today.…

1
How to Build the Future: Tony Xu 31:32

5M ago31:32

31:32

12 years after starting DoorDash, co-founder & CEO Tony Xu and his employees still do deliveries every year, staying true to their core value: customer obsession. Today, DoorDash is the largest food delivery platform in the US. In this episode of How to Build the Future, Tony explains how their unwavering long-term vision won — helping create a new…

1
Customer Obsession Made Gusto A $9.6 Billion Company 24:58

5M ago24:58

24:58

Gusto (https://gusto.com) made payroll and HR painless for small businesses, growing into a $9.6B company along the way. Co-founder & CEO Josh Reeves joined YC's Harj Taggar to share how they built a payroll company from scratch and their customer-first approach to product design and culture.

1
The Future Of Design With Figma's Dylan Field 37:41

5M ago37:41

37:41

Design isn’t just about making things work—it’s about how they work, says Dylan Field, the co-founder & CEO of Figma. As AI transforms tech, he believes a designer's judgment, taste, and agency will matter more than ever. Dylan sat down with YC's Garry Tan to discuss the evolving world of design in the age of AI, the challenging early days at Figma…

1
How To Build The Future: Aravind Srinivas 34:38

6M ago34:38

34:38

YC General Partner David Lieb sits down with Aravind Srinivas, the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity, to discuss his origins in Silicon Valley, what it's like to compete with Google, and what the future of search could look like. Apply to Y Combinator: https://ycombinator.com/apply

1
Building A Supersonic Plane Company From The Ground Up 13:45

6M ago13:45

13:45

Imagine flying from NY to London in just a few hours. That’s the future that Blake Scholl and his team at Boom Supersonic are working towards. Blake started as a software engineer and pivoted mid-career to aviation. Now, he’s at the forefront of trying to bring back supersonic travel for all of us. In this episode of Hard Tech, YC’s Jared Friedman …

1
The Right (And Wrong) Way To Spend Money At Your Startup 29:06

6M ago29:06

29:06

Many startups fail because they run out of money. So how should you think about how to spend the money you raise? In this episode of Office Hours, YC General Partners Brad Flora, Pete Koomen, Nicolas Dessaigne, and Gustaf Alströmer discuss how to spend responsibly at each stage of a startup— including advice on when to hire, whether to invest in ma…

1
How To Build The AGI Future: Bob McGrew 30:44

7M ago30:44

30:44

According to OpenAI's former Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew, reasoning and test-time compute will unlock more reliable and capable AI agents— and a path to scale to AGI. In this episode of How to Build the Future, YC's @garrytan sits down with Bob to discuss the lessons learned from his time at OpenAI, scaling laws, his advice for startups, and …

1
How To Use AI In Your Startup 14:02

7M ago14:02

14:02

AI continues to improve at an exponential pace. So what can you do as a founder to take advantage of it? In this episode of Office Hours, YC Partners discuss what you should consider if you’re thinking about pivoting to or incorporating AI as part of your startup.

1
How To Build The Future: Parker Conrad 43:28

7M ago43:28

43:28

In this episode of How to Build the Future, Garry sits down with Parker Conrad, Co-founder & CEO of Rippling, the all-in-one HR, Finance, and IT software company that’s valued at $13.5 billion. Parker is the co-founder of two unicorns and has one of the more dramatic startup journeys in recent years. In this interview, he shares his origin story, t…

1
Building A $2 Billion SaaS Company: Lessons From A Two Time Founder 24:31

7M ago24:31

24:31

Two-time founder Rujul Zaparde knows a thing or two about resilience and learning from failure. After dropping out of college to build FlightCar, he worked as a PM at Airbnb, and later as a visiting partner at YC. In 2020, he co-founded Zip, a procurement software company that has since raised $370 million and reached a $2.2 billion valuation. In t…

1
How David Lieb Turned A Failed Startup Into Google Photos | Backstory 19:32

8M ago19:32

19:32

YC General Partner David Lieb’s story is all about perseverance. In 2008 he co-founded Bump, one of the hottest startups of the early iPhone era. But even with 150 million users, he couldn’t find a way to create a sustainable business. For many founders, that would be the end of the road. But he didn’t quit there. Instead, David and his team pivote…

1
How To Start A Dev Tools Company with Nicolas Dessaigne | Startup School 32:56

9M ago32:56

32:56

YC's Nicolas Dessaigne was the co-founder and CEO of @algolia, a Search API used by millions of developers to build great search experiences into their apps and websites. Today it powers over 1.75 trillion searches annually for 17,000+ customers worldwide. In this episode of Startup School, @dessaigne shares his advice for founders building a dev t…

1
Twitter vs. X: Product Lessons For Startup Founders | The Breakdown 22:42

9M ago22:42

22:42

Since Twitter rebranded to X, the platform has added new features and implemented a few major updates to both its UX and algo.So what can founders interested in product design learn from all this?In the first episode of our new series, The Breakdown, YC’s Tom Blomfield (co-founder of Monzo) and David Lieb (creator of Google Photos) take a closer lo…

1
How To Build The Future: Sam Altman 46:51

9M ago46:51

46:51

It’s fair to say that few people in tech are positioned to have a bigger impact on the future than Sam Altman. At OpenAI, Sam and his team have overseen monumental leaps forward in machine learning, generative AI, and most recently, LLMs that can reason at PhD levels. And this is just the beginning. In his latest essay Sam predicted that ASI (Artif…

1
How Do Billion Dollar Startups Start? | Office Hours 18:33

9M ago18:33

18:33

The biggest companies in the world all had to start somewhere. In this episode of Office Hours, the Group Partners explore the humble origins of several top YC companies to try and identify common traits of the most successful founders. They’ll explore what it takes to keep your company alive in the early days, where to focus your energy and how to…

1
Why Design Matters: Lessons from Stripe, Lyft and Airbnb | Design Review 33:37

9M ago33:37

33:37

Stripe, Airbnb and Lyft are a few of the most successful companies of the past decade. And there are at least two things they all have in common - great design, and Katie Dill. Katie was Head of Experience Design at Airbnb, led the design team at Lyft and is now Head of Design at Stripe. We spoke with Katie about her design philosophy, what sets co…

1
How To Find A Co-Founder with Harj Taggar | Startup School 20:37

9M ago20:37

20:37

Building a startup and trying to break into an established market is very difficult, especially if you’re trying to do it alone! That’s why it’s critical to find the right co-founder for the journey. In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Harj Taggar explains why you need a co-founder, when to bring them on, where you can find one and …

1
How To Convert Customers With Cold Emails with Aaron Epstein | Startup School 32:45

9M ago32:45

32:45

Whether it's for sales, recruiting or making new connections, cold outreach is a necessary tool for helping build your startup. But as you probably know, most cold emails either are ignored or end up in the trash. So what can you do to make sure your emails break through the noise? In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Aaron Epstein s…

1
How To Improve Cohort Retention with David Lieb | Startup School 29:22

9M ago29:22

29:22

At YC our motto is make something people want. But how do you actually know if you’ve accomplished that in the early days? One of the best ways to measure successful growth is a concept called cohort retention, which tracks the fraction of new users that come back time and time again to use your product. In this episode of Startup School, YC Group …

1
Co-Founder Equity Mistakes to Avoid with Michael Seibel | Startup School 19:34

9M ago19:34

19:34

In order to get your startup off the ground it's critical to keep your co-founders motivated. One of the best ways to do that is to figure out a fair co-founder equity split. In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Michael Seibel explains the ins and outs of co-founder equity, why it's important to be generous with that equity, and how …

1
How Nothing Founder Carl Pei Built A Multi-Million Dollar Smartphone Brand In Just 2 Years | Main Function 21:10

9M ago21:10

21:10

After co-founding the successful Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus, Carl Pei felt the tech industry was missing the fun and wonder he remembered as a dedicated gadget fan growing up in Sweden. Pei decided to launch a new smartphone brand, this time with an increased focus on thoughtful user interface and stylish yet practical designs. In only two ye…

1
How To Price For B2B with Tom Blomfield | Startup School 17:45

9M ago17:45

17:45

If you're a startup founder, how much should you charge for your product or service? It's a simple question that can make many lock up. What number should you pick? In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Tom Blomfield guides you on how to come up with a price and then justify that number to customers.…

1
Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think | Office Hours 18:17

9M ago18:17

18:17

Launching a company is often pictured as a big splashy event with lots of media attention and hype. This can be scary! It also often results in founders delaying their launches, which then stalls the crucial lessons they could be learning. In this episode, YC Partners discuss this common hesitation and why it can be harmful to the journey and growt…

1
Enterprise Sales with Pete Koomen | Startup School 23:06

9M ago23:06

23:06

Y Combinator Partner Pete Koomen led his startup, Optimizely, to $100M ARR. In this video, Pete breaks down the enterprise sales funnel and shares his top tips on how a technical founder can start closing real deals for their startup.

1
Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don't Scale | Office Hours 25:41

9M ago25:41

25:41

A little over ten years ago Paul Graham published the essay "Do Things That Don't Scale." At the time, it was highly controversial advice that spoke to the drastically different needs of an early startup versus the needs of a much larger, more established company. YC Partners discuss PG's essay, its influence on Silicon Valley, and some prime examp…

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