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Episode notes

Navin Chaddha has spent three decades at the forefront of innovation—first as a founder, and now as managing partner at Mayfield, one of Silicon Valley’s oldest venture firms. A 17-time member of Forbes’ Midas List, Navin has guided generations of entrepreneurs through waves of technological change, from the dot-com boom to the AI era. At Mayfield, he champions a philosophy rooted in the firm’s founding ethos: investing in people, not markets. That approach has shaped his perspective on what it takes to build enduring companies. In this conversation, Navin shares why $1 trillion in infrastructure spending is fueling a new hardware renaissance, how stealth startups are going from zero to billions in a year, and what it means for the future of innovation.

We explore:

How “vibe coding” is democratizing technology creation through conversational, collaborative, and cognitive interfaces
Why Navin believes the “vibe economy” will transform how we work, live, and play
How Mayfield’s 56-year focus on “backing the jockey, not the racetrack” shapes its investment approach
The massive opportunity in AI hardware infrastructure
How stealth AI hardware startups are going from zero to billions in under a year
How India’s tech ecosystem has evolved and where the real opportunities are today
How cricket taught Navin crucial lessons about company building

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Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/the-trillion-dollar-ai-hardware-opportunity

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Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(04:52) Cricket and its parallels to venture capital

(08:13) Navin’s journey to Silicon Valley