
The MAD Podcast with Matt Turck
The MAD Podcast with Matt Turck, is a series of conversations with leaders from across the Machine Learning, AI, & Data landscape hosted by leading AI & data investor and Partner at FirstMark Capital, Matt Turck.
Latest episodes

70 snips
Jun 26, 2025 • 1h 46min
Guillermo Rauch: Why Software Development Will Never Be the Same
Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel and legendary engineer, discusses the groundbreaking text-to-app platform V0, which has generated over 100 million applications. He explains 'vibe coding,' making software accessible to non-engineers and emphasizes the importance of AI in automating development processes. Guillermo highlights Vercel's rapid growth and success with clients like Walmart and Nike, and the need for businesses to adapt in a world where the next app creators may not write any code at all. He shares insights on balancing life and tech leadership, and the evolving skills needed in software development.

Jun 20, 2025 • 57min
Inside Canva’s $3B ARR AI Design Rocketship — CTO Brendan Humphreys on Magic Studio & Canva Code
Brendan Humphreys, CTO at Canva and a key player in leading 2,300 engineers, unveils the magic behind Canva’s explosive growth, achieving $3 billion in ARR. He discusses the rapid rollout of AI features like Canva Code, reflecting on their integration of diverse AI models. Brendan shares insights into the challenges of managing a global team, optimizing engineering productivity with AI tools, and maintaining company culture while scaling. He emphasizes Canva's vision for the future, blending innovation with social responsibility.

39 snips
Jun 12, 2025 • 1h 5min
GitHub CEO: The AI Coding Gold Rush, Vibe Coding & Cursor
Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub, shares his journey in transforming the company after its $7.5B acquisition by Microsoft into a powerhouse. He delves into the AI coding gold rush, discussing how GitHub's Copilot empowers developers, even young gamers, to code effortlessly. The conversation highlights the competitive landscape with Cursor's valuation and the rise of coding agents that could handle 90% of coding tasks by 2025. Dohmke also analyzes the shifting dynamics in SaaS and the future role of AI in streamlining coding workflows.

50 snips
Jun 5, 2025 • 1h 2min
Inside the Paper That Changed AI Forever - Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez on 2025 Agents
Aidan Gomez, CEO of Cohere and co-author of the groundbreaking Transformers paper, reveals the serendipitous origins of this pivotal AI architecture. He discusses the role of synthetic data in creating cutting-edge enterprise solutions, emphasizing productivity over AGI hype. Aidan shares insights on building secure AI for industries like finance and telecommunications while adapting to multilingual needs in markets like Japan and Korea. His candid perspective on AI's real-world implications and the evolution of research environments is both enlightening and thought-provoking.

60 snips
May 29, 2025 • 48min
AI That Ends Busy Work — Hebbia CEO on “Agent Employees”
George Sivulka, founder and CEO of Hebbia, taps into the future of work by discussing how AI can eliminate tedious tasks for finance and law professionals. He shares insights on Hebbia's Matrix platform, which automates extensive reading while minimizing AI hallucinations. George explains the shift from specialized to generalized AI, the importance of effective data management, and how 'prompting' is becoming a key management skill. Plus, he tackles the myth of job loss due to AI and champions naiveté as a strength for young founders.

175 snips
May 22, 2025 • 1h 15min
AI Eats the World: Benedict Evans on What Really Matters Now
Benedict Evans, a respected tech analyst and advisor, dives into the nuances of the AI landscape. He questions if the AI revolution is truly transformative or just another tech shift. Despite AI's hype, he suggests core models might be becoming commodities. Evans highlights the success of ChatGPT compared to other platforms, discusses the future of consumer AI and its impact on e-commerce, and critiques the recent decline of AI doomerism. With humor and insight, he navigates the complex realities of AI advancements and challenges.

91 snips
May 15, 2025 • 55min
Jeremy Howard on Building 5,000 AI Products with 14 People (Answer AI Deep-Dive)
In this discussion, Jeremy Howard, an AI scientist and co-founder of Answer AI and Fast.ai, reveals his journey from philosophy to revolutionizing AI product development with a tiny team. He shares how Answer AI is redefining R&D by focusing on real-world applications instead of chasing AGI. Topics include the rise of open-source models, the efficiency wars in AI, and innovative tools like Solve It and Shell Sage that empower users. Jeremy emphasizes the need for small, mission-driven teams to prioritize societal benefits over profits.

May 8, 2025 • 36min
Why Influx Rebuilt Its Database for the IoT and Robotics Explosion
Evan Kaplan, CEO of InfluxData, shares the remarkable journey of InfluxDB, the leading open-source time series database, which surged from 3,000 to over 1.3 million users. He discusses the major architectural overhaul to InfluxDB 3.0, tackling the cardinality problem and the shift to object storage. Kaplan reveals insights about the competitive landscape against Databricks and Snowflake, and the tough lessons learned in monetizing their vast user base. The evolution of IoT and its critical role in analytics also takes center stage in this engaging conversation.

38 snips
May 1, 2025 • 42min
Dashboards Are Dead: Sigma’s BI Revolution for Trillion-Row Data
Mike Palmer, CEO of Sigma Computing, challenges the status quo of business intelligence, boldly stating that the world doesn’t need another BI tool. He shares insights on how Sigma simplifies data analysis using a spreadsheet-like interface for massive datasets without SQL. Mike dives into their journey from $2M to $100M ARR, the technical architecture behind their platform, and critiques major players like Google and Microsoft for rebranding outdated tech. The discussion is filled with thought-provoking ideas on the future of BI and the untapped potential of enterprise data.

49 snips
Apr 24, 2025 • 52min
Glean’s Breakthrough: CEO Arvind Jain on Scaling AI Agents & Search
In a compelling discussion, Arvind Jain, CEO of Glean and former Google search engineer, delves into the evolving landscape of AI in enterprises. He shares insights on the race between AI models, the shift from closed to open-source systems, and the significance of human oversight in AI agents. Jain reveals Glean's journey from search technology to empowering AI agents that enhance productivity, predicting a future where every employee is supported by proactive AI tools tailored to their workplace needs. This is a must-listen for anyone interested in the practical applications of AI today.