David is a co-founder and partner at Craft Ventures, one of the foremost SaaS VCs. He was the former COO at Paypal and he’s invested in over 20 unicorns, including AirBnB, Facebook, Palantir, Uber, and SpaceX. David and Auren discuss the state of SaaS in 2023 and consider how layoffs, seat contraction, and the broader macro environment could affect the ecosystem this year. David shares some advice on how companies should be positioning themselves to weather the downturn. They also talk about bubbles and cycles in tech, how to spot stand-out founders early, and which analysts have the best record on foreign policy.  World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and David Sacks on Twitter at @DavidSacks

Bret Stephens, a foreign affairs columnist at the New York Times, discusses major takeaways from the war in Ukraine and the US's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He offers predictions about the future of warfare and explains what the US will have to do to remain the preeminent global power. They also touch on cancel culture, decadence, and environmentalism.

Thani Shamsi is the co-founder and CEO of Datarade, a Berlin-based data commerce platform. Auren and Thani dive deep into the data market and discuss how it’s developed in comparison to SaaS. Thani shares his insights on how the most successful data companies drive sales and how expects the data space to evolve. World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Thani Shamsi on Twitter @ThaniShamsi.

Amit Bendov is a serial founder who’s scaled three unicorn software companies to massive exits. He’s currently the co-founder and CEO of Gong, an AI sales intelligence platform. Auren and Amit discuss the best practices for B2B sales, based on data Gong has collected from over a billion sales conversations. Amit breaks down how winning strategies have changed in the challenging macro environment. Auren and Amit also discuss the generational difference in startup founders and what’s made Israel the most startup-dense place on Earth. World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Amit Bendov on LinkedIn.

Eric Frank is the founder and CEO of LightBox, a GIS real estate data company. He’s also the creator of ADR.com and former president of the Investment & Advisory division at Thomson Reuters. Eric brings his perspective from financial services to analyze data adoption in the commercial real estate space. He outlines some non-obvious effects of COVID on the market and breaks down where real estate tech is headed. Eric and Auren also discuss building a business through acquisitions, and how Eric managed to integrate the different technology companies that make up LightBox today. World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Eric Frank on Twitter at @ericfrank. 

Bryan Mistele is the founder and CEO of INRIX, a leading provider of traffic data and analytics. Auren and Bryan discuss how vehicle technology is changing and when we can expect to see mass adoption of driverless cars in the US and around the world. Bryan breaks down which industries he expects will go autonomous first and how self-driving will affect total vehicle sales. Auren and Bryan also discuss the intricacies of operating a global data company and what better safety data could do for transportation.World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Bryan on Twitter at @BryanMi.

Sarah Bond is Corporate Vice President of Xbox’s Game Creator Experience & Ecosystem at Microsoft. Auren and Sarah discuss the future of gaming across platforms and where Sarah expects to see the most growth in the next few years. They break down the democratization of game development and what the growth of the creator economy could mean for the industry. Sarah also shares insights on how Microsoft transformed its culture to become a hyper successful acquirer and how she helped lead T-Mobile through its historic turnaround. World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Sarah on Twitter at @BondSarah_Bond.

Richard Barlow is the CEO of Wejo, a publicly traded company that collects and analyzes connected vehicle data. Wejo gathers billions of data points a day from cars all over the world.  Richard and Auren discuss the state of global connected vehicle data— what data points are out there right now, how many cars on the road are equipped with connected tech, and what new sensors could do in the future. Richard also explains how data sharing could help get autonomous vehicles to the next level and bring self-driving tech to the mass market. World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Richard on Twitter @RichardWejo. 

Dimitri Dadiomov is the co-founder and CEO of Modern Treasury, a payment operations software company valued at over $2 billion. Auren and Dimitri discuss the future of crypto payments, innovation (or lack thereof) in the massive B2B payments space, and what Dimitri expects to change as more instant payment services come on line in the next few years. They also dive into culture and break down how Dimitri was able to gain traction and scale Modern Treasury to a $2 billion valuation in less than four years. World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.‍You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Dimitri on Twitter at @dadiomov.

Richard Hanania is a foreign policy expert and author. He’s the president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology and a visiting scholar at the University of Texas’s Salem Center. Richard and Auren discuss which players have the most sway over American foreign policy and how they’ve affected the US’s global strategic positioning. Richard breaks down the failure of expert opinion in the intelligence community to anticipate events like the fall of Afghanistan and the invasion of Ukraine. They also discuss sanctions, NATO expansion and partisanship in Washington. World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.‍You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Richard on Twitter at @RichardHanania.