Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Ramtin Naimi, founder of early-stage firm Abstract Ventures, returns to examine venture capital’s breakneck market. He explores whether today resembles 2019 or 2021, AI’s transformative boom, mega-fund pressure, compute-backed financing, and the rise of capital-intensive neolabs. He also discusses data businesses, wealthy new angel investors, extreme valuations, and Abstract’s evolution beyond seed investing.

Martin Casado, Andreessen Horowitz general partner and Nicira founder, explores AI’s sweeping impact on technology and investing. They discuss frontier model economics, why AI is rebuilding infrastructure, the rise of agents, neoclouds and neolabs, security’s chaotic transition, and how capital can finally scale engineering. He also shares lessons on disruptive technology, private markets, and strategic acquisitions.

Cliff Sosin, founder of CAS Investment Partners, explores the limits of intelligence and prediction. He discusses why AI favors complements such as data, attention, emotion, scale, and physical proximity; Meta’s advantages; frontier-model commoditization; and the risks of investing in AI infrastructure. He also examines AI agents, capital cycles, TSMC’s moat, and the future of human-machine investing.

Christina Cacioppo, founder and CEO of security platform Vanta, discusses transforming compliance software into a broad security infrastructure company. She explores rebuilding products around autonomous AI agents, machine-speed cyberattacks, model selection, modular codebases, and outcome-based pricing. She also shares thoughts on recruiting high-agency talent, AI adoption, trust, and building an enduring company.

David Vélez, Colombian entrepreneur and Nubank founder and CEO, discusses reinventing banking for the AI era. He explores why traditional finance remains stuck in its “Blockbuster era,” how AI could create self-driving money and personal financial intelligence, and Nubank’s expansion into the U.S. The conversation also covers fintech moats, stablecoins, organizational redesign, leadership, and the ambition to reach 100 countries.

Andrew Huberman, Stanford neuroscientist and creator of Huberman Lab, explores neuroscience’s next frontier. They discuss devices that could read and write brain states, the challenge of mapping focus and motivation, and the evolution from blunt interventions to precise neural control. The conversation also examines sleep technology, memory circuits, human enhancement, genetic selection, and the uneasy boundary between biology and machines.

Noah Shinn, founder of Instinct, is building a personal AI agent that can text, call, email, and act online. He explores surprising uses, from wardrobe planning and financial cleanup to travel and reservations. They discuss agent-to-agent coordination, earning trust with sensitive data, ad-free incentives, security, compute costs, and a future where software collapses into one simple interface.

Gabe Stengel, co-founder and CEO of finance AI platform Rogo, explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping investing. They discuss thousands of agents, private-market dealmaking, auditability, persistent memory, and the shift toward outcome-based pricing. Stengel also shares Rogo’s evolution, 40 investor rejections, and what it takes to build a magnet for talent and capital.

Michael Moritz, investor, writer, and former Sequoia leader, explores the refugee family history behind his identity and ambitions. He recalls studying founders’ childhoods, the Time profile that ended his relationship with Steve Jobs, and Don Valentine’s unconventional bet on him. He reflects on monomania, Alex Ferguson’s leadership, Elon Musk, AI’s disruption, writing with clarity, and learning tolerance.

Walter Russell Mead, a Wall Street Journal columnist and scholar of American power, explores why maritime liberal societies repeatedly rise to global leadership. He examines Trump’s fame-driven politics, China’s economic vulnerabilities, the rise of tech Hamiltonians, India’s growing influence, and the transformation of warfare through drones and AI. The conversation also tackles Taiwan, Middle Eastern deterrence, and America’s strategic future.