Uncapped with Jack Altman

• Uncapped #13 | Sam Altman from OpenAI

  This was a fun one! Sam is my brother and the CEO of a small company in SF called OpenAI. I’m glad he was able to take time out of his busy schedule to give me a hard time and share his thoughts on the future of AI. We covered: AI discovering new science The risk of superintelligence What’s after reasoning Humans needing humans The latest with OpenAI Meta / Scale AI news Plenty of brotherly banter --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:48) AI discovering new science (5:40) Humanoids are the future (8:27) A world with superintelligence (11:20) Medium-term predictions (15:37) Potential OpenAI apparatus (19:01) Supply chain implications (21:51) Meta / Scale AI news (29:04) Personal reflections --- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Twitter: https://x.com/jaltma Email: [email protected]

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• Uncapped #12 | Marc Andreessen from a16z

  Marc Andreessen is a cofounder and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm that manages $45 billion in assets under management. He is an innovator and creator, one of the few to pioneer a software category used by more than a billion people and one of the few to establish multiple billion-dollar companies. Marc co-created the highly influential Mosaic internet browser and co-founded Netscape, which later sold to AOL for $4.2 billion. He also co-founded Loudcloud, which as Opsware, sold to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. He later served on the board of Hewlett-Packard from 2008 to 2018. Marc serves on the board of the following Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies: Applied Intuition, Carta, Coinbase, Dialpad, Flow, Golden, Honor, OpenGov, Samsara, Simple Things, and TipTop Labs. He is also on the board of Meta. We covered: Evolution of the venture playbook Small vs large funds Current AI landscape Politics and Silicon Valley Tech and the media A few highlights: Optimizing for the maximum amount of power Conflicts being the reason a16z isn’t even larger The middle is dead; you’re either Gucci or Walmart Only 8 companies in the S&P 500 are innovating We’ve lived in an era of intense preference falsification AI and machines making the ultimate decision --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:27) Evolution of the venture playbook (15:54) Small vs large funds (29:10) Becoming a top tier firm (35:33) Limiting factors to building big companies (40:11) Investing in AI (50:02) Developing investors (59:06) AI going wrong (1:09:20) Politics and Silicon Valley (1:11:39) Tech and the media (1:23:22) Preference falsification (1:31:10) Career advice  (1:34:07) Huberman “beef” (1:38:21) Question from X --- More on Marc: https://x.com/pmarca https://pmarca.substack.com/ https://a16z.simplecast.com/ More on Uncapped https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod https://x.com/jaltma --- Email: [email protected]

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• Uncapped #11 | Jordan Bramble from Antares

  Jordan Bramble is the CEO of Antares, a nuclear energy company that has raised over $50M to become America’s industrial base partner for special-purpose microreactors. Antares focuses on high-value use cases in power-constrained environments that wouldn’t be possible without nuclear power. They are developing resilient fission-based power systems for critical assets for the Department of Defense on earth and in space. Unlike grid-scale reactors, these use cases primarily favor kilowatt-scale systems. This focus on non-commodity energy applications with smaller scale reactors will enable Antares to develop its first deployments on faster timelines with less research and development and capitalization risk. Antares also partners with commercial companies in extractive industries, edge computing, and space power, in turn bringing the benefits of commercial scale back to the DOD. We covered: History of nuclear Demand for nuclear Small modular reactors Government collaboration Building in hard tech Scaling nuclear reactors A few highlights: First nuclear reactor built under UChicago’s football field A nuclear powered airplane that could fly indefinitely Net zero not being possible without nuclear Powering the AI demand for data centers The Golden Dome and lasers in space Working back from the mission effect Interdisciplinary problems attracting talent --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:22) History of nuclear (6:50) Radical decline in development  (10:51) Current appetite for funding (20:53) Small modular reactors (30:11) Selling to defense (34:30) LA becoming a hard tech hub (37:13) Fostering a culture in hard tech (43:42) How to scale nuclear reactors --- More on Antares: https://antaresindustries.com/ https://x.com/jordanbramble More on Uncapped: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod https://x.com/jaltma --- Email: [email protected]

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• Uncapped #10 | David Tisch from BoxGroup

  This week I enjoyed riffing with David Tisch, Managing Partner of BoxGroup. BoxGroup is an NYC-based seed stage venture capital firm that has invested in over 500 seed-stage startups over the last 15 years, including Plaid, Ro, Ramp, Clay, Scopely, Warp, Cursor, PillPack, Amplitude, Flatiron Health, Stripe, Warby Parker, Harry’s, Oscar, Flexport, Classpass, Vine, GroupMe, Airtable and more. David is the Chairman of GoodDog, a marketplace to find pets online. He is the co-founder of TechStars NYC and serves on the board of Friends of Hudson River Park. We covered: Scaling something deemed unscalable Art of being collaborative Taste not being teachable VC help being overrated Building a NYC brand --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:27) Scaling a collaborative fund (8:23) Stack ranking portfolios (11:29) Investing at seed (17:29) Hiring for taste (22:30) The art of being collaborative (29:03) VC help is overrated (41:38) Why VCs pass on companies (48:11) Building a brand in NYC (55:02) North Stars in early-stage investing --- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Twitter: https://x.com/jaltma Email: [email protected]

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• Uncapped #9 | Qasar Younis from Applied Intuition

  I had a blast sitting down with Qasar Younis, Co-Founder and CEO of Applied Intuition, a company that’s on a mission to accelerate the world’s adoption of safe and intelligent machines. The company builds software that makes it faster, safer, and easier to bring autonomous systems to market. Last valued at $6B, Applied Intuition has raised a total of $602M since its inception in 2017 and plays a critical role in both the commercial and defense sectors.  Previously, Qasar was a Partner and COO of Y Combinator, the renowned startup accelerator that has invested in companies like Airbnb, Coinbase, Cruise, DoorDash, Stripe, among others. Prior to Y Combinator, Qasar founded a technology firm, which was later acquired by Google, and worked as an automotive engineer at General Motors and Bosch. Younis has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Kettering University (formerly known as General Motors Institute) and an MBA from Harvard Business School. We covered: Radical pragmatism Roots of the automotive industry Complexities of being dual use Fostering an intrinsically contrarian culture Evolving with your work --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:31) Psychology of starting a company (17:04) Love for the automotive industry (22:54) Autonomous vehicle landscape (25:45) Deep partnership with customers (28:49) Complexities of being dual use (34:44) Culture being intrinsically contrarian (40:01) Gen AI and humanoid robotics (42:28) More noise than signal in investing (44:14) Evolving with your work (47:43) Companies working is a state in time  --- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Twitter: https://x.com/jaltma Email: [email protected]

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