StrictlyVC Download
Each week TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos, and Alex Gove, a former journalist, VC and operating exec who today runs StrictlyVC, interview a mover and shaker in the world of tech.
Episodes
Equity Replay: Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy says the lesson for founders now is that a great model isn't enough
This week we'r sharing a conversation from our colleagues at TechCrunch's Equity.
Anthropic leaped to a $47 billion revenue run rate by May, compared to $9 billion in 2025. It’s the kind of growth that Menlo Ventures' Matt Murphy says he's never seen in 25 years of investing, not in the internet wave, not in mobile,
Why Founders Fund Backed a Fish Robotics Startup
Much of American-caught fish is processed overseas, and often in China, before it comes back to the U.S. Shinkei wants to change that with robotics, computer vision, and a vertically integrated supply chain built from scratch.
This episode of StrictlyVC Download was recorded at StrictlyVC Los Angeles 2026. TechCrunch Editor in Chief Connie Loizos sat down with Saif Khawaja, founder and CEO of Shi
Reed Jobs Is Betting Cancer Doesn’t Have to Be Fatal
In this episode, Connie and Alex are joined by Reed Jobs, founder and managing partner of Yosemite, to discuss the firm’s ambitious mission to make cancer nonlethal by building biotech companies from the ground up. Jobs explains why Yosemite pairs venture capital with no-strings-attached research grants, how AI is accelerating drug discovery and clinical trials, and why he believes we’re entering
Uber’s Chief Product Officer on Travel, AI Agents, and Playing Both Sides of the Robotaxi Race
In this episode, Connie Loizos sits down with Uber Chief Product Officer Sachin Kansal to discuss the company's expanding vision beyond ride-hailing, from hotels and travel planning to AI-powered shopping and autonomous vehicles. Sachin explains how Uber decides which new products to build, why the company believes a hybrid network of human drivers and robotaxis is the future, and how AI is reshap
The Race to Build the First Real Humanoid Robot Business with Peggy Johnson from Agility
In this episode, Connie Loizos and Alex Gove sit down with Agility Robotics CEO Peggy Johnson following the company's announcement that it will go public, making it one of the first pure-play humanoid robotics companies to reach the public markets. Peggy explains why she believes the industry is moving beyond flashy demos and into real commercial deployment and how Agility built a $300 million pip
Is Your AI Actually Worth What You're Spending? with Parker Conrad
In this episode, Connie Loizos sits down with Rippling founder and CEO Parker Conrad to discuss the company's biggest product launch in years: Rippling Data Cloud. Parker explains why he believes the future of enterprise AI depends on giving AI access to an organization's people data and business systems, not just more powerful models. He also shares how Rippling is using AI internally, what the c
Is There an AI Bubble? VCs on Valuations and ARR Inflation
This episode features a conversation recorded live at StrictlyVC LA in El Segundo between Connie Loizos, Cheng Xu, partner at Basis Set Ventures, and Carter Reum, founder of M13.
Together, they discuss whether today's AI boom represents a bubble, how investors are thinking about soaring startup valuations and ARR growth, and what it takes to build a lasting company in an increasingly competitive
The return of the Consumer Gold Rush? What Chi-Hua Chien is betting on next
In this episode, Connie and Alex talk with Goodwater Capital co-founder Chi-Hua Chien, whose career spans some of Silicon Valley’s biggest technology shifts, from helping source Accel’s investment in Facebook as a young associate to backing a new generation of consumer and AI startups. While much of the venture world is focused on models, chips, and infrastructure, Chi-Hua argues that history sugg
Runway and HOLYWATER TECH: Two AI Companies Trying to Upend Entertainment
This week on StrictlyVC Download, we're bringing you a conversation from our recent event in Athens. Connie Loizos spoke with Anastasis Germanidis: Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Runway and Anatolii Kasianov: Co-Founder & Co-CEO, HOLYWATER TECH.
Runway began within art school, with a sparse network and little investor insight into AI video. HOLYWATER TECH started in Kyiv with no venture capital, and a ma
What VCs think about SpaceX, AI-valuation fever and where to bet next
For this episode of StrictlyVC Download, we're bringing you a conversation from the StrictlyVC Athens event. Connie Loizos sat down with three seasoned investors to break down the state of venture capital, the hunt for white space, and what it actually takes to back a breakout company in 2026.
Featuring:
Ben Blume: Partner, Atomico
Andreas Stavropoulos: Partner, Threshold Ventures
Nik
Eclipse Ventures Co-Founder Lior Susan's Insights Into a $1.3B Bet on Physical AI
This week on StrictlyVC Download, we're sharing and interview from our 2026 event in San Francisco with TechCrunch reporter Marina Temkin and Lior Susan who is dresh off raising a $1.3 billion fund. Eclipse Ventures is doubling down on what it calls physical AI. Temkin and Susan discuss robotics, manufacturing, autonomous systems, and what it takes to build enduring companies where AI meets the p
Inside Stanford's Secret Tech Elite (And the Freshman Who Exposed It)
In this episode, we talk with Theo Baker, a soon-to-be Stanford graduate and author of How to Rule the World, about what he found when he traded his coding ambitions for student journalism. Within his first semester, Theo broke the story that led to Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s resignation, a months-long investigation into manipulated research images that put him in the crosshairs of
CEO Amjad Masad on How Replit Is Changing Who Gets to Build Software
This week, we're sharing a conversaiton from Strictly VC's recent event in San Francisco. Replit co-founder and CEO Amjad Masad joined Connie Loizos to talk about AI-driven software development, competing with major AI players, and how coding is changing as software creation becomes more accessible. Plus, he gives some insight into their back-and-forth with Apple over app store policies.
Learn mor
Is Airwallex Undervalued or is Stripe Overvalued?
In this episode, we talk with Airwallex cofounder and CEO Jack Zhang about building a global financial infrastructure company by taking the long, unglamorous path. Rather than layering on top of existing banking systems, Airwallex spent a decade acquiring licenses, integrating with local payment rails, and constructing its own end-to-end network for moving money across borders. Jack shares why he
How secondary markets are pricing SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic before they go public
In this episode, Connie Loizos talks with Rainmaker Securities managing director Glen Anderson about the surge in the secondary market as investors race to buy shares in some of tech’s most sought-after private companies. From SpaceX to OpenAI to Anthropic, demand is intensifying ahead of a potentially reopening IPO window. Glen explains how the secondary market really works, why some companies ha
High tech herding with Craig Piggott, Halter
In this episode, we talk with Halter founder and CEO Craig Pigott about building a $2 billion agtech company that’s transforming how farmers manage livestock. Using solar-powered collars and virtual fencing, Halter helps ranchers increase productivity, monitor animal health, and rethink how land is used. Craig shares his journey from Rocket Lab to agriculture, why farming is still underserved by t
The wearable you’re never supposed to stop wearing with Will Ahmed of WHOOP
WHOOP founder and CEO Will Ahmed joins Connie Loizos and Alex Gove on StrictlyVC Download to discuss the company’s evolution from a niche wearable for elite athletes into a fast-growing health platform. The three talk about WHOOP’s unconventional decision to skip a screen, its subscription-driven business model, and how it won over top athletes early on. They also dig into the company’s push into
Is Ring building towards safer neighborhoods or neighborhood surveillance?
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff joins Connie Loizos and Alex Gove on StrictlyVC Download to discuss the company’s new AI-powered Search Party feature, which aims to help neighbors find lost dogs but has sparked debate about surveillance and privacy. The three discuss how the feature actually works, the company’s decision to abandon a partnership with Flock Safety, what Ring ultimately hopes to build i
The AI Safety Showdown: Max Tegmark on government, Anthropic, and what’s next
In this episode of StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos and Alex Gove sit down with MIT AI researcher Max Tegmark to discuss the growing clash between AI companies and the U.S. government and the bigger question of who should control increasingly powerful AI systems. From the Trump administration’s move to phase out Anthropic’s technology to the broader race toward superintelligence, Tegmark argues
Future-Proofing work in the age of automation with Bill Gurley
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos talks with Bill Gurley, longtime venture capitalist, former Benchmark partner, and author of the new book Running Down a Dream. After stepping back from day-to-day investing, Gurley has turned his focus to a different question: how people build meaningful, enduring careers—and what they might do differently if given the chance to start over.In this c
Rethinking series A in the age of mega funds
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos talks with Stacy Brown-Philpot, founder and managing partner of Cherryrock Capital. After a decade at Google and leading TaskRabbit through its acquisition by IKEA, Brown-Philpot is now building a venture firm focused on Series A and Series B software companies led by under-invested founders—targeting what she sees as a critical gap in today’s ventur
How Tether became crypto's most profitable company—and what it's building next
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos talks with Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, the company behind USDT, the world's largest stablecoin. With 536 million users globally, Tether has quietly become one of crypto's most powerful players—and now it's evolving far beyond stablecoins. Ardoino is transforming Tether into what he calls "the stable company," a diversified operation making bold bet
Airtable is betting big on a standalone ai agent that could replace its own product
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos and Alex Gove talk with Howie Liu, co-founder and CEO of Airtable. On Tuesday, Liu announced the launch of Superagent, Airtable’s first standalone product outside of its core platform—and this isn’t just another AI feature bolted onto an existing product. Superagent represents a bit bet on autonomous agents that handle tasks end-to-end, rather than c
Working in orbit: what happens when space goes blue-collar?
In this episode, Connie Loizos speaks with Mary Jane Rubenstein, a professor of religion and science and technology studies at Wesleyan University and author of "Worlds Without End: The Many Lives of the Multiverse"—a book that served as research material for the Oscar-winning film "Everything Everywhere All at Once."
As the space economy heats up and venture capital pours into startups promising
Why VCs think consumer AI hasn't lived up to the hype
This week on StrictlyVC Download, we're sharing a conversation with Goodwater Capital founder Chi-Hua Chien and Scribble Ventures founder Elizabeth Weil. They discuss why consumer AI hasn't lived up to the hype yet and what's coming next. Beyond ChatGPT and Gemini, the consumer AI landscape feels sparse. In this conversation, they explore why we're still in the "command line era" of AI, how form f
True Ventures' contrarian playbook: High ownership, low noise
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos and Alex Gove talk with Jon Callaghan, managing partner at True Ventures. Callaghan has spent two decades building True Ventures into one of Silicon Valley's most successful seed-stage firms, managing nearly $4 billion across 12 funds while staying deliberately quiet in an increasingly loud venture landscape. In this conversation, Callaghan unpacks w
Competing in the post-Humane AI wearables era with Sandbar CEO Mina Fahmi
This week on StrictlyVC Download, we’re sharing a conversation from our event in Palo Alto, where TechCrunch reporter Marina Temkin spoke with Mina Fahmi, the founder and CEO of Sandbar, and Toni Schneider of True Ventures.
Mina Fahmi is the CEO and co-founder of Sandbar, a startup building the Stream ring—an AI wearable designed to capture your whispered thoughts. Toni Schneider is a partner a
Building and losing iRobot: Why Colin Angle thinks the FTC is to blame
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos spoke with Conlin Angle, the founder and former CEO of iRobot. Fom his living room into a household name, Angle spent 30 years turning iRobot into one of the most pioneering companies in the robotics industry stepping down as CEO following the failed Amazon acquisition. In this conversation, he unpacks why he considers iRobot's bankruptcy "avoidable
X-Light's Nicholas Kelez and Pat Gelsinger on government-backed chips
Pat Gelsinger spent 35 years across two stints at Intel, most recently as CEO. Nicholas Kelez is the CEO of X-Light, a semiconductor startup developing breakthrough EUV laser technology for next-generation chipmaking. In this conversation, they unpack what it takes to wake Moore's law from its nap, why the U.S. government just became X-Light's second-largest shareholder, and how faith and deep tec
Brain-computer interfaces are coming faster than you think
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos spoke with Science Corp founder Max Hodak to discuss how brain-computer interfaces are arriving faster than anyone realizes. The Neuralink co-founder and former president shares how his company recently achieved what may be the biggest breakthrough in vision restoration in decades, enabling 80% of blind patients to read again with a tiny retinal impl
Why Kevin Hartz is betting big on teenage founders
In this episode, TechCrunch's editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, sits down with Kevin Hartz, the serial entrepreneur behind Zoom and Eventbrite who's now managing partner of A-Star Capital, a $300 million generalist fund. Recorded live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, Kevin shares his unique perspective as a founder, investor, and LP—discussing why staying in the market matters even when two-month-old com
Equity: Startups should rethink how they pursue sales and traction, according to VC Tim Chen
This week we're sharing an interview from our friends over at Equity.
After a small startup exit and being turned down by every VC firm he applied to, Tim Chen began angel investing and eventually stumbled into raising his own fund.
Now, as the solo investor behind Essence VC, he just closed his fourth fund at $41 million "without even trying." Chen's secret weapon? Being technical enough t
Astro Teller isn’t afraid of killing ideas; here’s why
TechCrunch’s editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, sits down with Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at Alphabet’s X, to explore what it takes to build a factory for truly radical innovation. Astro reveals the three components that define a true moonshot—a huge problem, a science fiction-sounding solution, and a glimmer of breakthrough technology—and why X deliberately kills 98% of its ideas early. Tell
Why Harvey's Hardest Problem Isn't AI—It's Multi-Entity Collaboration
In this episode, TechCrunch’s editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, and StrictlyVC’s Alex Gove, sit down with Winston Weinberg, co-founder and CEO of Harvey, the legal AI startup that’s quietly become one of the most talked-about companies in Silicon Valley. Winston shares the origin story of how a first-year associate at O’Melveny used GPT-3 for Dungeons & Dragons before realizing it could transform l
Vinod Khosla on softening the blow from AGI, and other future bets
In this episode recorded live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, TechCrunch's editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, talks with Vinod Khosla about entrepreneurship in the age of AI and the massive disruptions ahead. They discuss why Khosla believes every profession represents a startup opportunity, his investment thesis of building AI workers rather than tools, and why he asks entrepreneurs to envision their co
Roelof Botha on Sequoia, startup building, and Washington -- days before stepping down
In this episode recorded live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, TechCrunch’s editor-in-chief, Connie Loizos, talks with Roelof Botha about Sequoia’s approach to finding and backing outlier companies — just days before he announced he was stepping down. They discuss why he thinks venture capital isn’t really an asset class, how Sequoia’s partners make investment decisions through fierce debates and conse
UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts on pushing his university into the AI age
This week on Strictly VC Download, Connie Loizos sits down with Lee Roberts, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to discuss his ambitious plan to make AI the university’s “north star” amid a tumultuous year. Roberts walks through his decision to merge UNC’s School of Data Science and Society with its School of Information and Library Science, explaining why breaking down
How Hans Swildens pulled off a blockbuster Goldman Sachs sale, and what it means for venture liquidity
This week's episode of StrictlyVC Download features Hans Swildens, founder of Industry Ventures, discussing his firm's transaction with Goldman Sachs that comes during Industry Ventures' 25th anniversary year. Swildens walks through the 20-year evolution of the Goldman relationship—from LP investor to wealth platform partner to minority stakeholder in 2019—and explains why the firm decided now was
The politics of AI: OpenAI’s Chris Lehane on AI’s promise and peril
This week’s episode of StrictlyVC Download was recorded live at the Elevate Festival in Toronto. TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos sat down with Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, to discuss the company’s newly launched video generation tool Sora, the complexities of copyright and fair use in AI training, and the massive infrastructure buildout required to keep pace with C
How Monarch Collective scored some of the biggest early deals in women's sports
This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos speaks with Kara Nortman, co-founder of Monarch Collective, the first fund dedicated exclusively to women’s sports. Nortman launched this $250 million fund in 2023—right before women’s sports exploded into the mainstream. But she didn’t just get lucky: she helped create the market by co-founding Angel City Football Club, wh
How Replit went from $2.8M to $150M ARR by pivoting away from professional developers
This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos and StrictlyVC's Alex Gove spoke with with Amjad Masad, founder and CEO of Replit, fresh off the company's $250 million Series C at a $3 billion valuation. They discussed Replit's remarkable journey from hovering around $2.8 million in ARR for years to hitting $150 million—and how a controversial pivot away from professiona
Google Cloud's COO isn't stressed about landing the AI giants with Francis deSouza
This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos is joined by Francis deSouza, the renowned entrepreneur, operator and, since January of this year, COO of Google Cloud. They discuss his goals for Google Cloud and how the company maintains its competitive position by focusing on startups while giants like AWS and Oracle snap up major deals with leading AI companies — namel
How the world's energy economics flipped with Al Gore and Lila Preston
his week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos sits down with former Vice President Al Gore and Lila Preston to explore their ninth annual Sustainability Trends Report and how the global climate transition is accelerating despite political headwinds. In fact, while traditional media focuses on Trump administration rollbacks, the three discuss why renewable energy economics have fund
General Catalyst's plan to eat the $16 trillion services market
This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos and StrictlyVC's Alex Gove sit down with Marc Bhargava, partner at General Catalyst, to explore his ambitious $1.5 billion Creation Fund strategy that's targeting the $16 trillion global services economy through AI-powered rollups. They dive into how Bhargava's team proves AI automation works and why outcome-based pricing models are di
Adeo Ressi and Sarah Lacy call B.S. on the shrinking emerging manager narrative
This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos and StrictlyVC's Alex Gove sit down with Adeo Ressi, founder of Decile Group, and Sarah Lacy, the former TechCrunch journalist turned entrepreneur to explore how one of Ressi's newest projects -- VC Lab -- has quietly launched over 800 venture funds worldwide, averaging $12 million each. In fact, while traditional media focuses on eme
Uncork Capital on 21 years of venture cycles—and what's different about this one
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Techcrunch EIC Connie Loizos talks with Uncork Capital honchos Jeff Clavier and Andy McLoughlin. They discuss how their seed-stage firm is positioning itself in this environment, from a recent investment in AI chip maker Groq to bets on AI-native companies attacking unsexy industries like material sciences and robotics. Plus, the three dig into Uncork's philosophy
Seven Seven Six bets on moonshots that are mining on the actual moon
This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos speaks with Katelin Holloway, co-founder of Seven Seven Six, the generalist firm that's raised over $1 billion across three funds. They discuss Seven Seven Six's unconventional investment thesis spanning AI-powered stone carving robots to commercial lunar mining, including her bet on Interlune—the first company to sell an o
The $20B LP View: AI Valuations, Solo GPs, and What's Really Happening in Venture
This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos and Alex Gove of StrictlyVC speak with Lara Banks, who leads venture investing at Makena Capital Management. They discuss her firm's $3 billion venture allocation across 30 manager relationships, how she evaluates everything from solo GPs to the AI rollup trend sweeping traditional service businesses, and why she thinks AI
A VC's take on the billion dollar AI researcher gold rush
This week we're sharing an interview from the Equity podcast. Rebecca Bellan chatted with Deedy Das, principal at Menlo Ventures. Das has seen this shift from multiple angles, first as an engineer and product leader at Google, Facebook, and AI startup Glean, and now as an investor helping technical founders figure out how to build enduring companies in this new AI landscape. They discuss how compe
This Greek startup is challenging defense giants, and attracting attention, with its low-cost autonomous weapon systems
This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos and Alex Gove of StrictlyVC speak with Dimitrious Kottas, the founder and CEO of Delian Alliance Industries. They discuss his journey from Apple's Special Projects Group to building autonomous defense systems in Greece, how his company is reimagining surveillance and strike capabilities using AI and commercial tech, and why he believes
VC Aileen Lee Still Sees the Most Promise in Mundane Tech (Re-Release)
In this episode we're revisiting Connie Loizos' conversation with Aileen Lee, the founder of Cowboy Ventures. They discuss what’s on the horizon for Cowboy Ventures and how she’s thinking about AI’s impact on job creation, automation, and new business models—while also giving listeners a glimpse into Cowboy’s own recent team changes.
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Mayfield's Navin Chaddha on the $5 trillion AI services revolution
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Mayfield managing partner Navin Chaddha joins Connie Loizos at our event in Menlo Park to break down why the $5 trillion services sector is ready for AI disruption. Navin, an early investor in Lyft, Poshmark, and HashiCorp, explains why the next wave of winners in this space will combine human and AI teammates to deliver outcome-based services with software-like m
Drive Capital's Columbus gamble is paying off
This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos is joined by Drive Capital co-founder Chris Olsen. Chris explains how Drive's contrarian approach to fund size, ownership stakes, and geographic focus is generating returns where others firms are right now struggling. Plus: why Silicon Valley billionaires are choosing Columbus, and what the "venture reckoning" means for the industry.
How Circle co-founder Sean Neville plans to build the first AI-native financial institution
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Circle co-founder Sean Neville joins Alex Gove of StrictlyVC to discuss building banking infrastructure for AI agents. Fresh off Circle’s 450% IPO surge, Sean has raised $18 million from A16z to create Catena Labs, the first fully regulated AI-native financial institution. They explore what “agent-native finance” actually means, how AI agents will soon handle our
Katie Haun on the GENIUS Act and what it may mean for the future of crypto
This week on StrictlyVC Download, we're bringing you to our recent event in Menlo Park. Connie Loizos was joined by Katie Haun, founder and CEO of Haun Ventures, who shared an inside look at her contrarian "harpoon strategy" that targeted distressed crypto assets during the depths of crypto winter. They explored everything from stablecoin infrastructure to tokenization of real-world assets, to the
VC Charles Hudson on the new LP timeline
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Alex Gove and Connie Loizos are joined by Charles Hudson, Founder and Managing Partner of Precursor Ventures, a pre seed and seed stage venture firm that invests at the very beginning of company formation. They discuss his data-driven approach to portfolio management, how he's navigated many changes in the VC landscape, and his thoughts on the evolving LP expectat
The U.S. Navy says 'welcome aboard' to new startup partnerships
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Alex and Connie are joined by Justin Fanelli, the Acting Chief Technology Officer for the US Navy and Technical Director of Program Executive Office Digital, where he oversees billions of dollars in IT infrastructure and cybersecurity initiatives. He's also a venture partner at NextGen Venture Partners and serves as a senior fellow for the Open Forum for AI. In th
Elad GIl is hoping to teach old companies new tricks with AI
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Alex and Connie are joined by return guest Elad Gil, one of the world’s most renowned solo capitalists, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders in the AI investing space. He has backed companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Figma, and perplexity He’s also the co-host of No Priors. In this episode, they discuss the current landscape for AI investors and Elad offers a peek into
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Greece's big tech moment
This week on StrictlyVC Download, we're bringing you to our recent event in Athens. Connie was joined by Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who shared an inside look at how the country is positioning itself as a refreshed hub for innovation, investment, and participation from the world's technology industry. They explored everything from policy changes to new global partnerships, to Gree
Accel partner Sonali De Rycker on AI, exits, and European tech
This week's episode was recorded live at StrictlyVC London, host Connie Loizos sat down with Accel partner Sonali De Rycker. They discussed Europe's regulatory challenges, compares US and EU tech ecosystems, and explores venture capital's evolving exit strategies in the absence of IPOs.
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction to Strictly VC Download and Sonali de Rycker
01:48 - The "Queen of European
These investors are betting big on Greece’s founders
This week we're taking you with us to our StrictlyVC event in Athens. Connie led a panel discussion with some of Greece's most notable investors about Greece's evolving startup ecosystem. You'll hear from Panos Papadopoulos: Partner at Marathon Venture Capital, Apostolos Apostolakis: Partner at VentureFriends, Marco Veremis: Entrepreneur turned investor who founded and Upstream before co-founded
Why Eric Slesinger, a former CIA officer, is now funding European defense tech
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Alex Gove speaks with Eric Slesinger from 201 Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on seed-stage defense tech startups in Europe. They discuss Eric's journey from CIA to investor and how he recognized the untapped potential in European defense tech while others were dismissive, and how he's working to overcome the cultural taboo that once made defense investme
Ali Partovi is using these indicators to spot future tech billionaires
In this episode of StrictlyVC Download, hosts Connie Loizos and Alex Gove are joined by, Ali Partovi, co-founder and CEO of Neo. They talk about Neo's evolution from a scholar program that provides grants to talented technical young people to a venture fund that recently raised $320 million in committed capital. Partovi discusses Neo's investment philosophy, which focuses on identifying future tec
The RealReal founder Julie Wainwright has written a memoir–and an entrepreneurial survival guide
This week on Strictly VC Download, TechCrunch Editor in Chief, Connie Loizos, sits down with Julie Wainwright, the founder of The RealReal who faced one of tech's most public failures with Pets.com. They discuss Julie's recent memoir, Time to Get Real. They get into board dynamics, leadership challenges, and how she rebuilt her career when Silicon Valley tried to write her off.
Chapter:
00:00 -
Hans Swildens of Industry Ventures on the ways VCs are "manufacturing" liquidity in 2025
This week Connie Loizos and Alex Gove are joined by return guest Hans Swildens. Hans is the founder and CEO of Industry Ventures, a firm known for its pioneering role in the venture secondary market. With stakes in over 700 venture funds and years of experience in the secondaries market, we wanted to have him on to discuss how VCs are thinking about venture’s current liquidity problem.
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AI has opened a new era in Venture Capital with Forerunner's Kirsten Green
Forerunner has seen a number of high-profile successes in their investments, showing an ability to get ahead of consumer trends with investments in Oura, Chime, the Farmer's Dog and beyond in non-B2C companies. And to get a sense of how that happened, and what's next for Forerunner in the AI era, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos spoke with their Founder and Managing Partner Kirsten Green d
Trump's tariffs swift impacts on the global supply chain with Flexport CEO Ryan Peterson
In this bonus episode, Connie Loizos is joined by Flexport's CEO Ryan Petersen to discuss the ins and outs of the tariffs' impact, the industry's reaction and why Petersen still sees long-term opportunity in global trade.
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Peter Diamandis answers the question: is longevity only for the wealthy?
In this week's episode, Connie Loizos and Alex Gove are joined by entrepreneur, futurist, and best-selling author Peter Diamandis. He's founder of XPRIZE Foundation and the co-founder of SIngularity University. In this conversation he laid out his vision for how tech will transform our lives and make longevity advances in the near future. The question is, will these advances just be for the unlta-
Why the founder of BuzzFeed is building an AI-Native social media platform with Jonah Peretti
Today Connie and Alex are joined by Jonah Peretti who has been working in digital media for the past two decades as the founder and CEO of BuzzFeed—a brand that has seen a ton of evolution. Last month, Jonah announced the next phase of Buzzfeed, a social media platform that will use AI to ensure a positive environment. They’re investing $10 million into BuzzFeed island which is an AI-native social
The rise of secondaries and seed-stage liquidity with Michael Kim
This week on StrictlyVC Download TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos and StrictlyVC’s Alex Gove are joined by Michael Kim, the long-time VC and founder of Cendana Capital where he has built a $2.6 billion portfolio focused exclusively on seed and pre-seed funds, backing some of the most successful emerging managers in the industry. In this episode they discuss Cendana’s latest $600 million fu
VC Aileen Lee Still Sees the Most Promise in Mundane Tech
In this episode TechCrunch Editor in Chief, Connie Loizos, is joined by Aileen Lee the founder of Cowboy Ventures. Aileen coined the term "unicorn" in a TechCrunch article all the way back in late 2013. In this conversation, they discuss what’s on the horizon for Cowboy Ventures and how she’s thinking about AI’s impact on job creation, automation, and new business models—while also giving listener
Can Kevin Rose and Alexis Ohanian bring Digg back?
In this week's episode, Connie Loizos is joined by Kevin Rose, best known for founding Digg. The news aggregator changed the way people engaged with the news back in 2004, and it's apparently coming back. That’s right. Kevin joined forces with Alexis Ohanian – his former rival and the co-founder of Reddit, and Digg’s new CEO Justin Mezzell to relaunch Digg for a completely new and expanded audienc
Chris Farmer of SignalFire is betting the venture industry will never look the same
In this episode of StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos is joined by Chris Farmer, founder of SignalFire, to discuss the current state of venture capital. With many startups stuck in financial limbo and no clear path to exit, Farmer shares why he believes the industry has a structural problem. He also shares his perspective on new funding mechanisms, including secondary sales and venture buyouts, an
Slow Ventures creates a creators fund, Meta enters the humanoid bot race, and everything else you may have missed
This week on StrictlyVC Download, we're catching our breath and catching up with all of the news that's been happening in the industry. Connie Loizos and Alex Gove are breaking down the top headlines from Slow Ventures’ new creator fund, to Meta’s step into the humanoid robot race, to the continued saga between Elon Musk and Open AI.
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Nirav Tolia is turning to AI to keep things neighborly on Nextdoor
In this episode, Nextdoor CEO Nirav Tolia joins Connie and Alex to talk about the challenges of running a public company, his strategy to improve user engagement, and why he’s betting on AI and third-party content to make Nextdoor indispensable. They also get into Nextdoor's current product overhaul and whether an acquisition is on the table.
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
03:49 - Fixing Nextdoor’
Dub, an app at the intersection of TikTok and Wall Street, has teens talking
In this episode, hosts Connie and Alex sit down with Steven Wang, the 23-year-old founder of Dub, a rapidly growing copy trading platform. Wang shares how Dub is revolutionizing retail investing by allowing users to automatically mirror the portfolios of top traders, hedge fund managers, and even politicians like Nancy Pelosi. He also dives into the challenges of navigating financial regulations,
As Boom breaks the sound barrier, founder Blake Scholl says supersonic travel is around the corner
In this episode, we sit down with Blake Scholl, CEO of Boom Supersonic, to discuss the company’s ambitious mission to revolutionize commercial aviation. From developing the Overture, a supersonic airliner, to embracing sustainable aviation fuels, Blake shares how Boom plans to make faster, greener air travel a reality. They also discuss their recent test flights, with plans to break the sound barr
Fifth Wall’s Brendan Wallace on wildfires, insurance, and the unquenchable demand for data centers
In this episode, Brendan Wallace of Fifth Wall Ventures shares his insights on the transformative power of PropTech in addressing modern challenges like sustainability, housing affordability, and urban resilience. From rebuilding wildfire-stricken Los Angeles to navigating the intersection of real estate and AI-driven data centers, Wallace explores the innovations shaping the future of cities and
Robinhood, already a ‘comeback’ stock, has even more aggressive plans for 2025
In this episode of The StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos talks withwith Vlad Tenev, the co-founder and CEO of Robinhood, to discuss the company’s remarkable evolution and recent designation as Yahoo Finance’s "Comeback Stock of the Year." Tenev shares how Robinhood is poised for significant growth through its innovative approach to prediction markets, sports betting, and wealth management. The ep
GV CEO David Krane on what it takes to manage 800 investments in five years
This week on the StrictlyVC Download, Connie sits down with GV CEO David Krane at our December StrictlyVC event in San Francisco to discuss his approach to identifying potential investments, what it's like to work so closely with Google while helping potential competitors, and why their approach to successful exits is much more long-term than other VCs. GV, Google's venture capital spinoff that st
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