Podcast
Uncapped with Jack Altman
Hosted by Alt Capital · EN
Conversations with people I admire about things I’m genuinely interested in.
37episodes
Episodes
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Uncapped #35 | Trae Stephens from Founders Fund
Dec 300:52:24Summary readyTrae Stephens is a Partner at Founders Fund. He is also Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Anduril, a defense tech company focused on autonomous systems, and Co-founder of Sol, a next generation wearable e-reader. Previously, Trae was an early employee at Palantir Technologies, where he led teams focused on growth in the intelligence/defense space as well as international expansion. He was also an integral part of the product team, leading the design and strategy for new product offerings. Prior to Palantir, Trae worked as a computational linguist building enterprise solutions to Arabic/Persian name matching and data enrichment within the United States Intelligence community. He began his career working in the office of then Congressman Rob Portman and in the Political Affairs Office at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C. immediately following the installation of Hamid Karzai’s transitional government. We covered: Hard tech and the future of warfare AI morality and “good quests” How Anduril scales manufacturing Founders Fund’s investing philosophy Contrarianism and concentration The ethics of autonomy and national defense --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:35) Choosing good quests in the AI era (7:35) Ethics behind solving certain problems (11:29) Working with regulators (16:54) What’s left to prove at Anduril (18:32) Anduril, SpaceX, and Tesla at scale (22:30) The future of warfare (24:48) Juggling Anduril and Founders Fund (29:07) A system that rewards going deep (31:21) What’s made Founders Fund great (37:30) The king-making strategy in VC (40:26) Concentrating in the winners (43:55) Where there’s alpha in the market (47:22) Theological revival in traditional faith --- More on Trae: https://foundersfund.com/ https://x.com/traestephens More on Jack: https://www.altcap.com/ https://x.com/jaltma --- https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Email: friends@uncappedpod.com
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Uncapped #34 | Mel Williams from TrueBridge
Nov 2500:40:33Summary readyMel Williams is a co-founder and Partner at TrueBridge Capital Partners, a fund of funds with $8 billion in AUM focused on venture capital. Since 2007, Mel’s team has backed firms like Thrive, Founders Fund, Sequoia, and Alt Capital, and powers the data behind the Forbes Midas List. Before TrueBridge, Mel co-founded UNC Management Company (UNCMC), where he worked closely with the President/CIO to manage over $2 billion of endowment capital for the University of North Carolina. We covered: Investing in frothy markets Doubling down on winners Seed vs multi-stage Picking managers --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (1:10) AI valuations and a frothy market (4:35) Long term market risks (7:18) Should VC funds keep getting bigger? (9:37) 10% of the market is the signal (14:08) Venture math debate (18:05) Characteristics of great investors (20:46) The case for seed stage firms (23:09) Picking managers (24:59) Big wins and big misses (30:12) It’s hard to kill a good brand (33:06) Building a concentrated portfolio (36:53) Advice to young LPs --- More on Mel: https://truebridgecapital.com/ https://truebridgecapital.com/team/mel-williams/ More on Jack: https://www.altcap.com/ https://x.com/jaltma --- https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Email: friends@uncappedpod.com
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Uncapped #33 | Vlad Tenev from Robinhood
Nov 2000:50:11Summary readyVlad Tenev is the co-founder and CEO of Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD), which transformed financial services by introducing commission-free stock trading and democratizing access to the markets for millions of investors. As of Q3 2025, the company is doing $1.27 billion in revenue with 11 business lines each doing roughly $100 million. We discuss the evolution of online brokerage platforms from Schwab to E-Trade to now Robinhood. Vlad delves into the launch of Robinhood, the impact of the global financial crisis, and how mobile and high-frequency trading have transformed finance. The conversation explores the rise and success of prediction markets, the importance of engaging younger generations, and how AI is enhancing the future of trading. --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (00:27) History of online brokers (4:15) The rise of Robinhood (9:15) Changing sentiment among generations (14:18) Incentive alignment with customers (18:47) The emergence of prediction markets (25:50) Economic value vs entertainment (28:26) Growing degree of risk taking (35:21) Tokenization and private markets (39:33) The impact of AI on Robinhood (43:35) What excites Vlad about AI (46:59) Reflections on being a founder --- More on Vlad: https://robinhood.com/us/en/ https://x.com/vladtenev More on Jack: https://www.altcap.com/ https://x.com/jaltma --- https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Email: friends@uncappedpod.com
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Uncapped #32 | Kyle Vogt from The Bot Company
Nov 1200:46:25Summary readyKyle Vogt is a serial entrepreneur and engineer often recognized as the co-founder and former CEO of Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company acquired by General Motors for $1 billion. Before Cruise, he co-founded Twitch, which transformed how people watch and share gaming online. Kyle is now building a new company at the frontier of intelligent home automation, aiming to bring advanced robotics into everyday life. A few highlights: Labs beginning to see their ChatGPT moment Most robots will be specialized, not humanoids Robots will be cooking steaks in less than 5 yrs Indefinitely operating with less than 100 people Running a marathon on every continent in 81+ hrs --- Timestamps: (0:00) Introduction (0:34) Why robotics is suddenly booming (1:48) AI unlocking the next wave (3:31) Special-purpose vs generalized (5:32) Designing robots people actually use (9:00) Building for scale, impact, and affordability (12:17) The myth of the humanoid robot (15:04) Trust, safety, and privacy in your home (17:51) The data powering robotics intelligence (21:01) Why Kyle keeps starting hard companies (22:32) The 100-person rule and elite teams (26:10) How to move fast and actually ship (27:28) What home robotics will do first (35:05) Home security applications (37:07) Robots should elevate our standard of living (38:41) Lessons from Tesla vs Waymo (41:08) Thoughts on when to sell the company (42:41) Running marathons on every continent --- More on Kyle: https://www.bot.co/ https://x.com/kvogt More on Jack: https://www.altcap.com/ https://x.com/jaltma --- https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Email: friends@uncappedpod.com
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Uncapped #31 | Dylan Field from Figma
Nov 500:56:39Summary readyDylan Field is the co-founder and CEO of Figma, a design software company that went public in July 2025. Founded in 2012, Figma transformed how people design, prototype, and build products together. After a $20 billion acquisition attempt by Adobe collapsed in 2022 because of regulators, Dylan helped Figma rebound stronger than ever. Just three years later, Figma listed its shares at nearly $20 billion and its stock price more than tripled on its first trading day. A few highlights: Expanding a sleepy market Merging of designers and product roles Counter-narrative to polarizing CEOs If models get better, we have to Remembering Brat Summer --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:37) The first 5 years of Figma (5:14) Slow build vs AI gold rush (13:01) The role of the human designer (18:55) Small companies with $1B in revenue (21:28) Expanding a sleepy market (27:49) Leading with empathy as CEO (32:51) Connecting with young people (41:37) Getting stronger despite Adobe (48:43) AI impacting Figma’s roadmap (52:02) Final bastion of human designers --- More on Dylan: https://www.figma.com/ https://x.com/zoink More on Jack: https://www.altcap.com/ https://x.com/jaltma --- https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Email: friends@uncappedpod.com
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Uncapped #30 | Alex Pall from The Chainsmokers
Oct 2901:05:52Summary readyAlex Pall is half of the Grammy Award-winning duo The Chainsmokers. Beyond music, Alex is entrepreneur and co-founder of Mantis VC, a venture firm that invests opportunistically in early stage tech-enabled startups. Some of their investments include Alchemy, Chainguard, Kalshi, Roblox, and Rogo. We had a wide ranging conversation that broke down the creative stories behind a few of their top hits including “Closer,” “Something Just Like This,” and “Don’t Let Me Down.” We also explored the creative process at the highest level and how Alex’s experience in music influences the way he approaches venture investing. --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (1:04) Stories behind the songs (4:58) Coldplay collaboration (9:57) Creating Closer (13:25) Dependencies vs creative fuel (18:09) Letting songs be promiscuous (19:45) How “Don’t Let Me Down” happened (22:57) Art vs playing the favorites (26:18) Balancing music and business (29:49) Albums telling stories (35:42) Tension behind growth as an artist (39:28) Inspiration drives creativity (41:20) AIs impact on music (44:34) Outlier talent (47:22) Building a venture firm (54:46) Experiencing elite circles (1:01:17) Importance of momentum --- More on Alex: https://www.mantisvc.com/ https://x.com/AlexPallNY More on Jack: https://www.altcap.com/ https://x.com/jaltma --- https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Email: friends@uncappedpod.com
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Uncapped #29 | Thomas Laffont from Coatue
Oct 2201:02:43Summary readyThomas Laffont is the co-founder of Coatue, one of the world’s largest technology investment platforms active in both the public and private markets. Thomas leads the firm’s private investment platforms across early-stage and growth, and oversees their software investments across private and public markets. Coatue has partnered with some of the most enduring and impactful companies of the last two decades, including Applied Intuition, Canva, Databricks, Figma and Rippling. Thomas began his career at the Creative Arts Agency, where he represented artists in film and television. A few highlights: The system of record being over Wanting to be a founder’s second call Investing with a wide aperture Tom Cruise validating star quality Working with family --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:25) Making sense of the current cycle (5:31) Investing from inception through IPO (10:36) Depreciation of the system of record (14:04) Value beyond databases (18:46) Winning strategies in venture (23:43) Operating at early-stage (28:56) Navigating investing conflicts (34:29) Wide aperture lens of investing (36:45) Star quality being a reality (40:30) Firm strategy and decision making (48:25) Everything that’s great about golf (54:34) Working with family (57:20) Advice to young professionals --- More on Thomas: https://www.coatue.com/ https://x.com/thomas_coatue More on Jack: https://www.altcap.com/ https://x.com/jaltma --- https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Email: friends@uncappedpod.com
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Uncapped #28 | Roelof Botha from Sequoia
Oct 1501:03:00Summary readyRoelof Botha joined Sequoia in 2003 and serves as the managing partner and steward. Roelof led early investments in YouTube, Instagram, Natera, and MongoDB among others. He currently sits on the board of Natera, Unity, Block (fka Square), MongoDB, Ethos, Pendulum, Airtime, and Flow Engineering. Roelof also co-led Sequoia’s backing of Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter (now X) in 2022. Prior to Sequoia, Roelof was the CFO of PayPal and led the company’s IPO at the age of 28, and later through its acquisition by eBay. We covered: Paranoia that drives success Venture not being an asset class Full contact conversations Cost being the secret to Silicon Valley The next trillion dollar markets --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:52) Becoming the steward (5:16) Keeping healthy paranoia (9:26) Drivers of joy as a leader (11:17) Current venture playing field (13:38) Venture is not an asset class (18:50) Advice to new managers (19:47) Decision making at Sequoia (30:11) Investing across stages (37:12) Component of cost (46:57) Conflicting investments (50:48) The next trillion dollar markets (59:30) Team building --- More on Roelof: https://x.com/roelofbotha https://www.sequoiacap.com/people/roelof-botha/ More on Jack: https://www.altcap.com/ https://x.com/jaltma --- https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Email: friends@uncappedpod.com --- This episode is presented for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities. The discussion herein similarly does not constitute a solicitation with respect to any Sequoia fund or an offer of investment advisory services. Investments identified herein are discussed solely for illustrative purposes and there is no guarantee that current or future investments of Sequoia will be similar in quality or kind.
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Uncapped #27 | Vince Hankes from Thrive Capital
Oct 800:57:34Summary readyVince Hankes is a Partner at Thrive Capital where he’s worked on investments in OpenAI, SpaceX, Databricks, and Stripe among others. Vince invests across all stages and currently sits on the board of Airtable, Benchling, Console, Isomorphic, Lattice and Rogo. Prior to joining Thrive, Vince was an investor at Tiger Global. We covered: Non-consensus investing Writing billion dollar checks Buying Carvana at the bottom The value of compounding What matters most to Thrive --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:50) The evolution of Thrive (4:22) Instagram, Github, and Stripe (7:57) Qualitative, then quantitative (9:39) Writing massive checks (16:48) Winning strategies in venture (25:58) Buying Carvana at the bottom (32:50) Managing conflicts (36:13) AI’s impact on the market (42:25) East meets West Coast investors (45:19) Vertical specific workspaces (49:53) Scale and timing of robotics (51:31) OpenAI vs everything else (55:59) What matters most for Thrive --- More on Vince: https://x.com/vhankes https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincent-hankes/ More on Jack: https://www.altcap.com/ https://x.com/jaltma --- https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Email: friends@uncappedpod.com --- This episode is presented for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities. The discussion herein similarly does not constitute a solicitation with respect to any Thrive fund or an offer of investment advisory services. Investments identified herein are discussed solely for illustrative purposes and there is no guarantee that current or future investments of Thrive will be similar in quality or kind.
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Uncapped #26 | Ali Rowghani
Oct 100:41:10Summary readyAli Rowghani is the founder of First Harmonic, a go-to-market program purpose-built for seed stage founders. Ali has had a long, distinguished career in tech. He worked with Steve Jobs and Ed Catmull at Pixar for nine years holding various roles including CFO and SVP of Strategic Planning, took Twitter from $0 in revenue through IPO as the CFO and COO, and most recently was the founding Managing Director of Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund where he led investments in DoorDash, Stripe, Coinbase, Zapier, among many others. Ali has also invested as an early angel in several breakout AI companies, including Mercor, Decagon, and Cursor. He’s seen the arc from inception to IPO many times and recognizes what separates winning startups from the pack. We covered: Pixar’s golden age Exceptional leadership Working with Steve Jobs Twitter going from $0 to $2B Operating beliefs in venture --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:53) Pixar’s miracle factory (6:28) Working with Steve Jobs (13:23) Ed Catmull and John Lasseter (16:28) Crazy years at Twitter (18:30) Getting monetization right (19:56) Learnings in hindsight (22:37) Elon Musk observations (24:03) Beginning of YC’s growth fund (29:31) Between pre and post traction (33:23) The second job of a CEO (34:35) First Harmonic (35:31) Beliefs in venture --- More on Ali: https://www.firstharmonic.com/ https://x.com/ROWGHANI More on Jack: https://www.altcap.com/ https://x.com/jaltma --- Link to Ali’s referenced blog post: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/3k-the-second-job-of-a-startup-ceo --- https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Email: friends@uncappedpod.com
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