Podcast
Venture with Grace
Hosted by Grace Gong · EN
I host a top VC podcast called Smart Venture Podcast (SVPpro.com). Past guests include C-level/VPs of Google, Meta, Amazon, Sephora, Dunkin' Donuts, Chipotle, Pepsi, Instagram, Deloitte, Reddit, Lyft, etc. Managing Partners of top funds (many were featured on the Forbes Midas List) and unicorn founders (founders of Craigslist, Square, Loom, Cruise, etc.) Venture with Grace is my new spin-off series that features top LPs, GPs, solo GPs, Angel Investors, top AI founders, and other experts in tech and business to cover specific domain expertise.
Watch this Live on LinkedIn/ YouTube: Grace Gong
109episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Robin Daniels, Zensai Chief Business Officer on AI-Native GTM
May 1901:08:00Tap to summarizeRobin Daniels is the Chief Business & Product Officer at Zensai, where he leads marketing, product, partnerships, and go-to-market strategy for the company’s AI-powered human performance platform built for the Microsoft ecosystem. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~A veteran operator across some of tech’s most recognizable growth companies, Robin has held executive leadership roles at Matterport, WeWork, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Box, Veritas, and Vera, building expertise across category creation, product innovation, growth strategy, and organizational leadership. Beyond operating roles, he is an advisor and LP at firms including byFounders and Stage 2 Capital, supporting AI-native startups on scaling revenue and go-to-market execution. Originally from Copenhagen and shaped by more than two decades in the U.S. and UK tech ecosystems, Robin is also the author of The Human Success Playbook, focused on how humans and AI can work together inside modern organizations.TopicsHow Zensai AI doubles performance in Microsoft ecosystems at global scaleLessons from scaling companies through IPOs and hypergrowth phasesThe future of human performance, leadership, and AI collaboration at work #B2B #Leadership #EnterpriseSoftware #Startups #FutureOfWork
Transcribe →Mathias Biilmann, Netlify CEO on the Future of Modern Web Development
May 1900:59:24Tap to summarizeMathias Biilmann is the CEO and Co-Founder of Netlify, the modern web development platform used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises to build, deploy, and scale composable web applications. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~A longtime developer tools entrepreneur and open-source contributor, Mathias is widely recognized for pioneering the Jamstack movement and helping redefine how modern websites and applications are built. Before founding Netlify in 2014, he created products including BitBalloon and Webpop, focused on simplifying web publishing and developer workflows. Today, he continues to shape the future of front-end cloud infrastructure, composable architecture, and AI-powered developer experiences, helping teams build faster, more scalable applications across the modern web ecosystem.TopicsBuilding Netlify and pioneering the Jamstack movementThe evolution of composable architecture and front-end cloud infrastructureHow AI is reshaping developer workflows and web development #WebDevelopment #Jamstack #DeveloperTools #CloudInfrastructure
Transcribe →Mada Seghete, Upside CEO & Co-Founder on Revenue Intelligence for B2B
May 1900:56:36Tap to summarizeMada Seghete is the CEO and Co-Founder of Upside, a revenue intelligence platform helping B2B companies understand and optimize what drives deal outcomes across marketing, sales, partnerships, and customer success. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Previously, she co-founded Branch, the mobile deep linking and measurement platform, where she served as CMO and helped scale the company to over $100M+ in revenue. Born in Romania, she studied Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell and earned her M.S. and MBA from Stanford. Today, she focuses on building AI-native revenue systems for modern go-to-market teams while also investing in and supporting women founders through XFactor Ventures and community initiatives including a global founders retreat.TopicsHow Upside attribution turns B2B revenue chaos into predictable winsScaling Branch from mobile deep linking to $100M+ enterprise dominanceBuilding women founder retreats that drive venture outcomes at scale#RevOps #RevenueIntelligence #WomenInTech #B2B #FounderCommunities
Transcribe →Calvin Chin, Managing Partner E14 Fund on Investing in Frontier Tech
May 1301:00:22Tap to summarizeCalvin Chin is Managing Partner of E14 Fund, the early-stage venture fund affiliated with the MIT Media Lab, where he backs deep tech founders translating frontier research into scalable companies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Previously, he was Founder & CEO of Transist, an incubator investing across the continents in impact-driven startups, and earlier founded Qifang, China’s first online student loan platform, recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer. A World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and Fast Company “Most Creative People in Business” honoree, Calvin has spent his career operating at the intersection of research, entrepreneurship, and global capital flows, focused on turning technical breakthroughs into category-defining companies.TopicsTurning frontier research into venture-scale companies from MIT and beyondInvesting across U.S.–China innovation ecosystems: lessons and shiftsWhat actually matters when backing deep tech founders (beyond the science)#VentureCapital #DeepTech #Startups #Innovation #MIT #FrontierTech
Transcribe →Andrew Garvin, Metronome, Co-Founder & COO on Usage Billing
May 800:57:18Tap to summarizeAndrew Garvin is Co-Founder and COO of Metronome~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~The usage-based billing leader acquired by Stripe enabling AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Confluent, and Anyscale to monetize complex SKUs, hybrid models, and sales-led motions with multidimensional metering—previously Fractional CFO to tech startups/VC funds, advisor to 8VC and Blend, Partner at Hybrid (crowd work platform), CFO at Mithril Capital ($1.4B Peter Thiel fund backing Palantir/Reddit/Auris), Director of Finance at Halcyon Molecular (EM genome sequencing), Principal at Clarium Capital ($8B macro hedge fund); Stanford GSB MBA with enterprise scale playbook.TopicsHow Metronome powers Stripe usage billing without complex engineering buildsGrowing Hybrid enterprise sales during crowd platform category creationAI monetization readiness with multidimensional metering at Stripe scale#UsageBilling #Metronome #Stripe #Fintech #BillingTech
Transcribe →Darren Moffett, LangChain VP of Sales on Enterprise AI
May 800:54:55Tap to summarizeDarren Moffett is Vice President of Sales at LangChain, leading go-to-market for the leading agent engineering platform powering production AI agents for enterprises—previously VP Sales AMER and Area VP Regional Sales at GitLab scaling DevSecOps adoption, Area VP US High Tech at MuleSoft driving enterprise integration leadership in Western Region; UC Davis History BA with proven track record building high-performing sales teams across developer platforms from open source to $100M+ ARR commercial motions. with prior enterprise leadership at Numerify, Cloudera, and xMatters (Area VP scaling incident response communications).~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 20+ year track record scaling DevOps, data analytics, and integration platforms at category leaders, now applying hyperscaler go-to-market expertise to LangChain's agentic AI ecosystem.TopicsHow LangChain scales production AI agents without prototype-to-production gapsGrowing GitLab AMER sales through DevSecOps platform adoption surgeDriving MuleSoft high tech enterprise integration during Western Region expansionDeveloper platform GTM readiness at LangSmith enterprise deployment scale#EnterpriseAI #LangChain #GitLab #MuleSoft #DevTools
Transcribe →Alex Ren, Fellows Fund, Founding Partner on AI Investing
May 800:58:38Tap to summarizeAlex Ren is Founding Partner at Fellows Fund ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Backing frontier AI infrastructure with 20+ years across engineering, recruiting, and venture—seed investor in Sycamore Labs ($65M trusted agent OS), investor in Periodic Labs (OpenAI ex-VP science AI), Replit ($3B unicorn), Corgi ($108M AI insurance carrier), Dyna Robotics (DYNA-1 robotics foundation model), Scalar Field (AI trading terminal), BOND (Chief of Staff AI), alongside Abridge, GC AI, MAI Agents, Higgsfield AI, and Evidently; previously led TalentSeer AI recruiting, founded mobile app startup, autonomous vehicle researcher—UCAS Master's operator turned SF ecosystem investor building agentic execution systems.TopicsHow Fellows Fund sources AI breakout winners without traditional VC gatekeepersGrowing Periodic Labs talent exodus from OpenAI Meta DeepMind to science AIRobotics readiness with Dyna Robotics foundation models at $120M+ scale#AIVC #FellowsFund #SycamoreLabs #Robotics #DeepTech
Transcribe →Zach Lloyd, Warp Founder & CEO on Terminals for AI-Native Developers
May 201:01:58Tap to summarizeZach Lloyd is the Founder & CEO of Warp, the modern terminal reimagined for how developers actually work today—bringing structure, collaboration, and AI into a tool that has remained largely unchanged since the VT100 era. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Prior to Warp, Zach was a Principal Engineer at Google, where he led engineering for core products like Google Sheets and contributed to the broader Docs ecosystem used by billions globally. He later served as CTO of TIME and co-founded SelfMade, a venture-backed startup focused on empowering creators. Across roles, his throughline has been clear: building tools that meaningfully improve how people create and operate. With Warp, Zach is tackling one of the last untouched surfaces in the developer stack—transforming the terminal from a static interface into an intelligent, collaborative environment designed for speed, clarity, and AI-native workflows.TopicsReinventing the terminal: from VT100 emulation to AI-native developer workflowsWhy developer tools stagnate—and how Warp rethinks interface, speed, and usabilityEmbedding AI directly into core dev environments vs. layering on copilots#DevTools #Warp #GoogleSheets #DevEx #Terminal
Transcribe →Noam Schwartz, Alice CEO & Co-Founder on Securing AI Systems at Scale
May 100:53:44Tap to summarizeNoam Schwartz is the CEO & Co-founder of Alice, a trust, safety, and security platform purpose-built for the AI era—protecting models, autonomous agents, and user-generated ecosystems from emerging threats. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~He is also closely associated with ActiveFence, where he has led efforts to safeguard digital platforms for major technology companies and Fortune 500 enterprises, helping protect billions of users globally. Previously, Noam was VP of Business & Corporate Development at SimilarWeb, where he drove M&A and strategic partnerships, including the acquisition of his own startup, TapDog. Across his career—from founding early UGC platforms to scaling enterprise-grade safety infrastructure—Noam has consistently operated at the intersection of data, platforms, and risk. With Alice, he is now focused on a critical frontier: building end-to-end security and governance layers for AI systems, where model integrity, content safety, and agent behavior must be managed cohesively in real time.TopicsHow Alice secures AI models without fragmented trust safety toolingGrowing ActiveFence client protection during GenAI UGC threat expansionAI safety readiness with serial founder frameworks at enterprise platform scale#AISecurity #Alice #TrustSafety #SimilarWeb #DeepTech
Transcribe →Shawn Razek, Matterhaul Founder & CEO on AI-Driven Distribution
May 101:00:13Tap to summarizeShawn Razek is the Co-Founder and CEO of Matterhaul.~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Where he leads the development of AI agents that automate distribution and manufacturing workflows. Matterhaul’s platform empowers teams to streamline complex processes, reduce friction, and accelerate operations without requiring new software systems. Prior to Matterhaul, Shawn co-founded Xoba, a B2B SaaS startup focused on workplace information discovery, growing the product from 0→1 with paying customers within six months and successfully exiting in 2023. He also served as Product Lead and Product Manager at Stripe, Verkada, and Cisco Meraki, driving full-stack product strategy, cloud platform development, and SaaS licensing models that scaled to millions of users and $30M+ in revenue gains. Shawn blends technical product expertise with startup leadership, helping teams design scalable solutions, launch products globally, and optimize operational efficiency.TopicsHow Matterhaul's AI agents cut distributor costs by automating procurement chaosScaling Stripe Terminal and Verkada sensors through enterprise GTM motionsBuilding Xoba from zero to exit while PM-ing at Verkada full-time#AI #SupplyChain #Matterhaul #StartupLeadership #B2BTech
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