Episodes

Joining us in the Deep End is Bradley Tusk, an investor, political strategist, and businessman. We spoke to Bradley on the day of New York City’s Mayoral election. His firm, Tusk Strategies, is running Andrew Yang’s campaign. Though the election is an important one, this episode features a higher-level discussion on the future of cities and their role in technological innovation. We also dive into how the hybridization of white collar work will reshape New York and other major cities just as the globalization of manufacturing reshaped the rust belt. We also discuss the evolving relationship between government and startups, from the early days of Uber until the present — and much more.

We talk with Celine Halioua, founder and CEO of Loyal — a startup that is developing drugs to extend dog lifespan. Celine was in the second cohort of the On Deck Founder fellowship and recently announced an $11M raise — one of the largest seed rounds ever for a female solo founder. Though Loyal’s immediate project is longevity for dogs, Celine’s long-term goal is to build the “SpaceX of Aging” and to make the goal of extending human lifespan as prominent in the public mind as the prospect of interplanetary travel. We discuss: - When the straight path is not the effective path - Redefining the narrative around longevity - How to think about/define lifespan extension - Why aging isn’t consider a disease—but it should be - Building the SpaceX for aging - How to find the thing you’re uniquely good at building - On deciding to go the solo founder route - Making knowledge and information sharing more prevalent in biotech - The value of mentorship

We talk to Saagar Enjeti, former cohost of the news show Rising (1.3M YouTube subscribers). Last week he launched Breaking Points, an independent news and opinion show, that has already hit 250k YouTube subscribers and more paid podcast subscribers than they had projected they would get in their first year. We discuss… - Legacy vs Independent media - The business model of legacy media companies - The often-overlooked drawbacks of independent creation - Meeting people where they are (everywhere) - Creator tools - Open systems vs walled gardens - How subsidization has corrupted the business of journalism - People don’t understand how big the Internet is

We talk with Joe Albanese, co-founder and CEO of Stir — a platform for creators to manage their businesses. Joe believes that creators are professionals, and that for them to reach their full potential it is essential that the quality of their business tools match the quality of their creative output. To that end, Stir is building the tools to supercharge existing behaviors in the creator economy by making it easier for creators to collaborate, split revenue, manage money, and understand important metrics — all in one place. They’re backed by high-profile investors, including Casey Neistat, Li Jin, YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, Patreon CEO Jack Conte, and Anthony Pompliano. Ideas discussed include: - Everyone is going to be a business - How user behaviors precede productized tools - Betting on human nature - The compounding effect of the pandemic and TikTok on the creator economy - How creators start in single-player mode but muli-playermultiple soon becomes essential.…

In this episode we talk to Balaji Srinivasan, formerly CTO of Coinbase, GP at Andreessen Horowitz, and founder of 1729.com, about some of the themes and ideas he is working on for his forthcoming book, “the Network State”, including: - Why he thinks decentralization is going to shape the future of media and the state How scar tissue causes people to miss impactful trends and ideas before they “go vertical” - Why digital geography is plastic and dynamic, and how it will lead to the formation of whole new countries and cities - The distinction between founders who build the future and inheritors who run legacy businesses or win public office in the current system. - Why Silicon Valley is no longer a physical place and the portability of social networks

In this episode we are joined by Katherine Boyle, a partner at General Catalyst. Last week, Katherine announced a new civic tech-focused fund based in Miami with a mandate to back civic tech businesses. Today, we speak with her about: -- The definition of civic tech and its five core areas: aerospace and defense, public safety, education, transportation, and infrastructure. -- Why investing in tech is more important than ever. -- How the last 50 years have seen the best and brightest move into the private sector due to loss of status, trust, and pay that used to accompany public sector jobs. -- How the financialization of the economy has contributed to the crisis of talent in public service. -- Why we can’t depend exclusively on governments to solve our problems in a world where no one wants to work in government. -- How civic tech offers new solutions to problems currently being solved by analog executive departments. -- The difference between public goods and consumer goods.

In this episode we are talking to Erik Torenberg, co-founder and chairman of On Deck. Erik is on a mission to build On Deck into a modern education institution for the future of work. We discussed: - What’s causing incumbent universities to fail. - The opportunities that exist for new institutions to chart a different path. - Unbundling and cost disease in education. - Talent identification and credentialism.

Host Marshall Kosloff shares what’s “on deck” for The Deep End. Launching May 26th. Subscribe today!