Shake-ups at Silicon Valley's Biggest VC Firms

Newcomer Podcast

#News #Tech News #Eric Newcomer | newcomer.co #Tom Dotan

36:27

Not many artists actually hail from Tennessee, but the scenic valleys and rolling hills of The Volunteer State are part of Dustin Lynch’s DNA. In this episode of On the Bus, Country Thunder CEO Troy Vollhoffer sits down with Dustin to discuss his journey from playing fraternity parties and weddings across the southeast to being the first country artist with a club residency at the Wynn in Las Vegas. Plus, stick around for our new segment, Thunder Strike, where Troy features upcoming festival performer Riley Green’s hit song “Damn Good Day to Leave” to give you a taste of what’s to come at Country Thunder in 2025.…

about a year ago 20:44

MP3•Episode home

After a brief hiatus, the Newcomer podcast is back!

Madeline Renbarger has rejoined me as my co-host to help break down all of the news across venture capital and startups.

This week, we’re kicking off with a massive $693 million chip deal and Google’s huge quantum computing breakthroughs, in news that feels like flashes of Silicon Valley returning to its “silicon” roots. Still, some of this tech feels a bit too early to be exciting for a venture-backable model.

We also dig into the personnel shake-ups across the major multi-stage funds, including Brian Singerman’s step back from Founders Fund last week. Lightspeed also saw partners exit as part of a consumer investing reshuffle. And just this morning after recording, Lux Capital’s Bilal Zuberi announced on X that he was leaving to “embark on a new chapter.”

We’re excited for you to listen.

Episode produced by Christopher Gates

Brought to you by Brex

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Chapters

00:00 - Intro

01:06 - Tenstorrent’s $693 million Series D

04:44 - Google’s Quantum Computing Breakthrough

06:42 - Lightspeed’s Consumer Investing Re-org

09:24 - Brian Singerman Steps Back and Founders Fund’s Roster

14:08 - Mega-funds in Transition and Tech’s Trump Positioning

20:19 - Conclusion and Future Discussions

Get full access to Newcomer at www.newcomer.co/subscribe

137 episodes

Newcomer Podcast

Shake-ups at Silicon Valley's Biggest VC Firms

Newcomer Podcast

18 subscribers

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

After a brief hiatus, the Newcomer podcast is back!

Madeline Renbarger has rejoined me as my co-host to help break down all of the news across venture capital and startups.

We’re excited for you to listen.

Episode produced by Christopher Gates

Brought to you by Brex

Chapters

00:00 - Intro

01:06 - Tenstorrent’s $693 million Series D

04:44 - Google’s Quantum Computing Breakthrough

06:42 - Lightspeed’s Consumer Investing Re-org

09:24 - Brian Singerman Steps Back and Founders Fund’s Roster

14:08 - Mega-funds in Transition and Tech’s Trump Positioning

20:19 - Conclusion and Future Discussions

Get full access to Newcomer at www.newcomer.co/subscribe

137 episodes

#News #Tech News #Eric Newcomer | newcomer.co #Tom Dotan

All episodes

Newcomer Podcast

1
Walter Bloomberg at the Wheel for the Whole Stock Market 1:06:56

1 day ago1:06:56

1:06:56

We're welcoming special guest Tom Dotan of Dead Cat fame to the show this week — just in time for the tariff market meltdown. To Silicon Valley's Trump supporters, we hate to say we told you so, but it's hard to imagine how these tariffs on our biggest trading partners will benefit tech and artificial intelligence development in the US. In the second half of the show, Eric interviews Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen on how to make sense of what President Trump's tariff policies mean for his customers around the world.…

Newcomer Podcast

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OpenAI: A $300 Billion Non-Profit? 57:02

8 days ago57:02

57:02

OpenAI has done it again. The AI giant closed $40 billion in fresh funding (kind of) led by Softbank, We debate the bull and bear case for OpenAI's $300 billion valuation. Eric sticks to his guns from his previous bear case, but Madeline is more optimistic about OpenAI's consumer revenue. We also go over the latest in the Deel/Rippling corporate espionage saga and dig into Eric's reporting on the Deel spy's confession. Plus, Elon Musk is reportedly stepping back from his hands on role in Washington in the coming weeks. In the second half of this week's episode, Eric interviews Clay CEO and cofounder Kareem Amin, who topped the Enterprise Tech 30 list on mid-stage startups. Time stamps 00:00 — Announcing Cerebral Valley London 03:26 — Is OpenAI worth $300 billion? 11:00 — The Deel Spy Confession 16:09 — Elon Pulls Back in DC 22:40 — Clay's Kareem Amin Talks Marketing Agents…

Newcomer Podcast

1
Vibecode Showdown 19:35

15 days ago19:35

19:35

This week, Eric shared the details of his vibe coding frenzy from the past few weeks, testing out Vercel and the buzziest coding assistant of moment, Lovable. We unpack the benefits and remaining headaches of these tools from a non-coder perspective. We then turn to the Studio Ghibli memes of the week from OpenAI's new 4o image model integration and try to make sense of all the copyright risks and benefits this new tool could lead us to. Later in the show, we break down the story on 11x's potentially fabricated customers and subsequent backlash from some of Silicon Valley's most powerful VCs. And as Waymo fans, we're excited about their expansion in to Washington DC. Produced by Christopher Gates…

Newcomer Podcast

1
The Biggest Deal of the Year! 44:24

22 days ago44:24

44:24

We're opening in a celebratory mood this week with Wiz's big exit to Google, which if it holds will offer some much needed liquidity to venture firms and their LPs. It's a big win for several of Silicon Valley's heavy hitters, including Sequoia's Doug Leone, Index Ventures' Shardul Shah, and Greenoaks' Neil Mehta. IPOs are looking a little bit more uncertain, however. Plus, Deel's allleged corporate espionage at Rippling has all the makings of a great HR tech spy thriller. Next up, we touch on the new liberal "abundance" agenda, which has more than a few similarities to Marc Andreessen's "Time to Build" manifesto. In the second half of our show, Eric sits down with Browserbase CEO Paul Klein to discuss their tools for running headless browsers and their rapid growth over the past year. Produced by ⁠Christopher Gates⁠…

Newcomer Podcast

1
Everything's Computer 21:33

30 days ago21:33

21:33

We’re recording this episode on the ground from two different tech conferences, the flashy new HumanX summit in Las Vegas and the now-veteran status South By Southwest in Austin. We cover how the attendees diverge, with more consumer-tech making a showing at SXSW and the new guard of AI business leaders heading over to HumanX (with a few exceptions.) At both summits, though, coding assistants are far and beyond the breakout use case of generative AI applications. We also briefly touch on the threat to free speech in America under the Trump administration following the arrest of the Columbia student protestor Mahmoud Khalil. Next up, we talk about Anthropic’s major revenue growth and how Claude itself is one of the strongest coding assistants on the market, notching it up in the model maker race. We close with, yes — another coding assistant — Anysphere, the makers of Cursor, and its rumored funding round at a $10 billion valuation. Produced by ⁠Christopher Gates⁠…

Newcomer Podcast

1
Best Crypto to AI Pivot Ever 21:55

5 weeks ago21:55

21:55

In this episode of the Newcomer Podcast, Eric and Madeline dissect why VCs are mad about Trump’s plans for a strategic crypto reserve. Even the biggest boosters and loudest voices for deregulation around crypto have been caught off guard by the president’s push to add other altcoins to the promised Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, calling the move a blatant enrichment scheme for coin holders and friends of the President. Next, they take a closer look at the thawing of the IPO market. They unpack CoreWeave’s S-1 and examine why the biggest generative AI IPO of the year so far has a lot at stake with big tech customers. They then discuss Anthropic’s latest funding round, its whopping $61.5 billion valuation, and the deeper issue of when we should truly declare AGI’s arrival. Produced by Christopher Gates…

Newcomer Podcast

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$200 Billion for Data Centers... In This Economy? 17:34

6 weeks ago17:34

17:34

Eric and Madeline break down the week that was in AI news in this episode of The Newcomer Podcast, from the unnecessary panic caused by reports of Microsoft cancelling leases for data centers to Nvidia’s quarterly earnings report. Despite tech companies moving full steam ahead on AI, including OpenAI’s launch of GPT 4.5 and Softbank’s $200 billion commitment to data centers, tech stocks dropped, which our hosts blame on the natural slower tech adoption curve and overall market uncertainty from President Trump’s chaotic policy changes. Later in the episode, Eric unpacks Jeff Bezos’ increasing control over the Washington Post’s opinion section and tech CEOs pre-empting so-called “hit pieces” on X. The two then shout out UK-based developer tool Lovable’s $15 funding million extension and rapid growth. They close the episode with a call for readers to submit their burning questions and commentary for next week’s Newcomer reader mailbag. You can submit your own question by filling out this Google form .…

Newcomer Podcast

1
Humane’s HP Exit & the Foundation Model Slugfest 24:26

7 weeks ago24:26

24:26

In this episode of the Newcomer Podcast, Eric and Madeline give a sendoff to the Humane and its AI Pin. The company was acquired by HP for its AI talent, in a darkly poetic ending for former Apple engineers who left to build a smart hardware startup. They debate the merits of voice AI technology as an interface and if it’s really time to move away from screens. They break down all of OpenAI’s alumni startups, starting with Mira Murati’s newly announced Thinking Machine Labs. Other former founders of OpenAI like Ilya Suskever and Elon Musk are in talks to raise billions for their respective AI startups. They close with a breakdown of Saronic and Together AI’s latest funding rounds. 00:19 - Humane’s Semi-Soft Landing to HP 13:43 - Mira Murati Unveils Thinking Machines Lab and we have questions 17:02 - The new SV flex - Small teams 19:02 - Grok’s big cluster and Elon jumps the shark 24:14 - Saronic and Together AI Raise Big Series C Rounds…

Newcomer Podcast

1
Elon Musk’s Boisterous OpenAI Bid 19:12

8 weeks ago19:12

19:12

Eric and Madeline unpack the biggest “deal that wasn’t” story of Elon Musk’s unsolicited offer to purchase OpenAI for $97.4 billion. WIth Sam Altman flat-out rejecting the offer on X, this feels less like an offer and more of a statement about Musk’s frustration with OpenAI’s continued conversion to a for-profit company that competes with him. Pressures have been mounting on engineers to look for greener pastures, though, if Thrive Capital’s Joshua Kushner’s urging speech for talent to stay put is any indication. Then, they turn to Eric’s reporting on Lightspeed Venture Partners’ new fundraising documents, where the megafirm showed stronger returns on earlier funds ahead of its next big capital raise. They also unpack the AI Action Summit’s 180-degree swing from an AI safety forum to a conference dominated by CEOs and accelerationist world leaders. They close with a breakdown with a who’s who on the cap table of legal-tech Harvey’s latest Series D, and Mercury’s rumored new Sequoia-backed fundraise. Produced by Christopher Gates Music by Suno…

Newcomer Podcast

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DOGE's Twitter Firestorm 25:24

9 weeks ago25:24

25:24

In this episode of the Newcomer podcast, Eric Newcomer and Madeline Renbarger dig into all of the chaos in Washington led by Elon Musk and his team of young staffers. They push back on the attacks from the right at the press that revealing information about public employees is anything close to "doxxing," and unpack a16z's virtue signaling by hiring new right-wing cause celebrity Daniel Penny to its investing team. Later on, Eric breaks down the General Catalyst's a pitch to investors shapeshifting into a "company." They close with even more meme discourse, this time over Marc Andreessen's reading of the "heatmap" social study. Chapters00:00 DOGE’s Young Staffers03:28 Is Naming Government Staffers “Doxxing”06:20 Daniel Penny’s Hiring at A16z is Virtue Signaling09:16 Debating Marc Andreessen on the Heatmap12:22 Meta’s AR Bets Not In Line With Venture Capital21:03 Unpacking General Catalyst’s Pitch to Investors…

Newcomer Podcast

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The DeepSeek Fire Drill 24:42

10 weeks ago24:42

24:42

In this episode, Eric Newcomer and Madeline Renbarger break down DeepSeek’s impact on western AI companies. Is it really the “AI Sputnik Moment” that investors have called it, or just a CCP bluff? They also delve into new AngelList data on venture returns — unsurprisingly, they’re not looking good post-2021. They also discuss voice AI startup ElevenLabs’ new funding round.…

Newcomer Podcast

1
Grit vs Grift 25:59

11 weeks ago25:59

25:59

"In this episode of The Newcomer Podcast , Eric Newcomer and Madeline Renbarger unpack how tech elites are reacting to the early days of the Trump presidency. They discuss Sam Altman and Masayoshi Son’s new venture to build AI data centers dubbed “Project Stargate” and make the case for business leaders to abide by important ethical norms. They also break down fresh performance data from UTIMCO, calling out Thrive Capital’s standout returns and examining the broader struggles for many funds amid the post-2021 downturn. They close by discussing Brookfield’s billion-dollar acquisition of Divvy Homes—once valued at over $2 billion—and unpack the implications for proptech employees left empty-handed."…

Newcomer Podcast

1
Beware the "Tech Industrial Complex" 22:00

12 weeks ago22:00

22:00

In this jam-packed episode, Eric and Madeline break down Biden’s surprise crackdown on the “Tech Industrial Complex,” explore Trump’s tight ties with Silicon Valley oligarchs, and unpack the behind-the-scenes drama of a Canadian startup that ousted its visionary founder. They also spotlight a mega funding deal in AI-powered coding tools, rounding out a sweeping look at how politics, big tech, and startup intrigue collide in today’s tech landscape.…

Newcomer Podcast

1
Waymo’s Next Challenge: Humanity 15:16

13 weeks ago15:16

15:16

Waymo’s milestone — surpassing Lyft’s ride numbers in San Francisco — takes center stage in our first podcast of the new year. Still, it’s not obvious that this translates into guaranteed scale across the country. We consider the operational headaches that come with scaling driverless fleets. One way forward for Waymo could be further collaborations with legacy rideshare giants like Uber. We also break down Whatnot’s latest round of funding and debate whether a potential TikTok ban could give the live shopping startup a competitive advantage. Give it a listen. Chapters : 00:00 Introduction 01:35 Waymo's Progress and Challenges 10:21 Whatnot's big fundraise Episode produced by Christopher Gates Get full access to Newcomer at www.newcomer.co/subscribe…

Newcomer Podcast

1
Is the Tech IPO Window Open? 23:01

17 weeks ago23:01