Everyone’s talking about what went down at OpenAI - but what does it mean for ethical and responsible AI, and what are the lessons for entrepreneurs on startup board governance? With the abrupt dismissal of CEO Sam Altman, questions loom over the stability and direction of one of AI's most influential entities. Let’s uncover the twists and turns in this high-stakes boardroom drama.
Why was Sam Altman abruptly dismissed - only to be brought back again? What role did board member Helen Toner and the responsible AI community play in the firings? Who is on deck next as the newest members of the board - and who else should OpenAI consider bringing? What choices face Sam Altman - and key partner at Microsoft Satya Nadella - and what should these leaders do next? Finally, what can the AI and startup communities learn from how it all went down?
Tom Chavez and Vivek Vaidya give us their timely takes on what happened at OpenAI. With incisive commentary and expert insights, they explore the events leading to Altman's sacking and the broader implications for AI governance. Note this episode was recorded on November 27th, 2023, and published on December 1st, 2023, so it may not reflect the most current developments at OpenAI.
Read Tom Chavez’s op-ed in Tech Crunch on the need for an interdisciplinary approach to AI alignment: https://www.superset.com/feed/tom-chavez-in-tech-crunch-answering-ais-biggest-questions-requires-an-interdisciplinary-approach
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Transcript
Tom: Welcome to theclosed session. How to get paid in Silicon Valley with your host Tom Chavez andVivek Vaidya. Welcome back to the closed session. My name is Tom Chavez and Iam Vivek Vaidya. Here we are again. Oh my goodness. We got a hot hot topic tokick around here. We're just gonna let loose, right?
Vivek: I think so.
Tom: Because you'reknown for holding back.
Vivek: I am very, I'mvery very careful.
Tom: Very reserved.
Vivek: Mm hmm.
Tom: I mean we're inmeetings all day long and we're like god damn it. Why can't, why won't Vivektell us what he really thinks? When are you gonna come out of your shell?
Vivek: I don't know.I'm still working on it, Tom. I need to, I need to muster up the courage andthe confidence to, uh, yeah...
Tom: Is yourtherapist helping though? Is my question.
Vivek: Which one?
Tom: Well, time for anew one or a new lineup.
Vivek: I've triedthree already.
Tom: Yeah.
Vivek: And so far.
Tom: And they allsaid hopeless. Nevermind.
Vivek: Yep.
Tom: I get it. I getit.
Vivek: Do you havesome suggestions for me?
Tom: Yes, let's makethat a subject for the next podcast. But on this podcast,
Vivek: We're going totalk about
Tom: OpenAI. Nowlook...
Vivek: What part ofOpenAI are you going to talk about?
Tom: The debacle ofthe last two weeks and, what in the hell is going on with the board? What justwent down these last couple of weeks? It is the strangest pile of mishegoss inboard governance in recent memory. Have you seen anything kookier than this?
Vivek: Nope. I thinkwe should stop calling it the OpenAI board. We should call it the formerapology of the OpenAI board, right?
Tom: Right. Just, youknow, these guys, it's like a clown car. Yeah, it's a clown car, but it's onlylike four clowns. Oh my goodness.
Vivek: So, so whathappened?
Tom: Okay, look,we're gonna try to piece this. Let's, let's, let's give breadcrumbs.
Vivek: Mm hmm.
Tom: Just back it upa tiny, tiny, tiny bit, and then we're gonna know what, what happened. Andwe're just gonna theorize idly, because that's what we do around here, becausewe're not really...
Vivek: We don't knowanything.
Tom: But you... thereare some interesting clues that you can look at from the outside to help youbuild a theory as to what the heck was going on inside. So there's this guynamed Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, you know, and he's been in and around SiliconValley at a company a long, long time ago, worked his way into the YC job,keeps on, you know, showing up apparently and, and so started OpenAI in 2015.
Vivek: As a nonprofit.
Tom: As a non profit.
Vivek: With ElonMusk.
Tom: Okay. So there'sone of the, so now we're going back, getting to the root conditions as to whatthe heck happened. So it's a non profit.
Vivek: Mm hmm.
Tom: Which is, and bythe way, it's a nonprofit that took, I don't know, was it 13 billion worth ofMicrosoft's money as an investment
Vivek: Later on
Tom: Later on.
Vivek: Yep.
Tom: Right. Sothere's this dissonance, there's this strange kind of initial conditions, andthen there's what's happened in the last year, but we all know we've all readthe news, right? You can run, but you can't hide. It's on the cover of everynewspaper and on the planet OpenAI's board decided to fire Sam. And thestatements that we were reading were pretty bizarre, right? What did you, whatwere you picking up there?
Vivek: Lack of candorand transparency.
Tom: Lack of candorand transparency.
Vivek: In what,though? Nobody talked about that. Like, what was he not transparent about?
Tom: So, right, Imean, if you're gonna go for the king, you better not miss, and you better havesomething more specific to say than lack of candor. That's almost just a hair'sbreadth away from saying, that guy looked at me funny. I'm not sure I like itvery much. So...
Vivek: So who was onthe board?
Tom: So, um, let'ssee. There's, there's, uh, a guy named Ilya who was the co-founder and chiefscientist at OpenAI. There's somebody named am Adam D'Angelo, who's the CEO ofQuora, formerly with Facebook, Tasha McCauley, tech entrepreneur, but betterknown as, uh, I guess the actor, Joseph Gordon, Levitt's wife. In many circlesyou're known as Pallavi's husband, and I know that makes you feel...
Vivek: I'm so proudof that.
Tom: Okay. Okay.Okay. But I mean, for Tasha...
Vivek: It's so sad,no?
Tom: Hi, I'm JosephGordon Levitt's wife. I don't know. It's unfortunate that...
Vivek: No, but I, youknow, this is where I take, I hold the media accountable.
Tom: Yeah, no, no,they take potshots.
Vivek: You know?Yeah. She's, she is...
Tom: She's her ownthing.
Vivek: anaccomplished woman. She's her own thing.
Tom: Yep.
Vivek: Why do youwant to refer to her as Joseph Gordon Levitt's wife.
Tom: No, it's, it's,it's, it's, uh, it's lame. Helen Toner, Director at Georgetown Center forSecurity and Emerging Technology. Let's put a thumbtack in there because we'regoing to come back to Helen Toner. Board members that had been on the board andleft include Reid Hoffman, who apparently left because there was a conflictwith his own AI startup, Shivon Zilis, who left in 2023 to join Neuralink. ElonMusk, as you mentioned, was involved. Will Hurd, when he left to run forpresident in the Republic Primary. So it's an interesting cast of characters.Wow. Formally on the board
Vivek: And Sam... andSam Altman and Greg Brockman were also on the board and Greg was chairman onthe board.
Tom: That's right.That's right. So when they, when they kicked him out, and remember, they kickedhim out and then literally tweeted it or put it on the wire five minutes later.
Vivek: And thekicking out also happened very interestingly, right? Oh, Ilya sends a text tohim saying, can you join this Google meet tomorrow? And Sam Altman gets on themeet and that's just...
Tom: That's abushwhacking.
Vivek: Yeah. That'samateur league shit, no?
Tom: What the hell?You know, when we finally decide to fire you, we're gonna do it proper.
Vivek: Yeah, I expectat least one week's notice of the Google Meet.
Tom: Right. It'll bethere. And we'll title the meeting invite. Google, uh, Vivek's firing. And thatwill be called, end of the road. Something that won't give it away. So, whenthey write, when, and then they write this letter, it says, Mr.Altman'sdeparture follows a deliberative review process, note the word deliberative, bythe board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in hiscommunications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise itsresponsibilities.
Vivek: Isdeliberative. An SAT, GRE, or legalese word?
Tom: I don't knowwhat, you know, this is so much, there's so many platitudes wrapped in anenigma, wrapped in a conundrum, wrapped in a, what the fuck? I don't even knowwhat this is about. And then the employees, the employees went shithouse. Andby the way, Graham, the founder of YC had said, a while back, apparent, this is10 plus years ago. If you plopped Sam Altman on an island of cannibals and cameback a little bit later, he would be the king.
Vivek: Oh, wow.
Tom: Yeah. And, uh,sort of, I think Graham kind of throwing shade a little bit.
Vivek: But he firedhim no? from YC.
Tom: Apparently firedhim from YC. But my goodness, if you, you know, I guess Graham was rightbecause the uprising from the employees. All of them back in Sam's corner,pretty remarkable, right? Another thing that the board didn't contemplate.
Vivek: Completelymiscalculated.
Tom: Now, there's aguy named Ilya, who's the chief scientist, so he's, cause it's easy now, we'vebeen involved in many companies now, where boards can sort of sit up in thecraposphere and not know, what's going on down on the ground.
Vivek: But I thinkthere was also some idealism going on perhaps over there where Ilya was morelike, you know, this is all becoming more commercial than we had imagined. Andwe want to talk about the impact of what we're doing on society, etc. etc. Whoknows, right? But I've seen a video of him where he's talking about how the AI,the AGI that they're trying to build, or they're in the process of building isable to, and not just the AGI, but actually the LLMs are able to feel humanbeings.
Tom: That's right.
Vivek: Connect withthem and you think, you know, think your thoughts and all of that and...
Tom: He's on amission from God. Yeah. Apparently he's told the employees if you, if yourfirst waking thought in the morning isn't about endowing the AGI.
Vivek: Yeah.
Tom: With human levelcognition and your last waking thought before you go to bed. isn't about thesame, maybe you need to get off the bus.
Vivek: Yeah, feel theAGI. I've heard that's what he keeps saying.
Tom: Feel it. Okay,can we just take a moment of silence here on this podcast? Let's feel the AGI.Yeah, I felt, I felt nothing there. Uh, so, so, to your point, and we saidwe're gonna put a thumbtack in it and come back to Helen Toner becauseapparently, a few weeks before Altman's offsite, he'd met with Toner to discussa paper she'd recently co written for Georgetown University Center for Securityand Emerging Technology, where she took open AI to task and was praisinganthropic, right, for their approach to safety, right? And so Altman was up inarms and very grumpy about this. He reprimanded Toner for the paper, said itwas dangerous for OpenAI, particularly at a time when the FDC was investigatingthem and all the rest. So, okay, now look. Freeze frame that. And this, abroader theme that we have to kick around here is board governance. In a priorpodcast, we had talked about what a good board does. One of the worries I'mgonna have about how we proceed from here, like, and this board doesn't know whatit's doing, a lot of Bush League stuff. But your board isn't there just toaffirm everything that you think and everything that you want. Good governanceentails a diversity of opinion, right? So I'm concerned that Altman...
Vivek: Think thatthat is not the case. Yes, and on that basis, you know, also reprimanding, Idon't know what happened between the two of them in their private conversation,I don't know about, I mean, I've been on the receiving end of lots of feedbackfrom board members along the way, taking me to task. And it seems prettyobvious, like, no, my job is to, okay, that's input, and I, you know, I'm goingto listen to it, and it's not quite clear, and I'll disagree, but I don't know.It's, it's fraught, right? When Altman, it appears as we try to assemble atheory. It's not that Toner looked at him funny, but she posited a point ofview or shared a perspective with which he disagreed, and maybe that was theseeds of her eventual demise.
Yeah, because, I mean, the board is your boss. That's right.Right? You, they are there to hold you accountable. It's just, it's not likeyou can just, discount everything they're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's,that's cute and you can reprimand them.
Tom: That's right.Right. So, so the board is your boss. Now, look, back to Ilya for a minute. Ifhe's involved, okay, so he's on a mission from God to do the AGI. But he's alsopresumably involved in the flow of work with other employees. Is heanticipating this insurrection? Does he have any sensibility that it's coming?Because the other theory that I started to build on this guy is like, okay,brilliant tech technologist, but are you aware of all these pesky human beingsrunning around your company who are about to really, you know...
Vivek: Because theycompletely miscalculated that among many other things. But that was one of thebig things that the board just did not think through at all, if they thoughtthrough anything actually, right?
Tom: Yeah, yeah. So,okay, you know, you botched it, you missed it. There's no credibility there.And, and I'm, you know, I want to kind of conduct a little thought experimenthere with you. So there's somebody named Dave Solomon, who's the CEO of GoldmanSachs. I'm not in those board meetings. But it's been several quarters ofmissed performance, a lot of high level defections, market missteps of a prettyprofound nature. Goldman Sachs is bored. Now, these guys are pros, right?They're sitting in rooms, and I have no idea, but it wouldn't be ludicrous forme or other people to presume that they're wondering, hmm, what would hissuccessor look like? And should we be considering this? How do we navigatethese straits? Well, if that is in a topic of conversation, guess what, it'sgoing to be a slow, that's going to be a deliberative process, [..] notdeliberative. Goldman Sachs is going to proceed stepwise, there's going to be,we're going to consider the possibility, the pros, the cons, the risks. If wedid pursue this, what would the transition look like? Who would the successorbe? How would we conduct this?
Vivek: How would wecommunicate about it? Who would be informed first? You mentioned Microsoft.Satya Nadella had no idea.
Tom: All right.There's another one. And yeah, and there's another, right, and another one. Howdo you not give your largest investor a courtesy call, right? Satya Nadella wason with Kara Swisher last week, and you know, he's very gracious about thewhole thing. But WTF, how do you not get a call? Letting me know that you'regoing to decapitate
Vivek: And if youwanna do this the right way, you have to enroll your biggest investor otherwiseit's not gonna work. To your point, if you're coming for the king, you bettertake your best shot.
Tom: You better notmiss.
Vivek: Yeah.
Tom: And so, so look,if Goldman Sachs were to conduct a transition, there, to your point, therewould be a communication strategy to the ninth decimal point, there would be awell orchestrated process wherein the right stakeholders are notified at theright time. There's a thoughtful method to getting the right leadership on aninterim basis or this poor guy, Emmett Shear, I'm the new CEO. Okay. That lastslike four hours.
Vivek: Yep. Yep.
Tom: It's just, youjust can't, I mean, I know we're, we're probably being...
Vivek: Uncharitable
Tom: Yeah.
Vivek: But that'sokay.
Tom: But my goodness,right? It's, I'm just a gog at how this all went down. So juxtapose what aGoldman Sachs transition, CEO transition would look like relative to here. Byany measure, this, this board of Bush league operators botched it and that, sothere needs to be a new board, right? But now let's return to that topic. Aboard is your boss, your board is not, they're not your, your pansies. They'renot, you know, your dupes. Who just do as they're told, if it's a good board.So, who should be on the board here?
Vivek: So, right now,there's Brett Taylor, who we crossed paths with briefly at Salesforce. And hewas at Facebook, before that. And then Larry Summers, whom you know a littlebit.
Tom: I know him alittle bit. Larry Summers, former, uh, Treasury head, and then former presidentof Harvard University, Larry Summers is, uh, is not known for holding opinionsloosely, but he's a pro, and a thoughtful... a thoughtful guy. So you have thestart and I guess, I guess Adam D'Angelo is staying on the board.
Vivek: Yes. AdamD'Angelo is still on the board. Yes.
Tom: Can you explainthat one to me?
Vivek: I have noidea. I have no idea. And again, this is where these narratives get a littleconfusing for me because in some of the articles I was reading, Adam D'Angelowas the main instigator. Like he was the representative from the board who washaving all these conversations and there was some tension also because he hadcreated, he was working on a startup or a product called Poe that was competingwith the ChatGPT app marketplace or something of that nature.
Tom: And then he'sstarting a device company with Jony Ive.
Vivek: Yeah, no,that's, that's Sam Altman. Oh, that's, oh. Sam Altman was, uh, wants to start ahardware startup with funding from the Middle East, uh, Middle Easterncountries. With Jony Ive, uh...
Tom: The Saudis up inthere.
Vivek: The Saudis areof course up in there, um, So lots of interesting stuff. I'm sure Netflix, andAmazon, and HBO...
Tom: Are vying,
Vivek: Are going tomake... there are going to be three different, uh, One's going to be adocumentary, One's going to be like, uh, fictional re, uh, retelling of, uh, ofthe whole saga and then something in between.
Tom: And they willall be very entertaining.
Vivek: Yes.
Tom: And looselycorrespond to the truth. Yes. So, so look, back, so Sam Altman has anopportunity to restart the board relationship. Appoint a broad minded board.Let's put a thumbtack in that because we want to come back to what we thinkthis board ought to look like. Larry Summers and Brett Taylor are a start. I'mconfused about Adam D'Angelo because he was there before. I don't know the guy,but it's, it's a little confusing. Can I say that?
Vivek: Yes.
Tom: So you got torestart the board and flesh it out appropriately. You got to actually subscribeto board governance. So whatever went down with Helen Toner, okay. But, therewe are again, the board is not, these are not your yes men, they're not yourbucket boys. It's, there's a governance imperative.
Vivek: You need tohave a coherent answer, if and when the board asks you, what are you doingabout AI safety?
Tom: Right, right.
Vivek: You cannotjust say, no, no, no, that's not important. Which I don't think, I would liketo believe that Sam Altman didn't just say that, like, no, it's not, that's notimportant, but, uh. Everybody, the way it's being narrated, these incidentshave been narrated, it definitely seems like he didn't like what the board wastrying to get him to do. So, this was all orchestrated to just get rid of theboard.
Tom: Right. Right.Hey, let's, let's pause for a minute because we're going to come back to whatwe think the board needs to look like. Can we do a totally unpaid forpromotion?
Vivek: Sure.
Tom: Is it time?
Vivek: Sure.
Tom: Because we'regoing into the holidays.
Vivek: Yeah.
Tom: And, I don'tknow about you, but I'm gonna be eating myself into a coma.
Vivek: But did youeat a lot?
Tom: I did.
Vivek: Uh oh.
Tom: I did.
Vivek: Cause yourLinkedIn post, which, this crudgy LinkedIn post you wrote.
Tom: It was a verycurmudgeonly thing I did, cause I don't, I don't like turkey. But that's not tosay that I'm not going to eat like a pro on Thanksgiving.
Vivek: Of course.
Tom: So here's aquick sidebar. Here's what we do in my family. Because I'm from New Mexico, mymom and dad and family, we're all together, it's wonderful. We eat a lot of NewMexican food. There's this incredibly delicious dish. It's not queso. It'scalled chile con queso. And it's um, It's made with lots of green chili andtomatoes and it is delicious. Every year for the last many, many decades, Isay, you know what, I'm just going to have a tiny bit of chili con queso beforethe meal.
Vivek: Just one smallcup.
Tom: Just like asmall cup.
Vivek: Yeah.
Tom: Not going tooverdo it because I'm going to save my appetite for Thanksgiving. And everysingle year, I put down about a gallon of chili con queso before the meal hasbegun. And then I sit down and eat another meal and then I pass out. So why doI do these things?
Vivek: I don't know.But maybe it's just habit, because you've been doing it all this time, so...
Tom: Or I'm just, I'mjust bereft of self regulation. Or maybe it's just that delicious. Or maybe, ormaybe mama's chili con queso is just that good.
Vivek: Yeah. So whatare you doing about like, are you doing anything different to work all thatoff?
Tom: So here's thetotally unpaid for promotion. We're going to share our little exercise tips.Okay. So how are you, how are you going to, uh, not when I see you in January,by the way, we're still working here, but when I see you at January afterbreak, how are you not going to show up with 45 extra pounds on you? What's thesecret?
Vivek: Exercise. Youknow how they say, eat, live, and be merry? Yep. I've modified that toexercise, eat, drink, and be merry. Okay. That's four things. Yeah. It's harderto remember than the three, but okay. Come on. It's two E's. E squared DM.
Tom: Oh.
Vivek: There you go.See?
Tom: Little math.
Vivek: Yeah.
Tom: Mm hmm.
Vivek: No, but, uh,uh, I think we talked about this in one of the episodes earlier, but duringCOVID, when the pandemic hit, I couldn't go to the gym anymore to play squash.regularly. So I started running and now it's become a thing. I, I run almost, Ithink five days a week. I try to get five days a week-in, three, three, fourmiles, maybe six, seven miles over the weekend.
Tom: I remember afterthe pandemic, man, and I hadn't seen you, there's too many zooms. And then youshowed up like Forrest Gump, you were runnin and you were suddenly, I mean, youwere never chubby, but my goodness.
Vivek: I did losesome weight.
Tom: You lost, butyou were scaring me there for a little bit.
Vivek: Yeah.
Tom: Right.
Vivek: But I've putback, I've put some back on now.
Tom: Okay. Okay. Andthat's, that's, that's just fine.
Vivek: No, but it'sbecome, it's become, like meditational also now, you know, I, I don't run withany devices, and I run all places in San Francisco. Uh, I was actually thinkingthe other day, I've, I've run in San Francisco, I've run in New York, I've runin Pittsburgh, I've run in Boston, I've run in, two cities in Connecticut, uh,Denver, New Orleans, like all these places that I've been where I just,Chicago, like I just, everywhere I go, I try to run on the streets.
Tom: Well, see, myForrest Gump analogy is, is apt.
Vivek: Yeah.
Tom: I'm visualizingit with a super long beard now, just in the open plains of Iowa.
Vivek: No, no.
Tom: On your way toSan Francisco. All right, well,
Vivek: So what's yourroutine?
Tom: So this is atotally unpaid for promotion for a guy named Alan, who is this trainer I'vebeen very fortunate to have met actually during the pandemic as well. And theguy is just very clever because he, he comes up with all of these weight motionexercises. Cause I like weight workouts. I need, I find I need the weights, butit's also metabolic. So you really get the heart thumping. And it's neverboring like he has all of these kinds of interesting moves that I have to tryto figure out and it requires, you know, some coordination. It keeps the, keepsthe workouts fresh and I'm gassed out of every single one. So
Vivek: Alan from SanFrancisco.
Tom: Alan from SanFrancisco. He's the man. All right, Alan the shoutouts for you I'm going to gethim some business.
Vivek: All right.Let's go back. Let's go back. So what does the board need to look like? So aswe said, it's a good start with Brett Taylor, Larry Summers, and yeah, okay,Adam D'Angelo. But you have to, well, some, actually I was reading somewhere,well, somebody was saying, Yeah, three white males, right? Now, whether you payattention to that type shit or not, I don't know.
Tom: You should.
Vivek: But havingdiversity in the board is definitely very important.
Tom: California'smade it a state law now. I'm pretty sure unless I'm misspeaking. I thinkthere's a regulation of some sort that compels at least public companies tohave women on the board. You can't just have all white dudes.
Vivek: Yeah.
Tom: Yeah.
Vivek: Maybe OpenAIis exempt from that because they're not public.
Tom: And anyway, it'scoming. Something like that's coming. Anyway. And forget the regulation. It'sjust the right thing.
Vivek: Right thing todo. Yeah, exactly. So there needs to be diversity. Not just like male, femalediversity, but diversity of opinions, diversity of thought. People who willchallenge the CEO and ask him or her the hard questions. And so I don't knowwho I would put on the board, but cause I'm not, I'm not that, uh, that evolvedyet. But, uh, I think there needs to be diversity on the board. Somebody who,somebody who can represent the ethical side of the equation. Somebody who canrepresent the, geo geopolitical challenges that come with a company likeOpenAI.
Tom: That's right.
Vivek: Uh,international, like what's, what does this mean for the world? So yeah, lots ofdifferent perspectives are needed on that.
Tom: Yeah, I want topick that up. I think, I think it requires at least three kinds of non standardroles, given the stakes and the velocity with which everything is unfolding atOpenAI. Let's recognize this isn't just an engineering or technical problem. Thisis a human problem, right? And, and Helen Toner, maybe she didn't send themessage the right way, but broken clocks are still right twice a day. There'ssomething important about what she was trying to convey, that it's not clearOpenAI is taking seriously. So I want to pick up, you said an ethicist, right?I think a chief AI Data Ethicist, somebody who addresses the short and longterm issues, right? But with attention to ethical data principles, right? Theway data is used to train these models, the development of referencearchitectures for ethical data use. You know, we are, you and I are concernedabout privacy, you can't decouple privacy considerations, people's privacyconsiderations from, from LLMs. It should be a senior role I think, on the CEOstaff that sort of bridges the communication gap between internal decisionmakers and regulators, right? If the FTC and others are showing up, this personneeds to be able to... intermediate and hold sway in those conversations.Another one that's a little strange, but you remember we had Brian Christianhere on our podcast, right? And he taught to us about the alignment problem.
Vivek: Yep.
Tom: Right? How do weget these machines and algorithms to do what human masters want them to do?That's a hard, hard unsolved problem. I think a chief philosopher, and we canfigure out what to call it but the person who sort of really wrestles with thealignment problem. How do you define the safeguards, policies, back doors, killswitches, right? If the machines start to do the things that
Vivek: We don't wantthem to do.
Tom: You have to havea framework, right? A very well thought out framework. And this is wherephilosophers of mind have spent decades and decades, like trying to thinkthrough these issues. Yeah. Plug in somebody like that to see if they can help.
Vivek: I think, Ithink the responsibility that a company like OpenAI has, goes far beyond justlike, Hey, we built the technology. Anybody can come and use it. I think itgoes far beyond that. Because to your point, I think people can misuse thetechnology people will misuse the technology, people are already misusing thetechnology, so how? What are you going to do? What can you do to put in theseguardrails, these checks and balances and whatnot in the technology itself?
Tom: That's right.
Vivek: That willprevent it from being, prevent it from being misused.
Tom: That's it. Thefinal, and this is maybe a stranger addition to the lineup, but I really meanit, is the chief neuroscientist, right? We're now right at that cusp where themachines, as Brian Christian and others have illuminated, right? The machinesare teaching us things about the nature of cognition, right? Reinforcementlearning forces us to rethink what we thought was going inside our brains,right? And so there's this incredibly rich terrain at the intersection betweenhuman cognition and machine cognition. How do we make sense of that, right? Howdoes intelligence unfold within AI models? People are paying, there are many AIresearchers who are now claiming, no, no, no, this machine has a theory of themind. It is introspecting. Well, what does that mean exactly, right? Let's getserious about that. What models of human cognition are most relevant and usefulfor AI? What can AI teach us? Again, it's backwards and forwards. What can AIteach us about human cognition? That one maybe is less urgent from a sort ofgovernance perspective, but I find it interesting. And I think, I think thatOpenAI, if they fulfill their mission. Can run but can't hide from, from allthree of these kinds of roles at high levels and potentially up to andincluding the board.
Vivek: So let me askyou a question about that. Should OpenAI continue to be a non profit? Or shouldthey figure out a way to change the whole structure?
Tom: Yeah, uh, look,I mean, you, you could contemplate a structure where you have sort of asupervisory board and a management board, right? And that was, that was thedouble headed monster that they had already created. And I think it's prettyplain that that didn't work. Now, just because it didn't work doesn't mean thatyou couldn't tune it up and try to make it work here. My sense is that thehorse is out of the barn on that one. Right? I think it's, I think there's justtoo much energy now and too much investor pressure, right?
Vivek: See, that's,that's the angle I was actually... trying to look at as well is the cynicalpart of me thinks that all this drama was because on one branch of the tree,the 770 employees were looking at no money, right? And the other branch of thetree was lots of money That's right. So they picked the second branch.
Tom: What a shock.
Vivek: Yeah,
Tom: ...so weird.
Vivek: Right?
Tom: But look, yeah,I mean, it's, it's very concerning and I think it you know, sure, there's aparallel universe wherein we could create a non profit board governancestructure. I just don't see it, given the forces of capitalism that havealready been uncorked here, I don't see that it's feasible.
Vivek: Which is notnecessarily a bad thing, in my opinion, right? But let's just be honest aboutwhat everybody's motivations are.
Tom: That's right.
Vivek: So as I said,and all the president's men, follow the money.
Tom: Right. Or as, asuh, Notorious B.I.G. and Puffy Combs said decades ago, It's all about theBenjamins, baby, right? So no, I mean, that's where we're living. That's wherewe're living. I think that there is, I'm going to be optimistic. Because youand I are always that optimistic, even though we get curmudgeonly here andthere. And I did that Thanksgiving thing that was a little curmudgeonly. I getit. But mostly we're optimistic and it seems to me that there is a governancestructure that could work. But thing one, Altman needs to choose it, embrace itand not in a grudging roundabout way, but authentically.
Vivek: Yeah.
Tom: By the way, thiscan be his greatest legacy.
Vivek: Right.
Tom: Speaking ofmoney, yeah, you can make a lot of money for yourself and your shareholders ifyou get this right. But think about your legacy in the longer term.
Vivek: Yeah.
Tom: Right. If youcan create a group of, of renaissance leaders, who can truly grapple andaddress these issues credibly at the board level, you know,
Vivek: You will godown in history.
Tom: Walter Isaacsonwill write a book about you. Right. So, so it is it is within reach. I'm goingto be very concerned if they kick the can down the road and avoid these issues.I think, you know, if, if anything good comes from the debacle of the last twoor three weeks. I hope it's this, a sound board governance structure with, withthe right people.
Vivek: Because if itdoesn't, then everybody's worst fears will have basically been proven to betrue.
Tom: That's right.Well, I guess we solved that one, right?
Vivek: Of course.
Tom: Put a bow on it.
Vivek: I think we cantake the rest of the year off.
Tom: Let's just, I'mgoing to go pour four martinis because I'm exhausted. Just nailed it. No, thesequestions are really hard, but, but you know, hopefully some useful ideas towork from there.
Vivek: No, but in allseriousness, I think, I think that these are not just because we like talkingabout this stuff, but I hope there are lessons for founders, who are looking tostart their companies and how they construct boards and what responsibilitythey have towards their boards and, and, uh, and to board members too, youknow, like you, you're there to govern and don't be like the open AI, theformer open AI apology of a board. Actually be more like the Goldman Sachsboard, which is deliberative, and thinks through these things, games thingsout, considers things.
Tom: Asks the rightquestions, shows up with the right issues, dwells where they need to be, steersclear of the places where they don't need to be. There's a whole rich set ofpractices and habits that great boards employ, and perhaps we'll pick that up.Well, we've talked about it in the past, maybe it's worth picking that upagain.
Vivek: Yeah, maybe,maybe. We need to do a startup board stewa one.
Tom: There you go.There you go. All right. Well, listen, uh, that was fun. Hopefully useful.Thanks to everybody for tuning in. Do sign up for our newsletter atsuperset.com and listen to more episodes at www.theclosedsession.com.
Vivek: Thank youeveryone. See you next time.
In the first episode of The Closed Session, meet Tom Chavez and Vivek Vaidya, serial entrepreneurs and podcast hosts.
read moreIn the second episode of The Closed Session, Tom and Vivek discuss the framework for starting your own company from scratch, and the three dimensions that should be taken into account.
read moreYou’ve decided to launch a business, but before you hurtle blindly into the breach, you need a bulletproof plan and a perfect pitch deck to persuade your co-founders, investors, partners, and employees to follow you into the unknown.
read moreIn this episode of The Closed Session, Tom and Vivek talk about dilution, methods, mindset, benchmarks and best practices for raising investment capital for a new tech startup.
read moreNow that you've written the business plan and raised money, it's time to recruit your early team. In this episode, Tom and Vivek cover the do's and dont's of building a high-output team - who to hire, how to build chemistry and throughput, how to think about talent when your company is a toddler versus when it's an adolescent.
read moreWelcome to Season 2 of The Closed Session! In this first episode of 2020, Tom and Vivek talk about the five companies super{set} launched in 2019 and the lessons they’re learning as they go.
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Tom and Vivek talk about inclusion and reflect on their personal experiences as brown guys in tech. Inclusion feels like a moral imperative, but does it really make for stronger, better companies? Are there unintended consequences of acting on good intentions to 'fix' an inclusion problem at a company? Why is tech so lacking in diversity, and what can we do to get it right?
read moreThe drums are beating for Big Tech, and for good reason. In this episode, Tom and Vivek break it all down and explain why you need to watch your wallet, or at least raise your antenna, whenever Google or Facebook say they're making a new product decision "to protect user privacy." Exactly how do their product decisions erode competitive markets and our own data dignity? Recorded at the tail end of 2020 before all of the post-election events unfolded, this episode explains exactly how the major platforms abuse data, why you should care, and what we can do to fix it.
read moreWe are living in a time of extraordinary concern about the negative consequences of online platforms and social media. We worry about the damage interactive technologies cause to society; about the impact to our mental health; and about the way that these platforms and their practices play to our most destructive impulses. Too often, the experiences we have online serve only to polarize, divide, and amplify the worst of human nature.
read moreWith vaccines on the horizon, the idea of getting back to the workplace doesn't seem so far-fetched anymore. In this episode of The Closed Session, Tom and Vivek discuss what it's been like working from home, their likes, dislikes, and lessons learned. What pandemic habits are here to stay, and what pre-pandemic routines are likely to re-emerge? Between the 'back-to-workers' and the 'work-from-homers,' Tom and Vivek wonder whether a middle course is within reach.
read moreHarpal Sandhu, a Silicon Valley veteran and friend of super{set}, joins Vivek and Tom and explains what the excitement about SPAC's is all about. How did we get from IPO's to SPAC's? What's a PIPE? And why does the $10 price show up? In this episode you'll understand why entrepreneurs might prefer a SPAC and how they navigate its possibilities and pitfalls with investors.
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This post was written by Habu software engineer, Martín Vargas-Vega, as part of our new #PassTheMic series.
read moreThis post was written by Ketch Developer Advocate, Ryan Overton, as part of our #PassTheMic series.
read moreThis post was written by Ketch Sales Director, Sheridan Rice, as part of our #PassTheMic series.
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The super{set} studio model for early-stage venture It is still early days for the startup studio model. We know this because at super{set} we still get questions from experienced operators and investors. One investor that we’ve known for years recently asked us: “you have a fund — aren’t you just a venture capital firm with a different label?”
read moreWhere do the ideas come from? How do we build companies from scratch at super{set}?
read more
This post was written by MarkovML Co-Founder, Lindsey Meyl, as part of our #PassTheMic series.
read more
Coming up with new company ideas is easy: we take the day off, go to the park, and let the thoughts arrive like butterflies. Maybe we grab a coconut from that guy for a little buzz. While this describes a pleasant day in San Francisco, it couldn’t be further from the truth of what we do at super{set}. If only we could pull great ideas out of thin air. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work that way.
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The wheel. Electricity. The automobile. These are technologies that had a disproportionate impact on the merits of their first practical use-case; but beyond that, because they enabled so much in terms of subsequent innovation, economic historians call them “general-purpose technologies” or GPTs...
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In our last post, we discussed how data is the new general-purpose technology and that is why at super{set} we form data-driven companies from scratch. But new technologies are a promise, not a sudden phase change.
read moreWhen a VC decides to invest in a company, they write up a document called the “Investment Memo” to convince their partners that the decision is sound. This document is a thorough analysis of the startup...
read moreWhat does it mean to be a super{set} co-founder and who do we look for? Why is the Head of Product the first co-founder we bring on board?
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Has someone looking to make a key hire ever told you that they are after “coachability”? Take a look at the Google ngram for “coachability” — off like a rocket ship since the Dot Com bubble, and it’s not even a real word! Coaching is everywhere in Silicon Valley...
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At super{set}, we stand side-by-side and pick up the shovel with our co-founders. Our first outside co-founder at a super{set} company is usually a Head of Product. Let’s unpack each portion of that title....
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Pankaj Rajan, co-founder at MarkovML, describes his Big Tech and startup experience and his journey to starting a company at super{set}.
read more
The decision to start a company – or to join an early stage one – is an act of the gut. On good days, I see it as a quasi-spiritual commitment. On bad days, I see it as sheer irrationality. Whichever it is, you’ll be happier if you acknowledge and calmly accept the lunacy of it all...
read moreTom and Vivek describe how building the best product is like planning the perfect heist: just like Danny Ocean, spend the time upfront to blueprint and stage, get into the casino with the insertion product, then drill into the safe and make your escape with the perfect product roadmap.
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Tom and Vivek discuss what the very first customers of a startup must look and act like, the staging and sequencing of setting up a sales operation with a feedback loop to product, and end with special guest Matt Kilmartin, CEO of Habu and former Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) of Krux, for his advice on effective entrepreneurial selling.
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Reflections after a summer as an engineering intern at super{set}
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Gal Vered of Checksum explains his rationale for leaving Google to co-found a super{set} company.
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The era of easy money - or at least, easy returns for VCs - is over. Tom Chavez is calling for VCs to show up in-person at August board meetings, get off the sidelines, and start adding real value and hands-on support for founders.
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Tom and Vivek describe what the ideal CEO looks like in the early stage, why great product people aren’t necessarily going to make great CEOs, and what the division of labor looks like between the CEO and the rest of the early team. They then bring on special guest Dane E. Holmes from super{set} company Eskalera to hear about his decision to join a super{set} company and his lessons for early-stage leadership.
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o11y - What is it? Why is it important? What are the tools you need? More importantly - how can you adopt an observability mindset? Habu Software Architect Siddharth Sharma reports from his session at super{summit} 2022.
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Othmane Rifki, Principal Applied Scientist at super{set} company Spectrum Labs, reports from the session he led at super{summit} 2022: "When Inference Meets Engineering." Using super{set} companies as examples, Othmane reveals the 3 ways that data science can benefit from engineering workflows to deliver business value.
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Head of Infrastructure at Ketch, and Kapstan Advisor, Anton Winter explains a few of the infrastructure and DevOps headaches he encounters every day.
read moreTom and Vivek jump on the pod for a special bonus episode to call BULLSHIT on VCs, CEOs, the “categorical shit,” and more. So strap yourselves in because the takes are HOT.
read more
The Move Accelerates the Rapidly Growing Startup Studio’s Mission to Lead the Next Generation of AI and Data-Driven Market Innovation and Success
read more
Announcing Jon Suarez-Davis (jsd) as super{set}’s Chief Commercial Officer: jsd tells us in his own words why he's joining super{set}
read moreTom and Vivek describe the lessons learned from fundraising at Rapt in 1999 - the height of the first internet bubble - through their experience at Krux - amid the most recent tech bubble. After sharing war stories, they describe how super{set} melds funding with hands-on entrepreneurship to set the soil conditions for long-term success.
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Tom and Vivek have come full circle: in this episode they’re talking about closed session board meetings in The {Closed} Session. They discuss their experience in board meetings - even some tense ones - as serial founders and how they approach board meetings today as both co-founders and seed investors of the companies coming out of the super{set} startup studio.
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Arthur Patterson, founder of venture capital firm Accel, sits down for a fireside chat with super{set} founding partner Tom Chavez as part of our biweekly super{set} Community Call. Arthur and Tom cover venture investing, company-building, and even some personal stories from their history together.
read moreArthur Patterson, the founder of venture capital firm Accel, sits down for a fireside chat with super{set} founding partner Tom Chavez as part of our biweekly super{set} Community Call.
read more
This month we pass the mic to Sagar Gaur, Software Engineer at super{set} MLOps company MarkovML, who shares with us his tips for working within a global startup with teams in San Francisco and Bengaluru, India
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Arthur Patterson, legendary VC and founder of Accel Partners, sits down with Tom Chavez to discuss insights into company building. Tom and Vivek review the tape on the latest episode of The {Closed} Session.
read more
Chris Fellowes, super{set} interned turned full time employee at super{set} portfolio company Kapstan, gives his 7 recommendations for how to turn an internship into a job at a startup.
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Kicking off the fourth season of the {Closed} Session podcast with a great topic and guest: Frida Polli, CEO and co-founder of pymetrics, which was recently acquired by Harver, joins us to talk about the critical role that technology and specifically AI and neuroscience can play in eliminating bias in hiring and beyond.
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Obsessive intensity. Pack animal nature. Homegrown hero vibes. Unyielding grit. A chip on the shoulder. That's who we look for to join exceptional teams.
read more
Go-to-market has entered a new operating environment. Enter: RevOps. We dig into the next solution space for super{set}, analyzing the paradigm shift in GTM and the data challenges a new class of company must solve.
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We are delighted to share our new episode of the {Closed} Session podcast with guest Alyssa Hutnik. Alyssa looms large in the privacy world, and she’s been thinking deeply about the intersections of data, technology and the law for nearly two decades. She’s also the Chief Privacy and Data Security Architect at Ketch, a super{set} company, as well as a lawyer. Hope you enjoy the episode!
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Tom writes a nuanced take on the TikTok controversy and outlines ethical data principles that will restore people’s sense of trust and offer them true control over how and when they grant permission for use of their data.
read more
super{set} startup studio portfolio company’s seed funding round was led by Forerunner Ventures with participation from Ulu Ventures Raise will enable boombox.io to accelerate product development on the way to becoming the winning creator platform for musicians globally
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On the heels of boombox.io's $7M seed fundraise led by Forerunner, Tom Chavez and Vivek Vaidya sit down with boombox co-founders India Lossman and Max Mathieu for a special episode straight from super{summit} 2023 in New Orleans!
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super{set} founding general partner Tom Chavez wasn’t always set on a life of engineering and entrepreneurship – music was his first love. For a time, he was determined to make a career out of it. With boombox.io, Tom has combined the best of both worlds into a product that inspires and delights both the engineer and the musician.
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Vivek gives us the rundown on what the hive is buzzing about after super{summit} 2023: how to 'horizontally scale' yourself.
read more
Alex Kantrowitz, journalist and author of Big Technology, joins Tom and Vivek in the studio to discuss his road to journalism, ad tech, and the business and ethical considerations of generative AI.
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Discover how Habu, a trailblazer in data clean room technology, utilizes strategic partnerships with giants like Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and AWS to expand its market reach and foster the potential of an emerging category. Learn from CEO Matt Kilmartin's insights on how collaboration is the secret sauce that brings innovation to life.
read more
MIT Professor Rama Ramakrishnan joins Vivek on the pod to delve into the evolution of Generative AI and ChatGPT, as well as his own journey as an entrepreneur turned business school professor.
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Discover how lessons from law enforcement shape a thriving tech career. Ketch Sr. Business Development Representative Brenda Flores shares a bold career pivot in our latest "Pass the Mic" story.
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Does it matter where you go to college? Should the SAT be abolished? Do you have to have a degree in computer science to work in tech? What are the differences between higher education in the US and in India? Why did Tom and Vivek ban Harvard and Stanford degrees from working at their first company?
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What does ‘AI alignment mean? Can philosophy help make AI less biased? How does reinforcement learning influence AI's unpredictability? How does AI's ‘frame problem’ affect its ability to understand objects? What role does human feedback play in machine learning and AI fine-tuning?
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Creator of the XBox and serial entrepreneur Seamus Blackley joined Tom Chavez on stage at the 2023 super{summit} in New Orleans, Louisiana, for a free-ranging conversation covering the intersection of creativity and technology, recovering back from setbacks to reach new heights, and a pragmatic reflection on the role of fear and regret in entrepreneurship.
read more
Want to grow your product organically? This blog post breaks down understanding costs, setting up starter plans, and pricing premium features using MarkovML as an example. Learn how to engage new users and encourage upgrades, enhancing user experience and fueling growth through actionable insights.
read more
In an interview with Ketch co-founder Max Anderson, the focus is on data privacy laws and AI's role. Anderson discusses the global privacy landscape, highlighting Ketch's approach to helping businesses navigate regulations. The conversation also emphasizes data dignity and Ketch's unique role in the AI revolution.
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Is AI our salvation or is it going to kill us all? Tom and Vivek roam widely on others’ takes about artificial intelligence, adding their insight and experience to the mix. Along the way they consider Descartes, Ray Kurzweil, Salt Bae, Marc Andreessen among others. If you are looking for a down to earth conversation that tempers the extremes at either end of the debate, this is the one you’ve been waiting for.
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super{set} Technical Lead and resident front-end engineering expert Sagar Jhobalia recaps lessons from participating in multiple product and team build-outs in our startup studio. Based on a decade of experience, Sagar emphasizes the importance of assembling the right engineering team, setting expectations, and strategically planning MVPs for early wins in the fast-paced startup environment.
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Are you a launcher, or a finisher? The balance of conviction, a guiding vision, and the right team to execute it all make the difference between entrepreneurial success and failure. Tom Chavez delves into his journey as a first-time CEO and the invaluable guidance he received from a key mentor.
read more
Vivek Vaidya recaps his conversation with AI researcher and author of "The Alignment Problem" Brian Christian at the 2023 super{summit}.
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What's the price you put on personal growth? In his most recent note to founders, super{set} Founding General Partner Vivek Vaidya outlines 7 points of advice for startup interviews and negotiations. Vivek explains his compensation philosophy and the balance between cash and the investment in personal and career growth a startup can bring. Here’s the mindset you need to reach your zenith at a startup.
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Are we walking a tightrope with AI, jeopardizing humanity's ethical core? Is AI more than just algorithms, acting as a mirror to our moral values? And when machine learning grapples with ethical dilemmas, who ultimately bears the responsibility? Harvard's Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science, James Mickens, joins Tom Chavez and Vivek Vaidya on "The {Closed} Session."
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In a conversation with boombox's co-founder India Lossman, the discussion pivots to the art of fostering customer collaboration in music creation. Lossman unveils how artist-driven feedback shapes boombox's innovative platform, with a glimpse into AI's empowering potential. Understand the synergy between technology and user insights as they redefine the independent music landscape.
read more
ActiveFence, the leading technology solution for Trust and Safety intelligence, management and content moderation, today announced its successful acquisition of Spectrum Labs, a pioneer in text-based Contextual AI Content Moderation.
read more
Do you get an uneasy feeling anytime you get added to a customer call? Do you ever struggle to respond to a frustrated customer? Peter Wang, Product lead at Ketch, discusses how customer feedback can help drive product development, and how engineers can use customer insights to create better products. Learn best practices for collecting and interpreting customer feedback.
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Tom Chavez, writing in TechCrunch, calls for new approaches to the problems of Ethical AI: "We have to build a more responsible future where companies are trusted stewards of people’s data and where AI-driven innovation is synonymous with good. In the past, legal teams carried the water on issues like privacy, but the brightest among them recognize they can’t solve problems of ethical data use in the age of AI by themselves."
read more
Justin Davis and Josh Newman, Co-founders of Spectrum Labs (acquired) launch Nurdle to get AI into production faster, cheaper & easier.
read more
The {Closed} Session Spotlight Series showcases a different co-founder from the super{set} portfolio every episode. Up first: Gal Vered is co-founder and Head of Product at Checksum (checksum.ai), end to end test automation leveraging AI to test every corner of your app.
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Ever find yourself scratching your head about product management decisions? Join India Lossman, co-founder of boombox.io, as she unpacks the product mindset for engineers. Unravel the art of synergy between PMs and engineers and delve into strategies to enhance collaboration and craft products that users will adore.
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Co-founder of Headlamp Health, Andrew Marshak, describes the frustratingly ambiguous state of mental health diagnoses - and the path forward for making mental health a precision science.
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How is AI steering the future of marketing strategy? With the convergence of AI and marketing tactics, Rex Briggs paints a compelling picture of what's possible: AI agents that revolutionize user interactions, and generative techniques that craft persuasive content. Drawing from his deep expertise in marketing measurement, Rex joins Tom Chavez and Vivek Vaidya to explore the cutting-edge of AI-driven marketing strategies. Listen for insights on harnessing AI's potential in modern marketing.
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Writing in the Huffington Post: "My Mom Sent Me And My 4 Siblings To Harvard. Here's The 1 Thing I Tell People About Success."
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Running cloud platforms efficiently while keeping them secure can be challenging. In this blog post, learn how two of super{set}’s portfolio companies, MarkovML and Kapstan, are leveraging tools like KEDA for event-driven scale and Boundary for access management to remove friction for developers. Get insights into real-world use cases about optimizing resource usage and security without compromising productivity.
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Sandeep Bhandari, Former Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Risk Officer at buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Affirm, joins Vivek Vaidya, Founding General Partner of super{set}, in conversation.
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The {Closed} Session Spotlight Series showcases a different co-founder from the super{set} portfolio every episode. Up now: Andrew Marshak is Co-founder and Head of Product at Headlamp Health (Headlamp.com), a healthtech company bringing greater precision to mental health care.
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From unpacking Google search patterns to understanding the philosophical underpinnings of big data, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz offers a unique lens. As the NYT Best-selling author of “Everybody Lies” and a renowned data scientist, he delves into the ways data mirrors societal nuances and the vast implications for tech and its intertwining with everyday life.
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It's still early for the startup studio asset class - and we hear misconceptions about the studio model every day, ranging from the basic confusion of accelerators versus studios to downright incorrect assumptions on our deep commitment to the build-out of every company. Read Tom Chavez' latest in Forbes.
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Like Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed, the fiercest competitors can sometimes become friends. Omar Tawakol is a prime example. As the founder and CEO of BlueKai, he went head-to-head with Tom, Vivek, and the 'Krux mafia' for dominance in the Data Management Platform arena. A serial entrepreneur with roots in New York and Egypt, Omar eventually steered BlueKai to a successful acquisition by Oracle before creating Voicea, which Cisco acquired. Today, he's pioneering a new venture called Rembrand (rembrand.com), which innovates in product placement through generative fusion AI.
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The {Closed} Session Spotlight Series showcases a different co-founder from the super{set} portfolio in every episode. Today's guest is Lindsey Meyl, Co-founder at RevAmp (rev-amp.ai), a "Datadog for RevOps" platform that offers observability across the revenue engine, monitoring performance, flagging when something is amiss, and determining the root cause of how to fix it.
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Read Vivek Vaidya's latest in CDO Magazine and learn why in this new AI landscape, those who harness the potential of proprietary data and foster a culture of collaboration will lead the way—those who don't risk obsolescence.
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Headlamp Health co-founder Andrew Marshak writes in the MedCity News that "We need to take inspiration from the progress in oncology over the last few decades and challenge ourselves to adapt its successful playbook to mental illness. It’s time for precision psychiatry."
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Everyone’s talking about AI - so The Ethical Tech Project decided to listen. Joining forces with programmatic privacy and data+AI governance platform Ketch, The Ethical Tech Project surveyed a representative sample of 2,500 U.S. consumers and asked them about AI, the companies leveraging AI, and their sentiment and expectations around AI and privacy. On the latest episode of The {Closed} Session, get an inside look at the survey results in a deep-dive conversation with the team at The Ethical Tech Project.
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Pankaj Rajan, co-founder of MarkovML, joins super{set} Chief Commercial Officer Jon Suarez-Davis (jsd) to discuss the role of data in gaining a competitive advantage in the AI revolution. Learn the difference between optimizing models and optimizing data in machine learning applications, and why effective collaboration will make or break the next-gen AI applications being created in businesses.
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Why should a tech exec care about profit and loss? Aren’t our jobs to make the product great, and someone else can figure out how to make the numbers add up? That was my attitude for a long time until I finally appreciated the significance of gross margins for SaaS businesses during the early part of my tenure as the CTO of Krux.
read moreDiscover how Habu, a trailblazer in data clean room technology, utilizes strategic partnerships with giants like Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and AWS to expand its market reach and foster the potential of an emerging category. Learn from CEO Matt Kilmartin's insights on how collaboration is the secret sauce that brings innovation to life.
read moresuper{set} startup studio portfolio company’s seed funding round was led by Forerunner Ventures with participation from Ulu Ventures Raise will enable boombox.io to accelerate product development on the way to becoming the winning creator platform for musicians globally
read more
The prettifying and securing of downtown San Francisco, where super{set} is headquartered, should be the norm - not just for special state visits from the world's dictators. Here are 3 things the city of San Francisco should be doing all year round to make the city better to live, work, and invest in. Read Tom Chavez' latest in Forbes.
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LiveRamp Enters Into Definitive Agreement to Acquire Habu, Reinforcing super{set}'s Unique Company Building Model of Founding, Funding, and Scaling Data+AI Businesses
read moreReflections after a summer as an engineering intern at super{set}
read moreActiveFence, the leading technology solution for Trust and Safety intelligence, management and content moderation, today announced its successful acquisition of Spectrum Labs, a pioneer in text-based Contextual AI Content Moderation.
read moreAnnouncing Jon Suarez-Davis (jsd) as super{set}’s Chief Commercial Officer: jsd tells us in his own words why he's joining super{set}
read moreAre you a launcher, or a finisher? The balance of conviction, a guiding vision, and the right team to execute it all make the difference between entrepreneurial success and failure. Tom Chavez delves into his journey as a first-time CEO and the invaluable guidance he received from a key mentor.
read moreCreator of the XBox and serial entrepreneur Seamus Blackley joined Tom Chavez on stage at the 2023 super{summit} in New Orleans, Louisiana, for a free-ranging conversation covering the intersection of creativity and technology, recovering back from setbacks to reach new heights, and a pragmatic reflection on the role of fear and regret in entrepreneurship.
read moreIn an interview with Ketch co-founder Max Anderson, the focus is on data privacy laws and AI's role. Anderson discusses the global privacy landscape, highlighting Ketch's approach to helping businesses navigate regulations. The conversation also emphasizes data dignity and Ketch's unique role in the AI revolution.
read moreCo-founder of Headlamp Health, Andrew Marshak, describes the frustratingly ambiguous state of mental health diagnoses - and the path forward for making mental health a precision science.
read moreVivek gives us the rundown on what the hive is buzzing about after super{summit} 2023: how to 'horizontally scale' yourself.
read moreObsessive intensity. Pack animal nature. Homegrown hero vibes. Unyielding grit. A chip on the shoulder. That's who we look for to join exceptional teams.
read more
Jeremy Klein is a general partner at super{set}. Jeremy helped build super{set} from day one alongside Tom Chavez and Vivek Vaidya, designing super{set}’s structure, recruiting co-founders, and laying the plans for a scalable buildout. super{set} recently announced the closing of its $90 million Fund II. He sat down with Jon Suarez-Davis (jsd) to provide insights into the strategic timing and vision behind launching Fund II, his professional journey from a legal expert to an integral part of super{set}'s fabric, and how his unique background and approach have been instrumental in building super{set} and recruiting top-tier co-founders.
read moreThis post was written by Habu software engineer, Martín Vargas-Vega, as part of our new #PassTheMic series.
read moreThe Move Accelerates the Rapidly Growing Startup Studio’s Mission to Lead the Next Generation of AI and Data-Driven Market Innovation and Success
read moreThe decision to start a company – or to join an early stage one – is an act of the gut. On good days, I see it as a quasi-spiritual commitment. On bad days, I see it as sheer irrationality. Whichever it is, you’ll be happier if you acknowledge and calmly accept the lunacy of it all...
read moresuper{set} founding general partner Tom Chavez wasn’t always set on a life of engineering and entrepreneurship – music was his first love. For a time, he was determined to make a career out of it. With boombox.io, Tom has combined the best of both worlds into a product that inspires and delights both the engineer and the musician.
read morePankaj Rajan, co-founder at MarkovML, describes his Big Tech and startup experience and his journey to starting a company at super{set}.
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Off the heels of super{set}'s first exit - the acquisition of data collaboration company Habu by LiveRamp for $200 Million - Tom Chavez writes how the super{set} approach to collaboration in company building leads to successful outcomes.
read moreWe are living in a time of extraordinary concern about the negative consequences of online platforms and social media. We worry about the damage interactive technologies cause to society; about the impact to our mental health; and about the way that these platforms and their practices play to our most destructive impulses. Too often, the experiences we have online serve only to polarize, divide, and amplify the worst of human nature.
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Gal Vered is co-founder and Head of Product at Checksum (checksum.ai), an innovative company that provides end-to-end test automation that leverages AI to test every corner of an app. He sat down with Jon Suarez-Davis (jsd) to discuss the exciting problem that Checksum is solving with AI and what Gal likes best about working in super{set}'s startup studio model.
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Tom Chavez writes in The Information that "OpenAI’s board needs a data ethicist, a philosopher of mind, a neuroscientist, a computer scientist with interdisciplinary expertise and a political strategist."
read moreWriting in the Huffington Post: "My Mom Sent Me And My 4 Siblings To Harvard. Here's The 1 Thing I Tell People About Success."
read moreGal Vered of Checksum explains his rationale for leaving Google to co-found a super{set} company.
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Tom Chavez joins the "Decoding AI for Marketing" podcast published by MMA Global and hosted by well-respected international marketing & AI experts Greg Stuart (CEO, Author, Investor, Speaker) and Rex Briggs (Founder/CEO, Inventor, Author, Speaker).
read moreGo-to-market has entered a new operating environment. Enter: RevOps. We dig into the next solution space for super{set}, analyzing the paradigm shift in GTM and the data challenges a new class of company must solve.
read moreThis month we pass the mic to Sagar Gaur, Software Engineer at super{set} MLOps company MarkovML, who shares with us his tips for working within a global startup with teams in San Francisco and Bengaluru, India
read moreWant to grow your product organically? This blog post breaks down understanding costs, setting up starter plans, and pricing premium features using MarkovML as an example. Learn how to engage new users and encourage upgrades, enhancing user experience and fueling growth through actionable insights.
read morePankaj Rajan, co-founder of MarkovML, joins super{set} Chief Commercial Officer Jon Suarez-Davis (jsd) to discuss the role of data in gaining a competitive advantage in the AI revolution. Learn the difference between optimizing models and optimizing data in machine learning applications, and why effective collaboration will make or break the next-gen AI applications being created in businesses.
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Vivek Vaidya writes that America needs more H-1B workers. Common sense reforms to the program will even the playing field for startups, not Big Tech, to bring innovative talent to American's shores.
read moreHead of Infrastructure at Ketch, and Kapstan Advisor, Anton Winter explains a few of the infrastructure and DevOps headaches he encounters every day.
read moreIt's still early for the startup studio asset class - and we hear misconceptions about the studio model every day, ranging from the basic confusion of accelerators versus studios to downright incorrect assumptions on our deep commitment to the build-out of every company. Read Tom Chavez' latest in Forbes.
read moreOthmane Rifki, Principal Applied Scientist at super{set} company Spectrum Labs, reports from the session he led at super{summit} 2022: "When Inference Meets Engineering." Using super{set} companies as examples, Othmane reveals the 3 ways that data science can benefit from engineering workflows to deliver business value.
read moresuper{set} Technical Lead and resident front-end engineering expert Sagar Jhobalia recaps lessons from participating in multiple product and team build-outs in our startup studio. Based on a decade of experience, Sagar emphasizes the importance of assembling the right engineering team, setting expectations, and strategically planning MVPs for early wins in the fast-paced startup environment.
read moreVivek Vaidya recaps his conversation with AI researcher and author of "The Alignment Problem" Brian Christian at the 2023 super{summit}.
read moreHas someone looking to make a key hire ever told you that they are after “coachability”? Take a look at the Google ngram for “coachability” — off like a rocket ship since the Dot Com bubble, and it’s not even a real word! Coaching is everywhere in Silicon Valley...
read moreDo you get an uneasy feeling anytime you get added to a customer call? Do you ever struggle to respond to a frustrated customer? Peter Wang, Product lead at Ketch, discusses how customer feedback can help drive product development, and how engineers can use customer insights to create better products. Learn best practices for collecting and interpreting customer feedback.
read moreChris Fellowes, super{set} interned turned full time employee at super{set} portfolio company Kapstan, gives his 7 recommendations for how to turn an internship into a job at a startup.
read moreArthur Patterson, founder of venture capital firm Accel, sits down for a fireside chat with super{set} founding partner Tom Chavez as part of our biweekly super{set} Community Call. Arthur and Tom cover venture investing, company-building, and even some personal stories from their history together.
read moreIn our last post, we discussed how data is the new general-purpose technology and that is why at super{set} we form data-driven companies from scratch. But new technologies are a promise, not a sudden phase change.
read moreRunning cloud platforms efficiently while keeping them secure can be challenging. In this blog post, learn how two of super{set}’s portfolio companies, MarkovML and Kapstan, are leveraging tools like KEDA for event-driven scale and Boundary for access management to remove friction for developers. Get insights into real-world use cases about optimizing resource usage and security without compromising productivity.
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Read coverage in the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle of super{set}'s recent move to the flagship 140 New Montgomery building in downtown SF, next to SFMOMA.
read moreTom Chavez, writing in TechCrunch, calls for new approaches to the problems of Ethical AI: "We have to build a more responsible future where companies are trusted stewards of people’s data and where AI-driven innovation is synonymous with good. In the past, legal teams carried the water on issues like privacy, but the brightest among them recognize they can’t solve problems of ethical data use in the age of AI by themselves."
read moreThis post was written by MarkovML Co-Founder, Lindsey Meyl, as part of our #PassTheMic series.
read moreo11y - What is it? Why is it important? What are the tools you need? More importantly - how can you adopt an observability mindset? Habu Software Architect Siddharth Sharma reports from his session at super{summit} 2022.
read moreThe wheel. Electricity. The automobile. These are technologies that had a disproportionate impact on the merits of their first practical use-case; but beyond that, because they enabled so much in terms of subsequent innovation, economic historians call them “general-purpose technologies” or GPTs...
read moreThis post was written by Ketch Sales Director, Sheridan Rice, as part of our #PassTheMic series.
read moreThe era of easy money - or at least, easy returns for VCs - is over. Tom Chavez is calling for VCs to show up in-person at August board meetings, get off the sidelines, and start adding real value and hands-on support for founders.
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Startup studio super{set} has a fresh exit under its belt with the sale of marketing company Habu to LiveRamp for $200 million in January. Now, super{set} is adding another $90 million to its coffers as it doubles down on its strategy of building enterprise startups.
read moreDiscover how lessons from law enforcement shape a thriving tech career. Ketch Sr. Business Development Representative Brenda Flores shares a bold career pivot in our latest "Pass the Mic" story.
read moreHeadlamp Health co-founder Andrew Marshak writes in the MedCity News that "We need to take inspiration from the progress in oncology over the last few decades and challenge ourselves to adapt its successful playbook to mental illness. It’s time for precision psychiatry."
read moreTom writes a nuanced take on the TikTok controversy and outlines ethical data principles that will restore people’s sense of trust and offer them true control over how and when they grant permission for use of their data.
read moreEver find yourself scratching your head about product management decisions? Join India Lossman, co-founder of boombox.io, as she unpacks the product mindset for engineers. Unravel the art of synergy between PMs and engineers and delve into strategies to enhance collaboration and craft products that users will adore.
read moreWhen a VC decides to invest in a company, they write up a document called the “Investment Memo” to convince their partners that the decision is sound. This document is a thorough analysis of the startup...
read moreWhat's the price you put on personal growth? In his most recent note to founders, super{set} Founding General Partner Vivek Vaidya outlines 7 points of advice for startup interviews and negotiations. Vivek explains his compensation philosophy and the balance between cash and the investment in personal and career growth a startup can bring. Here’s the mindset you need to reach your zenith at a startup.
read moreSandeep Bhandari, Former Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Risk Officer at buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Affirm, joins Vivek Vaidya, Founding General Partner of super{set}, in conversation.
read moreRead Vivek Vaidya's latest in CDO Magazine and learn why in this new AI landscape, those who harness the potential of proprietary data and foster a culture of collaboration will lead the way—those who don't risk obsolescence.
read moreAt super{set}, we stand side-by-side and pick up the shovel with our co-founders. Our first outside co-founder at a super{set} company is usually a Head of Product. Let’s unpack each portion of that title....
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How are immigrants like entrepreneurs? Peter Wang of Ketch arrived in the U.S. at age 7 with two suitcases and a box. Read his story in the latest "Pass The Mic."
read moreThis post was written by Ketch Developer Advocate, Ryan Overton, as part of our #PassTheMic series.
read moreIn a conversation with boombox's co-founder India Lossman, the discussion pivots to the art of fostering customer collaboration in music creation. Lossman unveils how artist-driven feedback shapes boombox's innovative platform, with a glimpse into AI's empowering potential. Understand the synergy between technology and user insights as they redefine the independent music landscape.
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Harshil Vyas joined the super{set} Hive (i.e., portfolio companies community) in March 2023 as Co-Founder of Kapstan and employee number one in India. We jumped on a Zoom recently to talk about accelerated timelines, globally distributed workforces, and what is unique about the super{set} model.
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Announcing super{set} Fund II
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Ted Flanagan, Chief Customer Officer at super{set}-founded Habu, sat down with Jon Suarez-Davis (jsd) to provide insights into how Habu's strategies in customer experience set it apart in the data collaboration market. Learn how customer experience strategies helped Habu land a $200 million after being acquired by LiveRamp in January 2024.
read moreComing up with new company ideas is easy: we take the day off, go to the park, and let the thoughts arrive like butterflies. Maybe we grab a coconut from that guy for a little buzz. While this describes a pleasant day in San Francisco, it couldn’t be further from the truth of what we do at super{set}. If only we could pull great ideas out of thin air. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work that way.
read moreThe super{set} studio model for early-stage venture It is still early days for the startup studio model. We know this because at super{set} we still get questions from experienced operators and investors. One investor that we’ve known for years recently asked us: “you have a fund — aren’t you just a venture capital firm with a different label?”
read moreJustin Davis and Josh Newman, Co-founders of Spectrum Labs (acquired) launch Nurdle to get AI into production faster, cheaper & easier.
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