『The Upstarts Podcast』のカバーアート

The Upstarts Podcast

The Upstarts Podcast

著者： Alex Konrad
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On The Upstarts Podcast, you’ll hear from some of the most exciting Upstarts today: emerging technology leaders punching above their weight to achieve real impact. Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad profiled leaders from Marc Benioff to Melanie Perkins in a decade-plus at Forbes. Now as the founder and editor of Upstarts Media, he’s sitting down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more. You’ll leave each interview with a new understanding of a world-changing technology that’s transforming how we live and work – as well as strategies and tactics any builder can put to use. マネジメント・リーダーシップ リーダーシップ 経済学
エピソード
  • Vanta’s Christina Cacioppo: The Underdog Turning ‘Nonsense’ Compliance Into A $4.2B Security Standout

    Vanta’s Christina Cacioppo: The Underdog Turning ‘Nonsense’ Compliance Into A $4.2B Security Standout
    2026/06/05
    When Vanta co-founder Christina Cacioppo first pitched investors on compliance software, she faced a frosty reception. It wasn’t a viable product category, she was told. They’d sell for peanuts within a couple of months. No one actually wanted to work on compliance. But Cacioppo had felt the pain first-hand. She was convinced: software could prove the perfect painkiller for fellow startups to handle security audits and grow faster. Today, Vanta works with more than 16,000 customers like Lovable, Snowflake and Icelandair. It’s valued at $4.2 billion – and it’s successful enough that Cacioppo is now fending off a new wave of startup copycats. She welcomes the challenge. “I subscribe to the ‘never let them see you blink’ school of thought,” she says. On The Upstarts Podcast, Cacioppo shares how she created hype in a sleepy category; how she prioritizes “infinity things” as a startup unicorn CEO; and why when it comes to good security hygiene, we could all spend more time brushing our teeth. Plus, she shares her Upstart Moment: working to re-think, and attempt to future-proof, Vanta’s software business for the era of powerful AI models. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 1:39 What Vanta does 5:26 Selling to other startups 9:28 How AI agents change ‘pretty much everything’ 14:06 Christina’s *real* founder origin story 16:23 Underdog fundraising and gaming VCs 18:59 The problem with startup valuations 24:08 Turning LinkedIn ‘cringe’ into customer traction 26:41 Reinventing Vanta with AI 33:43 Whether AI could clone Vanta 35:23 ‘Never let them see you blink’ 37:24 Avoiding burnout with ‘infinity things’ to do For more, visit ⁠⁠https://www.upstartsmedia.com/⁠⁠ Season 2 of the Upstarts Podcast is presented by ⁠⁠Rippling⁠ Produced & edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠⁠LightningPod
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    41 分
  • Orchid’s Noor Siddiqui: Rigging The Genetic Lottery To Create Healthier ‘Superbabies’

    Orchid’s Noor Siddiqui: Rigging The Genetic Lottery To Create Healthier ‘Superbabies’
    2026/05/28
    If you could fix the genetic lottery to ensure your baby was born healthy, would you? For entrepreneur Noor Siddiqui, there's no question. Ever since her mother started to lose her vision as the result of a genetic condition, she’s dreamed of solving the problem through better genetic testing. And at Orchid, the startup she founded in 2019, she now offers a novel approach to genetic testing that can spot thousands of potential conditions in embryos before they’re implanted as part of the IVF process. Orchid assisted its first birth in 2023, and now works with more than 100 clinics in the U.S. and abroad. But Siddiqui’s vision for designer “superbabies” has plenty of doubters, from Orchid’s ethical implications to its cost, at $2,500 per screened embryo. Siddiqui’s heard it all. "Right now, it might be edgy for me to say, 'Sex is for fun, and embryo screening is for babies,' but I just think it's a statement of fact.” On the The Upstarts Podcast, Siddiqui talks about her founder journey as a Thiel Fellow turned Stanford research dropout; why she compares previous testing to proofreading only the chapter titles of a book; and how she’s gotten used to the backlash. Plus, she talks about her Upstart Moment: sparking a new wave of reproductive tech startups that she sees carrying the field far beyond where Orchid can go alone. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 1:45 Creating ‘superbabies’ 3:17 Motivated by mom’s blindness 8:04 Stigma around reproductive tech 11:26 How Orchid improves IVF 16:19 From Thiel Fellow to Stanford 21:42 Dropping out (again) for Orchid 24:40 Facing the ‘holy war’ haters 28:44 Orchid’s cost and improving access 34:00 Noor’s Upstart Moment 36:58 What success looks like For more, visit ⁠https://www.upstartsmedia.com/⁠ Season 2 of the Upstarts Podcast is presented by ⁠Rippling Produced & edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠LightningPod
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    39 分
  • Runway’s Cris Valenzuela: Building The Hollywood-Friendly Video AI That OpenAI Couldn’t

    Runway’s Cris Valenzuela: Building The Hollywood-Friendly Video AI That OpenAI Couldn’t
    2026/05/01
    The ChatGPT craze was still years away when Chilean-born Cris Valenzuela co-founded Runway to tinker on visual AI models with two classmates at an NYU lab in 2018. Back then, investors weren't sold — not just on video AI, but on generative AI altogether. "There's always doubt when you get 50 rejections," Valenzuela says. "I've realized that building something special, you have to be able and willing to be non-consensus driven." Fast forward, and Runway works not just with many film studios and Hollywood, but creative teams and engineers at corporations like Allstate, Siemens and Robinhood. It's had no recent trouble fundraising, reaching a $5.3 billion valuation. And it's outlasted gen AI's heavyweight, OpenAI, which recently shuttered its Sora app. On The Upstarts Podcast, Valenzuela talks about his journey building an AI lab for artists in New York, and what the big labs missed; why Runway helps expert and amateur filmmakers alike; and why he believes creators should look past controversy around AI to embrace technology. Plus, he shares his Upstart Moment: collecting those rejection emails from top VCs and sharing them with the whole company to motivate his team. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:32 Why world models matter 03:57 What OpenAI got wrong 06:32 Runway’s NYU origins 13:10 Like going to the gym 16:06 A fan at ‘The Late Show’ 20:36 Cris’s Upstart Moment: VC doubts 25:30 Building at the speed of AI 30:28 Darren Aronofsky and amateur users 33:12 A new normal in filmmaking 39:05 Up next: Characters, robots and games For more, visit https://www.upstartsmedia.com/ Season 1 of the Upstarts Podcast is presented by Mercury Produced & edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod
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    43 分
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