Episodes
-
In this episode of Minus One, Vinod Khosla joins Aditya Agarwal to reflect on his four-decade journey shaping Silicon Valley.
They discuss making high-conviction bets, why the team you build becomes the company you build, Khosla’s first investment in OpenAI, and why he is convinced that AGI sits among us now.
Connect with us here:
Vinod Khosla- https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinod-khosla-65387416/Aditya Agarwal- https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/South Park Commons – https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/00:00 Trailer
00:58 Introduction
01:53 Aligned values
07:59 The early conviction
11:29 Did Silicon Valley lost its edge?
14:46 10x better
16:21 Top down or bottoms up
19:45 What does a great investor look like
23:17 What's not going well
25:41 AI and a belief system
38:23 AGI and the future generation
40:46 Reasoning model
46:55 Consequences of success
49:24 Questions and answers
55:57 Outro
-
In this episode of Minus One, Aditya Agarwal and Jonathan Brebner sit down with Blake Scholl, who went from Groupon product leader to founder & CEO of Boom Supersonic, to discuss his pursuit of reviving supersonic travel.
With a vision to make high-speed air travel accessible to millions, Scholl is working to bring back a capability many believed was lost after the Concorde era.
They explore the key factors in building a legacy company (hint: it’s not funding or technology), Boom’s pivotal challenges—and how he continues to push forward, and the “slacker index”.
Connect with us here:
1. Blake Scholl- https://x.com/bscholl
2. Aditya Agarwal- https://x.com/adityaag
3. Jonathan Brebner- https://x.com/JPBrebner
4. South Park Commons – https://x.com/southpkcommons
00:00 Trailer
01:56 Introduction
05:46 From Amazon to supersonic flight
09:39 Overcoming challenges and fear of failure
16:44 The importance of shorter gratification cycles
23:35 Storytelling in hard tech
25:09 Building a dream team
27:42 Lessons learned in progress
29:52 Building our own jet engines
38:53 Challenging conventional wisdom
44:01 Inspiration and legacy
45:55 Future plans
-
Missing episodes?
-
While he hardly needs an introduction, few leaders have shaped the future of technology quite like Satya Nadella.
He stepped into Microsoft’s top job at a catalytic moment—making bold bets on the cloud, embedding AI into the fabric of computing, all while staying true to Microsoft’s vision of becoming a “software factory.”
In this conversation with Aditya Agarwal and Ruchi Sanghvi, Satya discusses:
• his approach to building early at Microsoft and why we all need to continue “refounding”
• the future of AI and why critical thinking will remain at a premium
• Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI, his vision for quantum, and more
Connect with us here:
1. Satya Nadella – https://x.com/satyanadella
2. Ruchi Sanghvi – https://x.com/rsanghvi
3. Aditya Agarwal – https://x.com/adityaag
4. South Park Commons – https://x.com/southpkcommons
00:00 Trailer
00:57 Introduction
02:03 Joining Microsoft
06:39 Culture and relevance
11:21 Winning and not winning
17:37 Making that turnaround happen
22:30 Contrarian leadership belief
23:35 Investments in startups
27:33 Foundation models
31:07 Artificial intelligence
36:32 The future
40:39 Quantum computing
44:53 Multiverse
45:33 The next generation
50:10 Being competitive
52:34 Outro
This episode was produced and distributed by our friends at Atomik Growth: https://atomikgrowth.com/
-
Kirsten Green, founder of Forerunner Ventures and 8-time Midas List investor, sees the next wave of breakout brands emerging at the intersection of shifting consumer behavior, novel business models, and technological inflection points.
In this conversation with Ruchi Sanghvi, she unpacks the investment frameworks behind early bets on companies like Warby Parker and Glossier—breaking down structural shifts that fueled their scale. They explore:
• AI’s role in reshaping consumer distribution and brand-building
• the enduring mechanics of advertising and its evolution across platforms
• the biggest misconceptions about early-stage consumer investing
• what defines the next generation of category-defining brands
Connect with us here:
1. Kirsten Green – https://x.com/kirstenagreen
2. Ruchi Sanghvi – https://x.com/rsanghvi
3. South Park Commons – https://x.com/southpkcommons
This episode was produced and distributed by our friends at Atomik Growth: https://atomikgrowth.com/
00:00 Trailer
00:56 Introduction
02:25 Humble beginnings
05:12 Vague misconceptions
07:44 Consumer AI direction
11:43 How to win in consumer AI
18:32 Where is distribution now
22:49 "What caught your attention?"
24:45 The problems and the solution
27:35 Consumer traction and engagement
30:50 Giving venture the finger?
34:06 Counterintuitive Traits of Founders
37:03 Effective channels and connections
39:53 Business of saying no
41:49 Agents
43:04 Search experience
44:09 Education and healthcare economy
46:36 Physical personalization
48:31 Healthcare and social
51:55 Key roles
54:51 Outro
-
From launching Ola as a ride-hailing startup to expanding into EVs, AI, and now a third shot at food delivery, Bhavish Aggarwal has remained in relentless “founder mode.”
He dives into the mental models that shaped his journey, how he processes failure, and his vision for India’s deep-tech future.
Connect with us here:
1. Bhavish Aggarwal- https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavishaggarwal/
2. Aditya Agarwal- https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/
3. Prateek Mehta- https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-mehta-a571972/
4. South Park Commons- https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
The production and distribution of this episode were managed by our friends at Atomik Growth.
(00:00) Trailer
(00:55) Introduction
(01:55) The chaos of building Ola
(06:36) Rebels start companies
(10:21) Leadership and Indian tech
(16:48) Rationale instinct
(21:30) Intelligence, consciousness, philosophies
(25:40) How Krutrim fits in
(33:13) Founders struggles
(36:33) Indian ethos is still growing
(43:13) Impact in business and personal life
(47:46) Authentic execution, zero BS
(55:33) Outro
-
Scott Belsky, Adobe’s Chief Strategy Officer & EVP of Design & Emerging Products (and previous Co-founder at Behance), joined us in NYC. Find out why Scott believes the intersection of design, technology & business converges on some of the most important problems worth solving today.
-
Scale AI founder and CEO Alexandr Wang shares how he navigated the existential angst of early company building to emerge as a leader in AI infrastructure. He shares insights on the brewing US-China AI race and offers provocative opinions on how the next generation of AI companies will need to compete and win.
-
Mike Krieger is the Co-founder and former CTO of Instagram and recently joined Anthropic as Chief Product Officer. He joined Aditya to discuss how he's navigated the repeated -1 to 0 phases of his career and how he went from founding one of the biggest social apps of the mobile generation to joining one of the most exciting companies of the AI generation.
-
Lindsay Kaplan is the Co-founder & Chief Branding Officer at Chief, the world’s largest network of senior women executives. She joined us in person at SPC-NYC to share how her experience leading marketing at Casper and other high growth startups led to the creation of Chief from the ground up—and why maximizing leadership impact for women in the 21st century is a worthwhile investment.
-
Mike Schroepfer is the Co-founder of climate tech fund Gigascale Capital and the former CTO of Facebook. He joined SPC in person to share how he went from leading technology at the world's biggest social network to investing in climate tech—and why he thinks tackling climate change is such a massive business opportunity.
-
Kevin McCarthy, former Republican Congressman from California and Speaker of the US House of Representatives, shares how he unexpectedly found himself at Minus One after reaching the highest congressional office, what it takes to make a career in politics, and why changing incentives is key to reforming the increasingly toxic US political culture.
-
Few people have thought as much about finding and cultivating talent than Tyler Cowen. The economist, prolific author, and Co-founder of Emergent Ventures (still one person) joined us to share how he thinks about identifying talented individuals at the earliest stages (like, say, -1) and channeling those people toward impactful work.
-
SPC founder Ruchi interviewed Jessica Lessin live for the story on how she decided to found a media company in the age of AI, journalism's relationship with tech, and a lot more.Jessica is the founder and CEO of The Information, the publication known for original, in-depth reporting about technology and business. In eight years, Lessin has grown The Information into one of the largest subscription journalism communities in the world, attracting an influential audience of business leaders globally. Lessin has covered Silicon Valley and the technology industry for almost two decades and was previously a reporter and editor at the Wall Street Journal.
-
Serial founder and prolific investor Reid Hoffman shares the winding journey that took him from the PayPal mafia to founding LinkedIn to investing in an AI-native future.
-
SPC alum and Cognition AI Co-founder Scott Wu shares how he went from gold medal winning competitive programmer to founding an AI lab that automates coding, how to know when it's time to move on from an idea, and what AI agents will be capable of in the near future.
-
Imbue Co-founder and SPC alum Kanjun Qiu shares her journey from Dropbox to becoming a founder, why she thinks play is a key part of human and AI agency, and how community has played a key role in her journey and perspective on AI.
-
Duolingo Co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn shares his journey from creating CAPTCHA, founding a multi-billion dollar language learning app, and how his company produced their delightfully unhinged mascot.
-
How did Mark Zuckerberg turn Facebook into Meta? Why does he think open source is the future of AI? And how has he maintained a Minus One mindset at his founder-led company? SPC Partners (and early Facebook employees) Ruchi Sanghvi and Aditya Agarwal interviewed Mark at SPC-SF to get the candid answers. Listen for a deep dive into how the early Facebook team operated, how Mark has kept his company at the cutting edge of innovation, and why the most important variable of success is the people you build with.
-
As the former CEO of Goldman Sachs from 2006 to 2018, Lloyd Blankfein was a main character in the most eventful economic period of recent history. Alongside our hosts, he opens up about what it took to steer his ship through choppy waters and how to build a durable culture amidst existential fear. In true Minus One fashion, he also shares his frameworks for how he’s thinking about what’s next for him after Goldman Sachs.
-
As a two-time Olympic gold medal winning decathlete, Ashton Eaton is one of the few people who ever held a legitimate claim to the title "most athletic person in the world." After retiring from professional athletics, he joined South Park Commons to navigate his career transition. With the 2024 Olympics kicking off, we were honored to have him join us to talk about what it takes to be the best in the world—and what the best in the world do when it's time to figure out what's next.
