SVLG's Ahmad Thomas: Beyond the Data Centers

Ahmad Thomas, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, joins Scott McGrew to unpack why seven in ten Americans oppose data centers and why he thinks that opposition is really about AI anxiety. Thomas argues data centers have become a physical stand-in for broader fears over jobs, energy costs, and unchecked technological change, and makes the case for "responsible builds" grounded in transparency around water and power use. The conversation moves through AI's actual labor-market impact (Thomas cites SVLG's own research showing no evidence of a job-loss wave), Silicon Valley's housing affordability trap, and the global AI race with China. Thomas also reflects on his path as SVLG's first Black CEO, his father's journey from the segregated South to a business-school legacy at Penn, and what he sees as the deeper values question underneath the AI moment. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Gradient Ventures' Darian Shirazi says the real winners of the AI era won't be the companies with the best models - it'll be whoever owns the data centers, the chips, and the compute underneath them. Fresh off spinning out of Google, Shirazi explains why Gradient has steered away from funding foundation models, and why China's lead in open source could reshape the whole s Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Leah Solivan — Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston Alice Bentink — A Work in Progress by Rene Redzepi David Spreng — All Money Is Not Created Equal by David Spreng Caitlin Holloway — Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull Grant Lee — Seven Powers by Hamilton Helmer Vas Natarajan — Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke Alex Halliday — High Output Management by Andy Grove Andy Chen — Shoe Dog by Phil Knight PR Yu — Tao Te Ching by Laozi Christina Smolke — Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery Adeo Ressi — Palo Alto by Malcolm Harris Jack Leney — Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger TJ Rylander — By Any Means Available by Mike Vickers Kanye Makabela — Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy by Bill Janeway Ashu Garg — Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari Eugene Malobrodsky — Zero to One by Peter Thiel Aaron Jacobson — Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and Daemon by Daniel Suarez Darian Shirazi — The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz Maria Palma — Bending Reality by Victoria Song Dr. Ed Engelman — Blind Spots by Marty Makary Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Andy Chen of Outcast Ventures spent 15 years at Kleiner Perkins and Coatue studying what actually makes startups succeed — and the data surprised him. After analyzing every U.S. IPO and acquisition over $1 billion in the past two decades, Chen found that founders who didn't know each other beforehand built more valuable companies than those who did. He calls the trap the "convenient co-founder penalty." Now he's doing something about it: Catalyst, a co-founder formation program launching this week, brings together pre-vetted, high-caliber talent to find the right match before the company even exists. Chen also discusses the rise of AI-era solo founders, why elite schools don't predict bigger exits, and his own unlikely path — from CIA nuclear weapons analyst to venture capitalist. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

PR Yu is one of the largest solo GPs in the world — a sole decision-maker controlling hundreds of millions of dollars, with ~100 LPs heading into Fund IV who keep coming back. At Yu Galaxy, no partners means no committees, and deals can close in hours. His portfolio spans healthcare, robotics, and AI, anchored by contrarian bets like Leo Cancer Care — a hardware play Sand Hill Road largely passed on, now tracking toward a multi-billion dollar IPO. Yu calls it "ethical capital at speed": the fastest check on the table, without compromising on principle. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

David Spreng has spent a career in the gap between venture capital and the bank down the street. As founder of Runway Growth Capital, he writes $40 million loans to companies that are too established to be called startups and too unconventional to get a traditional bank loan. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Leah Solivan built TaskRabbit from scratch during the 2008 financial crisis, scaled it into a global platform, and sold it to IKEA — then crossed the table to become an investor. What she learned on both sides: venture capital is a system, it runs on incentives, and most founders don't understand it until it's too late. Solivan talks about the hidden competition inside your investor's portfolio, why the system isn't broken — it's doing exactly what it's paid to do — and how founders can use that knowledge as leverage. Plus: why she's looking for someone to build the AI-native version of TaskRabbit. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Summary: Jack Leeney, partner at 7GC, shares insights from his career at Morgan Stanley — where he worked on IPOs for Tesla, LinkedIn, and Facebook — to his current role investing in AI. He breaks down how IPO pricing works, why the public markets have shrunk, and why smaller IPOs still matter. He discusses key 7GC investments including Hims (telehealth), Jackpocket (digital lottery, acquired by DraftKings), and Anthropic (enterprise AI). Jack explains why Anthropic's B2B focus gives it a compelling edge, and why true enterprise-wide AI adoption, currently only ~10% of Fortune 500 companies, represents a massive opportunity over the next decade. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Alice Bentinck discusses how Entrepreneurs First helps someone to go from “no team, no idea” to funded company.  EF has helped create companies now collectively worth more than $10,000,000,000 and many participants go from zero to raising $2-15 million from top-tier VCs within months. Bentinck argues that capital is the easiest part of the journey, while co-founder fit, community, and early guidance are what really accelerate success.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

AI may feel new to many investors, but Glasswing Ventures founder Rudina Seseri has been betting on it for  more than a decade. In this episode, she breaks down how Glasswing evaluates AI startups, why workflow and productivity are key entry points, and what founders still get wrong. Plus, her unlikely journey from a teenage immigrant to a leading AI investor. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.