The Delphi Podcast

Paavan Gami is the founder and managing partner of Raas Partners, a concentrated, long-term Indian public equities fund. Before Raas he spent five years at Greenoaks, working across venture and public markets.José sits down with Paavan for another episode of the Emerging Managers series on The Delphi Podcast. Paavan explains how Greenoaks works as one investing system rather than a federation of partners, and tells the Carvana story from the inside: selling near the top, buying back after a 90% fall, and holding through another 75% drawdown.Then India: why its best tech companies go public at a few billion dollars while they still look like Series C businesses, why the index is a poor passive instrument, and how AI changes the bull and bear case. Paavan walks through the two businesses Raas owns, Eternal (Zomato and Blinkit) and Meesho, an Indian data center supply chain bet, how he uses AI agents in his process, and the biggest risk to his own fund.00:00 Intro01:59 The Road to Greenoaks05:37 Inside Greenoaks08:15 The Carvana Story18:02 Why Leave for India21:18 Betting on the Category Leader23:45 Does AI Break the India Story?33:26 Imagine Sam Walton Today35:21 Is the Window Closing?39:33 IPOs at $350 Million42:10 What Makes an Exceptional Founder45:08 India's FANGs48:21 Blinkit and Quick Commerce53:21 Meesho and Value Commerce57:28 The India Data Center Bet1:00:43 AI in the Investment Process1:09:04 The Biggest Risk1:10:32 What Success Looks Like━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Follow or get in touch in the comments...José: https://x.com/ZeMariaMacedoPaavan: https://x.com/hiro_sugimoto_Delphi: https://x.com/delphi_digitalDelphi Digital: https://delphidigital.io/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🔥WATCH ON YOUTUBE:Most VCs Are Afraid to Be Wrong | Rohan Pujara: https://youtu.be/RL_r5TL3kNgWhy the Future of Venture Is Hard Tech, Drones & Physical AI | Ian Rountree: https://youtu.be/pAIrREY_Umk━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━DISCLOSUREJosé Maria Macedo is an LP in Raas Partners. Nothing in this episode is investment advice; Paavan discusses positions Raas holds.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━DISCLAIMERThe Delphi Podcast (the “Podcast”) is produced by DELPHI MEDIA, LLC (“Delphi Media”). This content is solely for educational and informational purposes and is not, and should not be construed as, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Delphi Media is not a financial, tax, or legal advisor. You are expressly advised to consult with a professional advisor before making any investment decisions. Also, the views expressed by Podcast are solely those of hosts and guests do not necessarily reflect those of Delphi Media.Delphi Media is a member of the DELPHI DIGITAL family, a group of distinct companies sharing the same brand and vision. Delphi Ventures operates as an independent venture capital firm that seeks to invest in world-changing founders.

Alex Wilson is co-founder and co-CEO of Cyclops, which builds stablecoin rails for payments companies. Before that he co-founded The Giving Block, which lets nonprofits accept crypto, and sold it to Shift4 in 2022.Alex tells Tommy how he went from flipping domain names and selling neighbours' gear on eBay in high school to building The Giving Block nights and weekends, launching into a bear market, quitting his job at the start of COVID, and selling to Shift4 a year after raising. He talks about the $50 million Pineapple Fund donation, beating Coinbase by going narrow, and what he learned working under Jared Isaacman.Then Cyclops: why payments companies were stitching together ten crypto providers, why Shift4 became a customer and an investor, Blue Origin tickets paid in stablecoins, why payments companies win and banks lose, agent-ready checkouts, and why he thinks most of the world's 200 currencies won't survive the dollar.00:00 Intro04:39 The Door-to-Door eBay Hustle15:59 The $50M Anonymous Donation17:41 Beating Coinbase by Going Narrow19:55 Sold to Shift4 a Year Later25:23 From Shift4 to NASA27:31 Lessons From Jared29:33 Hiring to Scare People Away31:08 Why Start Cyclops36:22 A Ticket to Space in Stablecoins37:54 Who Stablecoins Cut Out40:15 Agents Need New Checkouts43:04 200 Currencies Down to 2546:12 Seed to Series A in a Year49:38 Swinging for a $10B Exit━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Follow or get in touch in the comments...Tommy: https://x.com/Shaughnessy119Alex: https://x.com/AlexWilsonTGBCyclops: https://cyclops.ioDelphi: https://x.com/delphi_digitalDelphi Digital: https://delphi.link/delphipod━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🔥WATCH:How to Steal Satoshi's Bitcoin: https://youtu.be/WM1psGJomXgCoinbase Insider: Why Bitcoin & Crypto Are Ready to Move MUCH Higher: https://youtu.be/1xedtRsbw6E━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━DISCLAIMERThe Delphi Podcast (the “Podcast”) is produced by DELPHI MEDIA, LLC (“Delphi Media”). This content is solely for educational and informational purposes and is not, and should not be construed as, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Delphi Media is not a financial, tax, or legal advisor. You are expressly advised to consult with a professional advisor before making any investment decisions. Also, the views expressed by Podcast are solely those of hosts and guests do not necessarily reflect those of Delphi Media.Delphi Media is a member of the DELPHI DIGITAL family, a group of distinct companies sharing the same brand and vision. Delphi Ventures operates as an independent venture capital firm that seeks to invest in world-changing founders.

Tarun Chitra is the founder of Gauntlet and managing partner at Robot Ventures, which just led Nous Research's $90 million round. He joins Tommy on The Delphi Podcast to explain why he backed Nous and Hermes Agent after months of diligence on OpenRouter data and GitHub forks.Tarun traces how crypto's first run at AI went wrong, from GPU networks to token-launched agents, and why the crypto people who dropped the token have done well. He breaks down why OpenClaw is the worst developer experience he's used, why Hermes is closer to Ubuntu than to Android, and how robotics makers built on Hermes without Nous knowing.The conversation closes on his market structure thesis: AI inference looks like crypto, OpenRouter looks like a DEX, some providers game cache pricing, and the money will flow to the harnesses on top and the inference providers underneath. Hermes, in his words, is like investing in Phantom or FOMO.Timestamps00:00 Intro06:34 Robot Leads Nous's $90M Round09:37 Crypto AI Was Meme Coins With More Steps14:40 Why Nous Stood Out Early28:14 Hermes vs OpenClaw35:39 The End of AI Lock-In46:33 The Ubuntu of AI56:17 Microsoft and Nvidia Join the Round59:42 OpenRouter Is a DEX for AI1:07:02 All the Money Goes to the Top💡 Want to stay updated with the latest in crypto & AI? Hit subscribe and the notification bell! 🔔🧠 Follow the AlphaTommy: https://x.com/Shaughnessy119Tarun: https://x.com/tarunchitra🔗 Connect with Delphi🌐 Portal: https://delphi.link/delphipod🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/delphi_digital💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delphi-digital🎧 Listen onSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/62PR1RigLG2YN5Pelq6UY9?si=18ac7ccf36ab4753Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-delphi-podcast/id1438148082Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43Q🔥WATCH:$100M+ Crypto Investor: How to Prepare for Next Bull Market: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQQErgSvjnc&list=PLNBYLyvyGrM8The Worst Is Behind Us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJX1U6EeIM4DisclaimerThe Delphi Podcast is produced by DELPHI MEDIA, LLC. This content is solely for educational and informational purposes and is not, and should not be construed as, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Delphi Media is not a financial, tax, or legal advisor. You are expressly advised to consult with a professional advisor before making any investment decisions. Also, the views expressed by Podcast are solely those of hosts and guests do not necessarily reflect those of Delphi Media.Delphi Media is a member of the DELPHI DIGITAL family, a group of distinct companies sharing the same brand and vision. Delphi Ventures operates as an independent venture capital firm that seeks to invest in world-changing founders.

From a pandemic side project to delivering exabytes of web data to frontier AI labs, Andrej Radonjic has built a data business most people have never heard of. The co-founder and CEO of Wynd Labs, the team behind Grass, joins Yan on The Delphi Podcast in Miami for a conversation about why the open internet is closing its doors to AI, what labs actually pay for when they buy data, and how millions of people sharing spare bandwidth became one of the ways AI reads the web.Andrej shares how an arbitrage bot he built during his PhD pulled him into web scraping, why Grass was built on consent, and what it took to scale to exabytes, including a co-founder who flew to Ashburn and assembled servers overnight. He also explains how robots are learning from web video, why he compares AI data to defense tech, and how the new Contents API turns any public web page into a single API call.The conversation closes with the ownerless Grass Foundation behind the recent revenue attestation, what a moat really is, and his vision for Grass to become the way AI accesses the world's information.00:00 Intro00:43 From Nuclear Physics to Web Scraping03:38 The Pandemic Signal Everyone Missed07:31 The Smart TV Proxy Scandal09:10 Why the Internet Is Blocking AI11:56 Training Data vs Live Data16:05 Mapping the Entire Internet18:03 Delivering Exabytes to AI Labs21:48 What AI Labs Really Pay For24:43 How Robots Learn From Web Video33:02 When Labs Change Direction35:57 One API Call for Any Website41:58 AI Flipped Search Upside Down47:03 Can the Network Keep Up?49:52 The Defense Tech of AI Data52:58 Why Data Is the Alpha57:08 Why AI Labs Won't Buy Slop59:17 The Metric That Matters Most01:02:35 The $100 Billion Data Market01:05:07 Who Actually Owns Grass01:08:18 What a Real Moat Looks Like01:13:16 What Happens Next━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Follow or get in touch in the comments...Yan: https://x.com/YanLibermanAndrej: https://x.com/0xdrejWynd Labs: https://x.com/wyndLabs_aiDelphi Digital: https://twitter.com/delphi_digitalPortal: https://delphi.link/delphipodLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delphi-digitalPodcast: https://thedelphipodcast.buzzsprout.com━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🔥WATCH:AI is Coming For Bitcoin With Quantum: https://youtu.be/-Unv3d-OXjwCrypto's $150 Trillion Opportunity: https://youtu.be/jbmersfBF1gBillionaire's Warning: The Ai Bubble is About to Pop. Prepare Now: https://youtu.be/JnKaeBXyHng━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━DISCLOSUREDelphi Ventures is an investor in Grass and holds a Grass token.DISCLAIMERThe Delphi Podcast is produced by DELPHI MEDIA, LLC. This content is solely for educational and informational purposes and is not, and should not be construed as, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Delphi Media is not a financial, tax, or legal advisor. You are expressly advised to consult with a professional advisor before making any investment decisions. Also, the views expressed by Podcast are solely those of hosts and guests do not necessarily reflect those of Delphi Media.Delphi Media is a member of the DELPHI DIGITAL family, a group of distinct companies sharing the same brand and vision. Delphi Ventures operates as an independent venture capital firm that seeks to invest in world-changing founders.

From building TechCrunch to backing Uber and Airbnb, Michael Arrington has had a front-row seat to some of technology’s biggest shifts. He joins Tommy on The Delphi Podcast for a candid conversation about the unstoppable AI race, the psychology of exceptional founders, and why he believes Bitcoin is the hard money the world needs.Michael shares how he broke the news of Google buying YouTube, what working with Steve Jobs taught him, and how his relationships with founders translated into early investments in generational companies. He also opens up about burnout, leaving TechCrunch, reinventing himself through crypto, and staying convinced through brutal market cycles.The conversation closes with his advice for entrepreneurs: face your fears, play to your strengths, and build a team that complements your weaknesses.Timestamps00:00 Intro & the Fourth Turning07:00 AI, China & the race to AGI17:00 Founder psychology & investment red flags29:00 Building TechCrunch & lessons from Steve Jobs44:00 Selling TechCrunch & backing Uber and Airbnb53:00 Moving into crypto & navigating market cycles60:00 Bitcoin, AI & an uncertain future01:09:00 Advice for founders: play to your strengthsTommy: https://x.com/Shaughnessy119Michael: https://x.com/arrington🔗 Connect with Delphi🌐 Portal: https://delphi.link/delphipod🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/delphi_digital💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delphi-digitalWatch on Youtube:https://youtu.be/YgyjaD8mgbsDISCLAIMERThis podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host and members at Delphi Ventures may personally own tokens or art that are mentioned on the podcast. Our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token.

José sits down with Rohan Pujara, general partner at Valhalla Ventures, for another episode of the Emerging Managers series on The Delphi Podcast. Rohan explains why he avoids crowded investment themes, seeks out unconventional founders, and believes venture capital has increasingly traded risk-taking for status and consensus.They explore what separates repeatable investing skill from getting lucky, why a great seed investment should have no competitors, and how Valhalla builds conviction in companies other investors overlook. Rohan breaks down the thinking behind investments in K2 Space, Jaza and Truffle—from large satellites and electricity in sub-Saharan Africa to the case for running AI on personal devices.The conversation also covers concentrated portfolios, selective follow-on investing, the appeal of owning future monopolies, and how LP incentives shape fund managers’ decisions. Rohan shares how growing up with little money shaped his willingness to take risks, why he prefers New York to San Francisco, and what it takes to build an enduring investment firm.💡 Want to stay updated with the latest in crypto & AI? Hit subscribe and the notification bell! 🔔🧠 Follow the Alpha▸José Macedo: @ZeMariaMacedo▸Rohan Pujara: @rohanpuj🔗 Connect with Delphi🌐 Portal: https://delphidigital.io/🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/delphi_digital💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delphi-digital🎧 Listen onSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/62PR1RigLG2YN5Pelq6UY9?si=18ac7ccf36ab4753Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-delphi-podcast/id1438148082Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43QTimestamps00:00 Cold Open00:44 Meet Rohan Pujara and Valhalla Ventures01:56 Why Rohan Avoids Consensus Investments10:23 Has Venture Capital Lost Its Risk Takers?13:11 Investing Skill vs. Getting Lucky17:23 Finding Founders Before They Raise19:14 What Makes an Exceptional Founder?28:28 Concentrated Portfolios and Follow-On Investing34:32 San Francisco Groupthink vs. New York36:48 TCI, Monopolies and Long-Term Moats39:37 From Crypto to Deep Tech and Beyond44:25 K2 Space: Betting Against Small Satellites47:34 Jaza: Bringing Electricity to Africa51:33 Investment Mistakes and Overthinking55:17 Backing Technical AI Founders58:44 Truffle and the Future of Personal AI1:03:53 Growing Up Poor and Learning to Take Risks1:11:38 Valhalla’s Future and Aligning IncentivesDisclaimerThis podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host and members at Delphi Ventures may personally own tokens or art that are mentioned on the podcast. Our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token.

Join José as he hosts another episode of the Emerging Manager series on the Delphi Podcast, sitting down with Ian Rowntree, founder and managing partner of Cantos. Ian details the ten-year journey of Cantos, moving from early vertical software into hard tech and physical AI, while announcing the launch of their $70M Fourth Fund.  They dive into the reality of venture capital returns, the power law dynamics of outlier funds, and why traditional SaaS playbooks fail in frontier markets. Ian shares the frameworks Cantos uses to evaluate hard-tech founders, the mechanics behind portfolio companies like Neros and Castilleja, and why vertical integration is required to displace entrenched incumbents. Timestamps00:00 Intro00:39 Why Invest in Venture Capital?07:10 The Edge of Emerging Managers11:05 From Software to Hard Tech23:08 Contrarian Investing, Valuations, and Venture Mistakes34:14 What Makes an Exceptional Founder?56:38 Bringing Technology Into the Physical Economy1:10:51 Defense Tech, Drones, and the Future of Warfare1:23:55 Physical AI and Shaping the Future💡 Want to stay updated with the latest in crypto & AI? Hit subscribe and the notification bell! 🔔🧠 Follow the Alpha▸ José: @ZeMariaMacedo▸ Ian's Twitter: @IanRountree🔗 Connect with Delphi🌐 Portal: https://delphidigital.io/🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/delphi_digital💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delphi-digitalWatch onYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43QDisclaimerThis podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host and members at Delphi Ventures may personally own tokens or art that are mentioned on the podcast. Our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token.

In this episode of The Delphi Podcast, Tommy sits down with AccelXR, author of Delphi Digital’s “Evaluating the AI Labs of China” report, to break down what’s actually happening in the US-China AI race. You can read the report here:https://members.delphidigital.io/reports/evaluating-the-ai-labs-of-china?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialTimestamps00:00 Intro00:35 Is China Innovating or Just Distilling?06:10 DeepSeek and China’s Leading AI Labs10:15 How China Is Working Around Weaker Chips18:25 China’s Biggest AI Advantage: Electricity29:45 Three Scenarios for the US-China AI Race40:20 America’s AI Talent Advantage Is Reversing47:45 China’s Path to AI SovereigntyTommy: https://x.com/Shaughnessy119AccelXR: https://x.com/accelxr🔗 Connect with Delphi🌐 Portal: https://delphi.link/delphipod🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/delphi_digital💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delphi-digitalWatch on Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/@delphi_digitalDISCLAIMERThis podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host and members at Delphi Ventures may personally own tokens or art that are mentioned on the podcast. Our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token.

 Join José as he hosts another episode of the Emerging Manager series on the Delphi Podcast, sitting down with Michael Dempsey, managing partner of Compound. Michael makes the case that most venture funds being raised today are playing momentum games that won't survive contact with a real cycle, and explains why Compound has become known as one of the slowest-deploying seed funds in the US. They dive into the fallacy of founder legibility, why paying up at seed doesn't improve outcomes, and how the firm's research edge decayed the moment anyone could drop an academic paper into ChatGPT. Michael shares Compound's portfolio construction math, the thesis behind their public markets fund and the coming decade of market cap destruction, where he's investing across bio, materials, and robotics, and why the humanoid narrative is far more fragile than the market believes. Timestamps00:00 Intro01:24 Why Momentum Investing Fails in Venture05:05 Price, Legibility, and the Myth of the Obvious Founder15:10 Research as Edge and the Problem With Obviousness32:31 Portfolio Construction and Shots on Goal39:04 Bio, Materials, and the Commoditization of Intelligence43:44 Public Markets, Software Margins, and the Short Side56:58 Meta, Google, and the Mag 71:06:45 Crypto, Robotics, and Drone Warfare1:21:38 Therapy, Psychedelics, and Writing💡 Want to stay updated with the latest in crypto & AI? Hit subscribe and the notification bell! 🔔🧠 Follow the Alpha▸ José: @ZeMariaMacedo▸ Michael's Twitter: @mhdempsey🔗 Connect with Delphi🌐 Portal: https://delphidigital.io/🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/delphi_digital💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delphi-digitalWatch onYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43QDisclaimerThis podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host and members at Delphi Ventures may personally own tokens or art that are mentioned on the podcast. Our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token.

In this episode of The Delphi Podcast, Tommy sits down with Steve McLaughlin, founder and CEO of FT Partners, to unpack how he left Goldman Sachs at 32 and built one of the most influential investment banks in fintech.Steve shares the story behind FT Partners’ early days, including how his team took a company that had received roughly $150 million offers and ultimately sold it for $550 million. He explains why FT goes deeper than traditional investment banks, how the firm has built decades-long relationships with founders, and why incentives, founder ownership, and putting your own capital behind your conviction matter.They also discuss FT’s $50 million investment in Revolut, what Steve looks for in great founders, the work ethic required to build a firm over 25 years, surviving multiple financial crises, and why he believes AI will ultimately be a bigger disruption to financial services than the internet, mobile, or crypto.Timestamps00:00 Intro02:20 Leaving Goldman and Starting FT Partners11:00 Turning a $150M Offer Into a $550M Sale18:30 How FT Partners Values Companies28:30 Building Long-Term Founder Relationships34:00 Founder Incentives and the Revolut Bet52:00 What Steve Looks for in Great Founders1:08:00 The Future of Fintech, Crypto, and AITommy: https://x.com/Shaughnessy119Steve: https://x.com/FTPartners🔗 Connect with Delphi🌐 Portal: https://delphi.link/delphipod🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/delphi_digital💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delphi-digitalWatch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/P_JdhPqiww8DISCLAIMERThis podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host and members at Delphi Ventures may personally own tokens or art that are mentioned on the podcast. Our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token.