Can Tech Work With Zohran Mamdani? | Julie Samuels

Rick Heitzmann of FirstMark joins the Newcomer Podcast to discuss the state of venture capital, the AI investment boom, and why the next wave of tech IPOs may be closer than many expect.Rick shares how investors are thinking about AI infrastructure, the role of data as the core advantage in the AI race, and why massive private capital has allowed companies to stay private far longer than in previous cycles. As AI companies continue raising unprecedented amounts of money, the conversation turns to what happens when that capital eventually runs out and why public markets may become the next step.Eric and Rick also discuss the broader venture cycle, the impact of market uncertainty on IPO timing, and how investors are navigating a period defined by rapid technological change and massive AI spending.This conversation explores how venture capital is adapting to the AI era and what it could mean for the future of startups, public markets, and the next generation of tech giants.

How does New York’s tech industry navigate AI, city politics, and a new mayor in the Trump era?Julie Samuels, President and CEO of Tech:NYC, joins the Newcomer Podcast to discuss the growing intersection of technology and politics. Samuels has spent years at the center of New York’s tech ecosystem, working with founders and policymakers as the industry becomes a larger force in public policy.Eric and Julie talk about tensions between the tech industry and progressive politics, including the rise of Zohran Mamdani and how tech leaders are navigating a shifting political landscape. They also discuss Trump-era tech politics, efforts to modernize government with technology, New York’s Empire AI initiative, and debates around wealth taxes, billionaire flight, and the energy demands of AI data centers.Julie also explains the work Tech:NYC does behind the scenes to advocate for the industry while trying to bridge the growing gap between technologists and the public.Subscribe for more conversations with the people shaping technology, venture capital, and policy.

How does one of the most established venture capital firms in the world think about the so called “SaaS apocalypse”? Jeremy Levine of Bessemer Venture Partners joins the Newcomer Podcast to discuss the SaaS repricing, the acceleration of AI, and why venture capital remains a long game.We unpack whether SaaS is broken or simply reset after years of excess, and why AI companies are scaling faster than anything we have seen before. Jeremy shares his perspective on foundation model giants like Anthropic, the coming wave of robotics, and the unsolved manipulation problem that could define the next decade.We also discuss scale in venture capital, how AI is changing investing, and why, in Jeremy’s words, this is ultimately a patient person’s game.

Keith Rabois joins the Newcomer Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation that moves between tech, venture capital, and politics.On the tech side, we start with Brex being acquired by Capital One and what that means for Ramp. Rabois argues that banks won’t build the “finance organization of the 21st century,” and frames Ramp’s ambition as building the CFO’s “eyes, ears, and actions” across a company. We also discuss Rippling’s strategy, investor responsibilities around integrity and ethics, and how he thinks about “barrels and ammunition” when companies try to do many things at once.From there we get into AI investing and Rabois’s view that what matters is the end-customer value proposition and the durability of the advantage. He explains Rogo as an AI “copilot” for investment bankers and talks about workflow and data moats.The episode also turns heavily to politics and current events: Trump, tech’s relationship with the administration, immigration (including H-1B and O-1 visas), free speech, and foreign policy debates (including China, Europe, and the Middle East). We also argue through a recent incident involving law enforcement and protest/obstruction, and close with Opendoor—where Rabois lays out his view of the company’s turnaround, retail investors, and the company’s weekly “accountability” metrics updates.

Today on the Newcomer Podcast, we're joined by Yoni Rechtman, a partner at Slow Ventures and one of the most outspoken voices in venture capital right now. Rechtman doesn't hold back on Trump, the tech industry's political reckoning, or where the real opportunities in AI actually are.We talk about why Slow Ventures deliberately avoided foundation models despite the massive returns, where the second-order effects of AI create better investment opportunities, and how the firm is using "growth by buyout" to build billion-dollar companies in unsexy industries like parking lots.We also discuss Silicon Valley's response to the Trump administration, the Alex Pretti shooting, why Rechtman believes most venture capitalists are "amoral financiers" chasing momentum rather than principles, and what happens when the institutions that underpin entrepreneurial capitalism start to erode under authoritarian pressure.Rechtman shares his contrarian investment philosophy of finding "weird takes on important stories," why he thinks Git is structurally broken in the age of AI-generated code, and how AI is inverting every system built on scarce production and abundant attention.This conversation goes beyond typical VC talking points, addressing the uncomfortable questions about what the industry stands for when democracy itself is at stake.🎙️ New episodes every week! Subscribe and turn on notifications to stay ahead of the next big story.👇 Watch more from The Newcomer Podcast:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0Yg1id5olJMOyUnYF5AZnIo2ZXdyYd-L 🔗 Read more at newcomer.co🐦 Follow us: @NewcomerMediaIf you want honest, insider analysis from the heart of tech and venture capital…you’re in the right place.

Today on the Newcomer Podcast, we’re joined by Tony Fadell, one of the most influential figures in modern hardware design. Fadell helped bring some of the most important consumer electronics to life and has shaped how people interact with technology.We talk about where the next major tech device might come from, whether it’s a pin, a pen, headphones, or the device already in your pocket, and how Apple and other major tech companies are approaching the future of hardware.We also discuss the rumors surrounding Fadell as a potential contender for the next CEO of Apple, what he would do if he were in that role, and how leadership decisions at that level actually get made. Fadell shares his view on why OpenAI is pursuing a strategy of becoming too big to fail, and what that signals about the next phase of the industry.This conversation goes beyond product launches and press releases, focusing instead on how power, scale, and design choices shape the tech ecosystem.This is the Newcomer Podcast.🎙️ New episodes every week! Subscribe and turn on notifications to stay ahead of the next big story.👇 Watch more from The Newcomer Podcast:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0Yg1id5olJMOyUnYF5AZnIo2ZXdyYd-L 🔗 Read more at newcomer.co🐦 Follow us: @NewcomerMediaIf you want honest, insider analysis from the heart of tech and venture capital…you’re in the right place.

Today on the Newcomer Podcast, we’re at MongoDB.Local for a series of conversations on how enterprise AI is actually being built.MongoDB CEO CJ Desai joins the show 65 days into the role to explain why San Francisco is “back,” how MongoDB is repositioning itself for the AI era, and why unstructured data has made the company’s platform a natural foundation for AI-native applications. He shares his view on the AI hype cycle, the rapid rise of companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, and why MongoDB is staying model-agnostic as AI product cycles accelerate.We also sit down with Rippling’s Head of AI Ankur Bhatt to discuss how AI is being deployed inside a live enterprise system. The conversation covers building agents across payroll, IT, and finance, why agent identity and accountability matter, and how Rippling is approaching permissions, access control, and AI-driven productivity at scale.A grounded look at the enterprise AI stack, from the data layer to real-world deployment.MongoDB #Rippling #AIAgents #VentureCapital

Today on the podcast, we’re joined by an old friend, New York Times correspondent Katie Benner.We look back on our days covering tech together at The Information and our old podcast Dead Cat, before diving into her new book, Miracle Children: Race, Education, and a True Story of False Promises.The book examines a school reform experiment that claimed a 100 percent college acceptance rate, and what happened when the pressure to prove success overtook reality. Benner’s reporting traces how race, politics, and institutional incentives shaped decisions that ultimately left students paying the price.We talk about how incentives shape outcomes, why well intentioned systems often fail the people they are meant to serve, and what this story reveals about meritocracy, power, and institutional decision making in America. This conversation is not about ideology. It is about how systems behave when results matter more than reality.

The AI boom is hitting real limits. In this episode, the Newcomer team breaks down why data centers are running out of power, what is really happening inside OpenAI after its latest shakeup, and why neocloud players like CoreWeave may be heading toward a financial crunch.Eric Newcomer, Tom Dotan, and Maline Renberg explain the investor panic behind the scenes, the brutal GPU economics, and what these cracks mean for the future of AI infrastructure.

What do Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, Reid Hoffman, Marc Andreessen, and Elon Musk actually believe about the future of tech?In this episode of the Newcomer Podcast, we break down the quotes that defined tech in 2025. From OpenAI and Anthropic to venture capital, regulation, and Silicon Valley power, these are the moments where powerful people said the quiet part out loud.Rather than reacting to headlines, we look at the specific lines that revealed how AI companies think about compute and money, how venture capital is consolidating power, and why tech and politics are now inseparable.We cover:What Sam Altman and OpenAI revealed about scale and computeHow VC giants like Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed talk about power and accessWhy AI regulation looks very different in public than it does in privateThe quotes that mattered more than any keynote or earnings callThis is a year-in-review told through the words that shaped it.