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Felicis Founder: The Blueprint Behind 50+ Billion-Dollar Startups

Sep 8, 2026 · 1:06:05

Aydin Senkut, founder of Felicis Ventures, argues venture winners must be unconventional, crediting 50+ unicorns to outlier founders outside Silicon Valley like Shopify in Ottawa and Adyen. A former early Google employee, he recalls Larry Page saying 'no' 80% of the time and pushing 10X ideas like Gmail. He cites Felicis research: the top 1% of exits doubled in value every five years while the other 90% stagnated, making venture a needle-in-the-haystack search. He explains the 1% Founders Pledge, which funded coaching for 100+ founders, and his focus on space, defense, manufacturing and energy. He tells Ollie LPs' time-lens underwriting breaks as exits stretch, AI makes trust 10 to 100 times harder to earn, and emerging managers must prove themselves dozens of times to build a 'hit machine.'

How Many $10 Billion Startups Will There Be? | Eric Hippeau

May 13, 2026 · 57:21

Eric Hippeau, co-founder of Lerer Hippeau, argues that while AI is transforming tech faster than ever, startups must avoid being mere wrappers around foundational models, as they can be instantly disrupted. He explains that physical AI, combining hardware and AI in areas like robotics and defense, offers more defensible opportunities. Hippeau warns that the startup market is disconnected, with inflated seed valuations assuming many will reach $10B, but historically there's no market for hundreds of such companies. He discusses healthcare, where AI-driven diagnostics could make primary care nearly free, but political will is needed to overcome entrenched systems. On media, he shares lessons from building Huffington Post—keeping stories live and separating opinion—and predicts that AI could restore trust by providing verifiable facts. Hippeau also reveals he has rebuilt his firm's workflow around Anthropic's Claude, cites AR glasses as underrated, and notes that solo GPs must build teams to succeed.