Generative Now | AI Builders on Creating the Future

In this episode of Generative Now, Lightspeed Partner and host Michael Mignano sits down with Max Child, CEO and Co-Founder of Volley. Volley led the charge of voice controlled gaming that uses Alexa as a platform. Max gives an inside look into what it was like to be a platform pioneer, and all the steps along the way.

Episode Chapters

(00:00) - Intro

(05:11) - Lessons from The Harvard Crimson

(07:14) - How a failed dating app launched Max’s coding career

(11:47) - From Infatuation restaurant critic to iOS developer

(19:30) - The birth of chat-based games

(21:17) - Chatbots: 2015 vs. 2023

(25:34) - Amazon Echo and Volley's breakthrough

(28:15) - The trouble with being first to market

(34:00) - Expanding from little speakers to big screens

(38:57) - Voice AI stack enables natural communication for non-gamers

(41:39) - Why isn’t Siri as good as ChatGPT?

(46:13) - Why generative AI is a game-changer for Volley

(58:34) - How generative AI has infected Volley’s strategy

(01:02:44) - The second annual Cerebral Valley

(01:07:58) - Is Volley hiring?

Stay in touch:

• www.lsvp.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lightspeedvp
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeedventurepartners/
• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co
• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

In this episode of Generative Now, Lightspeed Partner and host Michael Mignano showcases a live, in-person interview from a Generative Meet-Up in early 2023. Michael sat down with Adobe’s Chief Strategy Officer & EVP, Design & Emerging Products, Scott Belsky. The two discussed Adobe’s AI initiatives, what’s on the horizon for the industry, and how the future of AI can take us back toward the intimate communities of our past.

Episode Chapters

(00:00) - Introduction

(02:00) - Interview with Scott Belsky

(05:18) - The origins of AI at Adobe

(07:18) -Firefly: past, present, and future

(09:25) - Startups v. incumbents

(11:28) - The personalization wave

(13:04) - The good and bad of hyper-personalized experiences

(15:15) - Verify, then trust: the future of content authenticity

(16:20) - Will AI enable creators or creative directors?

(18:40) - Compensating IP in an AI-first world

(22:16) - How LLMs will transform the way we work

(26:05) - Generative AI products Scott wants to see exist

(27:28) - Audience Q&A

(39:24) - Outro

Stay in touch:

• www.lsvp.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lightspeedvp
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeedventurepartners/
• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co
• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

Connor Zwick was a formidable founder on the day he graduated high school, and that hasn’t changed in the intervening years. He’s the founder of Flashcards+, which was acquired by Chegg, and CEO and co-founder of Speak, the cutting edge app using AI speech models to help users perfect their conversational English. In this episode, Connor Zwick sits down with host and Partner at Lightspeed Michael Mignano to talk software iteration, finding a useful use case, and building a new business abroad.

Episode Chapters

(00:00) - Intro to Connor Zwick

(04:48) - Building Flashcards in high school

(08:42) - Lessons from Flashcards product market fit pull and how to value for sale

(13:31) - The hype of becoming a Thiel Fellow

(23:45) - Sneaking into a Berkeley graduate course on reinforcement learning

(27:45) - John Schulman built OpenAI’s playground for a homework assignment

(36:07) - The big AI unlocks went to incumbents

(38:33) - ChatGPT proved that UI matters

(41:49) - Language learning models don’t need perfection to be viable

(46:40) - Speak is a painkiller for English language-learners, not a vitamin for English speakers

(57:09) - Operating in San Francisco while iterating in Seoul

(01:05:13) - What does product market fit feel like?

(01:09:30) - One-on-one tutors are the holy grail of education

(01:14:33) - The moving goalposts of AGI

(01:17:17) - Is Speak hiring?

Stay in touch:

• ⁠www.lsvp.com⁠
• X: ⁠https://twitter.com/lightspeedvp⁠
• LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/⁠
• Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/lightspeedventurepartners/⁠
• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: ⁠generativenow.co⁠
• Email: ⁠[email protected]⁠

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see ⁠lsvp.com/legal⁠.

In this first episode of Generative Now, Victor Riparbelli, Co-Founder and CEO of Synthesia, joins Host and Partner at Lightspeed, Michael Mignano. The two discuss democratizing video production, the role of regulation in AI’s future, and what it takes to make it through three years in the wilderness.

Episode Chapters

(00:00) - Welcome to Generative Now

(05:28) - Learning startup strategy from World of Warcraft

(15:09) - Is your product a utility or a novelty?

(16:09) - Synthesia's cofounder on Jimmy Kimmel

(21:43) - Replacing physical video production

(26:05) - Finding product market fit

(28:30) - 1,000x easier and cheaper

(30:21) - Three years in the wilderness

(33:42) - ChatGPT’s ripples on Synthesia

(39:52) - The life cycle of a hype cycle

(44:00) - Is the camera dead?

(52:58) - AI safety: building on an ethical framework

(1:02:24) - AI-native formats

(1:07:44) - How Synthesia landed Mark Cuban as an investor

Stay in touch:

• www.lsvp.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lightspeedvp
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeedventurepartners/
• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co
• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

Generative Now is a new podcast from Lightspeed dedicated to highlighting the stories, strategies and insights behind today's most exciting AI companies. Host Michael Mignano, Partner at Lightspeed and Co-Founder of Anchor, speaks with Founders, Engineers, Designers and other leaders that are leveraging AI to take their products to new heights.

Stay in touch:

• www.lsvp.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lightspeedvp
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeedventurepartners/
• Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co
• Email: [email protected]

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.