Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist

Joe Lonsdale
  • 4.6 (170)
  • Technology

American Optimist, hosted by Joe Lonsdale: entrepreneur, investor, and founder of four multi-billion dollar companies and other mission-driven organizations. American Optimist is an alternative to the fear, cynicism, and zero-sum thinking in mainstream media. Learn from the innovators and leaders who are solving our nation’s most pressing challenges, and doing it in a way that will lift everyone up. Hope should dominate our discourse, and American Optimist will show you why. blog.joelonsdale.com

  1. 13h ago

    Ep 161: Generalist CEO Pete Florence on the Robot Revolution & Bringing General Intelligence to the Physical World

    Until recently, robots were constrained to narrow, specific tasks. Think assembly lines, medical devices, or household vacuum cleaners. But now all that is changing. One robot trained by Generalist's foundation model can do everything from folding clothes and washing dishes to sorting objects and repairing other robots. How are Pete Florence and the Generalist team bringing AI to the physical world? Why is intelligence, not hardware, the key unlock for robotics? And how could general-purpose robots unlock 10 times more scientific progress in the years ahead?Pete grew up in the Bay Area, earned his PhD at MIT, and became a star scientist at Google DeepMind. In 2023, he left to co-found Generalist, which builds robotics foundation models to help bring general intelligence to the physical world. Its latest model, GEN-1.5, can now train robots in a matter of seconds on simple tasks such as folding laundry and sorting objects. For this conversation, we're also joined by 8VC Partner Vivek Gopalan. We begin with Pete's entrepreneurial journey and his epiphany in grad school — walk into any robotics lab and the robots were standing still most hours of the day. Pete unpacks why robots, like humans, learn through data and experience, and why intelligence, not hardware, is the next frontier for robotics. At DeepMind he specialized in bringing multimodal learning (language models + vision models) into robotics, and he's now bringing that to the next level with robotic world models at Generalist. We dive into robotics' GPT-3 moment, the emergent capabilities Generalist is seeing — including self-taught ambidexterity — and the data moats that will shape the industry. Finally, we explore what a world of abundant robots means for science, reindustrialization, and American prosperity. 00:00 Episode intro 01:30 Bay Area to MIT and DeepMind 03:55 Pete's epiphany: robots sitting still 08:30 Why intelligence, not hardware, is the next frontier 13:20 The GPT-3 era of robotics 14:55 Why leave DeepMind? 16:50 How to train robot brains 18:30 Emergent ambidexterity 20:40 LLMs vs robot world models 23:50 GEN-0, GEN-1 & scaling laws in robotics 27:28 10x more science per year 32:50 Skilled trades, reindustrialization & future of robots This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

  2. Jul 30

    Ep 160: Box CEO Aaron Levie on Silicon Valley's AI Problem, Evidence for AI Job Creation & What Doomers and Accelerationists Get Wrong

    Aaron Levie has spent two decades building Box into a cloud storage leader — and he's never been more excited for the future. What's next in the AI wave? Where is he already seeing evidence for new job creation? What do the doomers and accelerationists both get wrong? And why is Silicon Valley's biggest AI challenge self-inflicted? We discuss these topics and more in this week's episode with Aaron. Originally a college project to access his files from anywhere, Aaron dropped out of USC in 2005 to build Box. He raised his first funding from Mark Cuban and pivoted to the enterprise. Today, Box is a multi-billion dollar company serving 120,000 global customers, and Aaron has become one of tech's leading voices on AI in the enterprise. We begin our conversation with the state of model progress and the unprecedented speed of the AI era — companies going from zero to $500M in revenue in a year or two. We also discuss the Kimi K3 debate and China closing the gap on the U.S. in the AI race. Next, Aaron explains why diffusion, not intelligence, is the real rate limiter for AI adoption, and what the challenges will be at the enterprise level. Then we dive into the jobs debate: Aaron explains the 13 new types of jobs AI has created at Box, why law firms now need teams of engineers for their own custom AI models, and why mass job destruction means betting against markets themselves. Finally, we tackle Silicon Valley's self-inflicted AI crisis and why it may become the number one issue of the next presidential election. (00:00) Episode intro (01:15) AI wave / every two months is a year now (06:30) China, Kimi K3 & open-source debate (10:45) Diffusion is the real rate limiter (15:50) Agent-first startups vs incumbents (19:00) Nobody reads those contracts — AI’s new work (23:35) Silicon Valley’s AI Problem / Larry David making AI models (29:20) 13 new types of AI jobs at Box (32:20) The origins of Box / dropping out of college (37:00) Favorite angel investments right now (40:20) Optimism for America’s future This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

  3. Jul 2

    Ep 159: Aaron Cannon Is Building the Leading AI Customer Research Platform; It's About to Upend a $140B Industry

    Aaron Cannon is applying AI to solve one of the oldest and most important challenges in business: understanding exactly what customers want and need. Traditional consumer surveys often provide low-quality data, while one-on-one interviews are cost-prohibitive and not scalable. But AI unlocks profound new possibilities. How is Aaron using AI to conduct deep, insightful interactions at scale? What happens when organizations have always-on customer understanding? And what are the new opportunities for incorporating real-time feedback into product improvements? Aaron Cannon is the co-founder and CEO of Outset, one of the fastest-growing, agent-led customer research platforms. Try it yourself here and help us improve American Optimist; we'll incorporate the top recommendations! Prior, Aaron was the head of product at Untapped and Triplebyte and worked in senior product roles at Tesla, Pebble, and Monitor Deloitte. He launched Outset in 2022 after seeing an opportunity with large language models to fundamentally change how organizations learn from the people they serve. For this conversation, we're also joined by 8VC Partner Jack Moshkovich, who helped lead our investment in Outset. We begin with Aaron’s path to founding Outset and the inefficiencies he saw in traditional customer research. Next, we explore how Outset’s AI-moderated interviews work in practice — from consumer studies to enterprise deployments at Microsoft, Google, and Uber. Learn how AI-led interviews can actually elicit more honest and in-depth responses than human-led conversations. Then, we dive into the explosive growth of the company — 8X revenue over the past year — and its “forward-deployed researchers" model. Finally, Aaron shares his vision for "self-driving research": AI that doesn’t just gather feedback but helps close the loop by identifying problems and even suggesting fixes — ultimately leading to improved products, experiences, and organizations. 00:00 Episode intro 01:10 Aaron’s entrepreneurial journey 06:00 How does AI-moderated research work? 09:25 Why people will talk to AI more than humans 13:40 How Outset landed Microsoft, Google & Uber 14:55 Are you replacing human jobs? 20:56 New possibilities for real-time product improvements 23:30 The pros and cons of synthetic research 28:00 Insane growth / how Outset 8X’d revenue 35:00 How AI is upending a $140B industry This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

  4. Jun 18

    Ep 158: Nima Ghamsari on Blend's Comeback & the Power of AI Agents and Infinite Workforce

    Nima Ghamsari was a top talent at Palantir before founding Blend Labs to digitize the mortgage process. Blend became one of Silicon Valley’s hottest SaaS companies until the mortgage industry came to a screeching halt in recent years. Now, the AI wave has Blend poised for a comeback. What will the future of home buying look like? Why is Nima all-in on AI agents? And how can AI supercharge established tech companies with the will and talent to rethink things from scratch? In this episode, we’re joined by the Founder and Head of Blend, Nima Ghamsari. We begin with his parents immigrating from Iran to the U.S. in the 1980s and how Nima made his way to Stanford. He quickly made a name for himself as a talented online poker player — winning millions of dollars and famously showing up to Palantir as a new hire in an Aston Martin. Learn about the lessons Nima brought with him from Palantir into building Blend, and how he took on the ambitious task of bringing the outdated, cumbersome mortgage process online. Next, we dive into Blend’s meteoric rise and fall as the U.S. mortgage industry hit the skids in recent years. Now, Nima believes AI has the company poised for a comeback. Learn about its AI agent, “Autopilot,” and why Blend has the most deployed agents in financial services right now. On this podcast, we talk a lot about new AI-first companies; Blend is a great example of a talented SaaS company embracing AI for a powerful Act II. 00:00 Episode intro 01:45 Millions playing poker to joining Palantir 06:00 Most important lessons from Palantir 07:30 Founding Blend / understanding the mortgage industry 11:25 How to win over banks and risk-averse customers 15:50 Blend’s meteoric rise and fall 19:00 Going all-in on AI agents / Blend’s Act II 22:55 Is Blend undervalued today? 26:50 Impact of AI on internal operations / increased productivity 32:00 The future of SaaS 36:20 The optimistic case for AI Disclosure: Joe Lonsdale is a principal of Eight Partners VC, LLC (“8VC”), a registered investment adviser whose funds currently hold shares of Blend Labs, Inc. (“Blend”). Joe also has a longstanding personal relationship with Blend and its CEO, having served as an early investor, adviser, and board member. The statements in this episode reflect Joe’s personal views as of the date of recording and may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Nothing in this episode constitutes investment, legal, tax, or financial advice, nor should any statement be understood as a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security or invest in any 8VC-managed vehicle. Listeners should conduct their own research and consult their own professional advisers before making any investment decisions. American Optimist is Joe’s personal podcast; the views expressed are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of 8VC or its affiliates. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

  5. Jun 5

    Ep 157: Scott Nolan on the AI Energy Crisis & America's Nuclear Renaissance

    In 2010, the U.S. and China were at parity in electricity generation. Today, China boasts triple our capacity. We’re at the vanguard of the AI revolution but falling dangerously behind in energy production. Scott Nolan has identified a key bottleneck in nuclear energy and is at the forefront of the effort to scale nuclear power and help America achieve energy abundance. While studying at Cornell University, Scott landed an internship at Boeing. He quickly jumped to SpaceX as an early employee and worked on the Falcon propulsion systems and Dragon capsule. He later became Partner at Founders Fund, where he focuses on energy, infrastructure, biotech, and other key sectors. In 2024, he founded General Matter to rebuild America’s nuclear enrichment capacity. We begin the episode with Scott’s entrepreneurial journey, the contrast between Boeing and SpaceX, and how to build a culture that prioritizes speed and performance in a highly regulated sector. Next, Scott explains the origins of General Matter and breaks down the science behind creating nuclear fuel. In the 1980s, the U.S. produced 80% of global enriched uranium; today that number is zero. Learn how post-Cold War disarmament destroyed our capacity to the point where we are now reliant on Russia, among others, for enrichment. Scott explains how China surged ahead in electricity generation, and what it will take to jumpstart America’s nuclear renaissance. Finally, we cover exciting new possibilities, including nuclear power in space and on the moon, and what a future of cheap, abundant energy could look like. 00:00 Episode intro 01:20 Boeing vs SpaceX / lessons on speed & performance 05:20 What made SpaceX unique? 09:05 General Matter / how to make nuclear fuel 16:45 Disarmament and relying on Russia 19:50 The AI energy crisis / falling behind China 24:30 Founders Fund and energy investing 27:15 How to scale nuclear energy 32:00 How to fund the nuclear buildout 36:15 Nuclear in space & new possibilities This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

  6. May 29

    Ep 156: Coleman Hughes Takes on America's Most Contentious Debate: the Legacy of Slavery

    Is America’s national wealth built on slavery? Are disparities between races today attributable to past injustices? Will we ever overcome race politics? These difficult questions are at the heart of Coleman Hughes’ new course at the University of Austin titled “The Legacy of Slavery.” Coleman is one of the clearest voices confronting race-essentialism in America today. He’s the author of The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America, host of the Conversations with Coleman podcast, and a visiting professor at the University of Austin. In this episode, Coleman takes us behind the scenes of his new UATX course, where he examines the two opposing philosophies that emerged from the civil rights era: Dr. King’s colorblind vision and Derrick Bell’s Critical Race Theory. He breaks these down into two camps -- minimalist and maximalist -- and explains how he equips students to weigh the merits of each side. He contrasts the UATX approach, where Thomas Sowell versus Ta-Nehisi Coates takes center stage, to his time at Columbia University and its obsession with racial grievances. Then we dive into a few legacy debates: Is America’s wealth due to slavery? Is the collapse of the two-parent black family a result of past injustice? Finally, Coleman lays out three steps toward an optimistic vision for race in America: get race out of the law (end affirmative action), stop programming children to see race, and foster a growing economy with opportunity for all. 00:00 Episode intro 01:40 Teaching the Legacy of Slavery 06:20 Coleman’s journey from Columbia to UATX 08:30 Dr. King vs Derrick Bell 11:20 Racial disparities by IQ and salary 13:00 Thomas Sowell & the Real History of Slavery 19:00 America’s Founding hypocrisy 24:00 Will the Left cancel Dr. King? 26:20 Understanding the 1619 Project 30:25 Breakdown of the black family 37:20 Is America wealthy because of slavery? 43:50 Are you worried about woke AI? 45:40 Three solutions for racial progress This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

  7. May 22

    Ep 155: Eric Scott on the Biggest Missed Opportunity in Venture Investing

    As a former Principal at Founders Fund, Founding Partner at SciFi VC, and 8VC advisor, Eric Scott has invested in and helped build numerous technology leaders. He’s launching his new fund, Overlook Capital, where he sees missed opportunities in the market. How has venture investing evolved in recent years? Where does he see the dislocations? And how will AI change the game going forward? After graduating from Claremont McKenna College, Eric emailed his way into Max Levchin’s network, becoming an early employee at HVF Labs where he learned to invest and build companies. He later spun out SciFi VC as its Founding Partner, before landing as a Principal at Founders Fund. He was an early investor in Anduril, Crusoe Energy, among others, and a senior advisor at 8VC where he helped us launch Harbor Health. We begin our conversation with Eric’s journey — from persuading Max Levchin to hire him as a technical assistant to investing at HVF and launching SciFi VC. Next, we dive into the state of venture today. Learn why Eric believes that larger and larger fund sizes are concentrating capital into the hottest AI bets, creating real inefficiencies just below the top tier. He lays out the thesis behind his new firm and where he sees missed opportunities. Finally, Eric shares his optimistic vision for the years ahead and why he believes this is one of the best times in a generation to start and build important companies. 00:00 Episode intro 01:30 Meeting Max Levchin and learning to build 06:30 Launching SciFi VC & investment lessons 12:05 How VC is changing 13:40 Biggest missed opportunity in venture 16:15 Enormous dislocations in the market 21:30 How AI is changing the game 24:00 Overlook Capital 27:50 Optimism for the future This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

  8. May 19

    Ep 154: Jacob Helberg on Pax Silica & the New Global Order in the AI Age

    Jacob Helberg is leading the State Department's efforts to secure critical supply chains and win the global AI race. How is the U.S. shifting from dependency on China to building new partnerships around energy, minerals, and infrastructure? Which economies will grow fastest in the AI era? Who will be left behind? And how will this impact geopolitics? We discuss these timely topics with Jacob, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment. A tech policy veteran who worked at Google and Palantir before serving on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Jacob was confirmed last fall to help execute the administration’s economic statecraft agenda. He's the author of "The Wires of War: Technology and the Global Struggle for Power."We begin our conversation with Jacob’s mission at the State Department and the launch of Pax Silica: a new US-led economic security coalition to secure supply chains and help America dominate in AI innovation. We dive into Jacob's recent deal in the Philippines to build an AI-native industrial hub, and explore the contrast with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Next, Jacob makes the bull case for AI drawing on lessons from history: the PC revolution displaced 3.5 million jobs, he explains, but created 19 million more with the advent of the software industry! Finally, he explains why principled, positive-sum diplomacy is delivering results where old models failed, and how the AI revolution is transforming the global balance of power. 00:00 Episode intro 02:30 Historic deal with Philippines 05:25 Jacob's background 07:30 Why is Europe falling behind? 13:00 The asymmetric power of tech 15:35 Jacob responds to AI doomers & skeptics 19:15 Global Competition: China, AI, and Diverging Growth 21:45 What is Pax Silica? 23:45 New Global Order in AI age 29:30 Is China pushing back? 31:45 Optimism for the future This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

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4.6
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American Optimist, hosted by Joe Lonsdale: entrepreneur, investor, and founder of four multi-billion dollar companies and other mission-driven organizations. American Optimist is an alternative to the fear, cynicism, and zero-sum thinking in mainstream media. Learn from the innovators and leaders who are solving our nation’s most pressing challenges, and doing it in a way that will lift everyone up. Hope should dominate our discourse, and American Optimist will show you why. blog.joelonsdale.com

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