In this episode of The Venture Capital Podcast (VC.fm), we sit down with Paul Allen, founder of Ancestry.com, to explore how public-domain data, viral growth, and platform risk shaped one of the most iconic internet businesses—and how AI is about to transform government, media, and civic life.

Paul breaks down the original insight behind Ancestry’s billion-dollar IPO, why genealogy was always a massive market hiding in plain sight, and the hard lessons he learned building on top of platforms like Facebook. We then go deep into his latest ventures, including CitizenPortal.ai and Elected.ai, which aim to use AI to bring transparency, efficiency, and accountability to government at every level.

This is a wide-ranging conversation on AI, startups, platforms, public data, and the future of governance—with sharp insights for founders, investors, and operators navigating the next technological wave.

In this episode, we cover:

• How Ancestry used public-domain data to build a multi-billion-dollar company
• The hidden size of the genealogy market (and how Paul validated it early)
• Scaling fast on platforms—and what happens when the platform pulls the plug
• Viral growth loops before paid ads, Facebook, or Google distribution
• CitizenPortal.ai: turning public meetings into objective local news using AI
• Elected.ai: dashboards for 500,000 elected officials to improve governance
• Using AI and automation to reduce government waste and improve services
• The future of AI, privacy, and why society may split into two paths
• Why AI could uplift humanity—or deepen control, depending on design choices

If you care about AI, startups, venture capital, govtech, public data, or building durable companies, this episode is for you.

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Loïc Houssier (CTO, Superhuman) joins VC.fm to unpack the Grammarly acquisition of Superhuman and what it signals about the future of AI-native productivity tools.

We talk AI in the workflow vs standalone AI tools (ChatGPT/Gemini), voice-first computing, vibe coding vs production engineering, AI’s impact on hiring, and why UX taste and product design may be the real moat in an era where everyone has access to the same LLMs.

Keywords: Grammarly acquires Superhuman, Superhuman email, Loïc Houssier, AI productivity, AI-native software, email AI, workflow AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, LLMs, vibe coding, Cursor, UX design moat, product-led growth, startup defensibility, AI hiring.

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#Superhuman #Grammarly #AI #Productivity #Startups #VentureCapital #Email #LLM #OpenAI #Anthropic #VibeCoding #UXDesign #ProductManagement #Engineering

Dating apps are broken — and AI matchmaking might be the next platform shift.

Dini (Nandini) Mullaji, co-founder of Sitch, joins Whitney Hazard (M13) to explain how conversational AI and LLMs are replacing swiping with a matchmaker-style experience: deep onboarding, memory, non-negotiables, and curated introductions.

We cover consumer AI defensibility, why Sitch avoids subscriptions (pay-per-setup), growth through referrals + branding, what dating data reveals (politics > height), and why AI should scale the matchmaker — not replace human connection.

Keywords: AI dating, matchmaking, dating apps, consumer AI startups, venture capital, M13, Sitch, LLMs, OpenAI, relationship tech, seed investing, Stanford GSB, growth marketing.

Guests

• Nandini Mullaji — Co-founder, Sitch
• Whitney Hazard — Investor, M13 (Seed + Series A)

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