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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In this episode of The Venture Capital Podcast, Jon Bradshaw and Peter Harris are joined by Stine Mølgaard Sørensen, Partner at Alliance VC, a Nordic early-stage fund focused on AI.

Stine—an operator and repeat founder turned investor—shares how Nordic venture approaches contrarian vs consensus investing, why Scandinavia can be a powerful “safe launchpad” for startups, and what founders should consider when scaling beyond Europe. The conversation also tackles a question most investors avoid: when should a board member step down—and how do you make that change without blowing up relationships?

They also discuss Alliance VC’s portfolio, including 1X (humanoid robots) and Superside, plus what it takes to build real conviction early.

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AI is changing recruiting faster than most founders realize — and not always in the way they expect.

In this episode of The Venture Capital Podcast, we’re joined by Greg Toroosian, Founder & CEO of Samson Rose and host of Machine Minds, to break down how AI, robotics, and automation are reshaping hiring, why resumes are starting to look the same, and what actually matters when evaluating talent in 2025 and beyond.

We unpack:

• Why AI-generated resumes are flooding hiring pipelines
• How recruiters are using AI (and where it breaks)
• Why startups are struggling to compete with Meta, Google, and Big Tech for talent
• The real reasons great candidates ignore outreach
• How founders can hire elite engineers without overpaying
• What’s changing in robotics and AI talent markets
• Which robotics companies Greg is most excited about right now

Whether you’re a founder, investor, recruiter, or engineer, this episode is a no-BS look at what’s actually happening in the talent market — and how to stay ahead as AI rewrites the rules.

🎧 Listen for practical insights on hiring, retaining top talent, and building teams in the age of AI and robotics.

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In this episode of The Venture Capital Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Muthu Alagappan, CEO & Co-Founder of Council Health, and Rob Biederman, Managing Partner at Asymmetric Capital Partners, to explore how AI is reshaping healthcare delivery.

We unpack the idea of “care at the cost of compute”, why primary care is fundamentally broken, and how AI-native, physician-supervised models could dramatically expand clinical supply without sacrificing safety.

You’ll hear a candid discussion on:

• Why healthcare has massive supply–demand gaps
• AI hallucinations and why off-the-shelf models aren’t safe for medical advice
• How Council combines medical AI with real doctors in the same workflow
• Whether AI will replace primary care doctors or act as a co-pilot
• The role of data, prevention, and personalized care in the future of medicine

A grounded, real-world look at where AI actually works in healthcare — and where it shouldn’t.

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Rob Hadick (GP at Dragonfly) joins VC.fm to break down how crypto venture actually works through cycles — and why the smartest firms stay countercyclical when everyone else is panicking.

We go deep on the shift from “protocols capture all value” to the rise of crypto applications that generate real revenue, including prediction markets (Polymarket), stablecoin infrastructure, DeFi-backed fintech products, and the next era of tokenization + onchain financial rails.

Rob also explains stablecoins in plain English, why adoption is accelerating across emerging markets and Fortune 500s, and where AI + crypto overlaps in ways that aren’t pure speculation.

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Breaking into VC is harder than breaking into professional sports — literally.
In this episode, Intuit Ventures investor Tanvi Lal explains why VC recruiting is so broken, why most people don’t actually know why they want to be in venture, and how she finally cracked the code after dozens of rejections.

We dive into:
• Why VC hiring is a “barter system of social capital”
• The #1 mistake candidates make when trying to break in
• How corporate VC really works behind the scenes
• Why AI + accounting might be fintech’s wildest opportunity
• How founders should think about taking CVC money
• The difference between real ARR vs “founder math”

If you’re exploring VC, raising from VC, or trying to understand AI’s impact on finance — this conversation hits.

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