Generative Now | AI Builders on Creating the Future

Generative AI took the world by storm with the launch of ChatGPT, and set companies worldwide scrambling to catch up to the possibilities. Navan, the only integrated business travel and expense solution, knew it had to run hard towards AI. Navan co-founder and CEO Ariel Cohen sat down with host and Lightspeed Partner Michael Mignano to discuss the mechanics of shifting a big company on the fly, an...

A collaborative digital whiteboard. Sounds simple, right? Steve Ruiz, founder of tldraw, found out the hard way that building this kind of tool was anything but easy. Steve joins host and Lightspeed Partner Michael Mignano to talk about iterating with an audience, following a problem through to its end, and his take on the future of open source software.  Episode Chapters [00:00] Introduction to S...

Over the last year, AI and LLMs have experienced an explosion of use. But the tech isn’t foolproof - hedging and hallucinations are just a couple of the concerns. That’s where Arthur AI comes in. They’ve built out firewalls, validation tools, and benchmarks to make sure that an LLM’s answer is one you can trust, whether you’re a military contractor or investment broker. Arthur AI Co-Founder and CE...

In this last episode of 2023, Lightspeed Partner and host Michael Mignano takes a look back at the first ten episodes of Generative Now to share a few favorite moments. Episode Chapters (00:00) Introduction (00:41) Connor Zwick on sneaking into early Berkeley courses on AI (04:08) Max Child on being first to a new platform (07:49) Gaurav Misra on how product market fit and a surprise $500k changed...

Duolingo is a worldwide powerhouse for consumers looking to learn a language, with a reputation for being engaging and interactive. Less known? All that AI does to power it.  In this episode, Duolingo’s Head of AI sits down with Lightspeed Partner and host Michael Mignano to chat about AI’s exponential growth, the connection between AI and the human brain, and what comes next.  Episode Chapters (0...

Captions. AI is taking the world of video creation by storm. With features like AI-corrected eye contact and automatic captions in 28 languages, more creators than ever can bring their ideas to life. Captions. AI Co-Founder and CEO Gaurav Misra joined Lightspeed Partner and Host Michael Mignano for a conversation spanning from his days as a design engineer at Snap to finding a surprise $500k in hi...

Kylan Gibbs got his start in social sciences, but after stumbling into startups via a winning pitch at a Singaporean business competition, he never looked back. He spent time as co-founder of FlowX, a consultant at Bain & Company, and Product Manager at Google.  Kylan talked with Lightspeed Partner and Host Michael Mignano about where he’s at today, and how Inworld AI is leveling up is changin...

Pinecone is one of the preeminent companies building in the generative AI space. Pinecone is able to integrate AI models and vector search databases to ensure that AI applications are getting the most relevant and up to date information as quickly as possible. Lightspeed Partner and host Michael Mignano spoke with Pinecone Founder and CEO Edo Liberty at a Generative NYC meet-up in early 2023. Epis...

Rewind is a personalized AI powered by everything you’ve seen, said, or heard. Rewind’s co-founder and CEO Dan Siroker lived several lifetimes before starting the company: product manager at Google, Director of Analytics for the 2008 Obama campaign, and co-founder of Optimizely. Lightspeed Partner and host Michael Mignano spent some time with Dan talking about the roads that got him to Rewind, and...

Hilary Mason was on the ground floor of data science research, and now she’s bringing that same pioneering spirit to generative AI. For this episode, Host and Partner at Lightspeed, Michael Mignano, talks with Hilary about how to safeguard probabilistic systems and how researchers and founders can form the most effective teams. Episode Chapters (00:00) - Intro (05:18) - A founder’s thoughts - NYC...

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 (...

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...

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...

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 Wo...

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.c...