Ep #281# on The High Flyers Podcast is live! Grateful to Mike for trusting me to do his first in-depth interview in a few years 🙏 Mike Vernal joined Facebook very early, worked closely with Mark Zuckerberg to help build its products and platform, then became an investor at Sequoia and now backs the next generation of technology at Conviction. Mike and I cover: • How Facebook learned to move faster than anyone thought possible • The “1 billion users” conversation Mike never forgot • Why he left Facebook for a career he once dismissed - joining @sequoia as a VC • How Mike spots founders who are truly in it to win • Why the best two years of his life came after Sequoia • What pulled him back into venture • Why software creation is heading towards zero cost • Why this tech wave rewards speed, taste and 110% products And yes, why people who know him call him “the nerd’s nerd.” Listen here: _ Mike's re-imagined high flyer: David Treadwell Thx for research help: @pranavreddy @saranormous @vijayeraji @stanine People mentioned: @noahrshinn @ivanhzhao @parkerconrad @schreier cc: @Alfred_Lin @gradypb @laurenmhreeder @igarciacamargo @kareemamin @conviction @eladgil

Ep #274# of The High Flyers Podcast is live! Re-imagine a high flyer with Keith Rabois (@rabois) -- in arguably his most personal conversation yet. We explore: ▪️ The childhood not widely shared before ▪️ Online Keith vs real Keith ▪️ How Peter Thiel’s criticism transformed him ▪️ The overlooked years after PayPal ▪️ Handwritten notes, banned laptops & Assistants ▪️ Real product-market fit vs corporate curiosity in AI today ▪️ How he would build his own VC fund today ▪️ The five people he’d spend two hours with and why ▪️ One thing he's learnt from @jacobhelberg -> LISTEN HERE: Thx for the research help: @kevinhartz, @zebulgar, @mike_sheb, @justindross, @geoffdonaker, @vhankes Ppl mentioned include: @DavidSacks, @winstonweinberg, @reidhoffman, @mlevchin, @sama, @danielgross, @t_xu

Ep #272# is live! In what I believe is his first in-depth interview -- Dylan Babbs shares how he went from an obsession with maps and his dream job at Uber to building @profound , one of AI’s fastest-growing companies: $33M revenue + $1B valuation in 18 months. We unpack: ▪️ Walking away from his dream job at Uber ▪️ Learning to fly + “run towards the anxiety” ▪️ The 3 ingredients every great startup needs ▪️ Why founders should “swim downstream” ▪️ Profound’s $5M target → $33M revenue ▪️ Why taste matters more in the AI era ▪️ What Fortune 50 CMOs are suddenly asking ▪️ AI Search + the rise of the “marketing engineer” 🎧 LISTEN HERE: Dylan's re-imagined "high flyer": @lukeshiels Thx for the research help: @rabois, @thejamescad, @ilyaf, @sach_pat, @MMCandyCheng, @ditzikow People mentioned include: @spc @scottbelsky, @maxaltman