EPISODE
Aditya Agarwal, Ariane Gorin, Nick Thompson, Chris Power, Christian Mochen, Dylan Field
00:01:00 Aditya Agarwal, managing partner at South Park Commons, discusses its new $575 million fund and the growing ambition of founders building capital-intensive deep-tech companies. He also covers founder dilution, AI-assisted application review, Series A fundraising, scientific diligence, and the importance of technical progress and rapid growth.
00:02:00 Ariane Gorin, CEO of Expedia Group and a former Microsoft executive, discusses strong travel demand and Expedia’s growth despite economic uncertainty and rising prices. She explains how Expedia is using AI to personalize trip planning, improve productivity, expand partnerships with AI platforms, and build toward a personal travel-agent experience.
00:03:00 Nick Thompson discusses his role as CEO of The Atlantic and his strategy for growing subscriptions through trusted, high-quality journalism. He explores print’s enduring value, evolving approaches to video and Substack talent, and how AI may reshape journalism, audience behavior, and the broader media ecosystem.
00:04:00 Chris Power, founder and CEO of advanced manufacturing company Hadrian, discusses the company’s $1.37 billion raise and rapid expansion of its factories-as-a-service model for major defense and aerospace customers. He explains Hadrian’s full-stack approach to building and operating highly automated factories, its growing U.S. footprint, and its role in accelerating the adoption of emerging manufacturing technologies.
00:05:00 Christian Mochen discusses founding Atlas Motion, a company developing motion systems for autonomous and robotic platforms, beginning with small drone motors. Drawing on experience at Toyota, Tesla, Shield AI, and Mach Industries, he explains the company’s $11.5 million seed round, software-driven manufacturing strategy, operations in Manila, and plans to bring cost-competitive production to the United States.
00:06:00 Dylan Field discusses Figma’s strong growth, rising AI adoption, and the growing importance of design as coding becomes increasingly commoditized. The Figma co-founder and CEO explains how the company is developing AI tools that preserve human creativity and control while expanding its platform across design, code, and production workflows.