Investment Bankers Built A $2B AI To Replace Themselves | Term Sheet

Investment Bankers Built A $2B AI To Replace Themselves | Term Sheet

Gabe Stengel studied computer science at Princeton and started his career as an investment banking analyst at Lazard. Then he did something a lot of bankers think about but never do: he quit at 23 to build the AI that would automate his old job. After 30 VC passes and two grueling years, his company Rogo just raised $160 million at a $2 billion valuation, and 35,000 bankers at firms like JPMorgan, Bank of America, and his former employer Lazard now use it. Fortune's Allie Garfinkle sits down with Gabe to talk about the future of M&A, why some Wall Street workflows will never need a human again, and what AI means for the next generation of investment bankers. 0:00 The Banker Automating Wall Street 0:16 What "AI for Wall Street" Actually Means 3:13 Inside the Billion-Dollar Deal Rooms 6:07 Quitting Wall Street at 23 7:35 The Brutal Early Days & 30 Rejections 14:45 Meet Felix, the AI That Never Sleeps 19:55 Will AI Kill Banking Jobs? 25:52 Competing With OpenAI, Anthropic & Google 30:08 Why a Finance Legend Bet on Him 35:30 Does Wall Street Still Matter? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

This Creator Investor On The Truth About The AI Gold Rush | Term Sheet

Claire Zau spent six years in venture capital and became the youngest investor to make partner at GSV. Then she did something very few other VCs were doing: she started posting social media videos about AI to inform the general public. A year, 337,000 followers and 1.6 million likes later, Lightspeed Venture Partners hired her in a role that's never existed in venture before: New Media and Investor. Fortune’s Allie Garfinkle sits down with Claire to talk about the AI bubble, AI education, the gap between Silicon Valley and the general public, and why one in three Gen Zers say AI makes them angry. 0:00 — From VC to Viral: How a Lightspeed Partner Built an Audience on Short-Form 0:29 — The Algorithm Is a Feedback Loop and VCs Are Finally Using It 8:37 — Why Some People Are Being Left Out of the AI Story 17:21 — Promethean Fire: The Case for Techno-Optimism When Everyone's Scared 11:23 — AI Literacy Is Like Sex Ed — You Don't Have to Love It, But You Need to Know 13:54 — The Real Problem With How People Are Using AI (And How to Fix It) 23:53 — AI Gives You Leverage, but Only If You Know How to Use It 24:49 — Can You Actually Build a Moat in AI? A VC Answers Honestly 28:21 — Why Early-Stage Investing Is Still a Bet on People, Not Products 30:29 — Bits and Atoms: The New Investment Thesis for the AI Hardware Era Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

From a Palo Alto Closet to $1 Billion Revenue: How Gusto Cracked Small Business Software | Term Sheet

Approximately nine out of every ten net new jobs in America come from small businesses, yet they shoulder over $81 billion a year in federal paperwork. As more Americans launch their own businesses, the back office is buckling under the weight. In this episode, Josh Reeves, cofounder and CEO of Gusto, a payroll, benefits, and HR platform for small businesses, breaks down the contrarian bet that built a $9 billion company. He and Fortune's Allie Garfinkle discuss why small business tech is often overlooked, why he doesn't think AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic will touch tax compliance, and how Gusto crossed $1 billion in revenue on its path to what Reeves believes is a trillion-dollar opportunity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

How to Raise a CEO: The "Godmother of Silicon Valley" Esther Wojcicki

What is the secret to raising world-class leaders? In this episode, Fortune’s Allie Garfinkle sits down with Esther Wojcicki, the legendary educator and "Godmother of Silicon Valley." As the mother of three high-achieving daughters—including the former CEO of YouTube and the founder of 23andMe—Esther shares her leadership and parenting philosophy that works as well in the boardroom as it does in the classroom. She is also joined by her former student, Mary Minno, to discuss their latest collaboration–TreeHub–an ambitious new venture in AI-driven healthcare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

The Startup Fighting to Save the American Farm with Modern Finance

American agriculture is the backbone of the U.S. economy, yet the average farmer earns only 5 cents of every dollar spent on food. With an almost 50% spike in bankruptcies of U.S. farms and margins thinner than ever due to falling revenues and rising production costs, the agricultural economy is facing an inflection point. In this episode, Mackenzie Burnett, CEO & Co-Founder of Ambrook–a modern finance toolkit for farmers, breaks down the high-stakes world of agricultural finance. She and Fortune's Allie Garfinkle discuss why many farms still rely on paper ledgers, the "unscalable" journey to find product-market fit in a skeptical industry, and how modern financial tools are a critical part of the strategy to save American family farms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]