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PODCAST

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist

American Optimist, hosted by Joe Lonsdale: entrepreneur, investor, and founder of four multi-billion dollar companies and other mission-driven organizations. American Optimist is an alternative to the fear, cynicism, and zero-sum thinking in mainstream media. Learn from the innovators and leaders who are solving our nation’s most pressing challenges, and doing it in a way that will lift everyone up. Hope should dominate our discourse, and American Optimist will show you why. blog.joelonsdale.com

technology

All Episodes

32:36

Ep 165: OPM Director Scott Kupor on Shrinking...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/10/08

Scott Kupor is the Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and has achieved some of the most important reforms in DC in only a couple years. How has he reduced the size of the federal government for the first time in generations? How is he bringing merit back to the civil service? And what is he doing to incentivize and make it easier for our best minds to serve in government?Before joining the Trump administration, Scott was employee number one at Andreessen Horowitz. As Managing

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58:25

Ep 164: Inside Anthropic with Sholto Douglas &...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/10/02

Anthropic is one of the fastest-growing companies in history and sits at the forefront of the AI race. This week, we’re joined by two key leaders on Anthropic’s technical team — Sholto Douglas and Nicholas Marwell — for an inside look at the AI frontier. Are we on the cusp of AGI — and what does that mean? What are they most excited about and most concerned about? And where does Anthropic stand on open source, as well as criticisms of its regulatory approach? Sholto Douglas grew up in Sydney,

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44:12

Ep 163: John Jovanovic on Turning Around the U.S....

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/09/29

John Jovanovic is the President and Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. After years of mismanagement, Ex-Im is now profitable and has become a key driver of American reindustrialization. How did he turn the bank around? What's behind a new $12 billion critical mineral reserve to secure supply chains? And how is he seeing AI impact factory floors across America?The grandson of a Chicago steelworker, Jovanovic spent his career in energy, commodities, and supply chains — most

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44:54

Ep 162: Brian Chau Built an AI That Uncovers Fraud —...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/09/18

Brian Chau is an investigative journalist using AI to uncover widespread corruption and billions in fraud. He recently revealed how the Effective Altruism movement bought and planted AI doomer articles, and he exposed the firm behind the frontier lab hack that's fueling AI hysteria. Now he's breaking his newest story: a $21 billion racial wealth transfer in healthcare payments across 35 states. How is he using AI to uncover stories that no other journalist could find? Why does he believe that AI is

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36:37

Ep 161: Generalist CEO Pete Florence on the Robot...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/08/24

Until recently, robots were constrained to narrow, specific tasks. Think assembly lines, medical devices, or household vacuum cleaners. But now all that is changing. One robot trained by Generalist's foundation model can do everything from folding clothes and washing dishes to sorting objects and repairing other robots. How are Pete Florence and the Generalist team bringing AI to the physical world? Why is intelligence, not hardware, the key unlock for robotics? And how could general-purpose robots

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43:11

Ep 160: Box CEO Aaron Levie on Silicon Valley's AI...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/07/30

Aaron Levie has spent two decades building Box into a cloud storage leader — and he's never been more excited for the future. What's next in the AI wave? Where is he already seeing evidence for new job creation? What do the doomers and accelerationists both get wrong? And why is Silicon Valley's biggest AI challenge self-inflicted? We discuss these topics and more in this week's episode with Aaron. Originally a college project to access his files from anywhere, Aaron dropped out of USC in 2005 to

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39:49

Ep 159: Aaron Cannon Is Building the Leading AI...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/07/02

Aaron Cannon is applying AI to solve one of the oldest and most important challenges in business: understanding exactly what customers want and need. Traditional consumer surveys often provide low-quality data, while one-on-one interviews are cost-prohibitive and not scalable. But AI unlocks profound new possibilities. How is Aaron using AI to conduct deep, insightful interactions at scale? What happens when organizations have always-on customer understanding? And what are the new opportunities for

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39:02

Ep 158: Nima Ghamsari on Blend's Comeback & the Power...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/06/18

Nima Ghamsari was a top talent at Palantir before founding Blend Labs to digitize the mortgage process. Blend became one of Silicon Valley’s hottest SaaS companies until the mortgage industry came to a screeching halt in recent years. Now, the AI wave has Blend poised for a comeback. What will the future of home buying look like? Why is Nima all-in on AI agents? And how can AI supercharge established tech companies with the will and talent to rethink things from scratch?In this episode, we’re joined

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39:41

Ep 157: Scott Nolan on the AI Energy Crisis &...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/06/05

In 2010, the U.S. and China were at parity in electricity generation. Today, China boasts triple our capacity. We’re at the vanguard of the AI revolution but falling dangerously behind in energy production. Scott Nolan has identified a key bottleneck in nuclear energy and is at the forefront of the effort to scale nuclear power and help America achieve energy abundance.While studying at Cornell University, Scott landed an internship at Boeing. He quickly jumped to SpaceX as an early employee and

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49:38

Ep 156: Coleman Hughes Takes on America's Most...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/05/29

Is America’s national wealth built on slavery? Are disparities between races today attributable to past injustices? Will we ever overcome race politics? These difficult questions are at the heart of Coleman Hughes’ new course at the University of Austin titled “The Legacy of Slavery.”Coleman is one of the clearest voices confronting race-essentialism in America today. He’s the author of The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America, host of the Conversations with Coleman podcast, and

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30:26

Ep 155: Eric Scott on the Biggest Missed Opportunity...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/05/22

As a former Principal at Founders Fund, Founding Partner at SciFi VC, and 8VC advisor, Eric Scott has invested in and helped build numerous technology leaders. He’s launching his new fund, Overlook Capital, where he sees missed opportunities in the market. How has venture investing evolved in recent years? Where does he see the dislocations? And how will AI change the game going forward?After graduating from Claremont McKenna College, Eric emailed his way into Max Levchin’s network, becoming an

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33:53

Ep 154: Jacob Helberg on Pax Silica & the New Global...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/05/19

Jacob Helberg is leading the State Department's efforts to secure critical supply chains and win the global AI race. How is the U.S. shifting from dependency on China to building new partnerships around energy, minerals, and infrastructure? Which economies will grow fastest in the AI era? Who will be left behind? And how will this impact geopolitics? We discuss these timely topics with Jacob, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment. A tech policy veteran who worked

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44:04

Ep 153: Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar on Heretics, AI...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/05/08

Shyam Sankar is one of my favorite American innovators. As CTO of Palantir, he's been a key leader for over 20 years and built much of what the company stands for. He's also a patriot, and recently commissioned as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. His new best-selling book "Mobilize" lays out the crisis of the American industrial base, how to revive what made us a global superpower, and what it will take to prevent the next great power conflict. Shyam's father was raised in a mud hut in

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38:32

Ep 152: Ben Black Runs America's $200B Foreign...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/04/30

Ben Black is the CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Backed by a $205 billion budget, his mandate is to invest in U.S. strategic interests, build new markets, and deliver real returns for taxpayers. What projects is the DFC prioritizing? How is he countering China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative? And how is the Trump administration shifting from a paternalistic view of foreign aid toward investing with accountability and an expectation of returns? A

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41:17

Ep 151: The Myth of Michael Milken with Richard Sandler

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/04/24

Michael Milken revolutionized American finance and democratized access to capital for thousands of companies that Wall Street had previously written off. Yet he was unjustly attacked in the 1980s in one of the most controversial prosecutions in U.S. history. As one of Michael’s key defense lawyers, Richard Sandler sets the record straight in his new book: Witness to a Prosecution: The Myth of Michael Milken. How did Michael transform capital markets through high-yield bonds? Why was he unfairly

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34:44

Ep 150: How AI Is Transforming Diligence,...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/04/17

John Melas-Kyriazi is the co-founder and CEO of Standard Metrics, which powers portfolio management for more than 150 venture capital firms and 10,000 companies. He runs a high-growth SaaS company at the leading edge of the AI wave. How is AI transforming how investors source and diligence deals? How are agents parsing pitch decks, prepping board meetings, and building powerful new workflows? And as competitive advantages shift, what are the new moats for SaaS companies in the AI age? We discuss

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34:48

Ep 149: Will Fry on the Small Business Succession...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/04/09

In the coming years, over two million small businesses will change hands or close their doors as Baby Boomers retire. Will Fry, Founder and CEO of American Operator, is on a mission to save Main Street and seize this opportunity for the next generation of local owners and operators. How does the operate-to-own model work? Should talented young people think twice about traditional careers and pursue ownership opportunities instead? And why is Will especially bullish on small business in the AI

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38:28

Ep 148: JoeBen Bevirt, Founder & CEO of Joby Aviation...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/04/03

Last year, JoeBen Bevirt joined the show to discuss the vision behind Joby Aviation and bringing air taxis to life. Now, he's back to talk execution and getting to market this year! What states will be first to offer Joby rides — and when? How is Joby ramping up manufacturing to meet the moment? And how is AI making Joby’s top scientists over 10X more productive and accelerating decades of advancement into the next few years?" As Founder and CEO of Joby Aviation, JoeBen has spent more than a decade

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53:09

Ep 147: Scott Wu & Russell Kaplan on the New Era of...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/03/27

Scott Wu and Russell Kaplan, co-founders of Cognition, are leading one of the fastest-growing, talent-dense AI companies. Their mission: make expert software engineering ubiquitous. What does a world of software abundance look like? How is Cognition delivering massive productivity gains inside some of the largest companies and organizations? And can AI finally modernize the broken, $100 billion government IT systems? We discuss these and other timely topics with Scott and Russell. Scott was a

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35:51

Ep 146: Jake Paul & Geoff Woo on Building Anti Fund,...

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist ·

2026/03/19

Jake Paul is a social media influencer-turned-entrepreneur and boxer. He’s not only one of the most popular figures on the planet among Gen Z, but also an outspoken patriot, capitalist, and builder. Together, he and Geoff Woo founded Anti Fund and have backed OpenAI, Anduril, Ramp, among others. Why did Jake decide to speak out on politics? How do we win over the next generation? And how is AI changing the culture, from new social media platforms to prediction markets and the revival of in-person

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127 results

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