David Senra

a16z's First Employee on the History of a16z, Venture Capital & Fixing the Government | Scott Kupor

Scott Kupor, a former managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz who now directs the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, talks with David Senra about the firm's early history, its services-plus-capital model and its later decentralisation. The second half covers his move into government, the incentive and performance problems he sees in federal HR, and efforts to recruit early-career talent and digitise retirement processing.

4 Nov · 58 min

High School Dropout to Multi-Billionaire: The Relentless Drive of Rafael Vivas

David Senra interviews Rafael Vivas, an executive at AppLovin, about how he went from a high school dropout who was told to move out of his parents' house to a leader of a multibillion-dollar mobile advertising company. They cover AppLovin's origins alongside Adam Foroughi, its games business, the stock collapse and buyback, and its performance-driven culture.

1 Nov · 1 h 7 min

From a $27,500 Charter Company to a $4 Billion Private Jet Giant | Kenn Ricci, Flexjet

David Senra interviews Kenn Ricci, chairman and largest shareholder of Flexjet, about raising his children with early wealth transfer, his years as a pilot, and how he built Flight Options into Flexjet, the fractional private jet company. The conversation also covers his business deals, including the sale of Mercury Air Centers, and his later reflections on purpose and service.

28 Oct · 1 h 11 min

Competition, Intensity & Building a $115 Billion Global Bank | Nik Storonsky, Revolut

David Senra interviews Revolut co-founder and chief executive Nik Storonsky about competition, building a global bank and his management philosophy. They discuss Revolut's regulatory journey, its AI-driven operations, its bet-based internal structure, and Storonsky's venture fund Quantum Light.

25 Oct · 1 h 7 min

Managing $525 Billion by Rethinking Wealth Management | Kurt MacAlpine, Corient

Kurt MacAlpine, partner and CEO of Corient, describes how he took over the Canadian asset manager CI Financial, pitched a plan to build a global ultra-high-net-worth wealth manager, and designed Corient's partnership structure, single compensation plan and acquisitions. David Senra probes the strategy, the stock market reaction, the take-private by Mubadala Capital, and Corient's advertising and Miami headquarters.

18 Oct · 1 h 20 min

Creating Muse: The Fastest-Growing AI Product Since ChatGPT | Alexandr Wang, Meta

David Senra interviews Alexandr Wang, co-founder of Scale AI and head of Meta's AI model work, about how Meta built Muse, a consumer personal AI agent app. They cover the origins of Meta Superintelligence Labs, the OpenClaw-inspired prototype, the seven-month push to make the product reliable, Muse's unconventional social media marketing, and Wang's move from Scale AI to Meta.

11 Oct · 1 h 12 min

How Mark Zuckerberg, Palmer Luckey, Josh Kushner & Scott Wu Think | Jeremy Stern

David Senra interviews Jeremy Stern, editor of the Colossus media company and writer of long-form profiles, about his recent profile of Mark Zuckerberg and his earlier profiles of Palmer Luckey, Scott Wu and Josh Kushner. They discuss how Stern works, the ideas behind his writing, and his view of the people shaping American life today.

4 Oct · 1 h 8 min

Bringing AI to the Real Economy | Alexander Taubman

Alexander Taubman, co-founder and CEO of Long Lake Management, joins David Senra to explain the firm's push to deploy AI across the real economy, including its planned $6.3bn take-private of American Express Global Business Travel. They discuss Long Lake's roll-up model, its Nexus AI platform, its hiring and team structure, and the founder-focused investing lessons Taubman draws from Henry Singleton, John Malone and Goldman Sachs.

30 Sept · 1 h 2 min

Building the Streetwear Empire Kith | Ronnie Fieg

David Senra interviews Kith founder Ronnie Fieg about how his childhood in Queens, early work at David Z and passion for sneakers shaped Kith, a streetwear brand that has grown into retail, hospitality and design businesses. They discuss his philosophy of building products for himself and for a loyal community, his rejection of wholesale and licensing, and his plans for stores, Kith Ivy, Ronnie's restaurants and an exhibition of his footwear archive.

27 Sept · 1 h 30 min

Building One of the Fastest Growing CPG Companies in History | Peter Rahal of David Protein, Medici Brands & RXBAR

David Senra interviews Peter Rahal, co-founder of RXBAR, David Protein and Medici Brands, about why he was miserable as an investor after selling RXBAR for $600m, how he came back to protein bars, and how he is building David into a multi-brand food company. They discuss brand identity, hiring former founders, the acquisition of the ingredient maker Epogee and the antitrust suit that followed, and Rahal's fundraising and management philosophy.

20 Sept · 1 h 21 min

Luca Ferrari on Building Bending Spoons: Extreme Ownership, Talent Science & Relentless Simplification

David Senra interviews Luca Ferrari, co-founder and CEO of Bending Spoons, about how the Italian software company hires, operates and acquires businesses. They cover its talent-science hiring, extreme ownership culture, relentless simplification, the Evernote turnaround and plans for an IPO.

13 Sept · 2 h 1 min

Mati Staniszewski on ElevenLabs, Voice AI & Building the Communication Layer for AI

David Senra interviews Mati Staniszewski, co-founder and CEO of ElevenLabs, about building an AI-native voice company. They trace how a dubbing idea led to audio research and a broader communication platform, and discuss deployments for customers such as Deutsche Telekom, small-team management, the voice marketplace, and whether the company should sell.

9 Sept · 1 h 11 min

Lessons From Backing The Best Founders In Fintech | Micky Malka

David Senra interviews Micky Malka, founder of the fintech venture firm Ribbit Capital, about his life as an entrepreneur and investor. They cover his first Berkshire Hathaway share at 13, the Brazilian branchless bank Lemon Bank, Ribbit's Series A in Revolut and its joint venture with Walmart, OnePay, and his 'token factory' thesis about AI and money. Malka also explains Node, the digital art studio he opened in downtown Palo Alto.

2 Aug · 1 h 16 min