00:58:47 · Teresa Carlson, Molly O'Shea
So our philosophy is we want to be solution providers, not problem identifiers. And that makes it I'm telling you, it's a huge tone difference if we go in with, we want to be helpful. So at the Institute, we go in with a, we're here to help. Like we're not we're trying to help you at the industry. For America, we want to make America great with these companies. If we're in Europe, we take our European companies in and we say, look, they've already built this tool. They are working to make Europe great. They've built their companies here. We want them to stay in Europe. So it's the same kind of model. We were just in India at the AI summit there, and we had a lot of our companies there. So it's really profound to be able to help these countries with their resilience, but they also have to want to help themselves to make sure that they have right policies and incentives in place, ensuring that these companies grow and thrive. Otherwise, if you don't have the right incentives, they can't grow and thrive. [00:59:52] S1: Wow. We only have five minutes left, but before we close, have two last questions. One we were talking about before the cameras started rolling, but you noticed this, I noticed this, more tech figures are going to DC, they're learning how to dress. Like it's really nice to see something other than a sweaty t shirt. Yes, yes. And to see some suits. So how do you also help these companies and how do you prepare them to come to Do you tell them what to wear, where to go buy the clothes? Well,
00:59:52 · Molly O'Shea, Teresa Carlson
[00:59:52] S1: Wow. We only have five minutes left, but before we close, have two last questions. One we were talking about before the cameras started rolling, but you noticed this, I noticed this, more tech figures are going to DC, they're learning how to dress. Like it's really nice to see something other than a sweaty t shirt. Yes, yes. And to see some suits. So how do you also help these companies and how do you prepare them to come to Do you tell them what to wear, where to go buy the clothes? Well, [01:00:25] S0: I laugh. I was sharing, Molly and I were talking before, and when I was at Microsoft, I shared with you in the ten years I was there, which was 02/2010, I never ever wore blue jeans. I mean, I would have been mortified to walk into any customer, the White House or lawmaker. It was just very formal. And every man wore a tie, a jacket. Women mainly, they wore pants and all, but it was a lot of suit dresses too. And I just didn't know the difference. It was just how I was taught. And when I first started AWS, I did struggle at AWS. I would have to say, You can't come in flip flops. And I remember the guy who ran our infrastructure, I love him to death, but I go and pick him up at the airport. He's going into the CIA, and he's literally got on blue jeans like a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops. And he has no other clothes. [01:01:20] S1: Oh my gosh. [01:01:21] S0: And I was like, what? I was like, [01:01:23] S1: no. And it wasn't Palmer lucky.
01:01:27 · Teresa Carlson
[01:01:27] S0: Yeah, wasn't Palmer. But I called my customer and they thought it was so funny, though. They thought it was so cool. So they were okay. He did a fantastic job. And, but yes, we did and we tried to do it in a very respectful way, but to say, look, you're coming in, it's just, it doesn't show respect. You know, a lot of them don't always wear ties, but a jacket, suit, like, you know, nice suit jacket, button down or a very nice polo shirt underneath. But you've got to go in and look buttoned up and put together. Otherwise, I just don't think you're serious. And I know some people would disagree if you are Andrew or other. Yeah, once you establish yourself. But for most, I wouldn't assume that you can do that. I think if you really want to be taken seriously, you need to show up looking serious with them because they have a lot of people coming at them. And again, earlier there was not many of these companies, so they kind of maybe thought it was cool. Today there's a lot more companies and they are showing up. And the Trump administration, I would say with this administration, one of the things that they are doing that I've not seen in my entire career is how much more commercially oriented they are. And they are willing and open to meet all these companies. And I want them to take it very seriously. They're opening contracting opportunities. They're doing executive orders that are opening up for these companies. Like, I've literally never seen in my career. Under President Obama, Vivek Kundra, who was the CIO back then, was literally, he was the guy that brought in mobile devices and laptops to the White House. And that was during the first Obama administration. And since then, this is the administration in this term, I've seen them open up to do more things commercially for companies like this. And I feel like the opportunity is unbelievable right now. And I really want our companies to have an unfair advantage, all startups. And that's kind of what the General Callis Institute's all about, helping them with that unfair advantage.
01:03:41 · Molly O'Shea
[01:03:41] S1: It's been so nice to see the Pentagon visit LA so much, go to all the different companies, tour them, take the time. It's amazing.
01:03:51 · Teresa Carlson, Molly O'Shea
[01:03:51] S0: It's And when we take our founders, we just went to the Pentagon with a bench. They were so amazing. We met with the entire Navy acquisition team. And I laughed. I told our founders, I said, when I was at AWS, it would have taken me two years to get all those meetings. And they were wonderful. They did follow-up. We met with the DOD CIO. We met with the Army CTO, like a bunch more, but they were just and they were interested, and they listened, and they did the follow-up. And I just thought that was pretty unbelievable. I will share, Molly, we did our first summit for the General Catalyst Institute in DC in November called the U. S. Summit on Resilience. We'll do another one. And we had a packed house. I didn't know how it would go over. It was the first time we'd done it. And we paired founders with somebody from Capitol Hill, we brought in and we had Hamant and Doctor. Oz do a session. Oh, wow. They were so great. They were so amazing. Doctor. Oz is, I really like him. Of course, he's a TV guy, so he really knows how to do these kinds of interviews. But people loved it. I got so much feedback because it's not something usual that we put founders up there and we focus on the founder and the policy side and what they're doing and how that comes together. So we'll be doing that again in November year, so hopefully you'll come. I would love that. And if you need help with your fashion style, I do think Jeff Bezos has had a really [01:05:16] S1: good arc in his fashion sense.
01:05:16 · Molly O'Shea, Teresa Carlson
[01:05:16] S1: good arc in his fashion sense. [01:05:18] S0: Yes. He looks Jeff has always and to me, Jeff's always been super cool. From the early days of meeting him till today, I love seeing how his fashion style has changed. And I'm a look, I love clothes. So for me, I'm constantly looking and seeing how his fashion has changed. But I love seeing that today, he and Lauren. Think it's great that they did the Met and the fashion and art. Look forward to that every year to see what all the costumes are. I thought it was fantastic last night. I got to see some of scenes when I got back from one of my milk and dinners, so. [01:05:53] S1: Well, last question. As we close out, what are you most looking forward to this year?