Al Goldstein

Lifelong entrepreneur, father and husband, Immigrant, co-founder and CEO @ Avant, Stoiclane, Forged in America podcast,

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

He had ADD. Wasn't top 50 in his class. Got into Williams College only because he could ski.

Then left 10,000 voicemails over two years at Bessemer Venture Partners and got hired on the spot by CEOs who said: "You're the most persistent person I've ever met."

Today he runs a $9B fund. Other VCs laughed when he said he'd raise from individuals. Half of them are out of business now.

The lesson: intelligence is being commoditized. Persistence isn't.

Ep 40 of Forged in America -- Mitchell Green of Lead Edge Capital on building different.

We discuss:
- Lead Edge's 700+ LP network of world-class operators -- why it's real, not just a pitch
- Leaving 10,000 voicemails from 2005-2007 to source deals (still does it)
- "AI is the great equalizer of intellect" -- what skills actually matter now
- The capital efficiency heuristic: revenues must equal or exceed total cash burned since inception
- The "Easy 8" criteria: 9,000 companies screened to 5-7 deals per year
- The wealth gap: factory workers making $21/hr in 2026 vs. the NVIDIA bubble
- AI job doom -- Mitchell says no, and makes a compelling case
- Handwritten thank you notes: the lost art that built a $9B firm

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro / Episode 40 Milestone
1:05 What Makes Lead Edge Different
4:45 The 700+ LP Network -- How It Actually Works
7:00 Cold Calling at Bessemer: 10,000 Voicemails
12:00 Persistence Is the Most Important Human Trait
16:00 The Easy 8 Criteria and Capital Efficiency Heuristic
21:00 Deal Flexibility: Minority to Buyout, Whatever It Takes
25:00 Chip on Shoulder: ADD, Ski Racing and Outworking Everyone
29:00 EQ, Sales and What Skills AI Can't Replace
32:00 Feeding Investment Memos into LLMs
37:00 America's Wealth Gap and Factory Workers Left Behind
41:00 The AI Bubble -- NVIDIA Worth More Than India?
44:00 AI Job Doom: "I Don't Believe It At All"
47:00 Lightning Round: Tequila, Leverage, or Founder Optimism?
50:00 Book Recs: Intelligent Investor, Enzo Ferrari, 13D Newsletter
52:00 Outro

@goldstein2002 @ravingandhi @MitchellGreen @LeadEdgeCapital @ForgedInAmerica @BVP @WilliamsCollege

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

@SoundDobad I know this may sound petty, but I can’t stand it when people put photoshop a meth pipe in my mouth. A crack pipe doesn’t have that little bowl at the end. This is why we can’t trust AI. Please make the appropriate edit. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

@enggirlfriend Or they're right... Votes will continue to come in and @spencerpratt will get pushed out 🤦🤦🤦

[Avant @avant_forward]

Conversational AI has become an entry point for financial services. Thanks to a new application from Experian Loans, consumers can now explore personal loan options inside ChatGPT, with Avant* as part of the network behind it.

The Experian Loans ChatGPT application connects borrowers to lender options without leaving the chat interface. It's an early example of financial services meeting consumers in the tools they already use.

"As consumers increasingly expect financial tools to be integrated into the digital experiences they already use every day, platforms like ChatGPT are creating new opportunities to simplify how borrowers explore lending options," said Charles Whittaker, Chief Business Officer at Avant. "Through our partnership with Experian, we are able to connect consumers with personalized options in a more seamless and accessible way."

https://t.co/QsYun0hf9i

*Avant, LLC is a financial technology company, not a bank. Avant-branded credit products are issued by WebBank.

[jaiya @jaiyagill]

before you invest in a startup always ask how tall the founders are

[Vance Ginn @VanceGinn]

One of the most misleading ideas in American politics is that the United States has a large, fixed class of permanently poor people stuck at the bottom year after year, while everyone else moves on without them.

That story is emotionally powerful. It also happens to be a poor guide for serious policy.

Read my latest at @thedailyeconomy… 1/2

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

The National Foundation for American Policy identified 15 immigrants who each founded two or more billion-dollar companies — and the job creation and entrepreneurship data is staggering. These founders built companies employing hundreds of thousands of Americans, including Noubar Afeyan's five unicorns alone (Moderna, Indigo Ag, Generate Biomedicines, Tessera Therapeutics, Lila Sciences), Elon Musk's four (SpaceX, OpenAI, The Boring Company, Neuralink), and many more across the list.

The immigration debate is real and complex. Questions about welfare utilization, system capacity, and fairness are legitimate and deserve honest answers. But this data is hard to argue with — immigrants are founding companies at a rate that is frankly staggering, building industries that employ millions of American-born workers.

"Founding a company valued at $1 billion is a remarkable achievement. NFAP has identified at least 15 immigrants who have founded two or more billion-dollar companies — Noubar Afeyan (Lebanon), Mohit Aron (India), Jyoti Bansal (India), Ashutosh Garg (India), Al Goldstein (Uzbekistan), Michael Gronager (Denmark), Arvind Jain (India), Ignacio Martinez (Spain), Elon Musk (South Africa), Sachin Nayyar (India), Christopher Ré (France), Ajeet Singh (India), Ion Stoica (Romania), Ilya Sutskever (Canada) and Vlad Tenev (Bulgaria)."

America has always been the place where someone from Uzbekistan, South Africa, or Bulgaria could come and build something extraordinary. And yes — I'm calling this my "back door to greatness" moment. 🙈

Proud to be on this list. Proud to be American. 🇺🇸

Full report here https://t.co/QHmeM399Vc

@elonmusk @ilyasut @vladtenev @NoubarAfeyan

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

Full episode here:
@Spotify https://t.co/5F64dw81vc
@YouTube https://t.co/qgKMwOYn2C
@Apple https://t.co/Xw1xEy12mX

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

He had ADD. Wasn't top 50 in his class. Got into Williams College only because he could ski.

Then left 10,000 voicemails over two years at Bessemer Venture Partners and got hired on the spot by CEOs who said: "You're the most persistent person I've ever met."

Today he runs a $9B fund. Other VCs laughed when he said he'd raise from individuals. Half of them are out of business now.

The lesson: intelligence is being commoditized. Persistence isn't.

Ep 40 of Forged in America -- Mitchell Green of Lead Edge Capital on building different.

We discuss:
- Lead Edge's 700+ LP network of world-class operators -- why it's real, not just a pitch
- Leaving 10,000 voicemails from 2005-2007 to source deals (still does it)
- "AI is the great equalizer of intellect" -- what skills actually matter now
- The capital efficiency heuristic: revenues must equal or exceed total cash burned since inception
- The "Easy 8" criteria: 9,000 companies screened to 5-7 deals per year
- The wealth gap: factory workers making $21/hr in 2026 vs. the NVIDIA bubble
- AI job doom -- Mitchell says no, and makes a compelling case
- Handwritten thank you notes: the lost art that built a $9B firm

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro / Episode 40 Milestone
1:05 What Makes Lead Edge Different
4:45 The 700+ LP Network -- How It Actually Works
7:00 Cold Calling at Bessemer: 10,000 Voicemails
12:00 Persistence Is the Most Important Human Trait
16:00 The Easy 8 Criteria and Capital Efficiency Heuristic
21:00 Deal Flexibility: Minority to Buyout, Whatever It Takes
25:00 Chip on Shoulder: ADD, Ski Racing and Outworking Everyone
29:00 EQ, Sales and What Skills AI Can't Replace
32:00 Feeding Investment Memos into LLMs
37:00 America's Wealth Gap and Factory Workers Left Behind
41:00 The AI Bubble -- NVIDIA Worth More Than India?
44:00 AI Job Doom: "I Don't Believe It At All"
47:00 Lightning Round: Tequila, Leverage, or Founder Optimism?
50:00 Book Recs: Intelligent Investor, Enzo Ferrari, 13D Newsletter
52:00 Outro

@goldstein2002 @ravingandhi @MitchellGreen @LeadEdgeCapital @ForgedInAmerica @BVP @WilliamsCollege

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

@MarioNawfal Of course the issue is Israel doing what it wants... Not Hezbollah firing. Rockets indiscriminately at all times 🤦🤦🤦

[Abhishek B R @abhitwt]

Every company’s AI workflow rn be like 😭💀

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

@profstonge The AI job loss narrative shifting in real time and it's totally consistent with prior tech cycles. More productivity drives many new jobs.

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

@WSJ Six months ago this was a fringe claim. Now it's front page. The Overton Window on AI job loss has shifted — fast. @RavinGandhi1 and I discussed why institutions lag this reality by years and what that lag costs workers who aren’t warned. @ForgedUSAPod 👇 https://t.co/KY2WJEuQAF

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

@EndWokeness How is this possible at this point?

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

@KonstantinKisin We discussed this on our latest episode. The double standard is palpable

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

@Inevitablewest @RavinGandhi1 and I talked about media bias in relation to coverage of Henry Novak vs George Floyd, institutional blind spots, and what it costs when the people in charge won't say what's actually happening. @ForgedUSAPod 👇 https://t.co/KY2WJEuQAF

[Ahmed Khalifa @_A_khalifa]

Kuwait Airport took
a heavy hit civilians are injured!

Trump & the world
does this terrorist regime
deserve any more chances?

Time for the Islamic Republic to
fall and free Iran & the whole region!

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

Well done

[Kane 謝凱堯 @kane]

This Y-axis is a chart crime.

I have revised the chart so the Y-axes are normalized and comparable:

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

@Inevitablewest @RavinGandhi1 and I talked about media bias in relation to coverage of Henry Novak vs George Floyd, institutional blind spots, and what it costs when the people in charge won't say what's actually happening. @ForgedUSAPod 👇 https://t.co/KY2WJEuQAF

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

Ep 39: AI, Socialism & Ideas You're Not Allowed To Question

With @ravingandhi — one of the sharpest minds I know on business, culture, and why so many people are afraid to say what they actually think.

We discuss:
- Why Dario Amodei & Anthropic became the serious bet on AI
- OpenAI just solved an 80-year-old math problem
- NYC's socialist grocery stores & what they reveal
- The top 1% pays 46% of all federal taxes
- SF paying people to stay homeless
- Stephen A. Smith: "I don't recognize this left"
- AOC's climate czar defects
- Peter Thiel on political correctness — in 1996
- Why I wrote a CNBC article in 2018 saying I was wrong

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro / The Overton Window
3:22 Authenticity & Why Playing It Safe Fails
4:56 AI — The Two Camps
5:13 Dario Amodei & Anthropic's Rise
9:58 Andreessen's Three Laws of Technology
12:14 OpenAI Solves an 80-Year-Old Math Problem
14:03 The Civilizational Payoff of AI
14:51 Jamie Dimon on AI
16:44 Bezos: "I Gave You a Bulldozer"
17:22 Tech Layoffs = ZIRP Rationalization, Not AI
18:02 Socialism & the Overton Window
18:21 NYC Mayor's Socialist Grocery Stores
20:01 AOC vs. Bezos on Billionaires
21:56 Top 1% Earns 26%, Pays 46% of Taxes
23:30 Laffer Curve & Hauser's Law
24:28 Thomas Sowell on Facts Being Optional
25:49 Weaponized Empathy
27:05 SF Pays People to Stay Homeless
28:16 Spencer Pratt on LA's Drug Problem
31:09 Stephen A. Smith: "I Don't Recognize This Left"
32:29 Climate Change & the Overton Window
33:47 AOC's Climate Czar Defects
35:59 Kamala Harris: Stack the Supreme Court
37:29 Bezos on Zero Income Tax for Bottom 50%
38:30 Wokeism = Indignation & Anger
39:05 Baltimore Teen Scores 800 on SAT
40:41 Peter Thiel 1996: Political Correctness at Stanford
42:43 George Floyd vs. Henry Nowak: Media Double Standard
45:01 Al's 2018 CNBC Article — "I Was Wrong"
47:10 Fix the Democratic Party
48:10 Outro

[Official Layoff @LayoffAI]

ALTMAN COMPLETELY FLIPS AI NARRATIVE AS HE PLANS IPO

Then: Sam Altman warned AI would wipe out entire job categories.

Now: he says companies blaming AI for layoffs are adopting AI the least.

What changed? OpenAI is racing to go public this year at up to $1 trillion+

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

@ericnuttall Nobody purchasing energy asks about carbon footprint — they ask about price, access, and reliability. The climate narrative and the energy economy exist in parallel universes. @RavinGandhi1 and I talked about why that gap keeps widening. @ForgedUSAPod 👇 https://t.co/KY2WJEuQAF

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

Ep 39: AI, Socialism & Ideas You're Not Allowed To Question

With @ravingandhi — one of the sharpest minds I know on business, culture, and why so many people are afraid to say what they actually think.

We discuss:
- Why Dario Amodei & Anthropic became the serious bet on AI
- OpenAI just solved an 80-year-old math problem
- NYC's socialist grocery stores & what they reveal
- The top 1% pays 46% of all federal taxes
- SF paying people to stay homeless
- Stephen A. Smith: "I don't recognize this left"
- AOC's climate czar defects
- Peter Thiel on political correctness — in 1996
- Why I wrote a CNBC article in 2018 saying I was wrong

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro / The Overton Window
3:22 Authenticity & Why Playing It Safe Fails
4:56 AI — The Two Camps
5:13 Dario Amodei & Anthropic's Rise
9:58 Andreessen's Three Laws of Technology
12:14 OpenAI Solves an 80-Year-Old Math Problem
14:03 The Civilizational Payoff of AI
14:51 Jamie Dimon on AI
16:44 Bezos: "I Gave You a Bulldozer"
17:22 Tech Layoffs = ZIRP Rationalization, Not AI
18:02 Socialism & the Overton Window
18:21 NYC Mayor's Socialist Grocery Stores
20:01 AOC vs. Bezos on Billionaires
21:56 Top 1% Earns 26%, Pays 46% of Taxes
23:30 Laffer Curve & Hauser's Law
24:28 Thomas Sowell on Facts Being Optional
25:49 Weaponized Empathy
27:05 SF Pays People to Stay Homeless
28:16 Spencer Pratt on LA's Drug Problem
31:09 Stephen A. Smith: "I Don't Recognize This Left"
32:29 Climate Change & the Overton Window
33:47 AOC's Climate Czar Defects
35:59 Kamala Harris: Stack the Supreme Court
37:29 Bezos on Zero Income Tax for Bottom 50%
38:30 Wokeism = Indignation & Anger
39:05 Baltimore Teen Scores 800 on SAT
40:41 Peter Thiel 1996: Political Correctness at Stanford
42:43 George Floyd vs. Henry Nowak: Media Double Standard
45:01 Al's 2018 CNBC Article — "I Was Wrong"
47:10 Fix the Democratic Party
48:10 Outro

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

@WallStreetApes This is the dirty secret nobody in policy circles wants to admit — the incentives are broken by design. Watch what happens when a homeless man explains the math himself. @RavinGandhi1 and I broke it down. @ForgedUSAPod 👇 https://t.co/KY2WJEuQAF

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

Ep 39: AI, Socialism & Ideas You're Not Allowed To Question

With @ravingandhi — one of the sharpest minds I know on business, culture, and why so many people are afraid to say what they actually think.

We discuss:
- Why Dario Amodei & Anthropic became the serious bet on AI
- OpenAI just solved an 80-year-old math problem
- NYC's socialist grocery stores & what they reveal
- The top 1% pays 46% of all federal taxes
- SF paying people to stay homeless
- Stephen A. Smith: "I don't recognize this left"
- AOC's climate czar defects
- Peter Thiel on political correctness — in 1996
- Why I wrote a CNBC article in 2018 saying I was wrong

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro / The Overton Window
3:22 Authenticity & Why Playing It Safe Fails
4:56 AI — The Two Camps
5:13 Dario Amodei & Anthropic's Rise
9:58 Andreessen's Three Laws of Technology
12:14 OpenAI Solves an 80-Year-Old Math Problem
14:03 The Civilizational Payoff of AI
14:51 Jamie Dimon on AI
16:44 Bezos: "I Gave You a Bulldozer"
17:22 Tech Layoffs = ZIRP Rationalization, Not AI
18:02 Socialism & the Overton Window
18:21 NYC Mayor's Socialist Grocery Stores
20:01 AOC vs. Bezos on Billionaires
21:56 Top 1% Earns 26%, Pays 46% of Taxes
23:30 Laffer Curve & Hauser's Law
24:28 Thomas Sowell on Facts Being Optional
25:49 Weaponized Empathy
27:05 SF Pays People to Stay Homeless
28:16 Spencer Pratt on LA's Drug Problem
31:09 Stephen A. Smith: "I Don't Recognize This Left"
32:29 Climate Change & the Overton Window
33:47 AOC's Climate Czar Defects
35:59 Kamala Harris: Stack the Supreme Court
37:29 Bezos on Zero Income Tax for Bottom 50%
38:30 Wokeism = Indignation & Anger
39:05 Baltimore Teen Scores 800 on SAT
40:41 Peter Thiel 1996: Political Correctness at Stanford
42:43 George Floyd vs. Henry Nowak: Media Double Standard
45:01 Al's 2018 CNBC Article — "I Was Wrong"
47:10 Fix the Democratic Party
48:10 Outro

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

@ThomasSowell We discussed the great @ThomasSowell on our last pod. True inspiration.

https://t.co/7QUvwFVXm4

[Al Goldstein @goldstein2002]

@credistick When success looks like luck instead of merit, capitalism loses its mandate. Thomas Sowell diagnosed this 50 years ago. @RavinGandhi1 and I talked about why the institutions that should be making the case aren’t. @ForgedUSAPod 👇 https://t.co/KY2WJEuQAF