Rob Go

Lucky husband of @ntduke and father of two amazing girls. Cofounder of NextView. Built some product at Ebay and learned some investing at Spark Capital

[Rob Go @robgo]

Loved this chat. Thanks for having me on and for the excellent discussion @PeterJ_Walker!

[Carta @cartainc]

Successful seed investors (not struggling ones) started quietly exiting the industry. That's what sent @robgo from @NextViewVC down a rabbit hole that turned into four published theses on what's broken at the seed stage.

New episode of The Data Minute 🎙️ out now.

[NextView @NextViewVC]

Congrats to NextView Partner @stephpalmeri, named to @BusinessInsider's Seed 40 — a list recognizing "the women whose early bets have helped shape the startup ecosystem."

"Lists like this are fun, but the real story is always the founders." - @stephpalmeri

More below 👇

[Rob Go @robgo]

@davidrgoldberg @alpacavc Congrats @davidrgoldberg . Great run!

[Rob Go @robgo]

DM from God. Achievement unlocked.

[Rob Go @robgo]

@ScottPatterson0 He deeply understands the business in his bones. Very impressive.

[Rob Go @robgo]

This was an outstanding interview. Perhaps the most clear thinking CFO I’ve ever heard.

[Patrick OShaughnessy @patrick_oshag]

Krishna Rao is the CFO of Anthropic, and this is his first podcast appearance.

He joined the company two years ago when run-rate revenue was about $250M. Today it is $30B. He has helped raise ~$75B and is responsible for the procurement and allocation of compute.

I feel lucky we get to hear what it is like to sit inside a company this consequential at a moment this pivotal.

We discuss:
- The cone of uncertainty
- How he allocates compute across Trainium, TPUs, and GPUs
- What investors misunderstand about model companies
- Why the returns to frontier intelligence keep rising
- Platform vs application and where Anthropic builds its own products
- How Anthropic uses Claude internally

I have asked my closing question about the kindest thing more than 500 times. Krishna's answer is one I have never heard before.

Enjoy!

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:38 The Compute Canvas
6:51 The "Cone of Uncertainty"
11:58 Why the Returns to Frontier Intelligence Are So High
16:45 Recursive Self-Improvement
20:20 Scaling Laws
23:30 Sourcing $100 Billion in Compute
28:05 Platform vs. Application Strategy
32:52 Pricing Dynamics
38:48 How Anthropic’s Finance Team Uses Claude
43:24 Raising Capital & Overcoming Investor Skepticism
52:32 Public Perception, Risks, and Government Regulation
57:25 Mythos Release
1:12:33 What Could Derail the AI Revolution?
1:13:47 Biotech and Healthcare
1:15:31 The Kindest Thing

[Rob Go @robgo]

Even a Duke alum can appreciate this outstanding commencement speech

[Eric Church @ericchurch]

Eric took the stage at UNC Chapel Hill to deliver a commencement speech to the next generation of Tar Heels, sharing a message for the graduates as they step into what comes next.

Watch the speech in its entirety here: https://t.co/DbqOdqiymt

[Rob Go @robgo]

This is a great thread. Most of our mistakes stemmed from trying to be too precious about some arbitrary model or target. It’s the tail wagging the dog.

[Ho Nam @honam]

This deserves a longer form blog post but for now a thread about an idea mentioned in our Q1 LP report.

We have a saying at Altos. Organize our funds around companies — not the other way around.

It sounds simple. In venture, it’s almost heretical.

[Rob Go @robgo]

OH - this company may not have much of a moat. But it sure has a lot of really good archers.

[Rob Go @robgo]

This has been true for many years!

[Will Ahmed @willahmed]

engraved on every circuit board

[Rob Go @robgo]

Excited to kick off two fantastic days with our portfolio company founders (and a few alumni too!)

[Rob Go @robgo]

@srcasm wow, 10 years? Time flies!

[Rob Go @robgo]

Btw, I’m talking about myself too

[Rob Go @robgo]

VC's are urgently pushing their portfolio companies to become AI native (as opposed to AI enabled). But they themselves are only trying to be AI enabled, and barely so at that.

[Rob Go @robgo]

@orgRem @melodykoh Very interesting. Thank you for sharing!

[Rob Go @robgo]

My Partner @melodykoh has been on fire with her writing. But this is one of her best and most approachable recent posts. In AI, which is rising faster, the ceiling or the floor? I honestly don't know, but this is an amazing framing to the question.

https://t.co/uHtXr13sWf

[Rob Go @robgo]

@naywilliams @dscheinm Congrats. It was a heartbreaker!

[Rob Go @robgo]

@mignano I can’t stand it personally. Totally agree with you. Language does matter.

[Rob Go @robgo]

@garrett_TFE Love George Wright! The Boston area cohort of Belmont, Brae Burn, Charles River, and Winchester are quite outstanding as well.

[Rob Go @robgo]

Are we at peak performative AI in VC? Probably.