The stars of venture capital shined in Los Angeles this week at the Upfront Summit, an invitation-only VC conference founded by Mark Suster that’s known for being inclusive.
For example, there were Coco robots that serve drinks and very pink. AI was the talk of the town again and even some celebrities graced the stage, such as Lady Gaga, Cameron Diaz, Katy Perry and Novak Djokovic.
What may have been a little different this year, however, is that it’s been a tough year for venture capital and startups looking for venture capital. Some media he even shouted it.
Keith Rabois, managing director of Khosla Ventures, briefly addressed the rumors about what led him to leave Founders Fund earlier this year. He spent much of that time on stage defending his removal from San Francisco.
Rambois didn’t come out and call people there “lazy,” though he noted that he knows founders who look elsewhere for talent. That’s because very few people in San Francisco want to work 12 hours a day, six days a week like the culture in other cities like New York, Rabois explained.
He he tweeted later, calling it The Wall Street Journal story about the tech leaders who left the Bay Area and are now “fake” coming back.
8VC general partner Joe Lonsdale talked about the “woke mind virus,” which included everything from the “ripping off of businesses” by companies like Raytheon to the way Google regulates its search creating a “crazy ideological inclination that is not healthy for our country”.
Some other highlights
M13 partner Anna Barber arrested Melinda French Gates on stage says: “I see venture capital as the driving force for social progress in the United States.” While Upfront Ventures he tweeted The Frenchman Gates says: “Look at an obstacle in society and see if there is a way to break it down, or look for an accelerator in society and find a way to make it faster.”
Journalist Andrew Nusca caught Andreessen Horowitz’s Chris Dixon said, “Today essentially five companies control the Internet … we essentially made a Faustian bargain in the 2000s,” when we gave them control in exchange for a richer experience.
Karan Talati, CEO of First Resonance, he tweeted that this was his first time at the summit and “There’s no doubt that this year’s emphasis on hardtech reflects the exciting wave of opportunities in manufacturing, aerospace and energy.”
