How I Invest with David Weisburd

Hosted by David Weisburd

BusinessInterviews guests

Website RSS feed LinkedIn YouTube

Episodes

447

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

About the show

How I Invest with David Weisburd is a podcast that interviews the world's leading institutional investors. Previous guests include The Ford Foundation, Northwestern University Endowment, CalPERS, Stepstone, and other top limited partners.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 30, 2026Episode 44948 min

E449: Federated Hermes CEO on $400 Billion in Cash, the Private Markets Boom, and AI

What if the most overlooked asset in your portfolio is the one that gives you the freedom to invest in everything else? In this episode, I sit down with Christopher Donahue, President, Chair and CEO of Federated Hermes, to explore how the firm manages approximately $700 billion in money market assets and why cash is far more than an idle allocation. Chris explains how liquidity creates financial flexibility, why trust and scale have concentrated the money market industry among a handful of firms, and what stablecoins can learn from decades of cash management. We also discuss how corporations manage their cash reserves, why AI could improve investment management without replacing employees, and how Federated Hermes plans to expand its private markets business. After more than 50 years at the firm, Chris shares the principles behind its longevity and why culture, trust, and disciplined risk-taking remain essential to building an enduring financial institution.

October 28, 2026Episode 4481 hr 13 min

E448: Gavin Ezekowitz on AI Valuations, Asymmetric Returns, and Why Great Investors Fail

How do you invest in generational companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX before everyone recognizes their potential? Gavin Ezekowitz is the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of BFA Global Investors, an alternative investment firm providing access to private market opportunities. In this episode, Gavin explains how BFA gained exposure to Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX through GP relationships, including its early Anthropic investment at a $17 billion valuation.

October 26, 2026Episode 4471 hr 3 min

E447: Anthropic at $2 Trillion? The AI Bubble, and Why the Best Startups Always Look Overvalued

Are venture capitalists overpaying for the next generation of AI winners? Matthew Harris is a Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, where he invests in financial services and technology companies. In this episode, Matthew explains why the best venture investments often look overpriced, how valuation discipline can cause firms to miss power-law winners, and why today's AI market is increasingly driven by consensus.

October 23, 2026Episode 44658 min

E446: Vista Equity President: The Death of SaaS? AI Agents and the $3 Trillion Opportunity

Is AI destroying the software industry, or creating its biggest investment opportunity yet? David Breach is President of Vista Equity Partners, a firm managing approximately $100 billion in assets. In this episode, David explains why the recent selloff in software stocks may be missing a much larger opportunity: AI-powered digital workers. We explore Vista's repeatable playbook for creating value in enterprise software, why mission-critical products and proprietary data remain competitive advantages, and how AI could expand software's addressable market into trillions of dollars in services. David also shares how Vista evaluates software companies amid AI disruption, why incumbents may be better positioned than startups to deploy AI agents, and the career lessons that took him from selling juice to leading one of the world's largest software-focused private equity firms.

October 21, 2026Episode 4451 hr 1 min

E445: AngelList: Why Picking Winners Is the Wrong Way to Invest in Startups

What if the biggest advantage in venture capital isn't picking winners, but getting access to them? Erik Syvertsen is GM of Asset Management and Chief Legal Officer at AngelList and Chairman of USVC. Drawing on AngelList's extensive venture investment data, Erik explains why seed and growth investing operate like two different asset classes, why the best startups often command higher valuations from the beginning, and how access drives venture returns. We explore the power law, why doubling down on winners matters, the two strategies for building successful venture portfolios, and the challenges of selling investments in breakout companies. Erik also discusses how USVC aims to expand access to private markets as companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX create enormous value before going public.

October 19, 2026Episode 44453 min

E444: NEPC President on AI Portfolio Risk, Finding Top Funds, and Preparing for a Downturn

What if the biggest advantage in institutional investing isn’t finding better managers, but building an organization that can make better decisions over decades? In this episode, I sit down with Tim McCusker, President of NEPC, which advises on approximately $2 trillion in assets, to discuss what separates the best institutional investors from everyone else. Tim explains why even sophisticated endowments and pension funds fall into peer-driven investing, how governance and incentives shape long-term returns, and why the strongest allocators are willing to invest when others are retreating.

October 16, 20261 hr 2 min

E443: Why the Next Trillion-Dollar Startup Won’t Be a Software Company

What if AI makes software abundant and shifts venture capital’s biggest opportunities into the physical world? Leo Polovets is a General Partner at Humba Ventures, an early-stage deep tech fund investing across robotics, defense, energy, manufacturing, and other physical industries. Leo explains why AI is commoditizing software, why hardware may capture more value as a result, and why some of the best opportunities are hiding in industries with almost no startup competition. We also discuss how to underwrite deep tech before revenue, what separates exceptional founders, the infrastructure bottlenecks created by AI, and why the biggest risk to deep tech may be its dependence on continued funding.

October 14, 2026Episode 44253 min

E442: Nelson Mills on Building a $100 Billion Company, the China Threat, and the Future of War

What happens when autonomous underwater vehicles become cheap enough to manufacture at scale? Nelson Mills is the Founder of Vatn Systems, a defense technology company building autonomous underwater vehicles. Nelson explains why undersea autonomy has lagged aerial drones, how advances in AI, navigation, manufacturing, and autonomy are changing the economics, and why Vatn is building lower-cost systems designed to operate at scale. We also discuss raising $85 million for a hardware startup, the rise of asymmetric warfare, lessons from Anduril, and what it takes to build a new defense prime.

October 12, 2026Episode 4411 hr 16 min

E441: Startup Investing When the Cost of Building Goes to Zero

What if AI makes the founder more important, not less? John Borthwick is the Founder of betaworks, the startup studio and venture firm behind companies including Giphy, Dots, bitly, and TweetDeck, with investments in companies including Twitter, Tumblr, Kickstarter, and Hugging Face. We break down why John now puts more weight on founders than products, how betaworks identified Hugging Face before transformers reshaped AI, and why he believes the biggest opportunity is moving toward the AI application layer. We also discuss open-source AI, AI security, the changing nature of work, and why John believes AI was discovered rather than invented. John Borthwick is the Founder of betaworks, the startup studio and venture firm behind companies including Giphy, Dots, bitly, and TweetDeck, with investments in companies including Twitter, Tumblr, Kickstarter, and Hugging Face. We break down why John now puts more weight on founders than products, how betaworks identified Hugging Face before transformers reshaped AI, and why he believes the biggest opportunity is moving toward the AI application layer. We also discuss open-source AI, AI security, the changing nature of work, and why John believes AI was discovered rather than invented.

October 9, 2026Episode 4401 hr 3 min

E440: What Steve Jobs Taught Me About Great Founders

What did Steve Jobs understand about building great companies that most founders miss? Steven Rosenblatt is Co-Founder and General Partner at Oceans, a seed-stage venture firm based in New York City. Drawing on more than two decades as an operator and investor, including his time at Apple and Foursquare, Steven shares what he learned working directly with Steve Jobs, how he separates ambitious founders from delusional ones, what drew Oceans to Etched, and why AI is creating a technology cycle unlike anything he has seen before.