20VC: Why AI Models are not a Moat, Where Does the Value in AI Accrue; Startups or Incumbents, What the World Has Got Wrong About AI, Why AI Needs a New Story and Who is the Right People to Tell it with Cris Valenzuela, Co-Founder & CEO @ Runway

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Cris Valenzuela is the CEO and co-founder of Runway, the company that trains and builds generative AI models for content creation. To date, Cris has raised over $285M for the company from the likes of Lux Capital, Felicis, Coatue, Amplify, and Nvidia to name a few. Runway’s customers include academy-nominated movies, TV shows, media companies, and creatives across industries.

In Today's Episode with Cris Valenzuela We Discuss:

1. From Childhood in Chile to Founding one of the Hottest AI Startups:

What was the founding moment for Cris with Runway?
His investors described Cris as an "outsider". Does Cris believe he is an outsider? What are the biggest pros and cons of being an outsider?
What does Cris believe he is running from? What is he running towards?

2. Models are not a Moat: Models 101:

What does Cris believe is more important; model size or data size?
Why does Cris believe that models are not a moat?
How does Cris think about the lifespan of models? Will any used today be used in a year?
Are hallucinations a feature or a bug? What are the nuances?

3. The World Has Got AI Wrong: We Need Different Stories:

Why does Cris believe the world has got AI wrong?
Why do we need different stories for what AI can do and will be? Who should tell them?
Why do groups like screenwriters riot and protest if the tool is empowering and not replacing?

4. Company Building 101: Hiring and Fundraising:

What are the biggest pieces of startup advice that are total BS?
What has been the single biggest lesson Cris has learned when it comes to fundraising?
Does Cris believe that VCs really add value?
What have been the single biggest hiring mistakes that Cris has made?
How has Cris structured their interview process to make it the best interview process in the world?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	AI is not just chatbots. I think models are not a moat. Models eventually don't matter.
0:05.7	I have so many investor emails of people telling me, love your team, etc. But journey
0:09.9	AI isn't a thing. Stop saying it's a thing. It's not a thing. Good investors are the ones that are
0:14.8	not looking for patterns. This is 20 VC with me, Harry Stebbings. And this week, we're doing an
0:19.4	incredible feature week on the two hottest AI companies, Runway today and character.
0:24.4	com.
0:25.4	So to our show today, and I'm thrilled to welcome Chris Valenzuela, CEO and co-founder of Runway, the company that trains and builds generative AI models for content creation.
0:35.6	To date, Chris has raised over $285 million for the company
0:39.3	from the likes of Lux Capital, Felicit, Kow2, Amplify and Nvidia, to name a few.
0:44.8	Runway's customers include Academy-nominated movies, TV shows, media companies and creatives
0:50.4	across industries. But before we dive into the show today, this episode is brought
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	...

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