Ori Goshen is the Co-founder and CEO of AI21 Labs, the Israeli AI company founded in 2017. AI21 has built its own foundation models and AI products used by millions, including Wordtune, and today it offers enterprises Lab-as-a-Service: their own frontier AI lab.~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~AI21's forward-deployed researchers, most of them PhDs and MSc holders, work embedded with a customer's team to train a specialized model and its agent harness together on the company's proprietary data. It's all built on AI21's platform for evaluating, training and serving models: eval suites, data generation pipelines, post-training infrastructure for supervised fine-tuning and reinforcement learning against task-specific rewards, harness optimization, and optimized inference. Customers own the resulting weights and harness, along with a documented, reproducible training recipe, and projects take weeks rather than quarters. Before AI21, Ori co-founded Crowdx, a network analytics company acquired by Cellwize, which Qualcomm later acquired.Topics

• Why enterprises want their own AI lab, and what that takes
• Post-training small, specialized models that outperform general frontier models on real tasks
• Optimizing the harness around a model, not just the model itself
• Why the next wave of AI gains will come from AI improving the systems that run AI

#ArtificialIntelligence #AI21Labs #AIAgents #LargeLanguageModels #EnterpriseAI

AI is creating a new business model: AI-native services companies that use technology to make traditionally difficult-to-scale professional services faster, more efficient, and more accessible.In this fireside chat, Dan Mishin, Founder of Manifest, and Jake Saper, General Partner at Emergence Capital, explore why AI-native services are becoming venture-backable and why the services layer could represent the next major frontier for venture capital.The conversation examines what distinguishes AI-native services companies from traditional software businesses and AI rollups, and why building from scratch can offer an advantage over retrofitting legacy businesses. Dan shares how Manifest is using AI to transform immigration law, while Jake explains what makes the model compelling from an investor's perspective.They also discuss how AI changes the economics of services businesses, the opportunities across industries such as legal and accounting, expanding access to professional services, and the importance of human adoption in scaling these companies.As software becomes easier to build, could the next major venture opportunity be in transforming the services themselves?Panelists: Dan Mishin, Founder, Manifest; Jake Saper, General Partner, Emergence Capital#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #VentureCapital #AIInvesting #FutureOfWork

Jerry Tworek is the Co-Founder and CEO of Core Automation, an AI research lab focused on automating AI research and developing new approaches to machine learning. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~Before founding Core Automation in 2026, Jerry spent nearly seven years at OpenAI, where he rose to Vice President of Research. His work spanned neural program synthesis, reinforcement learning, and language model reasoning, with major contributions to ChatGPT, GPT-4, Codex, and the development of OpenAI’s o1 and o3 reasoning models. At Core Automation, he is pursuing a new vision for AI development: building systems that automate research workflows while exploring learning algorithms and architectures beyond conventional large-scale pretraining. His work focuses on how AI systems can become better at reasoning, learn from experience, and help accelerate the research process itself.Topics

• What it takes to build systems that can solve increasingly complex problems.
• Automating AI research with agents, including how systems work.
• Moving beyond conventional pretraining toward continual learning.

#ArtificialIntelligence #AIResearch #AgenticAI #MachineLearning #AIReasoning

Vitaly Gordon is the Co-founder and CEO of Faros, a company working at the intersection of AI and software engineering to help organizations manage agentic software factories. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Before founding Faros, Vitaly served as VP of Engineering at Salesforce, where he founded Salesforce Einstein, one of the first comprehensive enterprise AI platforms. His experience spans engineering leadership, enterprise AI, and building systems that bring machine learning into real-world business workflows. At Faros, he is focused on helping organizations understand and manage the growing role of AI agents in software development, as engineering teams move toward increasingly automated workflows. As AI agents take on more coding and engineering tasks, companies face new challenges in measuring productivity, coordinating work, and maintaining visibility across increasingly complex software delivery processes.Topics

• Managing agentic software factories and measuring AI's impact on engineering productivity
• Positioning and scaling AI infrastructure startups through effective go-to-market strategies
• How AI engineering intelligence connects developer workflows, productivity metrics, and business outcomes

#ArtificialIntelligence #AIAgents #SoftwareEngineering #DeveloperProductivity #StartupGrowth

Dr. Juha Vartiainen is the Co-Founder and Chief Global Affairs Officer of IQM Quantum Computers, a European quantum computing company developing full-stack superconducting quantum computers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~He co-founded IQM in 2018 as a spin-out from Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, serving as Chief Operating Officer before moving into global affairs. In his current role, Juha works at the intersection of quantum technology, industrial strategy, and geopolitics, engaging with governments, policymakers, and strategic partners to advance quantum computing adoption and strengthen sovereign quantum capabilities. With a PhD in quantum computing and a background spanning software engineering, medical diagnostics, and space technology, he brings both technical and operational experience to the challenge of commercializing advanced computing. His work focuses on translating scientific breakthroughs into scalable quantum systems and helping shape Europe’s role in the emerging global quantum economy.Topics

• Moving quantum computing from scientific research to commercially deployable systems
• Building a global quantum industry through government partnerships, sovereign capabilities, and international technology strategy
• Scaling deep-tech companies from university spin-outs to global businesses

#QuantumComputing #DeepTech #QuantumTechnology #EuropeanTech #FutureOfComputing

Boris Sofman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Bedrock Robotics, which develops autonomous technology for heavy construction equipment.~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~The company recently raised a $600 million Series C at a $4.1 billion valuation, co-led by CapitalG and Emergence Capital, bringing its total funding to nearly $1 billion. Bedrock plans to use the funding to expand deployments across the United States and has doubled its customer base year over year. Previously, Boris spent nearly five years at Waymo, leading autonomous trucking and engineering initiatives. He also co-founded and led Anki, an AI robotics company that shipped more than 3.7 million consumer robots and devices and approached $100 million in annual revenue. He holds a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.Topics

• Bringing autonomous AI systems to heavy construction equipment to address labor shortages and accelerate infrastructure development
• Scaling robotics companies from technical research to commercial deployment
• Building and financing deep-tech companies

#Robotics #AutonomousSystems #PhysicalAI #ConstructionTech #VentureCapital

Beatrice Aliprandi is the Chief Revenue Officer at Praktika, an AI-powered language learning platform using generative AI avatars to help people learn languages. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~She leads finance, operations, and revenue, having previously served as the company's Chief of Staff, overseeing initiatives across business development, investor relations, legal, HR, and general operations. At Praktika, Beatrice has helped navigate the practical challenges of scaling an AI startup, from financial planning and investor reporting to building AI-powered workflows that automate operational tasks. Before joining Praktika, she was a Principal at Lakestar, a leading European venture capital firm, where she focused on games and media investments, including Modulate.ai, Quest Portal, Fuse Games, and Included Games. She is also the co-host of Top of the Ops, a podcast offering candid insights into startup operations, leadership, and the realities of scaling companies.Topics

• Moving from venture capital into startup leadership .
• Using AI agents and automation to streamline finance, investor reporting, and legal support workflows
• Scaling an AI startup through disciplined cash management, operational systems, and practical decisions about growth

#ArtificialIntelligence #StartupOperations #AIAgents #VentureCapital #Leadership