Summation with Auren Hoffman

Auren Hoffman

Non-obvious ideas that move the world. Auren Hoffman hosts leaders across tech, business, markets, and government.

Summation is the permanent home for the relentlessly curious.

Auren is CEO of NQB8, GP at Flex Capital, Chairman of Dialog; former CEO of SafeGraph and LiveRamp (NYSE: RAMP).

Subscribe Listen in podnod RSS feed Show website

278 episodes
Updated July 28

Episodes278

Newest first

March 10 · 53 min
Adrian Aoun on healthcare as a product, Apple's AI problem, and why you should have kids now
Adrian Aoun helped found Torch, a health data platform that was acquired by OpenAI earlier this year. He's also the co-founder of Seneca, which raised $60 million to build autonomous drones for wildfire suppression. Adrian previously founded Forward Health. He previously led special projects for Larry Page at Google, where he founded Sidewalk Labs and helped build Google's AI division. In this episode of Summation, Adrian and Auren discuss: Why curing all cancer adds only ~3 years of life but internet access for a billion people is massively more impactful How AI is turning healthcare from a service into a product -- and why the AMA is the new taxi medallion lobby The expert investor paradox: why deep expertise makes you a worse angel investor Why GLP-1s are the closest thing to a miracle drug in our lifetime You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Adrian Aoun on X at @adrianaoun
March 3 · 1 hr 2 min
Tod Sacerdoti (Flex GP and Pipedream CEO) on seed at scale and SaaS mispricing
Tod Sacerdoti is the CEO and co-founder of Pipedream, which recently sold to Workday. Tod is also a general partner at Flex Capital, where he's invested in over 400 companies including Chime, Vercel, Replit, CodeRabbit, Mercury, and many others. He previously founded BrightRoll, a programmatic video advertising platform that sold to Yahoo for $640 million in 2014. In this episode of Summation, Tod and Auren discuss: Why seed investing has the highest annualized returns of any venture asset class First-gen AI companies being the most vulnerable to AI disruption QSBS and why it's the most important tax benefit nobody talks about The founder code and what happens when people break it You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Tod Sacerdoti on X at @tod
February 24 · 57 min
Nextdoor CEO Nirav Tolia on bowling alone, AI bots, and why the heartland is happier than the coasts
Nirav Tolia is the co-founder and CEO of Nextdoor (NYSE: NXDR), the neighborhood social network with over 105 million users across 350,000 communities worldwide. After stepping down as CEO in 2018, he returned to lead the company in 2024. In this episode of Summation, Nirav and Auren discuss: Why success kills innovation The death of physical community Why Nextdoor had to change their stock ticker Insider vs Outsider entrepreneurs You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Nirav Tolia on X at @niravtolia.
February 17 · 42 min
Lt. General Mike Fenzel (Ret.) on bad data, bad experts, and why we can’t exit wars
Lieutenant General Mike Fenzel recently retired as a three-star Army General. He most recently served as the United States Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, navigating one of the world’s most complex geopolitical landscapes. His career is defined by high-stakes leadership, ranging from the immediate aftermath of the September 11th attacks, where he was stationed in the bunker alongside Vice President Dick Cheney, to multiple deployments to Afghanistan, to commanding an airborne brigade of 5,500 paratroopers. Beyond the battlefield, Fenzel is a scholar of strategic decision-making. His book, No Miracles, analyzes the internal Soviet failures during their occupation of Afghanistan. In this episode of Summation, Mike and Auren discuss: Why the Soviets took four years to exit Afghanistan Lessons from leading security cooperation in Jerusalem Israel's dominance in security tech Why US foreign policy experts keep failing You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Mike Fenzel on LinkedIn.
February 11 · 1 hr 1 min
Martin Shkreli on prison, beating Bloomberg, and being hated
Martin Shkreli is the co-founder of DL Software, the parent company of Godel Terminal, a Bloomberg competitor for financial data. He previously founded the biotech companies Retrophin and Turing Pharmaceuticals and the hedge fund MSMB Capital Management. In this episode of Summation, Martin and Auren discuss: The structural reasons fintech is less competitive than other industries How drug discovery actually works (and doing it from prison) Why AI labs are now out-recruiting hedge funds What Martin learned from being "the most hated man in America" You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Martin Shkreli on X at @MartinShkreli
February 9 · 1 min
World of DaaS is now Summation
World of DaaS is now Summation with Auren Hoffman. While we’re proud of our roots in the data world, our conversations have evolved. Summation better reflects our obsession with finding the non-obvious ideas that shape our world. What’s changing? Just the name. You’ll still get the same insights from the world’s most influential founders, investors, and thinkers. If you’re already a subscriber, you’re all set. If you’re new here, welcome. Hit subscribe and join us! Our first episode as Summation drops this Wednesday. Thanks for the support, and welcome to the next chapter. Auren is CEO of NQB8, GP at Flex Capital, Chairman of Dialog; former CEO of SafeGraph and LiveRamp (NYSE: RAMP).
February 3 · 41 min
Turing CEO Jonathan Siddharth - The $30 Trillion Knowledge Work Market, Training Frontier AI Models and Building Stage Five Culture
Jonathan Siddharth is the founder and CEO of Turing, a $2.2 billion AI company that provides coding and reasoning data to train frontier models for OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic and more. Turing’s mission is to accelerate superintelligence to drive economic growth. In this episode of World of DaaS, Jonathan and Auren discuss: How Turing creates expert data for frontier models Why SaaS is dying in the age of AI agents Disrupting the $30 trillion market for digital knowledge work Building a stage five company culture You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Jonathan Siddharth on X at @jonsidd. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
January 27 · 42 min
Chapter CEO Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz - medicare complexity, $100B fraud and how tech can fix it
Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz is the co-founder and CEO of Chapter, an AI-powered Medicare navigation platform valued at $1.5 billion that helps seniors navigate coverage and enrollment. In this episode of World of DaaS, Cobi and Auren discuss: Why medicare fraud costs over $100 billion annually How 24,000 medicare plans create impossible choices for seniors Why government tech keeps failing with Accenture contracts Provider network data accuracy and AI solutions You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz on X at @CobiBGantz. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
January 20 · 54 min
Industry Ventures Founder Hans Swildens - how secondaries became the dominant path for VC exits
Hans Swildens is a partner and Head of Industry Ventures at Goldman Sachs. Industry Ventures is one of the pioneers in the secondary market for venture capital, managing several billion in assets across LP stakes, direct secondaries, and primary fund investments. In October of 2025, Goldman Sachs announced they were acquiring Industry Ventures in a deal worth over $900 million dollars. In this episode of World of DaaS, Hans and Auren discuss: The evolution of secondaries from distressed deals to 70% of VC exits Why Goldman Sachs paid almost $1 billion to acquire Industry Ventures How Industry Ventures uses data from 700+ fund LP positions as a competitive edge The future of venture fund structures and permanent capital vehicles You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Hans Swildens on X at @hansswildens. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
January 12 · 41 min
Economist Glenn Hubbard - The Fed’s dilemma, AI productivity, and why experts lost trust
Glenn Hubbard is Dean Emeritus and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School. He served as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003 and was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the U.S. Treasury. He has served on the boards of BlackRock, ADP, MetLife, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In this episode of World of DaaS, Glenn and Auren discuss: Why consumer sentiment contradicts economic indicators The Fed's impossible dilemma on rate cuts Smarter tariff policy and growth Why most MBA programs are ROI negative Looking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and follow us on X @worldofdaas. You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Glenn Hubbard on LinkedIn. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
January 6 · 52 min
Rembrand CEO Omar Tawakol - why product placement works better than traditional ads
Omar Tawakol is the CEO and founder of Rembrand, an AI-powered virtual product placement company. He founded BlueKai, a data management platform acquired by Oracle for $400M+ in 2014, and Voicera, an AI meeting assistant acquired by Cisco in 2019. He currently serves on the board of The Trade Desk and as a General Partner at super{set}. In this episode of World of DaaS, Omar and Auren discuss: Why virtual billboards work better than 3D product placement How AI eliminates two-year product placement negotiations Why virtual placement grew 10x faster internationally than in the US The mistakes repeat founders make at scale Looking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and follow us on X @worldofdaas. You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Omar Tawakol on X at @otawakol. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
Dec 30, 2025 · 1 hr 44 min
We the Builders Podcast l From LiveRamp ($RAMP) to NQB8: Auren Hoffman’s Founder Journey
This episode is a rebroadcast of Auren's appearance on the We the Builders podcast. We The Builders: https://twitter.com/WeThe_Builders Host Suffiyan Malik: https://twitter.com/suffiyanmalikk Substack: https://wethebuilders.us --------------------------------------------------- This week I sat down with Auren Hoffman founder, builder, prolific investor, and one of the most connected people in Silicon Valley. Today’s episode features Auren Hoffman founder of LiveRamp ($RAMP), Flex Capital, Dialog, Safegraph and NQB8. This is one of the most interesting conversations I have had on the show so far and probably the best. He grew LiveRamp to a $300m exit, has invested in 180+ companies through Flex Capital, a seed stage fund, is chair of Safegraph ($370m data company backed by Sapphire Ventures, Peter Thiel, Ridge Ventures) and is host of World of DaaS, a podcast and community for data nerds. Auren is thinking of and validating new ideas on almost a weekly cadence. He continues to start new companies through NQB8 which includes a few successful spin outs. He also has a great blog post on it if you are interested in exploring different type of spinouts and how you should think about them as a startup. ------------------------------- Looking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and follow us on X @worldofdaas. You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and We The Builders on X at WeThe_Builders. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
Dec 23, 2025 · 51 min
FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller - why pricing data businesses trade at 30x EBIT despite 4% growth
Craig Fuller is the founder and CEO of FreightWaves, a freight media company, and SONAR, a supply chain data platform. He’s also the founder of Firecrown, which owns more than 50 publications across aviation, marine, and supply chain sectors, and he recently released his first book, Moving the World: How the Supply Chain’s Evolution Affects Us All. In this episode of World of DaaS, Craig and Auren discuss: How FreightWaves predicted the 2022 freight recession Why pricing data businesses trade at 30x EBIT Building negative CAC through media acquisitions The four-year industry experience rule for freight startups Looking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and follow us on X @worldofdaas. You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Craig Fuller on X at @FreightAlley. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
Dec 16, 2025 · 35 min
Wispr Flow CEO Tanay Kothari - voice AI deep dive
Tanay Kothari is the co-founder and CEO of Wispr Flow, a voice-first AI assistant that recently raised $56 million in Series A funding. In this episode of World of DaaS, Tanay and Auren discuss: Why Apple and Google's dictation tools fail What AI-first devices will actually look like Pivoting from hardware to software Voice replacing nearly three-quarters of keyboard usage Looking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and follow us on X @worldofdaas. You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Tanay Kothari on X at @tankots. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
Dec 12, 2025 · 12 min
The LM Brief: India as the Next Epicenter of AI?
Microsoft is investing $17.5 billion to turn India into a global AI powerhouse — from training 20 million workers to building new data infrastructure. We break down what this means for the future of AI talent, innovation, and digital sovereignty. Listen to this short podcast summary, powered by NotebookLM.
Dec 9, 2025 · 52 min
YipitData CEO Vin Vacanti - why hedge funds dominate data usage (and corporations don't)
Vinicius Vacanti is the co-founder and CEO of YipitData, an alternative data intelligence platform that analyzes billions of consumer data points daily for institutional investors and corporations. The company reached unicorn status with a $475 million Series E from Carlyle Group in 2021. In this episode of World of DaaS, Vin and Auren discuss: Why hedge funds dominate data usage versus corporations How AI is transforming data processing costs The durability of data businesses over 120 years Why "hire great people and get out of the way" is bad advice Looking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and follow us on X @worldofdaas. You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Vinicius Vacanti on X at @vacanti. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
Dec 5, 2025 · 15 min
The LM Brief: The Syntax Illusion
This week’s World of DaaS LM Brief: MIT’s new research reveals how large language models can be fooled by their own grammar. By prioritizing sentence structure over sense, these systems risk producing confident but misleading outputs—and even ignoring built-in safety rules. Listen to this short podcast summary, powered by NotebookLM.
Dec 2, 2025 · 56 min
Patrick McGee - author of Apple in China – how Apple and China built each other
Patrick McGee is the author of Apple in China, which was named one of the most notable books of the year by the New York Times and the Washington Post. The book is a deeply reported investigation into how Apple and China built each other over 25 years—and what that means for technology, supply chains, and geopolitics. Patrick has been a reporter with the Financial Times since 2013. In this episode of World of DaaS, Patrick and Auren discuss: Why Foxconn bet everything on Apple when others walked away The organized crime networks that distributed iPhones across China How Apple's supplier policies created competitors like Huawei Apple's $275B commitment and why they can't leave China Looking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and follow us on X @worldofdaas. You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Patrick McGee on X at @patrickmcgee_. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
Nov 25, 2025 · 1 hr 1 min
Dave Morin, Offline Ventures - how venture studios work
Dave Morin is co-founder and managing partner of Offline Ventures, a venture fund and studio backed by Apple as anchor investor. He was an early employee at Facebook, then founded the mobile social network Path. In this episode of World of DaaS, Dave and Auren discuss: Why Meta's AI ads work while Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify fail at recommendations How Offline runs its venture fund/studio hybrid Parasocial relationships and the loneliness crisis Depression as the #1 disease by 2030 and breakthrough treatments Looking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and follow us on X @worldofdaas. You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Dave Morin on X at @davemorin. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
Nov 21, 2025 · 17 min
The LM Brief: Why Many AI Projects Fail
This week’s World of DaaS LM Brief highlights a Forbes piece on enterprise AI infrastructure, where the author examines why data pipelines, not the models themselves, are becoming the real bottleneck. Listen to this short podcast summary, powered by NotebookLM.