The Dart Board x FUTURE TITANS is proud to present Ron Biscardi of iConnections in conversation with Bill Gurley, longtime Benchmark partner and one of the most influential venture capitalists of the past two decades. Recorded live at the FUTURE TITANS Emerging Manager Summit, Bill discusses the themes behind his new book Running Down a Dream and the idea that great careers often begin when someone gives themselves permission to pursue what they truly care about.

In this conversation, Bill reflects on the career pivots that shaped his path—from engineering to Wall Street to venture capital—and shares lessons for founders and investors navigating today’s market.

We also discuss the current AI boom, why real technological revolutions often come with bubbles and speculation, the growing concentration of capital in venture, and why the industry still tilts toward young investors willing to out-hustle the competition.

The Dart Board x FUTURE TITANS is proud to present Jeff Perry of Carta in conversation with Seth Levine, partner and co-founder of Foundry, a Boulder-based venture firm managing over $4 billion across multiple funds. With more than 25 years in venture, Seth shares the lessons he learned building Foundry from an emerging manager into one of the industry’s most respected firms.

Recorded live at the FUTURE TITANS Emerging Manager Summit, Seth discusses why venture is ultimately an influence business, how emerging managers should think about building partnerships and scaling themselves, and why entry valuation rarely determines the outcome of a great investment.

We also explore the challenges facing emerging managers today, the growing concentration of venture capital, and Seth’s perspective on how capitalism itself is evolving.

The Dart Board x FUTURE TITANS is proud to present Mike Chalfen of Chalfen Ventures, one of Europe’s most iconic venture investors and a pioneer of the solo GP model. Investing since the early days of the internet, Mike shares the lessons that shaped his approach to venture and why he ultimately chose to build his own firm.

Recorded live at the FUTURE TITANS Emerging Manager Summit, we discuss how emerging managers should define their investment swim lane, why early-stage companies often don’t benefit from formal boards, and the one metric Mike believes every investor should track: promises made versus promises fulfilled.

We also explore portfolio concentration, making non-consensus bets, and why trying to see every deal in venture is, in Mike’s words, 'the path to madness.'

Meet Bill Gurley, longtime general partner at Benchmark and one of Silicon Valley’s most respected thinkers on markets, technology, and careers.

In this conversation, Bill reflects on his unconventional path into venture capital, the ideas behind his new book on finding and thriving in your dream job, and the patterns he’s observed across elite performers—from Bob Dylan to legendary coaches and founders. We talk about obsessive learning, building frameworks, going where the action is, and why doing what you love is the ultimate competitive advantage.

We also explore AI’s impact on careers, the danger of the “safe path” mindset, how parents can better support their kids’ ambitions, and why clarity of thought—through reading, writing, and synthesis—matters more than ever.

Whether you’re a founder, investor, or early in your career, this episode offers timeless lessons on learning faster, thinking deeper, and building a life of purpose.

Meet Mike Knoop — co-founder of Zapier, co-founder of Arc Prize, and co-founder of the NDEA AI Lab. In this wide-ranging conversation, Mike shares his journey from building one of the most capital-efficient SaaS companies ever to taking big swings at the frontier of artificial intelligence.

We dive into why scaling language models alone won’t get us to AGI, how benchmarks like ARC expose the limits of today’s systems, and why program synthesis may be the missing piece.

We close with what it means to build technology that truly expands human potential, innovation, and adaptation.

Meet Zal Bilimoria, founder & solo GP at Refactor Capital, a seed-stage fund focused on bio, climate, energy, aerospace, and other hard-but-world-changing industries.

We discuss his 10-year journey building Refactor, how his product years at Google/Netflix/LinkedIn shaped his investing lens, and what he learned from launching A16Z’s first bio fund. We talk portfolio construction, ownership discipline, navigating follow-ons in an AI-inflated market, and how he supports founders in the fast, messy early days.

Zal also discusses setbacks, down rounds, pay-to-plays, and the moments that shaped his perspective as an investor and partner to founders.

Meet Seth Levine, co-founder of Foundry Group and longtime venture investor. He shares the story behind building a $4B platform, why the firm chose not to raise future funds, and how he’s thinking about the next chapter of his life and work.

We dig into his fund-to-fund strategy, the value of broad exposure across the venture ecosystem, and how asymmetric information shapes better decision-making. Seth also reflects on scaling culture, avoiding dogma, and staying grounded in a non-scalable craft.

Finally, we explore the ideas behind his new book, Capital Evolution, from capitalism as a social compact to declining mobility to how regulation, opportunity, and community shape the future.

Meet Jessica McKellar, CEO and co-founder of Pilot. In this episode, she shares how she built three successful startups, including exits to Oracle and Dropbox, and breaks down why staying close to customers is a must for shaping strategy and culture.

Jessica explains why founders should keep selling long after scaling begins—and how great teams come from values alignment, not titles.

She also reflects on the lessons of being uncool and how empathy, integrity, and curiosity became her biggest superpowers as a leader.