Mike Mignano is a General Partner at Union Square Ventures, one of the most iconic venture firms in the world, whose investments include Coinbase, Stripe, Etsy, Twilio, Cloudflare. Before joining USV, Mike was a Partner at Lightspeed, where he backed breakout AI companies including Granola and Suno. Prior to investing, he co-founded Anchor, acquired by Spotify.
AGENDA:
00:00 Is Fear of Failure the Secret Weapon Behind Great Founders?
07:20 Why Leave Lightspeed for USV — and Is Thesis-Driven Venture Still Alive?
09:50 Is the Real AI Money Still in Infrastructure, or Are Apps Finally About to Explode?
13:00 Who Wins the AI Model War: OpenAI, Anthropic, Open Source, or the "Rebel Alliance"?
19:00 Are We About to Hand Our Entire Lives Over to AI Agents?
21:00 Can Anthropic Keep Growing Like This — or Will Token Spend Break the Model?
26:00 Can AI Routing Become a $50BN Company, or Is It Just a Commodity Pipe?
30:00 Will the AI Energy Crisis Create the Next Monster Venture Outcomes?
36:00 Can Startups Survive Microsoft, OpenAI, and the Brutal Power of Bundling?
45:00 Should VCs Ignore Price When Backing Generational Companies?
55:30 Is Traditional Media Dead — and Who Becomes the New Tech Kingmaker?