Grit

Latest Episodes:

How AIG Is Reinventing Insurance With AI | Peter Zaffino May 04, 2026

Show notes

What does it take to run a company where the business is risk itself?

In conversation with Joubin Mirzadegan, Peter Zaffino shares what the role demands at AIG, including high stakes decisions, constant responsibility, and sacrifice.

This episode looks at his journey as CEO ahead of his transition to Executive Chairman this June.

Leading at a global scale across 200+ countries.

Guest: Peter Zaffino

Connect with Peter Zaffino

Connect with Joubin:

X
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

Follow on LinkedIn
Follow on X

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

From Airbnb to Linear: How Karri Saarinen Redefined Product Design Apr 20, 2026

Show notes

In a market that hadn’t changed in decades, Linear didn’t win by being faster. They won by being more thoughtful.

Karri Saarinen helped shape design at Airbnb and Coinbase before building Linear around small teams and high standards.

On Grit, he shares how Linear is building for a new era of software development.

Guest: Karri Saarinen, co-founder and CEO of Linear

Connect with Karri Saarinen

Connect with Josh Coyne:

Connect with Joubin:

X
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

Follow on LinkedIn

Follow on X

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

How Kevin Mandia Built the Most Trusted Name in Cybersecurity Apr 06, 2026

Show notes

What does security look like when attackers use AI better than you do?

Armadin recently raised $200M to build for the “attacker of the future,” where attacks are autonomous and harder to contain.

On the Kleiner Perkins Grit podcast, Kevin Mandia joins Joubin Mirzadegan to share how he’s thinking about this shift, why cybersecurity has always been a calling, and why customer trust is what ultimately compounds into market leadership.

Guest: Kevin Mandia, Founder and CEO, Armadin

Connect with Kevin Mandia
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-mandia-0a07173/

Connect with Josh Coyne:

Connect with Joubin:

Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

Follow on LinkedIn

Follow on X

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

The Silicon Valley Insider In The Pentagon | DoW Emil Michael Mar 23, 2026

Show notes

Emil Michael went from scaling Uber across 600 cities to rewiring the world's largest military.

In the midst of the Pentagon-Silicon Valley debate, the now U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering opens up about what a real partnership demands from both sides.

He also shares how he's built three new entry points for defense tech companies, and why America's military is called the "Department of War" again.

Guest: Emil Michael, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering

Connect with Emil Michael

Connect with Joubin

X
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

Follow on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/kpgrit

Follow on X:
https://x.com/KPGrit

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

How Sierra Is Pulling Ahead in the AI Race | Co-founder Bret Taylor Mar 09, 2026

Show notes

Few founders have seen Silicon Valley from every seat at the table.

After co-creating Google Maps at Google, serving as CTO at Facebook, and later as co-CEO of Salesforce, Bret Taylor is now building AI agents at Sierra to redefine customer experience.

On Grit, he explains why “competitive intensity” is a core value at their fast-growing company and why he believes AI won’t lead to a world where people stop working.

Guest: Bret Taylor, co-founder of Sierra

Connect with Bret

Connect with Joubin

Follow Grit

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins:https://www.kleinerperkins.com/

The AI Era of Cybercrime: How Malwarebytes Is Evolving Its Security Stack | Marcin Kleczynski Feb 23, 2026

Show notes

What began as a 14 year old fixing infected computers became Malwarebytes, an 800 person cybersecurity company trusted by millions of customers.

On Grit, Marcin Kleczynski joins Joubin Mirzadegan to explore AI driven cyber threats, strategic reinvention, and the discipline of evolving before the market forces you to.

“We’ve exceeded. Now, what do we do to protect individuals against the next wave of threats, which are plentiful?”

Guest: Marcin Kleczynski, CEO at Malwarebytes

Connect with Marcin Kleczynski
X: https://x.com/mkleczynski
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcinkleczynski/

Connect with Joubin
X: https://x.com/Joubinmir
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

Follow on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/kpgrit

Follow on X:
https://x.com/KPGrit

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/

The Truth Behind Automation Claims in Customer Support | Cresta CEO Ping Wu Feb 09, 2026

Show notes

Can you scale customer support without burning out agents or frustrating customers?

Ping Wu shares how Cresta combines AI and human intelligence into a single system that scales sustainably for companies like United Airlines and Porsche.

In this episode, Ping also breaks down the three constraints that shape automation in the real world: conversation complexity, infrastructure debt, and customer demographics.

Guest: Ping Wu, CEO of Cresta

Connect with Ping Wu
X: https://x.com/ping_wu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pingwu/

Connect with Joubin
X: https://x.com/Joubinmir
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

Follow on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/kpgrit

Follow on X:
https://x.com/KPGrit

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/

The Safest Dollar on the Internet | Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire Jan 26, 2026

Show notes

USDC closed the gap between software and law in modern finance.

On Grit, Jeremy Allaire discusses how fully reserved, dollar backed digital currency became part of the financial system after more than a decade of work.

He also shares why for him grit is about sustaining belief through deep uncertainty, even when Circle faced the threat of bankruptcy in 2019.

Guest: Jeremy Allaire, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO at Circle

Connect with Jeremy Allaire

X: https://x.com/jerallaire

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyallaire/

Connect with Joubin

X: https://x.com/Joubinmir

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/

Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

Follow on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/kpgrit

Follow on X:
https://x.com/KPGrit

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins:https://www.kleinerperkins.com/

Why We’re Only Using 1% of AI | Glean CEO Arvind Jain Jan 12, 2026

Show notes

Glean has grown into a $7.2B company by giving employees AI assistants and agents that extend their capabilities.

CEO Arvind Jain is back on Grit alongside Joubin Mirzadegan. Here’s what stood out:

“My mindset by default is that if you build something last year, that it's got to be obsolete. There has to be a new way to do that thing better today. If not, then it's just lack of imagination.”
“I have no doubts that AI capabilities are just going to increase more and more over the next few years. But even more important is this concept of how much are we even leveraging what AI can do today? I would say that we've not even used 1% of current capabilities of these models”
“If you're trying to be everything to everyone, then you just cannot compete with somebody who's focused on a smaller problem and going deep into that.”

You can also listen to Arvind’s earlier episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIH0Qp6d6bg&list=PLRiWZFltuYPF8A6UGm74K2q29UwU-Kk9k&index=96

Guest: Arvind Jain, founder and CEO, Glean

Connect with Arvind Jain

X: https://x.com/jainarvind

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jain-arvind/

Connect with Joubin

X: https://x.com/Joubinmir

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/

Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

Follow on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/kpgrit

Follow on X:
https://x.com/KPGrit

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins:https://www.kleinerperkins.com/

The Grittiest Conversations of 2025: AI, Business & Beyond Dec 29, 2025

Show notes

In this recap episode, we highlight the best moments from our 2025 interviews and reflect on the ideas that defined the year.

Featuring:

David Rubenstein (co-founder of Carlyle)
Yamini Rangan (CEO of HubSpot)
Ben Chestnut (co-founder of Mailchimp)
Winston Weinberg (co-founder and CEO of Harvey)
Garrett Lord (co-founder of Handshake)
Aidan Gomez (co-founder and CEO of Cohere)
Michelle Zatlyn (co-founder of Cloudflare)
Evan Spiegel (co-founder and CEO of Snap)

Connect with Joubin
X: https://x.com/Joubinmir
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

Follow on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/kpgrit

Follow on X:
https://x.com/KPGrit

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected