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Sand Hill Road — News & Politics
Sand Hill Road

What makes Silicon Valley the innovation capital of the world? It all starts on Sand Hill Road, considered the mecca of venture capital. Join us for insightful interviews from the heart of Silicon Valley with the VCs, start-ups and innovators behind the trending technologies of tomorrow. Hosted by NBC Bay Area business and technology reporter and host of Press:Here, Scott McGrew.

Copyright: © Copyright 2019

Latest Episodes:

Adeo Ressi: Why the World Needs More Venture Capitalists Feb 02, 2026

Show notes

Adeo Ressi says his organization helps launch between 60 and 70 percent of new venture capital firms worldwide. In this episode, the Decile Group and VC Lab founder explains why starting a VC fund is far harder than most people expect, why big institutions rarely back first-time managers, and why fundraising is really a numbers-driven grind. Ressi also argues that venture capital remains concentrated in a small number of cities — and that expanding it to hundreds more could reshape who gets funded and where innovation happens.

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Who Wins When ChatGPT Does the Searching? Jan 12, 2026

Show notes

Alex Halliday made his first fortune at 15 building fan sites in the early web. Now he’s back at the center of another digital reset — helping brands survive AI-driven search. In this episode, he explains why “information gain” beats spam, why Google is under threat, and how AirOps grew from Series A to B in record time as CMOs woke up to the danger.

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Brewing Medicine: Christina Smolke and the Race to Reinvent Drug Manufacturing Dec 18, 2025

Show notes

Dr. Christina Smolke runs a brewery, except the yeast isn’t making alcohol. It’s making medicine. At Antheia, Smolke has turned a long-shot Stanford research project into a new way to manufacture critical pharmaceutical ingredients, using biology instead of traditional chemistry.

The approach is already being used to produce opioid precursors for Narcan, with more drugs in the pipeline aimed at chronic shortages and supply-chain failures. Smolke talks about regulation, security, and why some of the hardest problems in science are worth chasing—especially when everyone says they won’t work.

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Dr. Ed Engleman: Vivo Capital’s Cancer Hacker Dec 04, 2025

Show notes

Legendary Stanford immunologist Dr. Ed Engleman helped create the foundations of modern cancer treatment. From early breakthroughs in immune-cell training to a brand-new discovery, Engleman explains how the immune system can now be switched on and off like circuitry, with implications for cancer, autoimmune disease, infections and more.

He also breaks down his role at Vivo Capital, the global life-sciences venture firm where he evaluates and guides new biotech startups. Engleman describes how Vivo’s more conservative, data-driven investment style matches his own approach: digging deep into the science, waiting for real clinical signals, and backing teams that can translate discoveries into actual drugs.

A rare conversation with a scientist-founder-investor whose discoveries and companies have reshaped medicine — and who’s still chasing the next breakthrough.

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The Fastest Startup in Tech: Maria Palma on Lovable Nov 18, 2025

Show notes

Scott's conversation with Freestyle Capital's Maria Palma ranges from venture capital hype cycles to ethics, engineering creativity, venture regret, and even the art of naming startups (“Cluster Fudge” stays). Palma also offers a personal take on her own journey—from GE supply chain to Harvard Business School to eventually discovering she was built for venture—all while keeping an engineer’s mindset and a founder’s empathy.

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Design First, Lean Always: The Gamma Playbook Nov 13, 2025

Show notes

Gamma co-founder and CEO Grant Lee and lead series A investor Vas Natarajan of Accel are building one of the fastest-growing creative-tools startups in tech. With 70 million users, 100M ARR and just 50 employees, Gamma has become the “anti-PowerPoint”—a visual communication platform for the AI generation.

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Physics & AI: N47’s TJ Rylander Is Reimagining Engineering Nov 04, 2025

Show notes

TJ Rylander, general partner at N47 is exploring the next frontier of artificial intelligence: the physical world. Rylander explains how companies like Luminary Cloud are revolutionizing engineering by merging AI with physics, enabling designers to test and refine aircraft or cars virtually in days instead of months. He also shares how Skydio’s autonomous drones, once aimed at consumers, are now helping first responders and the military. Along the way, Rylander reflects on his early career at Enron, his time investing for the CIA’s In-Q-Tel, and his passion project on the board of one of America’s oldest summer camps—where he says lessons in leadership and “doing your fair share of the work” still guide him today.

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Rewiring the Special Relationship with the UK's AI Minister Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

Kanishka Narayan isn’t your typical politician. A Stanford GSB grad, he’s now the United Kingdom’s Minister for Artificial Intelligence — a job that didn’t even exist a few years ago. In this episode, Narayan talks about how Britain is using AI to drive both prosperity and dignity, why the UK just signed a “Technology Prosperity Deal” with the U.S., and how his Indian-Welsh roots and time in Silicon Valley shape the way he thinks about innovation, energy, and risk-taking. Plus, what it’s really like to grumble in Parliament.

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Eugene Malobrodsky's Bet on Immigrant Founders Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

Eugene Malobrodsky came to the U.S. as a teenager and went on to co-found Hotspot Shield, the VPN that became a symbol of free speech during the Arab Spring. Now he’s a venture capitalist at One Way Ventures, backing immigrant founders building the next wave of AI companies. He joins Scott McGrew to talk about risk, resilience, and what really drives innovation in Silicon Valley.

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Christina Farr: The Storyteller's Advantage Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

Startups need an interesting story. Not just for the media, but for investors and clients. Former CNBC reporter turned venture investor turned author Christina Farr explains what makes a great story and how being boring is the worst strategy of all.

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