20VC: General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja on The Future of Venture Capital: Chanel vs Walmart | Lessons Scaling GC to $40BN in AUM | Investing $5BN+ Into Stripe Over 14 Rounds | Investing Hundreds of Millions into Anthropic at $60BN Valuation

Hemant Taneja is the CEO and leader of General Catalyst, the firm he has scaled over the last decade into one of the largest with over $40BN in AUM. He has been one of the most influential investors of the past two decades, leading early bets in Stripe, Snap, Gusto, Samsara, Grammarly, and Canva. He also played a pivotal role in Livongo’s $18.5B merger with Teladoc, one of the largest digital health deals in history.

AGENDA: 

00:00 Introduction 

03:37 Is Hemant a CEO or an Investor?

05:42 With $40BN AUM Is General Catalyst Still a VC Firm?

12:11 Has Trump Done More to Hurt or Help the US?

13:25 No One is Talking About the True Impact of AI on Jobs

21:30 Is Hemant Concerned by the Concentration of Value in MAG 7? 

27:30 Has Trump Done More to Hurt or Help the US?

30:27 GC’s Anthropic Investment: Upside from a $60BN Price 

37:06 Do Margins Matter in a World of AI

45:23 Does Revenue Growth Matter in a World of AI 

49:39 Why it is BS to Turn Down a Company Based on Price

56:06 We Have Invested $5BN Into Stripe Over 14 Rounds

01:00:02 VC is About To Be Flooded with Retail Investment: What Does It Mean for VC

01:08:51 “What I Learned Losing the Series A of Snap, Stripe, Samsara”

01:11:25 Future of Venture Capital: Walmart vs Chanel