October Podcasts: 10 Episodes on Venture, AI Agents, and Startups

«China for Startups»

In this episode of Hub Talks from Astana Hub, Khan Tengri Innovation Hub CEO Lyazzat Borankulova and ApartX founder Kanat Keldibekov discuss how Kazakh startups can enter the Chinese market. They share insights on finding local partners, attracting investments, and scaling businesses. Special attention is given to practical issues: how to establish cooperation with Chinese companies, accelerate production, and prepare products for international markets. The conversation is moderated by Aigerim Nurgalieva.

«Why Central Asian Startups Should Look at China»

In a podcast by IT Park Uzbekistan, recorded during ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026, the opportunities of the Chinese technological ecosystem for startups and IT companies in Central Asia are discussed. Guests talk about the development of artificial intelligence, robotics, and electronics manufacturing, and explain the differences in business opportunities between Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Beijing. The episode also covers how to choose the right platform for market entry and find partners among tech parks, companies, and investors.

«Business Models for the AI Era: What’s Changing Today»

Entrepreneur and investor Arkady Morais spoke at Almaty Hub as part of AI Month. The founder of Price.ru and «GlavStarta», author of the FastFounder and «Dark Side» projects, explained how artificial intelligence is changing approaches to building businesses. The discussion focused on new business models, identifying growth points, and the impact of AI on product development, team operations, and value creation for customers.

«A $1 Billion Startup Behind 15 Million Brokerage Accounts»

In the nFactorial Podcast, Arman Suleimenov interviews Yoshi Yokokawa, founder and CEO of Alpaca, a company that provides infrastructure for financial services. Yokokawa shares how the business survived the crisis following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and how its role evolved as the company grew to $100 million in annual revenue. The conversation also covers managing a fully remote team spread across 55 countries and the journey into Y Combinator after six rejections. 

«Menlo Ventures Partner on Betting on AI, Anthropic, and New Venture Capital Rules»

The guest on 20VC with Harry Stebbings is Venky Ganesan, partner at Menlo Ventures and investor in Anthropic, Lovable, Legora, and Higgsfield. He has been included three times in the Forbes Midas List, which recognizes top venture capital investors. In the episode, Ganesan explains how the venture capital market is changing in the context of AI development. Topics include the prospects for seed investments, the reliability of revenue metrics for AI companies, and the quality indicators investors look for when choosing founders.

«Who Will Win in Venture Capital in the Next Decade»

Samir Dholakia, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, became a guest on a new episode of the 20VC with Harry Stebbings podcast. The fund raised $5.75 billion, and Dholakia’s investments include Anthropic, Fireworks, and Legora. Before entering venture capital, he led SendGrid, increasing the company’s annual revenue from $30 million to over $200 million.

In the episode, Dholakia explains why he considers AI development a massive technological cycle comparable to the emergence of the internet and cloud technologies. 

«An 86-Minute Guide to Finding Product-Market Fit»

In Lenny’s Podcast, Rob Snyder, author of The Power of Pull, breaks down the process of finding product-market fit — aligning a product with market needs. He shares a methodology that helps navigate the path from idea to first deals and discusses his experience working with more than 50 startups that grew from zero to $1 million in annual revenue. The episode focuses on identifying promising ideas, communicating with potential customers, and making initial sales. 

«Head of ChatGPT at OpenAI: We Are Entering a New Era of AI»

Lenny’s Podcast host Lenny Rachitsky spoke with Thibaut Sottor, head of ChatGPT and Codex at OpenAI, during the DevDay conference. On the day of recording, the team unveiled more than 20 new products.

Sottor talks about personal AI assistants, the development of AI agents, and the potential transformation of traditional ways of interacting with the internet. He also explains which skills will be in demand as AI becomes more widespread and how OpenAI approaches safety issues.

«How Jitendra Patel Runs Cisco as the World’s Largest Startup»

Y Combinator managing partner Jared Friedman interviews Jitendra Patel, president and chief product officer of Cisco. The company is developing infrastructure for artificial intelligence, and in two years, orders from major cloud providers have reached $9.3 billion.

Jitendra Patel explains how to maintain decision-making speed in a company with 32,000 engineers, why AI should help create new products rather than just cut costs, and how demand for engineering specialties will change. 

«Betting on Team AI Agents»

In the In Depth podcast from First Round Capital, the host interviews Jean-Denis Grez, co-founder and CEO of Town. The company is developing an AI assistant that provides every employee with their own work agent.

Before launching Town, Grez spent seven years as CTO of Plaid and led engineering teams at Dropbox. In the episode, he explains why the company focused on work agents rather than personal assistants and how it plans to compete with Microsoft and Google.