The Man Who Builds for the Decade Ahead | Founder of Google X, Waymo, and Udacity
Grit29 Sep 2025

The Man Who Builds for the Decade Ahead | Founder of Google X, Waymo, and Udacity

What does it take to reinvent entire industries, over and over again?

This week on Grit, Sebastian Thrun, the “godfather” of self-driving cars and massive open online courses, reflects on a career pushing the boundaries of technology across mobility, education, and AI.

With Joubin Mirzadegan, he shares why he believes autonomous driving could become the biggest lifesaving technology in history, and how a wake-up call led him to found Udacity to truly democratize higher education.

Guest: Sebastian Thrun, CEO of Stealth Startup, founder of Google X and Udacity

Connect with Sebastian Thrun

Connect with Joubin

Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

Episoder(278)

#109 Co-founder & CEO, Databricks Ali Ghodsi: The Difference Between Truth and Data

#109 Co-founder & CEO, Databricks Ali Ghodsi: The Difference Between Truth and Data

“I literally thought to myself, I probably made the biggest mistake of my life taking this job.” That’s what Ali Ghodsi recalls about his decision step up the CEO role at Databricks, which would mean ...

24 Okt 20221h 4min

#108 COO Zscaler, Dali Rajic: If You’re Not Always Learning, You’ll Get Wiped Out

#108 COO Zscaler, Dali Rajic: If You’re Not Always Learning, You’ll Get Wiped Out

Before Zscaler’s Dali Rajic arrived at his current company, he helped grow AppDynamics from $7 million in annual recurring revenue to nearly $1 billion — and for his next move, he knew he had to do so...

17 Okt 20221h 16min

#107 Founding CRO at Flexport, Ben Braverman: The Power of Genuine Curiosity

#107 Founding CRO at Flexport, Ben Braverman: The Power of Genuine Curiosity

“Everyone excellent at their craft starts from a place of deep insecurity,” says Flexport’s founding CRO Ben Braverman. People are “slow-burning fireworks,” he explains, and we need time to learn how ...

10 Okt 20221h 18min

#106 Co-founder & CEO Sweetgreen, Jonathan Neman: The Restaurant Company of the Future

#106 Co-founder & CEO Sweetgreen, Jonathan Neman: The Restaurant Company of the Future

When Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman and his co-founders opened their second-ever store, it was a “complete mess.” Located in Washington D.C.’s Dupont Circle and opening in the middle of the Great Reces...

3 Okt 20221h 6min

#105 AOL Founder & CEO Revolution, Steve Case: The Rise of the Rest

#105 AOL Founder & CEO Revolution, Steve Case: The Rise of the Rest

For more than 10 years, AOL co-founder and Revolution Chairman Steve Case has been investing in startups in all corners of the US — and urging others to do the same. His new book about this movement, ...

26 Sep 20221h 12min

#104 Co-founder of Intuit, Scott Cook: The Power of Paradigms

#104 Co-founder of Intuit, Scott Cook: The Power of Paradigms

Intuit co-founder Scott Cook still remembers the first line of an email he received in 1994 from billg@microsoft.com: “This really is Bill Gates.” Intuit’s personal finance product Quicken had survive...

19 Sep 20221h 18min

#103 Founder & CEO Productboard, Hubert Palan w/ Ilya Fushman: Chasing Perfection

#103 Founder & CEO Productboard, Hubert Palan w/ Ilya Fushman: Chasing Perfection

Productboard founder and CEO Hubert Palan has made a point of studying the communication style of other leaders, from Martin Luther King Jr. to Elon Musk. But as the boss of a hot and growing tech sta...

12 Sep 20221h 6min

#102 CEO Qualcomm, Cristiano Amon: We’re In a Hurry to Get to the Future

#102 CEO Qualcomm, Cristiano Amon: We’re In a Hurry to Get to the Future

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon believes his company is perfectly positioned for the world economy of the future, connecting everything from phones to exercise bikes to cars. And he predicts we’re about t...

5 Sep 202246min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
e24-podden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
finansredaksjonen
pengesnakk
utbytte
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
pengepodden-2
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
rss-markedspuls-2
okonomiamatorene
lederpodden
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
rss-investering-gjort-enkelt
rss-finansforum-2
flypodden