Jack R. Curran
215 posts

Jack R. Curran
@CurrJR
Product @openai | Formerly @Apple @ThriveCapital

We shipped some valuable software today - bringing the magic of Codex to agents you can deploy straight from ChatGPT!

















BREAKING: Inside Thrive Capital w/ Partner Philip Clark Investing in OpenAI, Wiz, Cursor, Nudge, Physical Intelligence “Josh always had a line to me when I joined Thrive, which is that the people who win deals are the ones who want to win them most.” In this conversation, Philip breaks down how one of the most concentrated & influential firms (@ThriveCapital) in tech evaluates founders, builds conviction, & partners with companies that reshape the world. We dive into: - Seeing an early demo of OpenAI’s GPT-4 before launch - Why Thrive flew into an active war zone to close the Wiz deal - Cursor’s explosive growth from a small pivot to a multi-hundred-million ARR product - How Nudge is engineering the human brain using ultrasound - Why hardware’s barriers are falling & why the biggest companies of the next decade may be physical Highlights (00:00) Who is Philip Clark? How he joined Thrive Capital (02:45) From physics to investing: becoming a technologist–optimist (04:00) How semiconductors led him to Thrive (06:00) Deep dive: Mesh Optical & the data center interconnect opportunity (07:45) Inside Cursor’s explosive growth and why AI is “speed chess” (09:15) How Philip first met Cursor’s founders during a pivot (11:30) Path to partner & Thrive’s “full-stack investor” model (13:45) The Wiz story: flying into an active war zone (17:15) Why Wiz closed six-figure deals in weeks — the rare “fast + big” enterprise combo (19:30) The rise of hardware: sensors, software, & SpaceX-trained talent (21:45) The rise of Nudge and engineering the human brain (26:30) Neuralink & Nudge: read to stimulate (31:15) Why Thrive concentrates instead of “spray and pray” (36:00) Inside OpenAI: seeing GPT-4 before launch (40:45) What comes after SaaS.. & the companies unlocked by AI

In many ways, Thrive is helping define the current era of venture capital. @vhankes is one of the best in the business; he's behind their investments in OpenAI, SpaceX, Databricks, Stripe, and many more. He's also an excellent board member and friend. Excited for more people to hear his thinking, hope you enjoy.








