I think Apple, Meta's Muse AI model is great product, says Slow Ventures' Lessin
CNBC's Kelly Evans discusses Apple and Meta teaming up to offer Muse AI model with Sam Lessin of Slow Ventures.
General Partner, Slow Ventures
Search every verified Sam Lessin interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Sam Lessin, co-founder of Slow Ventures, appeared on CNBC on October 16, 2026, to discuss the collaboration between Apple and Meta to offer Meta's open-source Muse AI model on Apple desktop computers. He described Muse as "a great product" and characterized the partnership as an example of "grown up companies" finding alignment on open-source models and running models locally, while noting that it does not erase tensions over issues like App Store control or Meta's hardware ambitions. Regarding consumer adoption, Lessin said that exploratory users are discovering valuable use cases, which companies can then market more broadly, though he acknowledged the process of driving widespread adoption would be "messy and complicated." He also referenced Amazon's approach to business deals in the AI space as an interesting development.
CNBC's Kelly Evans discusses Apple and Meta teaming up to offer Muse AI model with Sam Lessin of Slow Ventures.
Sam Lessin is a General Partner at Slow Ventures, where he wrote one of the first checks into Solana at four cents a coin. Before that he sold a company to Facebook and was VP of Product there during it's fastest growing years. Sam wrote the seed check into Fair Square Medicare and I'm a big fan. The car is a 997.2 Carrera. 2009. White on Sand Beige. In this episode we cover: Miata vs Porsche (00:00) Frankl and Man's Search for Meaning (1:32) Thank you to USA, Capitalism and parents (11:07) Will AI destroy personal meaning (12:15) The probability that UFO's exist (19:45) Star Trek a case stu…
I sit down with Sam Lessin, Cofounder and General Partner at @Slow_Ventures, to unpack why he believes decentralization is inevitable. Sam is an original thinker and really fun to talk to. He and the Slow team have built an impressive track record of being early and right. They’ve made early investments in Robinhood, Pinterest, Nextdoor, Solana, Airtable, and more. In this wide-ranging and entertaining conversation, we discuss: How the Internet ironically became the greatest centralizing machine ever How the, "Physics of Technology" make centralization and decentralization inevitable cycl…
Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Sam Lessin of Slow Ventures, a a generalist early stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco, Boston, and New York that has invested ~$1B in startups building in the security, fintech, buyouts/rollups, SaaS, crypto, consumer, healthcare, and the creator economy. Slow's portfolio includes companies like Airtable, Brightside, Gusto, Me…
Sam Lessin is a partner at Slow Ventures, a former VP of Product at Facebook, and a two-time founder who’s now teaching etiquette to Silicon Valley’s founders. In this unconventional episode, Sam explains why proper etiquette has become a vital skill for founders in 2026—especially as technology becomes more central to society and trust becomes harder to build. His etiquette book and courses have become surprisingly popular, teaching founders how to “show up in a room with a low heart rate” and quickly build trust. We discuss: 1. Why etiquette matters 2. Sam’s framework for showing up confide…
CNBC's "The Exchange" team discusses what tech themes investors should watch in 2026 with Sam Lessin of Slow Ventures. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/42d859g » Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision » Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC » Watch CNBC on the go with CNBC+: https://www.cnbc.com/WatchCNBCPlus Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader in business news worldwide. Connect with CNBC News Online Get the latest new…
The days of tech founders "showing up with no manners" are over as AI and tech become global policy issues. Slow Ventures General Partner Sam Lessin explains why founders now need "humility, respect," and trust-building skills to succeed in this new era. TITV airs on YouTube, X and LinkedIn at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. Or check us out wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to: The Information on YouTube: / @theinformation The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/subscr...
Slow Ventures’ Sam Lessin joins 'The Exchange' to discuss the AI sector, if OpenAI is becoming too big to fail and much more. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/42d859g » Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision » Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC » Watch CNBC on the go with CNBC+: https://www.cnbc.com/WatchCNBCPlus Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader in business news worldwide. Connect with CNBC News Online Get the lat…
Sam sits down with Jason Levin (aka Memelord) to unpack the real playbook behind “memetic warfare”—from building a no-code project to $100K ARR, to recruiting an ex-government engineer to make memes, to why the internet has become the new battlefield for power. Slow Ventures, alongside Long Journey, Unpopular Ventures, and others, recently invested $3M into Memelord.com to make memes more accessible. We dive into why we backed Jason and what he plans to do next. Chapters: 00:36 — Jason’s Journey 02:50 — “Control the Memes” Thesis 04:06 — Department of Memetic Warfare: The Research & Defense…
The “AI for X” pitch is getting tiring… The real breakthrough will happen when it actually works. Get an inside look at why building AI assistants is so challenging — from people who are building them or have tried to. Sam Lessin, who previously built Fin — an assistant service pre-AI — and Will Ruben, founder of Workmate Labs, compare notes on the state of AI assistants now versus then. Chapters: 00:00 Intro & Bullshitting About Startups Setting the stage: Facebook era, why Workmate, and what’s broken with assistants. 01:18 Why Now? The AI Timing Play “Startups are all about timing… In a yea…
Rory O’Driscoll is a General Partner @ Scale where he has led investments in category leaders such as Bill.com (BILL), Box (BOX), DocuSign (DOCU), and WalkMe (WKME), among others. Jason Lemkin is one of the leading SaaS investors of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Algolia, Talkdesk, Owner, RevenueCat, Saleloft and more. Sam Lessin is a Partner at Slow Ventures, where he has backed breakout companies like Robinhood, Airtable, Ro and Solugen. Previously, he was VP of Product at Facebook, where he led core product and identity. He also founded Drop.io, which was acquired…
Sam Lessin, Slow Ventures general partner, joins 'The Exchange' to discuss Elon Musk's $97 billion offer for OpenAI, SoftBank's investment plans, and much more. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/42d859g » Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision » Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader in business news worldwide. Connect with CNBC News Online Get the latest news: http://www.cnbc.com/ Foll…
“Option two does with AI is that actually the world doesn't actually get better for everyone. It's a massive wealth compounder if you already have wealth. Yeah. Like it's going to like because all of a sudden you don't need labor for all this [ __ ] which means capital is like way more valuable, right? And let And there's a counterargument which is capital so abundant it's not valuable, but like whatever. The point is”
“AI breaks the story of work harder, get better outcome. That's the problem with it. It's not like the better outcome part is actually only part of the story, right? So this is why like take like Bryan Johnson, who I think is great, but like his whole don't die narrative. His whole narrative is like your only purpose is to not die because the world's going to keep getting better. So as long as you can hold on long eno”
“I think it's largely been the case forever. I mean like look there are certain things that are just true about technology is fundamentally leverage. It's just leverage. That's all it is, right? You think about pure leverage, the rich get richer, right? You need fewer people to do things. One person is more effective than, you know what I mean? Like you get all this like power that just means that for the single perso”
“Capitalism serves dollars. It doesn't serve people, right? And when dollars pull up, incentives shift, right? So if actually only 5% of the people have all the disposable income, right? And by the way, they're the easiest customers to address because they have the money. Like if this is like go to the sporting event or like don't eat, you're clearly going to like eat and not go to the sporting event. If you're like, ”
“I'm so out on the era of companies that are called quote unquote AI companies and have been consistently, right? Um, if you define yourself as an AI company, um, I have several problems. Like, one is you're too expensive for my business model. There are too many people who are excited about the quote unquote AI branded company for me as someone who wants to make DPI to like believe I can make money you cuz someone's ”
“Our view is that there's no industry or market that's always good. What happens is these things go in cycles. There are seasons for investing in almost anything and you just got to be really sensitive to what the season is, what the opportunities are and what's happening. And funds that lock themselves into being like we're just one thing. You can become like the deep expert in that thing and there's some value to th”
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