Ventures from The Valley

In this special episode of Ventures from the Valley, Victor Orlovski turns the conversation around and shares his own perspective on AI, investing, fintech, and what it means to build in a world where technology is evolving faster than ever.Drawing on his experience as a developer, banking technology executive, founder, and growth investor at R136 Ventures, Victor explains why AI has fundamentally changed the economics of building. Products that once required millions of dollars, dozens of engineers, and years of development can now be built in days. But as building becomes easier, choosing what to build becomes much more important.Victor shares why R136 is increasingly focused on problems that remain difficult to solve, why he believes the greatest AI value will move from infrastructure to applications, and why the traditional app economy may eventually give way to fleets of intelligent agents.The conversation also explores:• AI applications vs. infrastructure• The rise of AI agents and agentic commerce• Why the traditional app economy may be disappearing• How AI is transforming companies and productivity• The future of fintech and payments• Why people matter more in an AI-native worldThis episode is brought to you by R136 Ventures, investing in ambitious companies building the next generation of technology.🌐 Learn more about R136 Ventures:https://www.r136.vc/💬 What do you think will create more value over the next decade: AI infrastructure or AI-native applications?Timecodes:00:00 - The AI-Native Future00:37 - A Different Episode02:07 - Victor’s Builder Mindset04:02 - Building Got 100x Easier06:03 - What Becomes Valuable07:17 - Late-Stage AI Founders11:34 - The AI Investment Boom13:05 - Infrastructure vs Applications19:36 - The End of Apps24:02 - Software With a Soul26:27 - A Future of AI Agents30:30 - The AI Adoption Gap33:01 - Reinventing Organizations37:04 - AI Inside R13643:54 - How AI Creates Value46:48 - Stop Chatting, Start Building51:05 - The Future of Fintech53:31 - Agentic Commerce58:54 - R136’s Investment Thesis

What if sending money across borders could become instant, reliable, and almost free?In this episode of Ventures from the Valley, host Victor Orlovski sits down with Josiah Senu, founder of Zuba a fintech company building what Josiah describes as the world’s most reliable bank.Josiah shares his journey from a British-Nigerian upbringing to Harvard Law School, fintech, payments, and building financial infrastructure for emerging markets. He explains why cross-border payments remain broken, why remittance fees are still too high, and how stablecoins can fundamentally change the cost of moving money around the world.In this conversation, we discuss:• Why sending money home can be a life-or-death issue• What founders should understand about Africa and Nigeria• Why Nigeria is one of the most important fintech markets• How stablecoins reduce the cost of cross-border payments• Why Zuba is focused on affordability, speed, and reliability• How AI and blockchain can help fight financial fraud• Why customer care still matters in the age of AI• What it takes to build a global fintech company• How Josiah thinks about talent, focus, discipline, and obsessionThis episode is brought to you by R136 Ventures, supporting visionary founders building the next generation of fintech, B2B, and AI-driven companies.🌐 Learn more:https://www.r136.vc/💬 Would you trust a stablecoin-powered bank to move your money across borders?___________________________________________________________________________R136 Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based multi-stage VC firm with a focus on scaling mid and late-stage B2B and fintech startups.Our mission is to propel creative entrepreneurs to a faster growth trajectory. We help founders scale their mid-to-late stage startups, bringing with us a distinctive fusion of expertise and past experiences that are key in unlocking their true potential. With many of our team having previously held CEO, CTO and other c-level positions, we understand the challenges and opportunities of both startups and major corporations. Our contribution doesn't just stop at vision and strategy; we actively shape your execution and help in talent acquisition. With a legacy of managing assets exceeding $400 million and having financially backed more than  30 innovative companies, our record speaks for itself.🌐 Learn more: https://www.r136.vc/#venturecapital #startups #R136 #fintech #stablecoins

What happens when AI stops being just a tool… and becomes a relationship?In this episode of Ventures from the Valley, host Victor Orlovski speaks with Eugenia Kuyda — founder of Replika and Wabi — about the future of emotional AI, AI companions, consumer technology, and the next wave of human-computer interaction.Eugenia shares the deeply personal story behind Replika, how the loss of her best friend inspired one of the world’s first AI companion platforms, and why millions of users formed emotional connections with AI long before ChatGPT existed.They also discuss:• The early days of conversational AI before transformers• Building emotional intelligence into software• Why Replika had 1.5M users on the waitlist before launch• The rise of ChatGPT and OpenAI• Why emotional AI may become bigger than assistants• The future of AI relationships and digital companions• Why AI could replace millions of jobs• The next generation of AI interfaces through Wabi• Consumer AI vs enterprise AI• The future battle between Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and startupsThis conversation explores one of the biggest questions of our time: can AI truly understand humans — and what happens if it does?Watch the full episode and subscribe for more conversations with world-class founders, investors, and AI pioneers.Learn more about  R136 VenturesWhat do you think — will emotional AI help humanity or make people more isolated?#venturecapital #R136 #AI #Replika #EugeniaKuyda

What if you could build a multi-million dollar SaaS company… without a sales team or paid ads?In this episode of Ventures from the Valley, host Victor Orlovski sits down with Robin Alex, co-founder of HighLevel — an AI-powered business platform serving 70,000+ agencies and over 1 million businesses worldwide.Robin shares how HighLevel scaled from early struggles and high churn to becoming one of the fastest-growing SaaS platforms — by focusing on agencies instead of SMBs, building strong community-driven growth, and aligning incentives at scale.⸻💡 What you’ll learn:• Why selling directly to SMBs failed — and what worked instead• The real reason agencies became the growth engine• How a simple pivot changed everything• Why HighLevel never relied on a traditional sales team• The strategy behind 40% lifetime affiliate commissions• How to scale a SaaS company profitably from day one• The truth about product-market fit most founders misunderstand• How AI is changing (but not replacing) service businesses⸻This episode is brought to you by R136 Ventures, backing the next generation of B2B and AI-driven companies.🌐 Learn more:https://www.r136.vc/💬  Would you rather build a startup with VC funding or stay fully profitable from day one?

How do you build companies worth hundreds of millions - and aim for a trillion-dollar venture platform?In this episode of Ventures from the Valley, host Victor Orlovski sits down with serial entrepreneur Daniel Dippold.Daniel is a 3x founder with over $300M in collective startup value, a Cambridge machine learning graduate, and an angel investor in 60+ startups since 2020 with multiple unicorn investments.He is also the founder of EWOR, a fellowship that supports top tech founders globally with up to €500,000 and bespoke mentorship from unicorn founders (Adjust, ProGlove, SumUp).In this conversation we discuss:• How Daniel evaluates exceptional founders• Why venture capital is a heavy-tailed industry• How EWOR helps founders build unicorn companies• The infrastructure behind startup success• Why small teams can build billion-dollar companies• The future of AI startups and foundation models• How venture investors identify breakout founders• Why the best founders focus on talent, money, and distributionDaniel also shares his perspective on AI disruption, venture capital, and the future of trillion-dollar companies.This podcast is brought to you by R136 Ventures, supporting visionary founders building the next generation of B2B and fintech companies.🌐 Learn morehttps://www.r136.vc/💬  What matters more for startup success — the founder, the idea, or timing?