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Cohere Founder, Nick Frosst: How To Compete with OpenAI & Anthropic, and Sam Altman’s AI Disservice

Nick Frosst is a Canadian AI researcher and entrepreneur, best known as co-founder of Cohere, the enterprise-focused LLM. Cohere has raised over $900 million, most recently a $500 million round, bringing its valuation to $6.8 billion. Under his leadership, Cohere hit $100M in ARR. Prior to founding Cohere, Nick was a researcher at Google Brain and a protégé of Geoffrey Hinton. ---------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 00:50 Biggest lessons from Geoff Hinton at Google Brain? 02:14 Did Google completely sleep at the wheel and miss ChatGPT? 05:41 Is data or compute the real bottleneck in AI’s future? 07:16 Does GPT5 Prove That Scaling Laws are BS? 15:47 Are AI benchmarks just total BS? 22:01 Would Cohere spend $5M on a single AI researcher? 32:59 Open vs Closed AI Models 36:01 Future of Prompting 38:43 Lessons from a $600M Fundraise 42:11 How do Cohere compete with OpenAI and Anthropic’s billions? 46:17 Do Enterprise Companies Trade at Lower Multiples? 56:15 Should countries fund their own models? Is model sovereignty the future? 01:05:12 Why has Sam Altman actually done a disservice to AI? ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on X: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Nick Frosst on X: https://twitter.com/nickfrosst Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #nickfrosst #founder #cohere #chatgpt5 #anthropic #europe #aimodels

Nick FrosstguestHarry Stebbingshost
Sep 1, 20251h 14mWatch on YouTube ↗

CHAPTERS

  1. 0:00 – 0:50

    Intro

  2. 0:50 – 2:14

    Biggest lessons from Geoff Hinton at Google Brain?

  3. 2:14 – 5:41

    Did Google completely sleep at the wheel and miss ChatGPT?

  4. 5:41 – 7:16

    Is data or compute the real bottleneck in AI’s future?

  5. 7:16 – 15:47

    Does GPT5 Prove That Scaling Laws are BS?

  6. 15:47 – 22:01

    Are AI benchmarks just total BS?

  7. 22:01 – 32:59

    Would Cohere spend $5M on a single AI researcher?

  8. 32:59 – 36:01

    Open vs Closed AI Models

  9. 36:01 – 38:43

    Future of Prompting

  10. 38:43 – 42:11

    Lessons from a $600M Fundraise

  11. 42:11 – 46:17

    How do Cohere compete with OpenAI and Anthropic’s billions?

  12. 46:17 – 56:15

    Do Enterprise Companies Trade at Lower Multiples?

  13. 56:15 – 1:05:12

    Should countries fund their own models? Is model sovereignty the future?

  14. 1:05:12 – 1:14:38

    Why has Sam Altman actually done a disservice to AI?

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