Martin Tobias, founder of Incisive Ventures, joins JC Christian to discuss why he believes AI will make software companies cheaper to build and why he prefers writing the first check when private valuations move above public-market comps. A three-time venture-backed CEO who took two companies public, Tobias explains how he sizes the checks he writes around the traction later-stage investors want to see. They also discuss distribution wedges and why he's skeptical of solo founders who can't recruit a co-founder.
Martin Tobias, founder of Incisive Ventures, joins JC Christian to discuss why he believes AI will make software companies cheaper to build and why he prefers writing the first check when private valuations move above public-market comps. A three-time venture-backed CEO who took two companies public, Tobias explains how he sizes the checks he writes around the traction later-stage investors want to see. They also discuss distribution wedges and why he's skeptical of solo founders who can't recruit a co-founder.
Chris McCann, General Partner at Race Capital, joins JC Christian to discuss why the line between pre-seed and seed rounds has become harder to draw. Chris explains what his firm looks for when assessing a startup’s path to a Series A and why a high revenue run rate can raise questions about repeat business and customer concentration. They also discuss Race Capital’s investment in Vision Labs, which collects factory data for robotics training, and what it will take to move physical AI into working production lines.
Dr. Chenxi Wang, Founder and General Partner at Rain Capital, joins host JC Christian, President of Christian & Timbers, for a conversation on AI infrastructure, edge AI, cybersecurity, machine learning, and data science in the context of early-stage investing. Chenxi spent two decades in cybersecurity before founding Rain Capital. She began her career as a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University and later served as Chief Strategy Officer at Twistlock, VP of Strategy at Intel Security, and VP of Research at Forrester Research. Fortune named her one of the top cyber investors in the world.
Jeff Christian joins Bloomberg to break down John Ternus taking over from Tim Cook as Apple CEO, the fight for senior AI talent, and what reinvention looks like at a company already on top.
Palantir posted Q2 revenue of $1.94 billion, up 93% year over year, with U.S. government revenue climbing 90%. In this episode, JC Christian and Max Lamontel break down what that growth means for defense companies weighing whether to build software capability in-house or work with a partner. They also cover Swarmbotics AI and the cross-industry talent behind autonomous defense systems. From Black Hat, they discuss GPUBreach’s findings on GPU infrastructure vulnerabilities and separate hype from real world experience in AI systems, including research from James Kettle showing an AI system discovering novel HTTP attack techniques.
AI is becoming the new test of executive credibility. A growing gap separates leaders who use AI from those who have rebuilt how they work around it. In this episode, David Rice sits down with JC Christian, President of executive search firm Christian & Timbers, to explore what it means to be AI-native at the executive level. They discuss how executive hiring is changing, why proven AI deployment experience matters more than AI strategy alone, and why leaders are now being judged on whether they can align AI adoption with business strategy, not just talk about it. As AI reshapes every function, leaders need to rethink how they work, make decisions, and build teams.
SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 a share in June. Aerospace and defense recruiting is already feeling the effects. In this episode of the Christian & Timbers AI Builders Podcast, JC Christian and Max Lamontel discuss how the IPO could change hiring in the sector. They also cover why security-cleared talent remains one of the industry's biggest constraints, and how the debate between Anthropic and the Pentagon reflects the challenges of governing AI in classified defense environments.
AI layoffs continue to dominate the headlines, but the hiring picture looks different from an executive search perspective. In this discussion, JC Christian, President of Christian & Timbers, and Max Lamontel, Managing Partner, Global Aerospace & Defense, discuss how AI is reshaping leadership hiring and changing what companies look for in aerospace and defense leaders, as firms recruit both technical and strategic leaders. They also note that the strongest technical leaders in aerospace and defense combine technical expertise with strategic judgment.
In the first episode of the AI Builders Podcast, Jeff Christian and JC Christian explore what AI transformation looks like in modern manufacturing. They discuss why successful AI adoption starts with AI-native leadership, where effective AI strategies require deep customer empathy and strategic decision-making so technology choices improve decision-making speed and customer impact, how Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) bridge strategy and production as hybrid roles become the norm and AI is reshaping data engineering roles significantly across engineering teams, and what it takes to move AI from pilot projects into measurable business outcomes as organizations shift from role-based structures to outcome-based ones with teams organizing around outcomes rather than titles. CTOs must rethink job architecture and performance evaluation as AI is eliminating friction between product and engineering roles, including how product managers work with technical leaders. If you're leading AI initiatives in manufacturing or building enterprise AI systems, this episode offers practical insights on leadership, deployment, and scaling AI in the real world.
Nike has entered its execution phase. The next test is whether its leadership team can turn AI investments into measurable business results. AI can act as a force multiplier that accelerates execution, but leadership still has to set strategic direction.
A conversation about what it takes to architect companies around AI from the ground up, including how engineering leaders build AI-native organizations by organizing teams around outcomes rather than titles.
Jeff Christian explains what it takes to become a top-level CEO at a high-tech internet company. He reveals what he and boards of directors look for in CEOs and senior leadership. Jeff is credited with bringing together talent, venture capital, and information.
Jeff Christian, founder of Christian & Timbers and CEO of Jeff Christian & Company, became an industry leader in high-tech executive search and is credited with helping build some of the fastest-growing technology companies.