Mayfield's Navin Chaddha outlines his vision for a "vibe economy."
"That's the scale of the hardware opportunity. It's not hundreds of millions of dollars when you launch. It's in billions of dollars."
Navin Chaddha has spent three decades at the forefront of innovation -- first as a founder, and now as managing partner at Mayfield, one of Silicon Valley's oldest venture firms. A 17-time member of Forbes' Midas List, Navin has guided generations of entrepreneurs through waves of technological change, from the dot-com boom to the AI era. At Mayfield, he champions a philosophy rooted in the firm's founding ethos: investing in people, not markets. That approach has shaped his perspective on what it takes to build enduring companies. In this conversation, Navin shares why $1 trillion in infrastructure spending is fueling a new hardware renaissance, how stealth startups are going from zero to billions in a year, and what it means for the future of innovation.
(38:13) Why Navin believes AI will push humans to level up their skills rather than lose them
(44:50) The hardware opportunities that excite Navin and where Mayfield is investing
(48:49) An overview of photonics and why it matters now
(50:06) How Mayfield balances market insight, big ideas, and the people behind them
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