StrictlyVC – Washington, D.C.
June 11, 2024 — Washington
Speakers
Steve Case
Chairman & CEO Revolution
Lina Khan
Chair Federal Trade Commission
Luther Lowe
Head of Public Policy Y Combinator
Helen Toner
Director of Strategy & Foundational Research Grants Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET)
Steve Case is one of America’s best-known and most accomplished entrepreneurs, and a pioneer in making the Internet part of everyday life. For the past 15 years, Steve’s focus has been on starting and scaling Revolution, the Washington DC-based investment firm that now backs entrepreneurs at every stage of their development. Revolution Growth has invested nearly $1 billion in growth-stage companies including Sweetgreen, Tempus, Tala, DraftKings, and Clear. Revolution Ventures has backed more than two dozen venture-stage companies, including Framebridge, Policygenius, and Bloomscape. The Rise of the Rest Seed Fund has invested in more than 130 startups in over 70 U.S. cities, in partnership with many of America’s most successful entrepreneurs and investors. Steve’s entrepreneurial career began in 1985 when he co-founded America Online (AOL). Under Steve’s leadership, AOL became the world’s largest and most valuable Internet company, helping to drive the worldwide adoption of a medium that has transformed business and society. AOL was the first Internet company to go public, and the best performing stocks of the 1990s, delivering a 11,616% return to shareholders. At its peak, nearly half of Internet users in the United States used AOL. In 2000, Steve negotiated the largest merger in business history, bringing together AOL and Time Warner in a transaction that gave AOL shareholders a majority stake in the combined company. To facilitate the merger, Steve agreed to step down as CEO when the merger closed.Steve’s passion for helping entrepreneurs remains his driving force. He was the founding chair of the Startup America Partnership—an effort launched at the White House in 2011 to accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation. Steve also was the founding co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and a member of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, where he chaired the subcommittee on entrepreneurship. Steve has been a leading voice in shaping government policy on issues related to entrepreneurship, working across the aisle to advance public policies that expand access to capital and talent. He was instrumental in passing the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act and the Investing in Opportunities Act, and is active in advocating on behalf of immigration reform and legislation that supports and accelerates the emergence of startup ecosystems in rising cities. Steve also serves as the Chair of the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum and research complex. In this role, Steve leads the Board of Regents’ efforts to increase the Institution’s reach, impact and relevance. Steve is also Chairman of the Case Foundation, which he established with his wife Jean in 1997. Together the Cases have invested in hundreds of organizations, initiatives and partnerships with a focus on leveraging the Internet and entrepreneurial approaches to strengthen the social sector. In 2010, Steve and Jean joined The Giving Pledge, and publicly reaffirmed their commitment to give away the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. Steve is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future. In it, Case recounted many of the lessons he learned from building businesses, and outlined the growing importance of place, policy and partnerships. Steve was born and raised in Hawaii and retains active ties to his home state, but has lived in the Washington D.C. area for more than 30 years.
Steve's Sessions
As U.S. Cities Vie for AI Supremacy, Which Will Win and Why
Lina M. Khan is Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces the nation’s antitrust and consumer protection laws. Khan got her start in antitrust as a business reporter and researcher examining consolidation across markets, from airlines to chicken farming. Since joining the FTC, Khan has focused on exercising the full suite of the FTC’s statutory authorities, regularly engaging with and hearing from the public, and ensuring the agency is updating its tools and skillsets to tackle new market realities and next-generation challenges. Priority initiatives have included a proposed rule to ban noncompete clauses, scrutinizing dominant middlemen across sectors, protecting people’s sensitive data from unchecked surveillance, and fighting for Americans’ right to access affordable, high-quality healthcare. Prior to joining the FTC, Khan served as counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law. She was also an associate professor at Columbia Law School. Khan is a graduate of Williams College and Yale Law School.
Lina's Sessions
Reining in Big Tech with FTC Chair, Lina Khan
Luther Lowe is currently the Head of Public Policy at Y Combinator, where he fights for little tech in the public policy arena. Prior to his time at Y Combinator, he was the Senior Vice President of Public Policy at Yelp. Lowe’s career has been marked by his advocacy for competition policy, open data, and consumer free speech. Lowe’s work has earned him recognition, including being named to Vanity Fair’s ‘New Establishment’ list and being listed among Washington DC’s 500 most influential people. Lowe’s background also includes serving as an aide to retired NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark and working on various Democratic campaigns.
Luther's Sessions
YC Goes to DC
Helen Toner is the Director of Strategy and Foundational Research Grants at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). She previously worked as a Senior Research Analyst at Open Philanthropy, where she advised policymakers and grantmakers on AI policy and strategy. Between working at Open Philanthropy and joining CSET, Helen lived in Beijing, studying the Chinese AI ecosystem as a Research Affiliate of Oxford University’s Center for the Governance of AI. Helen has written for Foreign Affairs and other outlets on the national security implications of AI and machine learning for China and the United States, as well as testifying before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Helen holds an MA in Security Studies from Georgetown, as well as a BSc in Chemical Engineering and a Diploma in Languages from the University of Melbourne.