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The Mergers Podcast
The official podcast of The Mergers! Listen to learn from those currently rising up the ranks in High Finance and from those who have already built their empire! Frequent guest episodes including those who run their own Private Equity, Family Office or Venture Capital Firms! We cover:
- Industry Insights into: Investment Banking, Private Equity, Venture Capital
- Bulge Brackets to Niche: Goldman Sachs & Blackrock to Sports & Media Private Equity.
- Career Advice for how to get ahead.
Expect a healthy mix of anecdotes, advice and laughs from those at the top of their game!
The Mergers Podcast
Using AI to assess Start-Ups [Special Guest - Billy Gallagher, Prospect]
In this episode of The Mergers Podcast, Rory and Ken are joined by Billy Gallagher, founder of Prospect, to explore the intersection of venture capital, startups, and career decision-making. Billy brings a wealth of experience, having started his journey at Stanford, covering early tech giants like Snapchat and DoorDash, and later joining Rippling as employee #30, helping scale it to 1,000 employees.
Key Highlights:
- The Prospect Mission: Billy explains how Prospect helps employees make better decisions when joining startups by providing tools to assess equity value and using proprietary AI models to score startups—offering a VC-style approach to career choices.
- Startup Screening Secrets: Billy shares his process for identifying high-potential startups, including looking for early signs of product-market fit and visionary founders, and why joining a company at the “hockey stick inflection point” can maximize equity upside.
- State of Venture Capital: Get Billy’s take on the current VC landscape, including the boom in AI-driven startups, lingering hype-driven valuations, and the shift toward lean, disciplined business models.
- AI in Startups: Billy reflects on balancing shiny object syndrome with practical AI applications, highlighting how models can now act as endless research interns to improve decision-making.
- Building Networks and Careers: Advice on managing your professional network, evaluating startup opportunities, and why now is a great time to get into the startup ecosystem.
Whether you’re a startup founder, a VC enthusiast, or someone navigating career choices in tech, this episode is packed with actionable insights on leveraging data, building networks, and making the most of equity opportunities.