“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.”
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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.
We explore:
How “vibe coding” is democratizing technology creation through conversational, collaborative, and cognitive interfaces
Why Navin believes the “vibe economy” will transform how we work, live, and play
How Mayfield’s 56-year focus on “backing the jockey, not the racetrack” shapes its investment approach
The massive opportunity in AI hardware infrastructure
How stealth AI hardware startups are going from zero to billions in under a year
How India’s tech ecosystem has evolved and where the real opportunities are today
How cricket taught Navin crucial lessons about company building
Explore the episode
Timestamps
(00:00) Intro
(04:52) Cricket and its parallels to venture capital
(08:13) Navin’s journey to Silicon Valley
(10:28) Growing up in an entrepreneurial family
(12:00) Early mentors and becoming an “accidental entrepreneur”
(13:46) Navin’s first company and unconventional fundraising approach
(17:35) How Navin moved from founder to venture capitalist
(20:11) What has worked in India’s tech market and what hasn’t yet taken off
(23:31) The future of outsourcing in the AI era
(27:14) How Navin landed at Mayfield
(30:36) How Mayfield’s people-first approach works in practice
(34:50) Why Navin sees AI and vibe coding as the next great wave 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
(52:50) The surprising pace of growth in AI hardware
(54:54) The timeline from idea to product and scale in hardware startups
(56:26) Final meditations
Follow Navin Chaddha
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/navinchaddha/
Resources and episode mentions
Books
Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity: https://www.amazon.com/Outlive-Longevity-Peter-Attia-MD/dp/0593236599
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies: https://www.amazon.com/Built-Last-Successful-Visionary-Essentials/dp/0060516402
People
Vinod Khosla on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinod-khosla-65387416/
Anoop Gupta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guptaanoop/
John Hennessy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Hennessy
Yogen Dalal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yogendalal/
Tommy Davis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Davis_Jr.#
Other resources
Akamai: https://www.akamai.com/
Qualcomm: https://www.qualcomm.com/
Matrimony: https://www.matrimony.com/
Tejas Networks: https://www.tejasnetworks.com/
Mayfield: https://www.mayfield.com/
HashiCorp: https://www.hashicorp.com/
Gigya: https://www.sap.com/products/acquired-brands/what-is-gigya.html
Moore’s Law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law
NVIDIA: https://www.nvidia.com/
Apple: https://www.apple.com/
Tesla: https://www.tesla.com/
Broadcom: https://www.broadcom.com/
Mayfield AI Garage: https://www.mayfield.com/ai/
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