How AWS Sold Cloud to the CIA – Teresa Carlson GCI

Teresa Carlson, Founding CEO of the General Catalyst Institute, joins Molly on Sourcery to share the inside story of how she built AWS's public sector business from zero revenue and two people into a $10B global powerhouse — including the legendary CIA contract that legitimized cloud computing for the entire world.In this conversation, Teresa pulls back the curtain on what it was really like working alongside Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy at Amazon, the brutal "no PowerPoint" writing culture, and the one-way vs. two-way door framework that shaped how she made decisions. She also draws sharp parallels between the early cloud era and today's AI explosion — explaining why she thinks AI adoption is moving faster than any technology she's ever seen, why the U.S. urgently needs an AI framework, and what startups must do to win in Washington DC.We also get into the General Catalyst Institute's mission to give 1,000+ portfolio companies an "unfair advantage" with policymakers, the rise of commercially-oriented government under the current administration, and why founders need to ditch the flip-flops if they want to be taken seriously on Capitol Hill.A must-watch for founders, operators, investors, and anyone interested in the intersection of AI, policy, and the future of American competitiveness.Teresa Carlson: https://x.com/teresacarlson  Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊YouTube: https://youtu.be/rztfzehJHUw𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at http://GetVCX.com • Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery• Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery• Merge—The leading provider of customer-facing integrations and agentic tools for frontier LLMs, Fortune 500 organizations, and B2B SaaS companies. Visit https://merge.dev Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!https://www.sourcery.vc/DisclosurePaid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registe