RECENT EPISODES
Mon 21 SeptElon's New Hyperloop, Trump's AI Rename, and a Model That Won't Talk | E2340In this episode, Elon Musk's revival of the Hyperloop aims to connect Austin and San Antonio, potentially transforming travel times and local economies, though safety concerns linger. President Trump proposes a new AI force, emphasizing growth while downplaying alignment issues. The discussion also highlights the importance of infrastructure for AI workloads, with Digital Ocean's platform supporting high-demand applications, and explores Amazon's conflict with Meta over AI agent Muse, raising questions about competition and innovation in the sector.Fri 18 SeptHugging Face Co-Founder on Open-Source, Microduck, and NVIDIA | E2339In this episode, the co-founder of Hugging Face discusses the launch of the Microduck robot, which has quickly gained popularity in the AI community, selling over 16,000 units. The conversation also delves into AI safety, emphasizing the need for robust measures to prevent cyber attacks, especially following a recent incident involving Hugging Face. Additionally, regulatory challenges surrounding AI, including California's new oversight laws, are explored, alongside the implications of automation on job markets and the evolving landscape of autonomous vehicles.Tue 15 Sept90% of AI prototypes never reach production (w/ Temporal's Samar Abbas) | AI BasicsIn this episode, Samar Abbas discusses the startling statistic that 90% of AI prototypes fail to progress beyond the proof of concept stage, revealing the significant hurdles in transitioning AI systems to production. He highlights the importance of durable execution capabilities, which Temporal provides to ensure applications can maintain progress despite failures.Mon 14 SeptAsk Jason: AI Extinction, Grok's Rogue Meme Coin & Weed Farms as Data Centers | E2337In this episode, Jason debates Jim Fapp's alarming predictions about AI leading to humanity's extinction, arguing that fears are often exaggerated and manageable. The discussion also covers Grok's meme coin, which has seen significant marketplace activity, raising concerns about regulatory safeguards for AI-generated financial products. Additionally, Jason explores the potential of converting cannabis farms into data centers, predicting a rapid expansion in this sector while addressing challenges like energy usage and interest rates.Fri 11 SeptThe Pentagon Wants Equity in AI Startups | E2336In this episode, the Pentagon's negotiation for a $5 billion loan to Fluid Stack highlights its strategic interest in equity stakes within AI startups, raising concerns about government competition with venture capital. The discussion also touches on the implications of this funding approach for taxpayer money and market dynamics. Additionally, the episode critiques Apple's recent product launches, including the high-priced iPhone Duo, while exploring the evolving role of AI in content generation and advertising performance.Thu 10 SeptBecki DeGraw on founder vesting, advisor equity & the 4-term-sheet playIn this episode, Becki DeGraw discusses the importance of founder vesting and advisor equity in startup success. She explains how vesting ensures commitment and mitigates equity imbalances, particularly when seeking institutional funding. DeGraw also highlights the risks of granting equity to advisors without clear performance metrics, advocating for milestone-based vesting to ensure value. Additionally, she emphasizes the significance of character in negotiations, advising founders to maintain composure and seek legal counsel when emotions run high.Wed 9 SeptDid OpenAI Steal the Navier-Stokes Solution? | E2335In this episode, Tristan Buckmaster raises allegations against OpenAI, claiming the company may have appropriated his work on the Navier-Stokes problem, igniting a debate on intellectual property in AI. The discussion also highlights the urgent risks associated with AI development, with predictions of potential human extinction and societal fears surrounding job displacement and wealth inequality. As AI spending rises, the episode explores the implications of trust and transparency in the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence.Fri 4 SeptDr. Mark Hyman on Function Health & GLP-1 microdosing | E2334In this episode, Dr. Mark Hyman critiques the American healthcare system's inefficiencies and advocates for functional health, emphasizing the need for early detection and preventive care. He discusses the potential of AI in healthcare and the importance of insulin as a health biomarker. Hyman also explores GLP-1 medications for weight management, highlighting their benefits and risks, while addressing the mental health crisis linked to diet and nutrient deficiencies.Thu 3 SeptBecki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal BasicsIn this episode, Becki DeGraw discusses the intricacies of spinouts, highlighting how founders can strategically depart from their original companies to pursue new ventures. She emphasizes the importance of intellectual property licensing and maintaining a clean chain of title to attract investors. DeGraw also addresses the delicate negotiation process involved in spinouts, comparing it to a divorce, and underscores the necessity for founders to ensure a clear separation from their previous companies to uphold trust and integrity.Wed 2 SeptVC experts on why Physical AI funding is heating up | E2333In this episode, venture capital experts discuss the remarkable surge in Physical AI funding, which has reached nearly $50 billion in the first half of 2026, marking an 80% increase from the previous year. The conversation highlights the transformative potential of robotics across industries, with insights into the rapid growth of companies like Knox Metals and the implications of military engagement with AI.Mon 31 AugAre AI Agents forming "civilizations" or is this just a psy op? | 2332This episode delves into the provocative notion that AI agents might be forming their own civilizations, questioning whether this narrative is a strategic psy-op to promote OpenAI tools. The discussion highlights concerns about the potential for sensationalized media portrayals to incite public panic, particularly regarding autonomous threats. Additionally, the episode touches on advancements in electric aircraft and the innovative BitSec initiative in cybersecurity, showcasing the complex interplay between technology, public perception, and market dynamics.Fri 28 AugBreaking down Nvidia's Hugging Face and Poolside bets | E2331In this episode, the podcast delves into Nvidia's strategic acquisition of Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, positioning the company as a leader in open source AI amid rising cyber threat concerns. The discussion also covers Nvidia's $6 billion acquisition of Poolside, aimed at enhancing its influence in profitable AI segments. Additionally, insights into agricultural technology innovations, such as a cattle management collar, highlight the intersection of tech and productivity in farming.Wed 26 AugBill Gates foresees massive AI job loss: these VCs disagree | E2330In this episode, Bill Gates warns of significant job losses due to AI, raising concerns about its unequal impact and the lack of oversight in the industry. Venture capitalists agree on the likelihood of displacement but debate its immediacy, suggesting that knowledge industries will be affected first. The discussion also touches on the need for retraining budgets and taxing excess profits to address wealth concentration, while exploring new investment opportunities in fintech and robotics amidst evolving market dynamics.Tue 25 AugYou Can't Fire a VC From Your Board: Here's Why | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal BasicsIn this episode, the complexities of startup board dynamics are explored, particularly the challenges of removing venture capitalists from board positions. The discussion highlights how board composition evolves from the Series A to Series B stages, emphasizing the role of preferred directors and the influence of lead investors. Additionally, the importance of strong relationships among board members is underscored, as constructive interactions are vital for navigating the strategic vision and operational decisions of a startup.Tue 25 AugChina wants you to cheer for the robots taking your job | E2329In this episode, the focus is on China's strategic promotion of robotics and automation, encouraging public enthusiasm for technology that may displace jobs. The World Robot Conference showcases advancements, with predictions that robots will excel in competitions. The discussion also touches on the implications of AI in the workforce, the challenges of Universal Basic Income in the U.S., and the evolving landscape of military robotics, highlighting the need for dialogue on the impact of automation on employment.Fri 21 AugOpen source is going to win it all: Harvey proves it | E2328Harvey's release of its proprietary Harvey Tenant model, built on Kimi K3 with Fireworks Research, signals a broader strategic break from frontier AI providers. Jason Calacanis estimated Harvey was spending roughly 10 million dollars per month with OpenAI before the move, driven partly by OpenAI's direct conflict of interest after leading Harvey's original seed round while now competing in legal AI itself.Thu 20 AugTaste is the new programming language (w/ Astrocade CEO Amir Sadeghian) | AI BasicsAstrocade CEO Amir Sadeghian, who began working in AI in 2013 and holds a Stanford AI PhD, joins to explain how his platform lets anyone build interactive games through natural language prompts alone. He argues that taste is now the differentiating input in AI creation because large language models default to average outputs, making human aesthetic judgment the new programming skill.Wed 19 AugNeurosymbolic AI outperforms chatbots and product search | E2327Zach Hudson joins to explain how his company Antan built Ontology One, a neurosymbolic AI model powering e-commerce search that he says already outperforms some of the largest search companies by 2.5 times. Hudson argues large language models hallucinate too frequently and regress to statistically average results rather than individual user needs, while Ontology One builds a separate real-time understanding per user, is fully interpretable, and cost one one-thousandth of a typical frontier model training run.Mon 17 AugBittensor creator Const on Affine, dTAO, "mining reasoning," and more | E2326Bittensor creator Const joins the show to explain how he extended Bitcoin's proof-of-work concept beyond hash production and applied it to artificial intelligence, arguing that permissionless markets route capital more efficiently than human organizations by running money through code rather than hiring. He details dTAO, a meta-mechanism launched roughly a year ago that gave each of Bittensor's 128 subnets its own alpha token paired to TAO, intensifying competition among subnet teams.Sat 15 AugWhat we'll learn from Anthropic's $2-$3T IPO | E2325Anthropic is targeting a $2 to $3 trillion IPO valuation with a filing expected as soon as October, which would place it among only five companies in history to reach that threshold and surpass SpaceX's record private valuation of $1.7 trillion. The filing will publicly reveal for the first time Anthropic's revenue composition, compute costs, and salary structure, while also clarifying its compute sourcing strategy across AWS, CoreWeave, and Crusoe Cloud.Wed 12 AugThese robots could cut delivery costs by 80% | Next UnicornsScytronic is making the case that full vertical integration in robotic fulfillment can cut delivery costs by up to 80 percent, charging 70 cents for a two-item order against a conventional 3PL price of three dollars or more.Tue 11 AugZuck's AI manifesto is a data center PR masterclass | E2323Mark Zuckerberg published a 6,500-word essay titled The Future is for Everyone, which Jason describes as the best version of Zuckerberg across his entire career, arguing that the greatest risk of superintelligence is centralization rather than the technology itself.Fri 7 AugHow AI splits startups into winners and losers | E2322Jason Calacanis uses Figma and Twilio as the central case studies for why AI adoption is now the defining split between SaaS winners and losers. Figma fell roughly 77 percent from its post-IPO high yet posted 48 percent year-over-year revenue growth and three consecutive quarters of acceleration, leading Calacanis to buy 4,500 shares near $22 and predict a doubling within three years.Wed 5 AugAirtable's 80% off value crash: VCs explain why it's still a win | E2321Bending Spoons acquired Airtable at roughly 2.7 times ARR, implying an enterprise value of approximately 1.2 billion dollars against a peak valuation of 11.7 billion dollars, a decline the hosts frame as an expected correction from 2021 term sheets issued at 50 to 70 times forward multiples rather than company-specific failure.Mon 3 AugHow Bespoke faked AI until it actually worked (w/ Akemi Tsunagawa) | E2320Bespoke founder Akemi Tsunagawa built her multilingual chatbot Bebot starting in 2015 by manually impersonating the AI in live conversations until the software could handle them, a process that revealed human-like interaction patterns sharply lifted user engagement once copied into the actual product. Narita Airport became a client after multilingual query volume drove information counter staff to quit.Fri 31 JulWhy AI has no taste and how to fix it (w/ Thais Castello Branco) | E2319Thais Castello Branco, founder of Taste Labs, joins to explain why AI models optimized for the most likely correct answer are structurally guaranteed to produce regression-to-the-mean outputs for subjective tasks like design and writing, since great creative work is by definition out-of-distribution.Wed 29 JulBanning Chinese robots isn't regulatory capture | E2318The FCC added Chinese humanoid and quadruped robots to its covered list over data and physical operation security concerns, with the ban also serving as a negotiation tool ahead of Xi visiting the White House in September, where physical AI is expected to dominate talks. American robotics companies including Figure and Agility stand to benefit commercially, mirroring the DJI drone ban precedent.Mon 27 JulWhile other cultivated meat companies are collapsing, this one turned a profit | E2317While better-funded cultivated meat startups in the United States and Europe have been collapsing, Japan's Integrity Culture turned profitable last year after raising only 15 to 20 million dollars by using cell-cultured cosmetics as a revenue beachhead rather than waiting for food regulation to mature.Mon 27 JulWith other cultivated meat companies are collapsing, this one turned a profit | E2317Integrity Culture, a Japanese cell agriculture company, reached profitability by selling cell-cultured cosmetic ingredients rather than waiting for cultivated meat regulation to mature, using that revenue to fund its core meat technology. Its flagship food product, Kraft Essen, uses cultured duck liver cells grown on scaffolds, and Japan's consumer agency is expected to grant broader cultivated meat regulatory approval by late summer.Fri 24 JulWhy quantum has been "10 years away" for 30 years | E2316Quantum computing has been described as five to ten years away for roughly 30 years, but converging qubit counts suggest 2030 could mark a genuine inflection point. The required qubit threshold to solve meaningful problems has dropped from one million to around 10,000, while a US university has already demonstrated a 6,000-qubit system.Wed 22 JulWhy this longevity startup raised in Japan, not Silicon Valley | TWiST Tokyo | E2315Ekei Labs founder Bilal Karoni chose Japan over Silicon Valley because of the country's super-aged society, its 2013 Regenerative Medicine Law, and access to quality scientists through the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, which feeds directly into the company's talent pipeline. The longevity startup raised roughly one million dollars in seed funding from Japanese and European angels, with Japanese regional bank debt structured to match equity raises dollar for dollar.Mon 20 JulThe AI Securing Your Workforce Before a Mistake Ever Becomes a Breach | E2314Brandon Dixon, founder of Int, joins to discuss the startup's emergence from stealth with a 100 million dollar raise built around preventing corporate policy violations before they become security breaches. Dixon argues that roughly ninety-nine percent of insider risk cases involve well-intentioned employees making mistakes rather than malicious actors, and that the industry has over-rotated toward reactive detection.Mon 20 JulAn AI that watches your every click may be the future of work | E2314INT emerged from stealth with a 100 million dollar raise to tackle a problem the security industry has largely ignored: stopping human-caused policy violations before they happen rather than responding after a breach. The startup deploys an on-device agent on laptops and phones that intervenes in sub-second time frames without GPUs, targeting both the roughly one percent of malicious insiders and the ninety-nine percent who cause harm accidentally.Fri 17 JulThe dawn of surgery bots + buy a home for $250 (w/ Andromeda & Mogul) | E2313Nick Damiano of Andromeda Surgical contends that surgery sits at a horse-and-buggy level of autonomy but that AI-driven surgical robots will be ubiquitous within a decade. Andromeda built its first robot in three years for roughly 15 million dollars using an off-the-shelf KUKA arm and a software-first approach, has completed 45 cases in New Zealand, and is pursuing incremental FDA clearances toward a vision of one surgeon overseeing ten simultaneous procedures.Wed 15 JulA Startup Is Trying to Buy PayPal… Craziest Deal of 2026! | E2312A startup is attempting to acquire one of the most iconic names in payments, with Stripe reportedly pursuing a deal to take PayPal private at roughly 16.50 per share, a dramatic fall from the 300 dollar peak PayPal reached in 2021 and 2022. The hosts debate whether PayPal's decline reflects cultural calcification after years of stagnation under MBA-driven leadership or simply a fintech sector that investors have underweighted relative to pure AI plays.Mon 13 JulJason turned $11 and one tweet into 1.1M views | E2311Jason Calacanis built a tool called PodMeme while jet-lagged in Paris, spending $11 using Perplexity Computer and Grok 4.5 to process top podcasts into deep-linkable topic streams, then watched a single tweet about it reach 1.1 million views. The episode also covers Apple's 40-page lawsuit against OpenAI alleging a systematic effort to steal trade secrets through hardware hires, and why Calacanis argues losing the iPhone default LLM position to Google Gemini was the worst strategic decision OpenAI has ever made.Fri 10 JulDanny Bernstein left Big Tech to fund farm-bots | E2310Danny Bernstein spent nearly 20 years in Silicon Valley, including a decade at Google, before leaving to build The Reservoir, an agricultural innovation campus in Salinas, California that combines a working farm incubator with a venture fund targeting specialty crop agriculture. Labor scarcity drives the thesis: domestic applicants filled fewer than one percent of 400,000 farm job postings last year, and labor represents up to 80 percent of production costs in table grapes.Wed 8 JulWhy Data Is the Next $1 Trillion MarketNikhil Basu Trivedi makes the case that energy, compute, and data are the three foundational substrates for AI, and that while energy and compute are represented by massive public companies like Nvidia, no comparably large pure-play public data company yet exists, creating what he sees as a significant market opportunity.Wed 8 JulData Is the Next $1 Trillion MarketNikhil Basu Trivedi of Footwork makes the case that energy, compute, and data are the three foundational substrates for AI, and that market attention has not yet fully rotated to data despite it being where economic value will ultimately concentrate.Mon 6 Jul$100T is managed by “human duct tape” | E2308In an episode centered on the $100 trillion in global assets still managed through QuickBooks, Excel, and human fund administrators who withhold client data and deliver quarterly reports on a lag, Chris Halanzik explains how Hanover Park is rebuilding that infrastructure as an AI-native services company. Founded in 2024, the firm grew from $1 billion to $20 billion in assets under management within roughly 15 months and raised $27 million along the way.