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Stripe’s 2025 annual letter Feb 24, 2026

Show notes

The internet economy accelerated in 2025. The fastest-growing companies got even faster, agentic commerce and stablecoin payments started to kick into gear, and total payment volume on Stripe grew by a third as our customers continued to prosper.

Our annual letter covers the trends that we think are worth paying close attention to as the pace of change accelerates.

Timestamps
(01:48) The sorting machine

(05:45) Global by default

(09:01) Stable progress

(12:14) Working capital’s working. Capital!

(15:09) Escaping from low revenue mode

(18:33) The five levels of agentic commerce

(23:52) A Republic of Permissions

Ramp founder Eric Glyman on the many ways AI is changing corporate spending Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

Eric Glyman is the cofounder and CEO of Ramp, the finance automation platform that now powers over 2% of all corporate spend in the US. He sits down with John and co-host Alex Rampell to discuss how Ramp scaled to over $1 billion in revenue in just seven years, and why the future of fintech is "selling time, not money." They cover the "SaaS apocalypse" (and why lines of code are becoming a liability), how Ramp uses AI agents to review 100,000 expenses a day with 99% accuracy, and why their internal data suggests the US economy is much stronger than the Census Bureau reports.

Timestamps
(00:00:21) Ramp business today

(00:04:27) The *correct* expense policy

(00:11:07) Bill Pay

(00:16:52) AI and software

(00:32:23) Stablecoin-backed cards

(00:33:06) Ramp data

(00:36:25) How to cut your expenses

(00:41:13) Ramp strategy

(00:57:08) Capital One

(01:06:34) Treasury

Ben Thompson from Stratechery on AI ads, the end of SaaS, and the future of media Feb 12, 2026

Show notes

Ben Thompson, the internet’s premier tech analyst, joins John for a wide-ranging conversation on the mechanics of the internet economy. They discuss the origins of Stratechery and the "1,000 true fans" model, why Taiwan is the most convenient place to live (and the best Uber Eats market), and why the public markets are wrong to think SaaS is "canceled." Ben also explains why the US failure to control the TikTok algorithm is a disaster, why he’s a "crypto defender" in an age of infinite AI content, and gives John some very direct feedback on Stripe’s ACH implementation.

Timestamps

(00:00:20) Visiting Taiwan

(00:04:59) Aggregation and AI

(00:23:53) TikTok/Bytedance

(00:29:58) Aggregation and AI redux

(00:35:31) Agentic commerce

(00:45:08) Is SaaS canceled?

(00:52:21) Stratechery

(01:03:36) How Ben uses AI

(01:06:06) The TSMC break

(01:13:53) Rapid fire

(01:20:53) Feedback on Stripe

Elon Musk on Space GPUs, AI, Optimus, and his manufacturing method Feb 05, 2026

Show notes

John Collison and Dwarkesh Patel sit down with Elon Musk to discuss why the future of AI isn’t on Earth, but in the "always sunny" vacuum of space. Between pints, they discuss the brutal physics of scaling—from the "farcically cheap" solar cells coming out of China to switching Starship from carbon fiber to stainless steel—as well as the “infinite money glitch” of humanoid robots, China, and DOGE.

Timestamps

00:00:23 Space GPUs

00:35:39 Alignment

00:58:48 xAI

01:15:01 Optimus

01:28:03 China

01:40:46 Management

02:16:38 DOGE

02:34:58 Space GPUs redux

Julia DeWahl of Antares on building nuclear reactors for the US military Nov 25, 2025

Show notes

Julia DeWahl is the cofounder of Antares, a company developing nuclear micro-reactors for the US military and critical infrastructure. She sits down with John to discuss the vision for the "Starlink of electricity", and why AI hyperscalers are driving a nuclear renaissance. They cover the bipartisan shift in nuclear regulation (and why the NRC’s old mandate made "zero" the safest number of reactors), and why true energy resilience requires more than just solar and batteries. Julia also shares lessons from the early days of Opendoor and Starlink, including why customer obsession sometimes means sitting outside a bagel shop.

Timestamps
(00:00) Lessons from SpaceX and Opendoor

(02:46) Introducing Antares

(06:30) The path to market

(12:20) Nuclear vibe shift

(15:11) Regulation

(19:21) Possible energy futures

(24:02) Stripe Radar

(24:55) Nuclear supply chains

(26:43) Antares origin story

(30:24) Funding Antares

(36:09) If Julia was energy tsar

(42:33) Restarting shuttered plants

Satya Nadella describes how lessons from Microsoft’s history apply to today’s boom Nov 18, 2025

Show notes

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, sits down with John to discuss the diffusion of AI inside the enterprise. He explains why “all your data at your fingertips” is the evergreen pitch, why this AI CapEx cycle is different from the .com bubble, and his vision for "agentic commerce". They also cover Microsoft's product bundling strategy and how he "wanders the virtual corridors" of Teams to run the company.

Links

[Read] Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle, Matthew Symonds
[Try] Superwhisper
[Read] The Internet Tidal Wave, Bill Gates

Timestamps

(00:00) AI adoption in the enterprise
(07:47) How Satya runs Microsoft

(13:45) New UIs

(20:44) Microsoft tackling the early internet

(25:58) Are we in a bubble?

(31:35) Data sovereignty

(38:10) Excel

(42:01) Agentic commerce

(52:45) AI brand loyalty

(59:44) Product bundling

(01:08:18) Microsoft’s culture

(01:12:12) The law of very large companies

(01:16:20) What’s in the water in Hyderabad?

Dave Ricks, CEO of Eli Lilly, on GLP-1s and the business of pharma Nov 11, 2025

Show notes

Dave Ricks, the CEO of Eli Lilly, the world's most valuable pharmaceutical company, sits down with John and Patrick to discuss the complex business of drug development. Dave explains the true origin story of GLP-1s (from Gila monster saliva), why their potential goes far beyond weight loss to addiction and inflammation, and how "self-pay" has become the #1 way new patients get Zepbound. They cover the "shadow generic" industry undermining patents, the challenges associated with clinical trial enrollment, and what drove insulin list prices to $275 (while the net price was $40). This is a rare, candid look into the strategies, science, and future of pharma from one of the industry's most influential leaders.

Timestamps

(00:00) Introducing Dave Ricks

(05:07) Making R&D decisions

(10:10) Clinical trials

(24:59) Drug pricing

(32:43) Stimulating more R&D

(54:15) Pros and cons of US healthcare

(58:20) New pharma business models

(01:05:53) Stripe and enterprises

(01:07:00) China

(01:16:31) Generics

(01:22:37) GLP-1s

(1:37:43) r/Peptides

(01:41:25) LillyDirect

(01:46:35) Why do investors love LLY?

Stablecoin special: Zach Abrams (Bridge) and Henri Stern (Privy) Nov 04, 2025

Show notes

Zach Abrams, the CEO and cofounder of Bridge, the leading stablecoin orchestration platform, and Henri Stern, CEO and cofounder of Privy, the leading crypto wallet infrastructure, sit down with John to discuss the future of stablecoins, issuing, and what it will take for crypto to become ubiquitous. Both companies recently joined Stripe, and are uniquely positioned to dissect how crypto is changing financial infrastructure.

Key moments

(00:00) Introducing Bridge + Privy

(06:39) How stablecoins are being used today

(14:27) US Dollar dominance

(25:50) The future of banking

(34:35) Blockchains

(42:27) Building a modular stack

(47:14) Open issuance

(56:55) M&A

(01:11:02) The future of stablecoins

Casey Handmer of Terraform Industries on solar maximalism, hard tech, and reclaiming the Salton Sea Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

Description

Casey Handmer is the founder of Terraform Industries, who is developing a machine that makes synthetic natural gas from sunlight and air. He joins the podcast to explain his solar maximalist worldview, why he believes solar costs will drop another 10x, and the core physics that doomed Hyperloop from the start. They also discuss the lessons of the underappreciated industrialist Henry Kaiser, Casey's new venture in solar-powered desalination, his grand plan to refill the Salton Sea, and why he believes "hard-edged" leaders are essential for hardware success.

Show notes

[Read] Ashlee Vance: Elon Musk
[Read] Francis Spufford: Red plenty
[Listen] Beneath the Surface, Episode 2 : Salton Sea
[Read] Marc Reisner: Cadillac Desert
[Read] Albert P. Heiner: Henry J. Kaiser
[Read] Mark S. Foster: Henry Kaiser
[Read] Ernest K. Gann: Fate is the Hunter
[Read] Captain W. E. Johns: Biggles: The Camels are Coming

Key moments

(00:00) Intro

(02:28) Henry Kaiser

(08:49) Introducing Terraform

(13:08) Where electricity won’t work

(16:50) The solar maximalist perspective

(22:57) Terraformer Mark One

(27:49) The role of intervention

(37:30) American dynamism

(47:36) The Origins of Efficiency, by Brian Potter

(48:33) Children and education

(37:30) American dynamism

(55:15) Desalination

(01:08:16) Lessons from leadership

Dan Sundheim of D1 Capital on the art of public market investing Oct 22, 2025

Show notes

Seasoned public and private investor Dan Sundheim sits down with John to discuss the harrowing GameStop short squeeze, waking up at 3am for the European market open, and the emotional asymmetry of managing billions of dollars. They cover why he thinks successful private companies should avoid the public markets, the real genius of Elon Musk's business approach, and the pattern recognition that comes from years of investing. This is a rare, candid look into the strategies and mindset of a top public markets investor.

Show notes