TBPN

Latest Episodes:

Trump-Xi Summit, Inflation Fears, Space Data Centers | Max Levchin, Delian Asparouhov, Richard Socher, Brandon Hill, Nate Tepper, Joubin Mirzadegan, Roman Chernin May 13, 2026

Show notes

(00:50) - Trump-Xi Summit
(28:35) - Space Data Centers
(37:29) - 𝕏 Timeline Reactions
(57:39) - Wall Street's Inflation Fears Rise
(01:01:37) - Max Levchin, a Ukrainian-American software engineer and entrepreneur, co-founded PayPal in 1998 and currently serves as the CEO of Affirm, a financial technology company offering "buy now, pay later" services. In his recent conversation, Levchin discussed his deep dive into the mechanics of espresso machines, emphasizing his passion for mastering complex systems. He also highlighted the importance of specialization and depth of knowledge in one's field, advocating for young professionals to pursue expertise in areas like computer science to remain competitive in an evolving job market.
(01:30:40) - Delian Asparouhov, co-founder and president of Varda Space Industries, discusses the company's collaboration with United Therapeutics to manufacture pharmaceuticals in microgravity, aiming to improve drug formulations for rare pulmonary diseases. He highlights the significance of this partnership as the first instance of a publicly traded company investing its own resources to produce physical products in low Earth orbit. Asparouhov also elaborates on the technical processes involved, including the benefits of microgravity for drug crystallization and the logistics of launching and retrieving these products from space.
(02:01:19) - Richard Socher, former Chief Scientist at Salesforce and founder of You.com, is now leading Recursive Superintelligence, an AI startup focused on developing self-improving AI systems. In the conversation, he discusses the company's mission to build recursive, self-improving superintelligence capable of automating knowledge discovery, emphasizing the importance of AI systems that can autonomously enhance their own capabilities. He also highlights the recent funding success, with Recursive Superintelligence raising over $650 million at a $4.65 billion valuation, led by GV (Google Ventures) and Greycroft, with participation from Nvidia and AMD.
(02:12:38) - 𝕏 Timeline Reactions
(02:18:17) - Brandon Hill, CEO and co-founder of Vori, is a third-generation grocer whose family has been in the grocery industry for over 40 years. In the conversation, he discusses Vori's mission to modernize grocery store operations by automating processes such as inventory management, pricing, and ordering, aiming to enhance efficiency and profitability for independent retailers. Hill also highlights Vori's recent $22 million funding round, which will support the company's expansion and further development of its autonomous operating system for supermarkets.
(02:26:03) - Nate Tepper, founder and CEO of True Short, an AI-driven film studio and streaming platform, discusses the company's innovative approach to creating and distributing vertical, short-form content inspired by China's successful micro-dramas. He highlights their strategy of forming creative pods—teams consisting of a showrunner, AI filmmaker, and editor—to produce weekly series, and emphasizes their focus on rapid content creation and distribution to stay ahead of competitors. Tepper also notes the importance of both organic and paid growth strategies, leveraging platforms like TikTok to drive user engagement and app downloads.
(02:39:04) - Joubin Mirzadegan, co-founder and CEO of Roadrunner, discusses the company's inception at Kleiner Perkins, where he identified a critical need for improved revenue infrastructure through conversations with CIOs. He highlights the challenges posed by evolving pricing models, such as the shift from software to SaaS and now to AI-driven consumption-based billing, necessitating adaptable CPQ solutions. Mirzadegan emphasizes the complexity of the sales process, involving multiple stakeholders like CIOs and CROs, and underscores Roadrunner's mission to streamline this process by integrating AI to enhance efficiency and accuracy.
(02:46:29) - Roman Chernin, a founding member of Nebius since its inception in summer 2024, discusses the company's rapid growth and its focus on building a vertically integrated, AI-specialized cloud infrastructure. He highlights the swift evolution of AI models, noting that open-source alternatives are catching up to frontier models within three to six months, prompting customers to switch for cost efficiency. Chernin also addresses challenges in scaling, including physical infrastructure bottlenecks and the necessity of efficient financing, emphasizing the importance of post-sales support and recent strategic acquisitions to enhance inference optimization capabilities.

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Altman’s Testimony, AI SPV Drama, Ebay Rejects $GME Bid | Diet TBPN May 12, 2026

Show notes

Diet TBPN delivers the best of today’s TBPN episode in 30 minutes. TBPN is a live tech talk show hosted by John Coogan and Jordi Hays, streaming weekdays 11–2 PT on X and YouTube, with each episode posted to podcast platforms right after.

Described by The New York Times as “Silicon Valley’s newest obsession,” the show has recently featured Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Mark Cuban, and Satya Nadella.

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https://open.spotify.com/show/2L6WMqY3GUPCGBD0dX6p00?si=674252d53acf4231
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/technology-brothers/id1772360235
https://www.youtube.com/@TBPNLive

Condé Nast CEO Explains Why Human Journalism Wins in the AI Era May 12, 2026

Show notes

This is our full conversation with Roger Lynch, recorded live on TBPN.

We discuss why trusted media brands like Vogue and The New Yorker may become even more valuable in the AI era, how Condé Nast is adapting to the collapse of search traffic and the rise of AI-generated content, why Roger believes publishers should stop relying on Google for distribution, and how the company is thinking about subscriptions, events, branded content, creators, and the future of journalism as platforms like Substack, TikTok, and AI reshape the media industry.

Trial Update, AI SPVs, BuzzFeed Sold | Doomberg, Sahir Jaggi, Sam Blond, Kevin Hartz, Alex Shan, Glen Wise, Roger Lynch May 12, 2026

Show notes

(00:23) - Trial Update
(13:10) - AI SPVs
(24:28) - Thinking Machines Interaction Models
(29:16) - Doomberg is an anonymous team of former industry executives who write about energy markets, finance, and geopolitics, known for their green chicken avatar and a Substack newsletter with over 373,000 subscribers. In the conversation, Doomberg discusses their decision to maintain anonymity to preserve brand mystique, the strategic choice of their green chicken logo inspired by Bloomberg's keyboard color scheme, and the importance of standing out in a crowded media landscape.
(01:05:12) - Sahir Jaggi, founder and CEO of Forus, discusses his company's mission to streamline access to high-cost, complex medications by automating the intricate processes involving insurance, pharmacies, and supply chains using AI. By offering this service for free to doctors' offices, Forus aims to alleviate administrative burdens, allowing healthcare providers to focus on patient care. Additionally, the company leverages its extensive network to collaborate with life science firms, accelerating the development and market introduction of new therapies.
(01:14:06) - Sam Blond, co-founder and CEO of Monaco, an AI-native sales platform, discusses the company's rapid growth since its February launch, surpassing initial expectations in customer acquisition and revenue. He highlights Monaco's all-in-one approach, replacing traditional CRMs and integrating AI agents to automate sales tasks, thereby reducing the need for manual labor. Additionally, Blond emphasizes the unique advantage of pairing each customer with a forward-deployed account executive, ensuring successful implementation and support.
(01:25:55) - Kevin Hartz, co-founder of Xoom and Eventbrite, is a prominent entrepreneur and investor. In the conversation, he discusses A* Capital's recent $450 million Fund III, emphasizing their generalist investment approach with a focus on AI applications, and highlights their strategy of supporting young founders, including teenagers.
(01:38:52) - Alex Shan, CEO of Judgment Labs, discusses his company's focus on enhancing long-horizon autonomous agents through the analysis of production data, emphasizing the importance of such data in improving agent performance across various industries. He highlights their recent Series A funding co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Green Oaks, and mentions partnerships with companies like Monaco to optimize agent development. Shan also notes that while coding agents are currently the most verifiable and thus easier to improve, progress is being made in less quantifiable domains such as finance, legal, and sales.
(01:45:55) - Glen Wise, Co-Founder and CEO of Cinder, discusses the company's recent $41 million funding round led by Radical Ventures and its mission to help companies combat AI-powered abuse across the internet. He explains that Cinder's platform enables clients to set specific policies to detect and mitigate various threats, from cyberbullying to state-sponsored espionage, using AI-driven solutions. Wise also highlights the challenges of scaling their services to accommodate large clients like Spotify, emphasizing the importance of processing data quickly and making rapid decisions to effectively enforce content policies.
(02:00:46) - eBay Rejects Gamestop
(02:03:05) - BuzzFeed Sold
(02:09:46) - Roger Lynch is the CEO of Condé Nast, where he oversees global brands including Vogue, The New Yorker, and GQ. He previously served as CEO of Pandora and Sling TV, and is known for leading digital transformation efforts across media, streaming, and publishing businesses.

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Swatch & AP Collab, Cerebras Boosts IPO Price, Trump to Visit China | Diet TBPN May 11, 2026

Show notes

Described by The New York Times as “Silicon Valley’s newest obsession,” the show has recently featured Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Mark Cuban, and Satya Nadella.

Swatch AP Collab, Cerebras IPO, Trump Visits China | Ferdinand Dabitz, Spencer Rascoff, Eric Olson, Matt Lohstroh, Jay Azhang, Amir Sadeghian, Alexander Taubman, Quaid Walker May 11, 2026

Show notes

(00:29) - AP & Swatch Collab
(16:45) - Cerebras Boosts IPO Price Range
(24:56) - Trump to Visit China
(29:37) - Timeline Reactions
(36:37) - Ferdinand Dabitz, co-founder and CEO of Augustus, a fintech company specializing in instant bank payments, discusses the recent conditional approval from the SEC to charter Augustus National Bank as a full-service U.S. national bank. He emphasizes the unparalleled global demand for the U.S. dollar and identifies inefficiencies in current clearing banks, which are slow and outdated. Dabitz outlines Augustus National Bank's mission to modernize this infrastructure, aiming to enhance the distribution of the dollar by offering faster and more efficient clearing services to global financial institutions.
(41:47) - - Spencer Rascoff, co-founder of Zillow and current CEO of Match Group, discusses his transition from the board to CEO, emphasizing his commitment to addressing the global loneliness epidemic through Match Group's platforms. He outlines his initial focus on breaking down organizational silos within the company, transforming it from a holding company to an operating company, and highlights the importance of people, motivation, and organization in building great products. Rascoff also shares his hands-on approach to revitalizing Tinder, aiming to enhance innovation and user outcomes, particularly for the Gen Z demographic.
(01:05:47) - - Eric Olson, co-founder of Consensus, an AI-powered academic search engine, discusses the company's recent $30 million Series B funding led by Great Point Ventures, aimed at expanding their product beyond search into a comprehensive workspace for researchers. He highlights the organic growth driven by direct-to-consumer adoption and partnerships with over 100 universities, where libraries distribute the product to students. Olson emphasizes focusing on automating specific research tasks, such as literature searches, while leaving uniquely human aspects like idea generation and interdisciplinary connections to researchers.
(01:13:37) - - Matt Lohstroh, co-founder and CEO of Giga Energy, began his journey at Texas A&M University, where he and his colleagues developed modular data centers powered by flared natural gas to mine Bitcoin. Facing supply chain challenges, they vertically integrated their operations, manufacturing essential components like transformers and switchgear, and expanded into AI data centers. Lohstroh emphasizes Giga's commitment to rapid deployment, achieving data center energization in nine months by prefabricating infrastructure, and highlights the importance of community engagement to address concerns such as noise and energy consumption.
(01:28:03) - - Jay Azhang, founder of N of 1, an AI research lab focused on financial markets, discusses his background in public market investing and software development, and how his company aims to train models that generalize across markets to eventually surpass human traders. He highlights the importance of integrating with various brokerages to provide a consumer-facing platform where users can describe trading ideas in natural language, which the models then translate into fully deployed trading agents. Additionally, he mentions that N of 1 recently raised a $15 million funding round to support their initiatives.
(01:36:12) - - Laurel Supply Discussion
(01:45:26) - - Amir Sadeghian, CEO and co-founder of Astrocade, discusses how their AI-powered platform enables anyone to create and share games using natural language prompts, democratizing game development. He highlights the platform's rapid growth, with over 75,000 games created by users from 80 countries and approximately 5 million monthly active users. Sadeghian also emphasizes Astrocade's mission to make interactive content creation accessible and enjoyable for a diverse global audience.
(02:03:24) - - Timeline Reactions
(02:10:12) - - Alexander Taubman, co-founder and CEO of Long Lake, discusses the company's recent $6.3 billion acquisition of American Express Global Business Travel, marking their largest deal to date. He highlights Long Lake's strategy of integrating applied AI into service sectors, aiming to enhance productivity and customer experience. Taubman also emphasizes the company's focus on long-term growth and its commitment to transforming the services industry through technology.
(02:25:11) - - Quaid Walker discusses the anticipated collaboration between Swatch and Audemars Piguet, known as "Royal Pop," set to launch on May 16, 2026. He highlights that the collaboration is expected to reinterpret the iconic Royal Oak design into a more accessible format, possibly featuring a mechanical movement and a versatile design that can be worn as a wristwatch or a lanyard accessory. Walker also notes the potential impact on the luxury watch market, considering the collaboration's aim to introduce younger buyers to mechanical watchmaking while maintaining the prestige of the Audemars Piguet brand.

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Apple-Intel Chip Deal, U.S Adds 115K Jobs, DeepSeek Eyes $50B Valuation | Diet TBPN May 08, 2026

Show notes

Described by The New York Times as “Silicon Valley’s newest obsession,” the show has recently featured Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Mark Cuban, and Satya Nadella.

Airbnb CEO on Why AI Will Create a New Era of Consumer Products May 08, 2026

Show notes

This is our full conversation with Brian Chesky, recorded live on TBPN.

We discuss how Airbnb reaccelerated growth by rebuilding startup intensity and embracing “founder mode” leadership, why Chesky believes today’s AI chatbots are not the right interface for the future of travel and e-commerce, how Airbnb is using AI across the business with 60% of its code now written by AI, and why he believes the next major wave of AI innovation will come from immersive consumer products, visual interfaces, and agentic experiences rather than another wave of enterprise software.

Intel & Apple, The American Economic Rollercoaster | Brian Chesky, Josh Reeves, Jonathan Neman, Zal Bilimoria May 08, 2026

Show notes

(01:34) - Apple and Intel Reach Chip Deal
(10:05) - The American Economic Rollercoaster
(27:52) - Timeline Reactions
(43:48) - Josh Reeves, CEO and co-founder of Gusto, a company specializing in payroll, benefits, and HR solutions for small businesses, discusses the company's recent milestone of surpassing $1 billion in trailing revenue, attributing this achievement to their commitment to assisting small businesses. He emphasizes Gusto's focus on execution and support for small businesses, noting that while they have no immediate plans to go public, they are closely monitoring market conditions. Reeves also highlights the impact of AI on business growth rates and the increase in new business formations, expressing optimism about the potential for AI to empower more individuals to become business owners.
(55:59) - Jonathan Neman, co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen, discusses the company's recent nationwide launch of wraps, marking its most significant menu expansion to date. After a year of development, Sweetgreen introduced four signature wraps featuring a custom four-ingredient tortilla, aiming to offer a portable, healthy, and craveable option for customers. Neman emphasizes the importance of customer feedback in this innovation, highlighting the use of social listening tools and direct interactions to meet consumer demands for convenient and satisfying meals.
(01:32:00) - Zal Bilimoria is the solo general partner at Refactor Capital, a seed-stage venture capital firm he founded in 2016, focusing on hard tech startups in sectors like bio, climate, and aerospace. In the conversation, he reflects on his journey from product management roles at Microsoft, Google, YouTube, Netflix, and LinkedIn to becoming a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he co-launched their Bio Fund, before establishing Refactor Capital. Bilimoria discusses his investment philosophy, emphasizing a concentrated portfolio strategy, writing $1-2 million checks to 20-25 companies per fund, and highlights recent successes such as Astranis' $450 million Series E raise and PathAI's $1 billion acquisition by Roche.
(01:56:27) - Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, is an American businessman and industrial designer who has led the company since its inception in 2007. In the conversation, he discusses Airbnb's accelerated growth post-pandemic, attributing it to a renewed startup intensity and a focus on enhancing the guest experience. Chesky also highlights the significant role of AI in the company's operations, noting that 60% of Airbnb's code is now written by AI, which has improved customer service efficiency and reduced costs.

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Sam vs Elon Trial, Coinbase Cuts 14% in AI Pivot, Digesting Meta Earnings | Diet TBPN May 05, 2026

Show notes

Described by The New York Times as “Silicon Valley’s newest obsession,” the show has recently featured Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Mark Cuban, and Satya Nadella.

Follow TBPN:

https://TBPN.com

https://x.com/tbpn

https://open.spotify.com/show/2L6WMqY3GUPCGBD0dX6p00?si=674252d53acf4231

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/technology-brothers/id1772360235

https://www.youtube.com/@TBPNLive