What do Love Island and BILT have in common?They both just had a major breakup this season.BILT and Wells Fargo officially called it quits, something our OG podcast listeners might remember we predicted back in our very first episode.So far, BILT is winning the break up. BILT just raised $250M at a $10.75B valuation. Fintech valuations seem to be back, but Maya (aka our resident Fintech guru) has some doubts about how bright BILT’s future in the mortgage market is.We unpacked why Grok had an identity crisis and started calling itself "MechaHitler”. We also talked about how Grok 4’s benchmarks are impressive, but it still faces an uphill battle for user adoption.Plus, we break down the drama behind Google's $2.4B deal with Windsurf and what it means for tech employees.00:00 Intro 01:21 Grok 4 and "MetchaHitler" 27:35 Google's Windsurf deal and the AI talent wars 41:56 BILT's Series C and end of Wells Fargo partnership
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Mamdani, Tesla robotaxis
🗳️ How did the city with one of the biggest shifts to the right in the 2024 presidential election just vote for a socialist?This week the pod breaks down Zohran’s rise from 1% in the polls to winning the Democratic nomination for NYC mayor. They discuss how Zohran was able to create a memorable brand and also dive into his most talked about policies:🚼 universal childcare🥶 a rent freeze🛒 a city-run grocery store💵 raising the minimum wage to $30Then we get into Elon’s rideshare launch in Austin that he’s been hard launching since 2019, but it was a soft launch with 10 to 20 cars in a fenced-in area, priced at $4.20. Of course. The hosts discuss:📷 Tesla’s bet on cameras over lidar🚗 a Tesla dropping a passenger in the middle of an intersection…🤖 Tesla’s other moonshots like the humanoid robot Optimus00:00 Intro 00:47 NYC mayoral election and Zohran Mamdani 45:56 Tesla's rideshare launch in Austin
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1:04:40
YC Demo Day & Building Sim Studio with CEO Emir Karabeg
This week we sat down with Emir Karabeg, the co-founder of Sim Studio (YC X25), an open-source AI agent builder used by the Department of Defense. We debriefed his YC Demo Day and discussed his insane lore, including:💥 Building a crypto mining operation at 14 that accidentally triggered an MI6 raid🧠 Why what he learned at YC was life changing🚗 How he gave away 10 Teslas with David Dobrik (and one extra by accident)📞 Leaving in the middle of a UC Berkeley final to take a call from Olaf Carlson-Wee (Coinbase employee #1)00:00 Intro01:54 Crypto mining at 14 years old12:34 Dropping out of Berkeley (for a semester)22:10 YC Demo Day30:12 Building Sim Studio40:54 Founder philosophies51:29 Reaching AGI
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Scale AI/Meta, No Kings Protest
Meta just dropped a casual $14.3 billion on Scale AI for a 49 percent non-voting stake. The hosts are wondering if Zuck is in his desperation era handing out NBA sized contracts to anyone that can rescue Llama. Alexander Wang is now running Meta’s new Superintelligence Lab, and the hosts breaks down what Alex leaving means for Scale. In the short term, employees are getting a massive cash payout, but long term Google, Microsoft, and xAI have already said they’re not renewing contracts with Scale, which opens the door for Scale’s competitors like Snorkel, Surge AI, Mercor, and Turing to step in. Maya floats the idea that Scale may be a product play and not just an acqui-hiring of Alex, if Meta has a bigger plan to use Scale to build continual learning models inside Meta.Then the episode covers the largest single-day protest in American history. Around 5 million people turned out for the No Kings marches in response to ICE raids and Trump’s executive overreach. Anika shares what it was like on the ground at the SF protest. The hosts also unpack the very public back-and-forth between Gavin Newsom and Trump. They also analyze Trump’s immigration strategy in comparison to Obama’s. Finally, they get into the messy economic and ethical logic (or lack thereof) behind targeting undocumented immigrants who’ve been here for decades. 00:00 Intro 01:18 Meta acquires 49% of Scale AI 37:13 ICE Raids lead to the No Kings protest
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1:09:12
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Nucleus Genomics, IPO landscape, AI trend report
The hosts get together at 7am after Anika and Maya both managed to sleep through 6am alarms. This week the trio dives into Nucleus Genomics, the hot IPO market, and Mary Meeker’s AI trend report.Nucelus Genoomics just launched a new product called Nucleus Embryo. Nucleus Embryo lets IVF parents compare embryos based not only on health markers, but also on traits like height, eye color, and even IQ. The hosts explain the science behind polygenic risk scores (PRS) versus traditional embryo screening for rare diseases. Finally they dive into the many controversies around genetic selection including the accuracy, risks of eugenics, potential for ableism, and the implications of a genetically engineered upper class that gets solidified over multiple generations.IPOs are so back. Circle, the company behind USDC, had a great IPO, jumping from $31 to $115 a share in a week. The hosts explain how Circle makes its money mostly from interest on the billions in reserves backing the stablecoin, thanks to high Fed rates. The discussion also touches on Circle’s failed SPAC attempt and why crypto might be going mainstream. They also cover Omada Health’s more modest IPO and discuss how digital health IPOs are slowly returning after a long dry spell post the pandemic era. Finally they go over potential IPOs rumored for the rest of the year.The episode wraps with a breakdown of Mary Meeker’s hyped 2025 AI trend report. They dive into 340 pages of charts, graphs, and the word “unprecedented” (which is used 64 times!). The hosts discuss why ChatGPT adoption has been so much faster than Google. They also discuss how the commodization of AI is going to impact the business model of AI players.00:00 Intro03:04 Nucelus Genomics27:14 IPO market including Circle and Omada Health40:16 Mary Meeker’s AI trend report
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