Latest Interviews

Drone Warfare: The New Rules of Combat Are Here

Matt Cronin, Ryan Tseng, Adam Bry

Discussions with defense technology leaders from Skydio and Shield AI highlight an urgent "max-Q moment" driven by China's fearsome industrial capacity to produce drones at a scale that currently overwhelms US capabilities. The dialogue emphasizes a strategic pivot toward distributed, autonomous systems capable of operating in GPS-denied environments, leveraging rapid software iteration to close the OODA loop faster than adversaries. To counter this asymmetry, experts advocate for immediate procurement reform and the re-industrialization of the US domestic base to transform high-volume commercial manufacturing into a resilient national security asset.

The great brawl: China v America

Donald Trump, Friedrich Merz, Betty Webb, Rosie Bloor, Don Wineland, Tom Nuttall, Anne Rowe

Escalating trade tensions between the United States and China, marked by reciprocal tariffs exceeding 125%, have triggered market volatility while forcing a strategic reshaping of global supply chains away from US dependence. Simultaneously, Germany's incoming coalition government led by Friedrich Merz has secured a mandate to address economic stagnation and defense obligations, navigating the new reality of aggressive US protectionism. In a historical parallel to current geopolitical anxieties, the life of Betty Webb, a WWII codebreaker who died at 101, has been revealed as a cautionary tale against modern fascist movements.

Art of the real: Trump bows to markets

Trump, Rosie Bloor, Rachna Shambhog, Tom Standage, Andrew Miller

Following President Trump's announcement of a 90-day tariff pause amid market-driven recession fears, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent utilized the delay to reward non-retaliation while maintaining a 125% rate on China, prompting global leaders to prepare direct concessions on defense and trade. Simultaneously, the commercial space sector advances toward orbital data centers as StarCloud plans a 2024 AI chip demonstrator and Axiom Space operates station racks, with viability hinging on the projected launch cost reductions of SpaceX's Starship. Marking the centennial of its 1924 publication, F. Scott Fitzgerald's *The Great Gatsby* continues to define the American experience by contrasting the Jazz Age's glamour with a rigid class structure that grants the wealthy immunity from the consequences of their carelessness.

Derek Thompson’s advice for founders is to follow your curiosity.

Derek Thompson

The speaker frames human existence as a fleeting three-second cosmological interval, urging individuals to shift from mass-consumer roles to becoming unique creators in critical technical fields. By prioritizing curiosity-driven work in hard technology, robotics, green cement, and new energy capture, this approach aims to solve enduring global problems that will remain relevant for centuries. This philosophy contrasts with transient pursuits, emphasizing the production of work that no one else would make as the only path to lasting significance.

Base Power's $200M Series B | Co-Led by Lee Fixel, A16Z, Lightspeed, & Valor Equity Partners

Lee Fixel, Zach Dell, Justin Lopas, Antonio Gracias, Molly

Base Power, founded in 2023 by Zach and Justin, closed a $200 million Series B round led by Addition with new participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Ventures to accelerate its "violent execution" culture and vertical integration strategy. Leveraging an isolated grid launch in Texas and a proprietary utility model that reduces deployment timelines to 2–4 weeks, the company has installed over 1,000 batteries while securing partnerships with builders like Lennar and utilities such as Bandera. Backed by a talent pool drawn from SpaceX and Tesla, Base Power now aims to scale operations to 50–100 daily installations and expand across all 50 states to address surging electricity demand from AI data centers and electrification.

Recession watch: How to hedge now

Daan Struyven, Allison Nathan, Don Stryven

Recorded on April 8, 2025, Goldman Sachs analysts presented a strategic pivot toward hedging with commodities, projecting a 10% rise in gold to $3,300 per ounce under stagnation while forecasting a decline to $55 per barrel for Brent crude by 2026. The presentation detailed a "long gold, short oil" portfolio architecture designed to capitalize on anticipated Fed rate cuts and supply surges, respectively, with recession scenarios potentially pushing gold toward $4,250 or oil below $40. Additionally, the analysis highlighted copper's resilient long-term outlook driven by supply deficits, despite near-term volatility exacerbated by U.S. tariff announcements.

Pulp friction: the trade war bites Apple

Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Henry Trix, Owen Winter, Holly Berman

Following the implementation of new US tariffs and China's 104% retaliatory levy, Apple faced a $600 billion market value decline due to its heavy reliance on Chinese manufacturing, prompting the Trump administration to reject Tim Cook's $500 billion investment pledge as a basis for exemptions. Concurrently, meta-analyses of 6 billion Facebook friendships reveal that Britain exhibits stronger cross-class social integration than the United States, though this connectivity remains geographically fragmented by historic industrial zones. In the cultural sphere, a new wave of conservative female influencers is reshaping Republican branding by merging high-fashion lifestyle content with explicit politics, targeting Gen-Z audiences through digital communities and bypassing traditional media gatekeepers.

Economies of sail: migrant-smuggling entrepreneurs

Rosie Bloor, Joel Budd, Noah Snyder, Oliver Morton, Rachel Dobbs, Ainsley Johnston

An analysis of global security and environmental trends reveals that UK migrant smuggling networks have fragmented into professionalized, decentralized supply chains that evade traditional law enforcement decapitation tactics, while simultaneous extreme wildfires in South Korea and Japan signal accelerating climate impacts in high-latitude regions. Parallel to these physical shifts, international public opinion is undergoing a rapid polarization driven by US political changes, characterized by a sharp decline in favorable views of America across traditional allies like Canada and European nations. These converging dynamics suggest a global landscape where adaptive criminal markets, climate-fueled disasters, and fractured diplomatic trust are reshaping security challenges and cross-border perceptions.

A Better End State than AGI? Replit CEO Amjad Masad on 1 Billion Developers

Amjad Masad, David Cahn, Sonya Huang

Replit co-founder Amjad Massad argues that while near-term AI excels at data-rich tasks like coding and mathematics, creative problem-solving remains a distinctively human capability, setting the stage for a "billion developers" economy. Following a 2024 strategic pivot to prioritize agent development, the company launched Replit Agent Version 2, which leverages Anthropic's Sonnet 3.5 to automate entire software lifecycles and drive a tenfold increase in app deployments. This shift democratizes global software creation by enabling non-technical sectors to build tailored solutions, transforming users from passive consumers into "creative engines" that leverage AI to multiply productivity.

Doomed traders: Trump’s tariff fallout

Trump, Rosie Bloor, Rachna Shambhog, Tom Sass, Emily Steinmark

Following the US announcement of global tariffs on April 2, major economies including China and Canada implemented retaliatory measures that triggered a $12 trillion drop in global market value and elevated recession probabilities to 60%. Despite diplomatic outreach from approximately 50 nations, the US administration maintains its stance, with officials describing the policy as a permanent restructuring of trade that has forced corporations to delay capital investments. Analysts warn that these developments will likely result in two decades of protectionism and reduced global economic integration.

Over the Yoon: South Korea ousts president

Rosie Bloor, Noah Snyder, Duncan Robinson, John Fasman

South Korea's Constitutional Court has upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol for declaring martial law, mandating a snap election within 60 days that leaves opposition leader Lee Jae-myung as the frontrunner amid deepening economic and geopolitical instability. While the ousted president faces a separate criminal trial for insurrection that could carry a life sentence or death penalty, the nation's conservative factions remain fragmented and vulnerable to shifting US trade policies and alliance strategies. This constitutional crisis has simultaneously depressed market confidence and complicated the path toward stabilizing the economy amidst intensifying external pressures.

DOGE updates + Liberation Day Tariff Reactions with Ben Shapiro and Antonio Gracias

Ben Shapiro, Antonio Gracias, Jason, Friedberg, Chamath Palihapitiya

Antonio Gracias, operating under a White House mandate with the Department of Government Efficiency, utilized the Social Security Administration's "Enumeration Beyond Entry" data to uncover a surge of 2.1 million non-citizen identifications since 2017, revealing systemic vulnerabilities that include Medicaid access by individuals with unknown immigration statuses and potential voter fraud in specific states. Following this investigative launch, Ben Shapiro and Chamath Palihapitiya critically analyzed the Trump administration's tariff strategies, warning that logical inconsistencies in revenue versus reshoring goals and critical shortages in US energy and skilled labor could precipitate a 2025 corporate debt crisis. Despite these macroeconomic risks, the participants concluded that data-driven immigration reforms and a strategic pivot toward ambition in AI and infrastructure are necessary to navigate the current geopolitical and economic landscape.

Import-extort: what to make of Donald Trump’s titanic tariffs

Donald Trump, Mike Bird, Ethan Wu, Simon Rabinovitch, Douglas Irwin, Doug Irwin

On April 2, 2025, President Donald Trump invoked national emergency powers to impose a baseline 10% tariff on all imports alongside reciprocal rates targeting nations like China and the European Union, effectively raising the U.S. tariff level to approximately 25%. This unilateral executive action, which exempts Mexico and Canada while closing the de minimis e-commerce loophole, aims to restore domestic manufacturing but faces imminent legal challenges under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Economic analysts warn the policy could trigger stagflation with inflation reaching 5% and reduce GDP by 0.6%, yet global markets have initially reacted with falling bond yields despite alarm from oil, gas, and apparel sectors reliant on imported inputs.

Startups that make it are rare. You can do it alone, but with a good co-founder you can go farther.

The discussion emphasizes that successful startups depend on highly aligned co-founders capable of navigating critical challenges, rejecting the notion that working alone is a safer alternative to partnership. This perspective aligns with the Renee Adler philosophy that all business problems are ultimately people problems, requiring founders to actively manage conflict and collaboration to secure necessary capital and talent. Ultimately, founders who refuse to engage in these essential interpersonal dynamics risk ceding market dominance to competitors who are willing to "play to win" by building strong teams and resources.

Unbundling the BPO: How AI Is Disrupting Outsourced Work

Steph Smith, Kimberly Tan

A $300 billion Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market dominated by firms like Accenture and Wipro is undergoing a fundamental transformation as Voice AI and autonomous browser agents dismantle traditional reliance on human labor. By enabling near-zero latency processing of unstructured data across sectors ranging from healthcare to logistics, these AI-native technologies offer founders a pathway to create new value by automating complex workflows previously inaccessible to small and medium enterprises. As the industry evolves over a two-to-three-year horizon, success will depend on strategically targeting high-impact use cases where AI can flatten operational costs while navigating the structural inertia of legacy labor-heavy models.