PodHood
NO

No Priors: AI, Machine Learning, Tech, & Startups

9 episodes

Coinbase’s Everything Exchange: Agentic Finance, Stablecoins & Tokenization with CEO Brian Armstrong

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong argues his exchange is becoming the 'Everything Exchange' while preparing to bank AI agents. Armstrong tells Elad Gil that 88% of Coinbase revenue is non-Bitcoin trading, and details tokenized stocks, stablecoin payments settling in under one second for under $0.01, and prediction markets at a $100 million revenue run rate within months. He explains 76% of agentic commerce transactions are under $0.30, below card fee minimums; Coinbase built crypto wallets and the X402 protocol so agents can hold accounts and pay each other. He also describes Coinbase's internal AI 'brain' system for recursive self-improvement and New Limit, his longevity startup, whose epigenetic reprogramming platform begins a phase-one trial in alcoholic liver disease next year.Sep 10, 2026 · 45:10 · 7.5K views

Redefining Chip Architecture with Arm CEO Rene Haas

Arm CEO Rene Haas argues that the CPU, not the accelerator, remains the heart of every system: AI workloads still depend on microprocessors to orchestrate tokens, so Arm moved from licensing IP to building full compute subsystems, including the Arm AGI CPU for Meta. He says the shift was driven by customers like Meta who wanted complete solutions rather than components, and that Arm's design wins in smartphones, data centers and automobiles prove the model. Haas contends supply constraints in memory, substrates and advanced packaging will throttle industry growth for three to five years, making US fab capacity a national-security priority. He predicts AI will become a utility embedded in every device, from edge sensors to robots, and that fears of job loss are overstated because electricians, engineers and skilled tradespeople will be needed in greater numbers to build out data centers, fabs and the physical infrastructure AI requires.Sep 3, 2026 · 37:07 · 9.3K views

Rethinking Legacy Data Infrastructure with Eon Co-Founders Ofir Ehrlich and Gonen Stein

Eon co-founders Ofir Ehrlich and Gonen Stein join Elad Gil to argue that data, not compute or models, is the enterprise's moat, and their cloud backup now serves as a data foundation for AI. They cite Google's $10 million purchase of Spirit Airlines' data as proof that real-world data is gold, and say Eon maps, classifies, and masks scattered data to feed LLMs without breaking security or compliance. They warn that AI agents with legitimate permissions are creating ransomware-scale threats at extreme velocity, so companies must assume breach from non-human actors. They contrast the slow cloud era with today's faster, fear-driven AI adoption, where forward-deployed engineers and PLG reshape how legacy enterprises buy software. They say agents multiply actors, making dashboards essential.Aug 27, 2026 · 34:51 · 5.3K views

From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodak

Max Hodak, CEO of Science.xyz, tells Sarah Guo the brain is literally a computer, and his PRIMA retinal implant—just approved in Europe—restores formed vision to people blinded by macular degeneration by putting a chip under the retina that receives laser images from glasses. He argues this is the first step toward a BCI strategy focused on vision, hearing, balance, and motor control, not brain keyboards. Hodak ties consciousness to continuity rather than identity, making substrate independence the goal. He defends the Platonic Representation Hypothesis, saying AI model internals align with animal brain recordings, and outlines Science's pipeline—vision, biohybrid neural interfaces, and perfusion program VESSEL—to reduce human fragility and enable adapting to space.Aug 20, 2026 · 31:39 · 3K views

How Chess.com Became the World’s Biggest Chess Community with CEO Erik Allebest

Erik Allebest, CEO of Chess.com, tells host Sarah Guo how he turned a $56,000 bankruptcy-auction domain into a 250-million-member platform with 10 million daily users and $200M+ revenue. He bootstrapped after VCs called chess an uninvestable niche, and credits cultural spikes like Queen's Gambit and COVID for growth. General Atlantic and CVC bought secondary shares, keeping the company capital-light. He argues chess engines made the game more exciting, not obsolete, and AI now powers coaching, puzzles, and internal ops. He discusses Gambit, a poker site applying Chess.com ratings to prioritize skill over chips. He advises founders to ignore market dogma and offers cautious AGI optimism, stressing guardrails and cultural change.Aug 13, 2026 · 46:08 · 2.1K views

Chasing Trillion-Dollar Companies, Founder Ambition, Token Budgets, & Regulatory Capture

Sarah Guo and Elad Gil debate trillion-dollar company prospects, arguing that after Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX hit that mark in five years, few more will repeat the pace; they see many hundred-billion-dollar opportunities. They urge founders not to retreat to niche markets out of fear of AI labs, and advise most to consider selling in a 12-to-18-month window if they aren't capturing value as costs fall. On compute, they frame token budgets as scarce, needing return-on-invested-tokens thinking. They assess lab belief that coding is solved within six months and light RSI by end of next year, while noting 18-month forecasts have repeatedly missed. Finally, they warn California's billionaire tax and exit-tax plans push founders to Texas, and that overcorrecting on AI safety risks repeating the regulatory capture that stalled nuclear power.Aug 6, 2026 · 39:30 · 8.6K views

Building an Autonomous Enterprise for Real-World Services with Netic Founder Melisa Tokmak

Melisa Tokmak, founder and CEO of Netic, tells Elad Gil how Netic's autonomous AI platform acts as an intermediary for essential services like HVAC, pet care, and roofing, with over 70% of customers now AI-first. She explains why she built a product company rather than an AI roll-up, and how selling to 'slow' industries is easier than assumed—they're value-focused and tech-forward. Big labs aren't threats due to focus and last-mile orchestration; robotics is decades away for these jobs. She screens for agency by asking candidates the hardest thing they've done, and sees private equity now demanding measurable ROI. Her five-year vision is an 'autonomous enterprise' where AI handles everything except physical labor; she is most excited about AI's impact on education and expanding agency.Jul 31, 2026 · 34:30 · 4.7K views

Building an Autonomous Delivery Experience with DoorDash Co-Founders Andy Fang and Stanley Tang

DoorDash co-founders Andy Fang and Stanley Tang explain how they are building an autonomous delivery ecosystem with their in-house robot Dot, which has operated at L4 autonomy in Phoenix for over two years, weighing 300 pounds and traveling 20 mph. They discuss how Ask DoorDash, a natural-language interface, drives 50% of restaurant trajectories to new places and 40% larger grocery basket sizes. The founders argue that a multimodal strategy—using Dot for 3-5 mile suburban deliveries, drones for rural areas, and Dashers for complex orders—is key, and that despite autonomy, DoorDash will have more Dashers in 10 years due to 25% annual growth and 9 million active Dashers. They emphasize that their advantage comes from combining world-class operations with real-world data from 10 billion deliveries, solving the first and last 100 feet problem that general-purpose autonomy companies overlook.Jul 23, 2026 · 49:20 · 3.8K views

Travel Through the Lens of AI with with Booking.com CEO Glenn Fogel

Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel tells Elad Gil how he rode Priceline from the dot-com bust to a 1000x gain, arguing AI is a tool, not a threat, to travel. Fogel, who joined a week before the Nasdaq peaked, recalls the stock falling to $1 before a reverse split, and sees the same boom-bust pattern in AI. He shows how agentic tools like Priceline's Penny handle complex trips and cut customer service costs 10% per contact, while Booking invests $700 million in AI and tech. Yet he says there are no moats: scale like 8.6 million alternative accommodation listings only helps, and constant innovation is the only defense. He defends returning cash to shareholders—40% of shares bought back in a dozen years—and warns that AI job displacement demands upskilling, not rejection of technology.Jul 9, 2026 · 41:05 · 3.4K views
Browse all episodes