Over half of Americans live in childcare deserts, while 90% of brain development happens before the age of five. All the while, education and childcare remain among the most resistant sectors to technological change. Billions of dollars have been spent, but outcomes continue to lag. Why?
In this episode, we dive into the systemic issues—misaligned incentive ... Show More
Aug 2
Ruby Thelot on Internet Culture, AI, and the Future of Taste
Sophia Dew and Sofia Puccini are joined by Ruby Thelot, designer, artist, cyberethnographer, professor at NYU, and founder of 13101401, for a wide-ranging conversation about internet culture, AI, digital communities, and how technology is reshaping the way we relate to one anothe ... Show More
34m 8s
Apr 2026
John and Patrick Collison on Stripe's Growth, Agent Commerce, and the Future of Software
This interview with Stripe cofounders John and Patrick Collison originally aired on TBPN. They discuss Stripe's 34% growth and new employee tender offer, how agent commerce and stablecoins may require high-throughput blockchains built for millions of transactions per second, and ... Show More
20m 2s
Apr 2026
Peter Yang on Small Teams, Coding Agents, and Why Human Ambition Has No Ceiling
Anish Acharya speaks with Peter Yang, creator and product lead at Roblox, about how personal AI agents are replacing the apps we open every day, why coding agents feel like slot machines, and what happens when the cost of building software drops to near zero. They discuss why fut ... Show More
28m 37s
Apr 2025
Why America Stopped Innovating - And How We Can Start Again
Not long ago, America led the world in building and innovation. But over the past 50 years, bureaucracy and red tape have made it nearly impossible to get big things done.Still, there’s a growing movement to turn that around — to build faster, smarter, and better than ever before ... Show More
34m 12s
Sep 2025
China Has Mass. Can America Catch Up?
<p>Ben, Marc, and Erik Torenberg are joined by Brian Schimpf, Cofounder & CEO of Anduril, and Chris Power, Founder & CEO of Hadrian. Together, they dig into America’s defense production gap: why the U.S. can out-innovate but not out-produce—and what it will take to turn that arou ... Show More
56m 21s
Mar 2024
Let’s fix child care together
America is in the midst of a child care crisis. The cost of child care has skyrocketed to the point where, in some states, caring for kids in pre-k is more expensive than college tuition or a home mortgage. According to economist Kathryn Anne Edwards, it’s a market failure. So ho ... Show More
43m 54s
Oct 2022
Bootstrapping #Fail: Why the American “Solution” to Systemic Problems Keeps Falling Short
This week’s episode holds two complex truths simultaneously: That sometimes, the answer is working harder, and other times, the answer is policy, interdependence, and community. Sure, individual responsibility is important—but when we try to solve complex, collective problems wit ... Show More
1 h
Sep 2025
Why Universities Are Failing — And What the Future of Tech Education Really Looks Like
Fadi Bizri is the Co-Founder of SE Factory, a leading coding bootcamp, and a driving force behind initiatives like HR Factory, which connects top local talent to global tech companies. Beyond building talent pipelines, he has also been a venture capitalist, accelerator founder, a ... Show More
45m 12s
May 2025
Ed Zitron: Silicon Valley's Empty Promises and Billion-Dollar Blunders
Is the tech industry rotting from the inside out? Ed Zitron thinks so. As a PR expert, media critic, and outspoken tech industry commentator, Zitron pulls no punches discussing what he calls the "ROT economy" - where growth at all costs has replaced innovation and customer value. ... Show More
57m 54s