Marc Freed-Finnegan, co-founder and CEO of Chalk, joins us to talk about why AI infrastructure needs to shift from training to inference—and how Chalk is powering sub-5ms pipelines for customers like Whatnot, MoneyLion, and Sunrun. He explains why Chalk is taking on Databricks, why fresh data is more valuable than ever, and what it means to run Pyt…

In this episode, Kyle talks with Sam Bowman, editor of Works in Progress and Head of Publishing at Stripe, about one of the most important but under-discussed ideas in energy policy: the regulatory science that made nuclear energy unaffordable. Sam unpacks the origins and impact of the Linear No Threshold (LNT) radiation model and the ALARA regulat…

Isaiah Taylor — founder and CEO of Valar Atomics — joins us to unpack a bold new push from the White House: a set of executive orders signed by President Trump aimed at reviving domestic nuclear energy. He breaks down what’s in the orders, why they matter, and how they could reshape US energy and industrial policy over the next decade. We also dive…

Charley Ma, co-founder and Managing Partner at Pathlight, joins us to unpack the changing landscape of AI adoption across SMB and enterprise segments. He shares why the most promising vertical AI startups are being led by younger, first-time founders—and why these teams are winning by building fast, iterating directly with customers, and delivering…

Today, Rex Woodbury, Founder and Managing Partner at Daybreak Ventures, joins Kyle Harrison to share his reactions to new AI product announcements at Google I/O, OpenAI’s $6.4B acquisition of Jony Ive’s “LoveFrom,” design studio, as well as his thoughts on the future of consumer AI products. They discuss the competitive landscape between tech incum…

Kian Sadeghi, founder and CEO of Nucleus Genomics, joins the show to unpack the fall of 23andMe and what its $256M acquisition by Regeneron means for the future of consumer DNA testing. We talk about what 23andMe got wrong—from its business model to its reliance on outdated genotyping tech—and how a new generation of genomic startups like Nucleus a…

In today’s episode, Lucas Harrington — co-founder and president of Mammoth Biosciences — joins Eric to discuss a groundbreaking moment for gene editing: the successful treatment of an infant, K.J. Muldoon, using a custom CRISPR therapy developed in just six months. Lucas walks us through how this came together, what made it possible, and why this c…

Today, Eric is joined by Contrary general partner Kyle Harrison for a candid conversation on how the venture landscape looks from the founder’s perspective in 2025. Kyle breaks down the structural shifts reshaping the VC ecosystem — from the hollowing out of mid-sized firms to the growing divide between capital agglomerators and specialist funds — …

For the last 30 years, globalization was the default—especially in tech. But as the world fractures, we’re seeing something new: deglobalization driven by national security, digital sovereignty, and geopolitical competition. Today, Lux Capital’s Danny Crichton joins us to break down the new industrial policy era. We discuss how the tech world is fr…

Today on Tech Today, Eric is joined by TJ Parker, Founder of PillPack and Amazon Pharmacy, to break down the current state of drug pricing in the U.S. and the significance of Trump’s recent executive order on prescription drugs. TJ walks through the supply chain mechanics behind inflated out-of-pocket prices and explains why consumers often pay far…

Today, Eight Sleep co-founder and CEO Matteo Franceschetti joins us to talk about sleep science, recovery, and how better sleep might be the greatest untapped lever for improving human performance. He broke down why sleep matters more than fitness or nutrition, how deep and REM sleep drive mental and physical recovery, and how new tools are helping…

Danny Crichton, Head of Editorial & Riskgaming at Lux Capital, joins the podcast to break down the state of U.S. export bans on AI chips — and whether they’re actually working. Danny explains why NVIDIA is so central to the policy debate, how sales are still finding their way to China through workarounds like Singapore, and why the U.S. may not be …

Today, Kyle Harrison, general partner at Contrary, joins the podcast to talk about the early-stage venture bear market and why it’s being masked by the AI hype cycle. While valuations for seed and Series A rounds have remained relatively stable, the number of rounds has plummeted, and Kyle argues that the true state of venture is far worse than it …

A few years ago, all eyes were on Big Tech when it came to startup acquisitions. But with regulatory pressure mounting, a new cohort of acquirers has emerged: mid-sized, AI-native companies like Databricks, Datadog, and OpenAI. In this episode, Alex Konrad of Upstarts Media joins Eric to break down the new wave of $100M–$1B deals — from Databricks’…

Jacob Kimmel, co-founder and President of NewLimit, joins us to talk about the company’s newly announced $130 million Series B and its ambitious plan to develop reprogramming-based medicines that can reverse cellular aging. We explore how NewLimit’s therapies use mRNA to deliver transcription factors that restore liver cells to a younger state, why…

Cloud seeding isn’t new, but Rainmaker is giving it a second life. On today’s episode, Augustus Doricko, founder and CEO of Rainmaker, joins Eric to explain how his company uses drones, radar, and remote sensing to make it rain on command. Augustus outlines how Rainmaker's technology solves the attribution problem that has long haunted cloud seedin…

Apple just got slammed by a federal judge for willfully violating an injunction in its antitrust fight with Epic Games. Patrick McGee, longtime Apple reporter at the Financial Times and author of the upcoming book Apple in China, joins to unpack how the case unfolded, why Epic’s move was both strategic and symbolic, and what this moment means for t…

Most AI apps still feel clunky, generic, or oddly off-tone. Pete Koomen thinks he knows why — and he’s calling it the “horseless carriage” problem. Just like early cars mimicked carriages, today’s AI products too often copy outdated software models instead of rethinking from first principles. Pete, a General Partner at Y Combinator and co-founder o…

Rick Song, co-founder and CEO of Persona, joins us after announcing the company’s $200 million Series D. In this episode, Rick breaks down what it means to build the verified identity layer of the internet — not just verifying who someone is, but verifying who an AI agent is acting on behalf of, and what their intent is. We explore how identity has…

Sid Malladi, co-founder and CEO of Nuvo, joins us on the day of the company’s public launch to talk about the future of B2B trade infrastructure. Backed by $45M from Sequoia, Founders Fund, and Spark, Nuvo aims to replace the outdated pen-and-paper systems that still dominate the $11 trillion U.S. trade economy. Sid explains why the problem isn’t j…

In today’s episode, Jon Gegenheimer, Global Co-Head of Tech M&A at Jefferies, joins us to break down how the Trump administration’s new tariffs have frozen the tech M&A market almost overnight. We dive into why the year started with optimism, how quickly the landscape shifted in April, and why buyers and sellers are now stuck in a tense waiting gam…

Today, Kyle Harrison, general partner at Contrary, sits down with Sean Hunt, co-founder and CTO of Solugen, to talk about how the company is reinventing chemical manufacturing from first principles. Sean explains why traditional chemical supply chains are fragile and carbon-intensive — and how Solugen’s modular, carbon-negative Bioforge model could…

Samir Vasavada, co-founder and CEO of Vise, joins us to talk about how registered investment advisors (RIAs) are increasingly entering the world of venture capital. Samir explains how changes in liquidity, demand for differentiation, and the availability of new platforms have opened the door for wealth managers to back private tech companies—someth…

Over the last decade, startup exit timelines have stretched, cap tables have grown more complex, and LPs have become more focused on liquidity. That’s why Homebrew co-founder Hunter Walk says it’s time for early-stage VCs to embrace secondaries—not as a last resort, but as part of the playbook. In this episode, Hunter breaks down why the traditiona…

The tools—and expectations—of software development are changing fast. Today on Tech Today, Zach Lloyd, founder and CEO of Warp, joins us to talk about how the job of the software developer is evolving in the age of AI, agents, and “vibe coding.” Zach breaks down what gets easier, what stays hard, and what tools will need to be rethought entirely. H…

Replit founding engineer Gian Segato joins us to talk about his viral new essay, Agency Is Eating the World, and the shift toward high-agency individuals building and scaling software alone. He explains why today’s AI “agents” aren’t truly agentic, why taste is downstream of iteration, and how generalists are now empowered to compete with specialis…

Bhavin Shah, founder and CEO of Moveworks, joins us after announcing the company’s acquisition by ServiceNow last month. Moveworks was one of the first enterprise AI startups to bet on conversational interfaces and AI agents — years before ChatGPT made that idea mainstream. In this episode, Bhavin walks us through the origin story, how they made th…

We're launching Tech Today, a daily show on the most important stories in technology. 10 minutes per day. Five days per week.By Eric Tarczynski

Nicholas Harris, CEO and co-founder of Lightmatter, joins us to talk about the company's latest product launches: the Passage M1000 and the L200, two breakthroughs in photonic interconnect technology that could reshape how we scale AI infrastructure. We also discussed the limits of traditional electrical interconnects, why data movement — not compu…

Today, John Arnold—philanthropist and co-chair of Arnold Ventures—joins us to break down the real barriers facing next-gen nuclear energy. In a space filled with big promises and long timelines, John makes the case for why fusion and small modular reactors (SMRs) won't succeed without serious government intervention. We talked about: • Why non-bind…

On Monday March 31, Runway, a generative video startup, launhced its most advanced AI video generation model to date, Gen-4. Today, Runway co-founder and CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela joins us to talk about the Gen-4 release, the evolution of Runways product over time, the future of video generation and storytelling, and how Runway is building an “infin…

On Wednesday, former Forbes senior editor Alex Konrad launched a new tech media company covering startups. Today, Alex joins us to talk about his new company. We covered a lot of ground including why media coverage of startup stories is demand, whether the narrative of media vs. tech being adversarial is accurate, how Alex wants Upstarts to serve a…

On Tuesday, Emergence Capital announced it had raised a $1 billion Fund VII. Today, Emergence Capital general partner Jake Saper joins the podcast to talk about Emergence’s focus on B2B software and plans for the future. He also describes his point of view on how the venture industry has evolved and why it’s both the scariest and most exciting time…

On March 6, President Trump signed an executive order establishing both a strategic bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile, which the administration says is meant to position “the United States asa. leader among nations in government digital asset strategy.” Today, Anthony Pompliano, founder & CEO of Professional Capital Management, joins us t…

This week, voice AI startup Cartesia raised a $64 million Series A at an undisclosed valuation, led by Kleiner Perkins. Today, Cartesia CEO Karan Goel joins us to talk about the vision behind Cartesia’s voice products. Karan also spoke about the origins of Cartesia, the importance of latency, the unrealized potential of voice AI and why it will be …

Last week, Hallow, a prayer and meditation app, reached number 2 on the app store and almost half a million downloads in a single day. Today, Alex Jones, CEO and co-founder of Hallow, joins us to talk about Hallow’s origin story, what he believes is behind its rapid success, and the past and future of prayer. Finally, we discuss Eric Schmidt’s new …

Last week, Varda Space Industries successfully completed its second mission, which landed in Australia last week after over six weeks in orbit. Today, Varda co-founder and President Delian Asparouhov joins us to talk about his reflections on the mission, Varda’s ambitious roadmap ahead including its fast-approaching W-3 launch, its grand vision for…

This Monday, Ramp announced a $150 million secondary round which valued the company at $13 billion. Today, Ramp co-founder and CEO Eric Glyman joins the podcast to talk about what has driven Ramp’s rapid growth, why he’s happy about Ramp’s decision to recognize reality and raise $5.8 billion down round in 2023, and how Ramp’s future will look in a …

On Monday, Flexport launched a total of 20 products all at once, in what Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Peterson called a new commitment to two major releases every year, inspired by Brian Chesky’s speech on “founder mode”. Today, Ryan joins the podcast to talk about what inspired the launch, the benefits of embracing “founder mode, and how Flexport…