Newcomer Pod

Today on the podcast, we’re joined by an old friend, New York Times correspondent Katie Benner. We look back on our days covering tech together at The Information and our old podcast Dead Cat , before diving into her new book, Miracle Children: Race, Education, and a True Story of False Promises . The book examines a school reform experiment that claimed a 100 percent college acceptance rate, and...

The AI boom is hitting real limits. In this episode, the Newcomer team breaks down why data centers are running out of power, what is really happening inside OpenAI after its latest shakeup, and why neocloud players like CoreWeave may be heading toward a financial crunch. Eric Newcomer, Tom Dotan, and Maline Renberg explain the investor panic behind the scenes, the brutal GPU economics, and what t...

What do Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, Reid Hoffman, Marc Andreessen, and Elon Musk actually believe about the future of tech? In this episode of the Newcomer Podcast, we break down the quotes that defined tech in 2025. From OpenAI and Anthropic to venture capital, regulation, and Silicon Valley power, these are the moments where powerful people said the quiet part out loud. Rather than reacting to hea...

How do you quietly raise $9 billion in a world obsessed with hype? In today’s episode, we break down the rise of Lightspeed Venture Partners: the ultra-successful, strangely under-the-radar mega-fund shaping the next decade of AI, enterprise, and consumer tech. Lightspeed has posted huge exits this year while sidestepping the froth of the AI bubble… so what are they doing differently? But first, w...

The bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery is over…for now. Netflix shocked Hollywood by announcing a deal to acquire the storied studio and its crown jewel, HBO Max, beating out a massive $108 billion hostile bid from Paramount. But in this episode, we argue that the $87 billion mega-deal is nothing more than a desperate move by Hollywood to consolidate power. David Zaslav’s WBD was a "fiasc...

In this episode, we break down the revelations around David Sacks, the venture capitalist now serving as the Trump administration’s de-facto AI czar, while simultaneously holding deep financial ties across the AI industry he’s helping shape. Following the New York Times’ recent reporting, we examine how Sacks positioned himself at the center of both AI policy and AI investing, and what happens whe...

Investigative journalist Ellen Huet joins the show to discuss her stunning new book on OneTaste, the wellness startup that rose to Silicon Valley fame before spiraling into allegations of manipulation, coercion, and cult-like control. We unpack how a company selling “female empowerment” turned into one of tech’s most disturbing cautionary tales, and what its downfall reveals about power, charisma,...

Reid Hoffman Breaks Silence on Epstein Emails & AI PowerToday on the Newcomer Podcast, Reid Hoffman joins me for a wide-ranging conversation on AI power, regulation, politics, and the future of the tech economy. We get into everything — AGI timelines, Sam Altman’s real competition, AI policy, and why Reid says we’re not in a bubble. We also cover his political involvement this year, the Epstei...

MongoDB.local San Francisco is happening on January 15th. Learn more and register here → http://mdb.link/sf-dot-local At the Cerebral Valley AI Summit, we surveyed more than 300 founders and investors with one question:“Which billion-dollar AI startup would you short?” The answers were… blunt. In this episode, Eric, Max Child and James Wilsterman break down the most surprising picks, what they rev...

Buckle up—today's episode takes you inside the war on AI slop and Anthropic's bold plan to fix artificial intelligence's biggest problems. We kick things off at the Cerebral Valley AI Summit, where Anthropic CPO Mike Krieger shares why AI needs to be truth-seeking and what their team is doing to fight misinformation and "brainrot." From explosive funding announcements to real...

Everyone has predictions about AI, but what happens when AI predicts itself? In this episode of The Newcomer Podcast, Eric is joined by Cerebral Valley co-hosts Max Child and James Wilsterman to let AI map out its own 5-year plan. From AGI timelines to AI in healthcare, movies, and beyond. Can AI really forecast its own future, or are we all buying into its self-created hype?

Click here to learn more about MongoDB for Startups - https://www.mongodb.com/lp/solutions/startups/partners?utm_campaign=startup_partner&utm_source=newcomer&utm_medium=referral This is the leadup to our newest installment of the Cerebral Valley AI conference we're hosting on November 12th. In this episode of the podcast, we're joined by the co-hosts of the conference - Max Child a...

Is the AI boom already peaking? In this episode of The Newcomer Podcast, Eric, Madeline and Tom take a hard look at the hype cycle driving Silicon Valley’s latest gold rush — from Andreessen Horowitz’s record-breaking $25 billion year to Amazon’s push to automate its entire workforce. We explore whether AI’s trillion-dollar promise is real innovation, or if the cracks are already showing. From Ope...

AI stocks are booming — but are we nearing a breaking point? This week on Newcomer, we unpack how OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, and AMD are fueling what might be the biggest tech money machine since the dot-com bubble. From trillion-dollar valuations to volatile deals and hype cycles, we explore whether this “AI economy” is sustainable — or if it’s starting to look like a Ponzi scheme.

This week on the Newcomer Podcast, Madeline and Tom are joined by Alex Heath to dig into some of the biggest questions in tech right now. We ask: Is the AI bubble about to burst? OpenAI is propping up huge partners like Microsoft, Oracle, and Broadcom — but what happens if their momentum slows? Meanwhile, Meta just launched Vibes, a quirky new product that seems far removed from the company’s AGI...

This week on the Newcomer Podcast, we dive into three stories that reveal how tech, politics, and media are colliding in unexpected ways. First, we look at Andreessen Horowitz’s expanding media ambitions, exploring why A16z wants to shape the narrative around everything from defense tech to TikTok. Then, we turn to Trump’s feud with Jimmy Kimmel, which led to Kimmel’s suspension and re-hiring by D...

Check out Nayeema Raza's podcast Smart Girl Dumb Questions: https://linktr.ee/smartgirldumbquestions   We’re at a turning point in public health. From billionaires chasing immortality to the growing influence of AI in medicine, the future of healthcare is being rewritten in real time. In this week’s episode of the Newcomer Podcast, journalist and filmmaker Nayeema Raza joins us to unpack the p...

On this episode of the  Newcomer  podcast, host  Eric Newcomer  is joined by co-host  Nayeema Raza  for conversations with some of the most influential voices in healthcare and venture capital.  Bob Kocher , Partner at Venrock, and  Annie Lamont , Founder and Managing Partner of Oak HC/FT, share their perspectives on business models in healthcare, the rise of AI applications, the promise and pitfa...

Journalist  Nayeema Raza —host of  Smart Girl Dumb Questions —joins  Eric Newcomer  to preview  Deus Ex Medicina , their AI–health–longevity summit happening  Tuesday, Sept 9 (San Francisco) . They discuss the big themes going into the conference: how longevity went mainstream, why precision medicine and novel bio are finally feeling real, and who wins the race to own the patient. Eric and Nayeema...

Former CIA officer and three-term Congressman Will Hurd joins Eric Newcomer , Tom Dotan , and Madeline Renbarger to break down Washington's defense tech boom and tackle the burning question: Is this all just hype? Hurd explains how Ukraine has changed the face of warfare and opened the door for new companies to break into the fold. However, it's one thing to build a prototype, but it's...

Is the AI bubble popping—or just catching its breath? Eric Newcomer and Tom Dotan spar over Nvidia jitters, Sam Altman’s “bubble” dinner, the MIT “95% fail” headline, app-vs-model margins (Cursor, Claude Code), and Chamath’s SPAC-as-casino shtick. Then Eric sits down with Vercel founder/CEO Guillermo Rauch for a fast, idea-dense jam: assistants → agents → multi-agent teams, why GPT-5’s real story...

For this episode, we brought on  Ed Zitron  to make the  bear case  against large language models and walk us through his “Hater’s Guide To The AI Bubble.” In this fiery debate with  Eric Newcomer ,  Tom Dotan , and  Madeline Renbarger , we dig into whether generative AI is the next platform shift or a $500B mirage. From the viral TaskRabbit CAPTCHA myth to SoftBank’s high-stakes bets, we debate t...

GPT-5 has landed! Is it the leap forward OpenAI promised or just an incremental upgrade? Eric Newcomer and Tom Dotan discuss this, how AI capex might be propping up the entire economy, and what Apple’s golden gifts to Trump say about Big Tech’s political bets.

This week on the Newcomer Podcast, we're joined by a very special guest: Danny Rimer , seasoned investor and longtime partner at Index Ventures , for a timely conversation around Figma ’s highly anticipated IPO. Danny takes us behind the scenes of Index’s early bet on Figma and its visionary CEO Dylan Field , sharing how the deal came together and what made the design platform stand out in a c...

Tech leaders unveiled the American AI Action Plan on Wednesday and President Trump signed 3 executive orders with big handouts to AI companies. Madeline returns fresh off of a trip to Washington DC and gives Tom and Eric the lowdown on tech's victory lap at the nation's capital. Plus, even the altruists at Anthropic feel the need to raise Middle East money. Timecodes:01:45 - The All-In podcast mig...