This is a free preview of a premium episode. To subscribe to Down Round Premium and get access, head here . Nvidia, the graphics card company turned into AI chip powerhouse, posted its earnings at the end of last week. Surprising no one, they were huge – propelling the company even higher up the charts of the most valuable companies on Earth. In this ep, we unpack the earnings and what they mean, as well as talking about Nvidia's future, and even incompetently attempting to put forward a bear ca...
Mar 01, 2024•5 min
Reddit is going public. After a false start a couple of years ago, the online message board is undergoing the IPO process, setting markets up for the biggest social media IPO since Pinterest in 2019. The company has filed its S1, which for the first time lets the world peek into Reddit's books, also revealing what it thinks are its biggest risks and opportunities. Join us as we pick through the document for revealing nuggets. Links Reddit S-1 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 27, 2024•53 min
This is a free preview of a premium episode. To subscribe to Down Round Premium and get access, head here . The gaming world was ablaze over the past few weeks over reports that Xbox was throwing in the towel and letting some of its biggest exclusive titles go to its eternal rival, the PlayStation. It riled up the Xbox ultras and raised questions about how committed Microsoft is to console gaming – despite its monster $75B acqusition of Activision-Blizzard. It ended up being a little less dramat...
Feb 23, 2024•4 min
Last week, OpenAI announced Sora , its text-to-video model. Only a few people have their hands on it, so all we have to go off are example videos provided by OpenAI. But it looks good – and like a leap forward for AI video creation. This has raised lots of questions. How does it work? How much crap is about to flood our internet feeds? And is Hollywood doomed? All these questions and more are answered to a base level of satisfaction in this episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...
Feb 20, 2024•39 min
This is a free preview of a premium episode. To subscribe to Down Round Premiun and get access, head here . The word on the street is that Sam Altman, the once embattled and now seemingly fine CEO of OpenAI, is currently out in the market trying to raise money for a new microchip-related venture. The amount of money he's raising? Seven trillion dollars, which is about 10% of global GDP. In this episode, we discuss the insane computing requirements of a company like OpenAI, and why Sam might be l...
Feb 15, 2024•3 min
One of the big crazes of the last few years was consumer genetic testing. Through services like 23andme and AncestryDNA , regular punters could find out their ethnic background, link up with distant cousins, and find out what mysterious blood illnesses they were genetically predisposed to get. But there is trouble in paradise. 23andme has lost a staggering 98% of its value from its peak, and it has people asking: can you build a real, sustainable business from someone spitting into a tube and ma...
Feb 13, 2024•36 min
This is a preview of a premium episode. We're currently running a sale on Down Round Premium – head here to score an annual membership for $49 instead of $70. Only until Sunday Feb 11. Let's face it: Google Search sucks now. We've talked about it on many episodes, along with the broader conversation about how AI might disrupt it. In this episode, we dig a little deeper. What are the factors that made Google Search so successful, and what are the factors making it no longer fit for purpose? We lo...
Feb 08, 2024•5 min
Hey! Down Round is still running a sale on premium membership until Friday February 9. Sign up using this link , and you can get an annual membership for $49 instead of the usual $70. Today we're diving into the world of Australian startups and venture capital. After the end of the post-COVID tech boom, you might find yourself wondering who is investing in what, and where all the money is going now. Well, you're in luck. To help us unpack what Australian tech investment looks like now – as well ...
Feb 06, 2024•56 min
This is a preview of a premium episode. We're currently running a sale on Down Round Premium – head here to score an annual membership for $49 instead of $70. Amazing stuff. Last week, we talked about Apple shaky Vision Pro launch, thanks to a number of key developers saying they wouldn't be making apps for the mixed reality headset. This week, the story continues, with Apple officially unveiling its response to recent EU regulation which would force it to open up access to third-party app store...
Feb 02, 2024•5 min
Hey! Down Round is running a sale on premium membership. Sign up in the next week using this link , and you can get an annual membership for $49 instead of the usual $70. This week we're talking about the much-hyped weight loss drug Ozempic and its producer, Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk. Thanks to the crazy success of Ozempic, Novo Nordisk is now literally the biggest company in Europe by market cap. Now the vultures are circling, and a whole bunch of drugmakers are rushing competitors to ma...
Jan 30, 2024•47 min
This is a preview of a premium episode of Down Round. To subscribe and listen to this episode and our full archives, go here . Twitch, the venerable video game livestreaming platform which has repeatedly attempted to become the livestreaming platform for everyone, recently announced a slew of layoffsf . It also confirmed that the company, owned by Amazon, has never been profitable . Today, we're talking about Twitch: what it is, the escalating troubles it has faced, and why it and the livestream...
Jan 25, 2024•6 min
Apple is releasing its Vision Pro mixed reality headset in the US next month. But some of the biggest platforms in the world – from Netflix to Spotify – have announced they aren't supporting it from the get go. That's partially because it's a niche device with an uncertain chance of success... but could it also be a rebuke of Apple's notorious developer policies, which have pissed off many people over the past decade and a half? We discuss. Links Apple’s Testy Developer Relationships Threaten to...
Jan 23, 2024•46 min
The age of the AI device is upon us. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the undisputed star was the Rabbit R1 , a standalone AI companion device which uses a 'large action model' to understand the things you like doing on your apps and platforms, and does them for you. Will it work? Who knows. But Raph bought one. We discussed the hype about the Rabbit, as well as some of the other currents in AI devices which have emerged since the last time we talked about them. Links Say Hello to Rabbi...
Jan 16, 2024•44 min
Over the Xmas break, the New York Times announced it would be suing OpenAI for copyright infringement, alleging that its GPT platform is trained on copyrighted NYT content. This has become a problem, according to the NYT, because OpenAI is now a direct competitor. We dive into the lawsuit, and chat a bit about the media, AI and what the future of content looks like. If you're holding out for the last episode of The Down Round Experience... fear not, it's coming this week. Links The Times Sues Op...
Jan 09, 2024•59 min
Happy New Year! We trust you're all well. Today, we're looking back on the 2023 that was – diving into some of the episodes we recorded and checking in how those things landed at the end of the year. These include: Afterpay/BNPL Crypto and NFTs Tech layoffs Instant groceries Dating apps See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 02, 2024•41 min
This is part 3 of Down Round's Christmas and New Years production, all recorded in one session. To get every part, sign up to Premium here . The Down Round Community is overflowing with geniuses. The next trillion dollar company will no doubt be founded by someone who is currently paying us $7 a month, representing one of the highest ROI investments anyone could make. For today's episode of the Down Round Experience, we're taking your pitches. Our Discord community came with the ideas, and we're...
Dec 28, 2023•37 min
This is part two of our marathon holiday record. This is a preview – the full episode is available for premium subs. Sign up here . The Down Round holiday episodes continue. As the beers continue to flow, we turn our critical attention to another major tech event of December: the hack and leak of Insomniac Games, a first-party developer owned by Sony. Links Insomniac finally responds to hack that leaked ‘Wolverine’ game and more – The Verge GTA 6 hacker handed indefinite hospital order – BBC See...
Dec 27, 2023•3 min
Welcome to our holiday special. We have recorded a marathon 4 hour podcast with much holiday spirit (we got drunk), and will be dropping it in parts throughout the holiday season. We started with a quick reflection on the latest news: Bird Scooters has gone under, and Adobe's planned acquisition of Figma has collapsed. Plus, due to listener demand, we explain our not particularly complex recording and editing process. Our original Adobe episode. Descript audio/video editor See omnystudio.com/lis...
Dec 23, 2023•35 min
We had it all planned out. A huge Xmas bonanza episode featuring guests, fun, laughs and all you could ever want from a Down Round variety show. But then Raph was struck by a mystery illness and we had to delay it by several days. So, until then, enjoy this delightful backup episode where we dig into the world's biggest companies by market cap, and opine on our future. It isn't financial advice. But we would not blame you if you took it that way. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...
Dec 19, 2023•35 min
This is a preview of a premium post. To subscribe and get the full episode, go here . For many years, Apple has enforced iPhone dominance by refusing to adopt modern text messaging standards, meaning group chats and multimedia messages between iPhones and Android devices has been fundamentally broken. But last month, Apple announced it would adopt the RCS standard. But at the same time, it came down hard on Beeper Mini, an app which purported to bring the locked down iMessage experience to Andro...
Dec 14, 2023•6 min
Poor Google. What used to be possibly the best business in human history has taken a few heavy body blows after the rise of generative AI, with the folks in Mountain View no longer looking like the obvious winners of the internet age. Though they were instrumental in building our current AI moment, companies like OpenAI are hogging the limelight. But they've been trying to wrestle that crown back. This month, Google announced Gemini , the model it hopes will challenge OpenAI. But will it? It alr...
Dec 12, 2023•53 min
This is a preview of a premium post. To subscribe and get the full episode, go here . You probably know the story by now. Elon Musk replied positively to a weirdo's anti-Semitic post, which led to an advertiser exodus and Elon melting down at the New York Times DealBook conference. Now, X seems increasingly loaded up with crap tier chum advertising, which is never usually a good sign for a platform. Is the company spiralling? Is it at death's door? Who knows, but it's fun to talk about with frie...
Dec 07, 2023•6 min
We last updated you on the OpenAI drama a couple of weeks ago, right in the middle of it. Back when it looked like Sam Altman was gone, and the future of AI was up in the air. Ah well! Now that the dust has settled, we're reflecting on what we know about what went down, internet arguments about accelerationism vs decelerationism, and what the near future might hold for OpenAI and AI generally. Links Microsoft to Become Non-Voting Observer in Latest Shake-up of OpenAI Board – The Information Who ...
Dec 05, 2023•54 min
Welcome...to the silly season. We answer a bunch of your questions which allows us to prognosticate about the future with less constraints than the few there are usually. Topics covered include: Will AI stagnate? Biden's AI regulation framework Can I have $20? How many beers do we typically drink before a podcast? Will VC stop funding boneheads, or is it built into the system? Sorry if we didn't get to your question, join the discord and ask in there! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...
Nov 28, 2023•46 min
The day James left for honeymoon, the unthinkable happened; Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, got boned by his board of directors like a dog. How can a man who took a product from 0 to 100 million users in less than a year, who is on top of the world be so unceremoniously dumped by a board of AI doomers and safety dorks? Well, we dragged James away from the margaritas and discussed all the crazy happenings in the first official Down Round emergency pod. (Also our first remote recording on...
Nov 21, 2023•47 min
This is a preview of a premium post. To become a member and get access to more episodes plus our lovely Discord server, go here . Since the last time we did an episode about Airbnb, the company has both done well and faced deeper problems. Earnings look pretty good. But it has also faced political problems – like being functionally banned in NYC – plus a general perception that it has gotten shittier. So, CEO Brian Chesky says he's going to fix it . That means two things: AI, and putting the boo...
Nov 16, 2023•5 min
Once again we’re brought back to the world of AI. Sorry, there’s simply no escape. A few things have happened over the past week: Elon Musk announced Grok , the first model for his new company xAI OpenAI released a new model as well as a host of new consumer features for ChatGPT - many of which put them in direct competition with the developers who are their API customers. We discuss whether the future of OpenAI is as an API, or a consumer tech play. Humane finally announced its ‘AI Pin’. Does t...
Nov 14, 2023•53 min
One of the very first things people realised they could do online was sell their crap. Since that realisation, e-commerce has gotten a little more advanced. But online marketplaces like Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Gumtree still kick along, promising you the opportunity to find great deals as long as you're willing to drive 40 minutes to some guys house. We go through a whirlwind tour of the online marketplace, how it got to where it is, and the forces making them less essential. See omnystudi...
Nov 09, 2023•3 min
It's official: Sam Bankman-Fried is GUILTY of committing fraud while running his doomed crypto empire at FTX. The crazy-haired freak took down the credibility of the whole sector while doing it. The trial -- particularly the testimony of Sam's fellow execs at FTX and Alameda -- turned up all sorts of juicy little details. In this ep, we go through them and reminisce on the crypto exchange that was. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Nov 07, 2023•38 min
This is a preview of a premium episode. To become a member and get access, go here . It's been a minute since we've checked in on Twitter/X, which has become a playground for whatever Elon Musk thinks is cool at any given moment and yet still has many millions of users. But it certainly hasn't collapsed as some predicted. That said, the situation doesn't look great. The ads haven't come back, users seem to be slipping away, investors are writing down their stake – all while the Israel/Palestine ...
Nov 02, 2023•4 min
