Cheeky Pint

Nov 25

Julia DeWahl is the cofounder of Antares, a company developing nuclear micro-reactors for the US military and critical infrastructure. She sits down with John to discuss the vision for the "Starlink of electricity", and why AI hyperscalers are driving a nuclear renaissance. They cover the bipartisan shift in nuclear regulation (and why the NRC’s old mandate made "zero" the safest number of reactors), and why true energy resilience requires more than just solar and batteries. Julia also shares lessons from the early days of Opendoor and Starlink, including why customer obsession sometimes means sitting outside a bagel shop. Timestamps (00:00) Lessons from SpaceX and Opendoor (02:46) Introducing Antares (06:30) The path to market (12:20) Nuclear vibe shift (15:11) Regulation (19:21) Possible energy futures (24:02) Stripe Radar (24:55) Nuclear supply chains (26:43) Antares origin story (30:24) Funding Antares (36:09) If Julia was energy tsar (42:33) Restarting shuttered plants

Nov 18

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, sits down with John to discuss the diffusion of AI inside the enterprise. He explains why “all your data at your fingertips” is the evergreen pitch, why this AI CapEx cycle is different from the .com bubble, and his vision for "agentic commerce". They also cover Microsoft's product bundling strategy and how he "wanders the virtual corridors" of Teams to run the company. Links [Read] Softwar : An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle, Matthew Symonds [Try] Superwhisper [Read] The Internet Tidal Wave , Bill Gates Timestamps (00:00) AI adoption in the enterprise (07:47) How Satya runs Microsoft (13:45) New UIs (20:44) Microsoft tackling the early internet (25:58) Are we in a bubble? (31:35) Data sovereignty (38:10) Excel (42:01) Agentic commerce (52:45) AI brand loyalty (59:44) Product bundling (01:08:18) Microsoft’s culture (01:12:12) The law of very large companies (01:16:20) What’s in the water in Hyderabad?

Nov 11

Dave Ricks, the CEO of Eli Lilly, the world's most valuable pharmaceutical company, sits down with John and Patrick to discuss the complex business of drug development. Dave explains the true origin story of GLP-1s (from Gila monster saliva), why their potential goes far beyond weight loss to addiction and inflammation, and how "self-pay" has become the #1 way new patients get Zepbound. They cover the "shadow generic" industry undermining patents, the challenges associated with clinical trial enrollment, and what drove insulin list prices to $275 (while the net price was $40). This is a rare, candid look into the strategies, science, and future of pharma from one of the industry's most influential leaders. Timestamps (00:00) Introducing Dave Ricks (05:07) Making R&D decisions (10:10) Clinical trials (24:59) Drug pricing (32:43) Stimulating more R&D (54:15) Pros and cons of US healthcare (58:20) New pharma business models (01:05:53) Stripe and enterprises (01:07:00) China (01:16:31) Generics (01:22:37) GLP-1s (1:37:43) r/Peptides (01:41:25) LillyDirect (01:46:35) Why do investors love LLY?

Nov 4

Zach Abrams, the CEO and cofounder of Bridge, the leading stablecoin orchestration platform, and Henri Stern, CEO and cofounder of Privy, the leading crypto wallet infrastructure, sit down with John to discuss the future of stablecoins, issuing, and what it will take for crypto to become ubiquitous. Both companies recently joined Stripe, and are uniquely positioned to dissect how crypto is changing financial infrastructure. Key moments (00:00) Introducing Bridge + Privy (06:39) How stablecoins are being used today (14:27) US Dollar dominance (25:50) The future of banking (34:35) Blockchains (42:27) Building a modular stack (47:14) Open issuance (56:55) M&A (01:11:02) The future of stablecoins

Oct 28

Description Casey Handmer is the founder of Terraform Industries, who is developing a machine that makes synthetic natural gas from sunlight and air. He joins the podcast to explain his solar maximalist worldview, why he believes solar costs will drop another 10x, and the core physics that doomed Hyperloop from the start. They also discuss the lessons of the underappreciated industrialist Henry Kaiser, Casey's new venture in solar-powered desalination, his grand plan to refill the Salton Sea, and why he believes "hard-edged" leaders are essential for hardware success. Show notes [Read] Ashlee Vance: Elon Musk [Read] Francis Spufford: Red plenty [Listen] Beneath the Surface, Episode 2 : Salton Sea [Read] Marc Reisner: Cadillac Desert [Read] Albert P. Heiner: Henry J. Kaiser [Read] Mark S. Foster: Henry Kaiser [Read] Ernest K. Gann: Fate is the Hunter [Read] Captain W. E. Johns: Biggles: The Camels are Coming Key moments (00:00) Intro (02:28) Henry Kaiser (08:49) Introducing Terraform (13:08) Where electricity won’t work (16:50) The solar maximalist perspective (22:57) Terraformer Mark One (27:49) The role of intervention (37:30) American dynamism (47:36) The Origins of Efficiency, by Brian Potter (48:33) Children and education (37:30) American dynamism (55:15) Desalination (01:08:16) Lessons from leadership

Oct 22

Seasoned public and private investor Dan Sundheim sits down with John to discuss the harrowing GameStop short squeeze, waking up at 3am for the European market open, and the emotional asymmetry of managing billions of dollars. They cover why he thinks successful private companies should avoid the public markets, the real genius of Elon Musk's business approach, and the pattern recognition that comes from years of investing. This is a rare, candid look into the strategies and mindset of a top public markets investor. Show notes [Read] The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America by Lawrence A. Cunningham [Read] The Buffett Partnership Letters (1957-1970) [Read] Value Investors Club (VIC) Timestamps (00:00) The D1 operating model (07:54) Getting it wrong on NFLX (11:44) What makes a good stock picker (18:16) Portfolio-building (24:35) GameStop (35:57) The art of short-selling (41:48) How to spot a turnaround (47:12) Waking up at 3 AM (53:14) Money management (59:31) Dan’s 10-year hands-off stock pick (01:09:52) China (01:14:44) Are we in a bubble? (01:20:41) SpaceX (01:25:04) Investing in private companies (01:32:55) Thoughts on the banking industry (01:35:58) Advice for budding investors

Oct 14

RJ Scaringe, founder and CEO of Rivian, sits down for a cheeky pint with John Collison to discuss what it takes to build a car company from scratch, developing the first electric pickup truck, the shift to a software-defined zonal architecture, Rivian's AI-driven approach to autonomy, and the strategy behind their recent $5.8 billion deal with Volkswagen. Timestamps (00:00) Gen 1 (12:32) Gen 2 (18:37) Developing the first electric pickup truck (27:36) John pitches some car features (36:46) Stripe’s payment methods (37:54) Autonomous driving (44:51) Component progress (53:17) The new economics of cars (01:01:11) Manufacturing in the US

Oct 6

Shopify founder and CEO Tobi Lütke joins John Collison to discuss the philosophies driving one of the internet’s most foundational companies. Tobi shares his perspective on why companies are a form of technology, how internal tools and "opinionated software" shape an organization's culture and accelerate its evolution, and why the best gift is finding a beautiful, unsolvable problem. Show notes [Buy] Momax: 140W Universal Travel Adapter [Read] Benjamin Bloom: The 2 Sigma Problem [Buy] Ikigai: vitamin cases [Read] Kevin Kelly: 1,000 True Fans [Read] Erich Gamma: Design Patterns [Read] Charles Calomiris: Fragile by Design [Listen] Business Breakdowns: Formula One [Watch] Netflix: Formula 1: Drive to Survive [Read] Mark Robichaux: Cable Cowboy Key Moments (00:00) Intro (07:07) How internal software shapes culture (16:32) The Shopify vision (27:49) Peak transaction capacity (34:36) Agentic commerce (49:15) Shop Pay (55:29) Stablecoins (59:20) Stripe + Shopify (1:12:23) Learning from the Coinbase board (1:17:23) Is Tobi ungovernable? (1:25:02) Entrepreneurship (1:31:50) Advice for Mark Carney (1:36:40) Motor racing