Results Junkies

Watch us on YouTube!Ed and Paul dive deep into OpenAI’s massive long-term compute commitments and what it means for the company’s economics, competitive positioning, and the broader AI arms race. They break down the tension between explosive revenue growth and unprecedented spending, the venture-logic behind “land-grab” behavior, and the risks these commitments pose to both vendors and competitors. In the second half, the conversation turns to Microsoft Teams, the EU’s antitrust ruling, and the messy realities of bundling, competition, and predatory pricing — all served with classic Results Junkies candor, startup-operator logic, and more than a few cheeseburger metaphors. Topics & Timestamps 00:05 – Opening banter & travel logistics Ed and Paul compare time zones, Vegas scenery, and the eternal quest for a cheeseburger. 01:04 – Housekeeping Where to find Ed and Paul online; quick reminders for Results Junkies listeners. 01:20 – OpenAI’s staggering compute spend Discussing the article outlining OpenAI’s commitment to tens of billions in annual compute spending — and why the math seems wild compared to current revenue. 03:20 – Revenue vs. spend: does the model scale? How OpenAI reportedly moved from $1.7B to $12B annualized revenue in ~18 months — and whether that trajectory justifies a $60B/year commitment. 04:40 – Venture-style land-grab logic Why this looks like a classic “spend now, dominate later” strategy — just at an unprecedented scale. 06:00 – What happens if OpenAI misses the commitment? Exploring the vendor-risk problem: what does a partner do when they’re left $10–20B short? 07:27 – Founders vs. investors: who’s really risking what? Why downside risk isn’t shared equally — especially when founders have little capital invested. 08:04 – Barriers to competition increase dramatically The larger these commitments get, the harder it becomes for smaller AI startups to realistically compete. 08:35 – Capacity lock-up strategies Why monopolizing vendor resources may be a conscious competitive tactic. 09:17 – Transition to Microsoft Teams & Slack’s EU complaint Ed outlines the EU’s ruling requiring Microsoft to unbundle Teams and adjust pricing. 10:58 – Is this really a European-only issue? A look at how bundling plays out in the US market as well. 11:36 – The role of precedent Can EU regulatory pressure spill into US practice? 12:22 – Government-mandated pricing: tricky territory Paul reacts to the idea of regulators dictating price gaps — and why it feels risky through a startup-operator lens. 14:01 – Is Teams effectively a “free burger”? Ed argues that bundling Teams at near-zero cost resembles predatory pricing designed to box out Slack. 15:49 – Revisiting antitrust basics Where’s the line between aggressive competition and anti-competitive behavior? 17:33 – Airline analogy: when incumbents crush challengers Ed recounts how United Airlines once priced a regional competitor out of existence — and why the dynamic resembles the Microsoft–Slack situation. 18:59 – Could giants always “out-capacity” challengers? Why big players can add supply and out-discount smaller competitors indefinitely. 20:01 – Independence Air and the Dulles example A real-world case study in predatory pricing and market power. 22:12 – The free-market debate A nuanced discussion on where regulators should intervene. 23:01 – US vs. Microsoft (2000s) Why the landmark browser-bundling case still matters today. 25:17 – How defaults create de-facto monopolies Browsers then; team-collaboration suites now. 27:01 – Why Teams frustrates so many users Ed’s legendary rant: stability issues, UX complaints, and cross-platform challenges. 28:29 – The cheeseburger episode idea A running joke about turning Results Junkies into a Bourdain-style food-and-business hybrid. 28:48 – More Vegas talk & logistics Travel schedule, long hotel stays, and construction-trip life. 30:07 – How Vegas won over Dana Why today’s Vegas is more dining and convenience than chaos. 30:30 – Cheeseburger Day, store openings & invites Future events, potential travel, and family logistics. We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Orchard AI is making it easier for farmers to harvest better crops. Will companies like this help the agriculture industry rely less on migrant labor? And, is everyone lying about AI usage? Paul asks that very question. We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Why do investors hate it when founders say they're never going to sell their company? Is there really a market for single-use hardware devices? Should AI regulation happen at the state level or the federal level?

Paul and Ed are digging into new malware being installed on phones by the Chinese government. Anthropic is throttling some of their biggest subscribers. And, Open AI makes the difficult decision NOT to acquire a company so Microsoft can't get the IP, only to see Google step in.

Watch us on YouTube!An early-stage company in Ed's portfolio has a unique opportunity to pre-empt their next round. Paul and Ed discuss in detail. Health tech seems to be having a moment in the ecosystem. Paul offers his perspective based on his current role.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Paul and Ed turn into middle school boys as they discuss a new AI-powered startup. Is Jony Ive poised to release the next "must have" device for millions of people? And, is Fortnite back on the Apple app store for good?We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Prompt engineer was the hot job 2 years ago. It was a well paid position that companies were clamoring for. And, then, it wasn't. Microsoft bought Skype for $8 billion. That investment has yielded....Microsoft Teams? As Skype sunsets, we ask if Microsoft got their money's worth. And, we wrap up with Bezos getting into the car game....with crank windows. We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Paul and Ed discuss the standards for employee stock options pools and how a portfolio company can deal with a unique situation. More large AI models are adopting a common protocol for how to transfer data. Lastly, Paul brings up some important points from the CEO of Shopify. We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!It's not exactly Moore's Law, but the size of the tasks that AI agents can take on continues to increase at an unbelievable pace. Google continues to weave AI into their travel services, including some new features including price tracking on hotel reservations. In the fight against AI web crawlers, some developers have employed an interesting tactic. We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Paul is sharing his real world recent experiences with ChatGPT. He's upgraded to the paid version of ChatGPT and has some interesting experiences to share. The DOJ is reconsidering their stance on the Google lawsuit. We're digging into the changes. We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Apple is investing half a trillion dollars in the US. What will that look like?And, Ed did a bunch of research with ChatGPT's Deep Research. Is it worth the price?We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Google Gemini has a good memory about your past conversations, so it can use previous info to give you better answers. Is that good....or bad?And, Cursor built a $100MM ARR machine with only 12 employees. Talk about the power of AI.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!AI had a prominent role in Super Bowl commercials this year, at the same time that Sam Altman was talking about the potential dangers of AGI. Paul and Ed also talk about a new AI research tool. We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!It's a complicated time in the IPO markets right now. Will 2025 really be the year things open up? And, Google is giving their customers more features, but making it awful hard to say no to taking their data. We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!DeepSeek, a China-based company building an AI model to compete with the likes of ChatGPT, has released a model that uses significantly fewer resources than other leading models. This led to quite the uproar. Multiple unicorns in the travel space indicate a ramp-up in valuations and interest in the sector. Paul and Ed are digging in. We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!The cost to move goods from Asia continues to increase amidst the uncertainty of another port strike. Hardware startups need to pay close attention, and may need to consider moving their production into North or Central America. Nvidia is dealing with government restrictions while they're also rolling out a new desktop AI computer. And, for less than $500 you can have your own reasoning AI model up and running.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!A sizable new fund points to tougher fundraising conditions for late-stage startups. Turo is an example of a startup that has avoided liability by holding renters and owners responsible to help grow faster. Microsoft is giving you AI, whether you like it or not.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!We're ending the year where we began, talking about layoffs in the tech world.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Investors are getting irritated with how some founders are using fundraising proceeds. Hear Paul and Ed's take.And, Ed shares a story about a chance meeting with a founder that Paul and Ed both invested in.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Part 2 of our on-the-road office hours.Paul and Ed hit the road recently with the founder of one their portfolio companies. Julian Kheel, founder of Points Path, traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to spend time with Matt Paulson, CEO of MarketBeat. They're conducting office hours, coaching Julian on how to grow Points Path. We thought you might like an inside look into how investors and mentors coach founders. Hope you enjoy the show!We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Part 2 of our on-the-road office hours.Paul and Ed hit the road recently with the founder of one their portfolio companies. Julian Kheel, founder of Points Path, traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to spend time with Matt Paulson, CEO of MarketBeat. They're conducting office hours, coaching Julian on how to grow Points Path. We thought you might like an inside look into how investors and mentors coach founders. Hope you enjoy the show!We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Paul and Ed hit the road recently with the founder of one their portfolio companies. Julian Kheel, founder of Points Path, traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to spend time with Matt Paulson, CEO of MarketBeat. They're conducting office hours, coaching Julian on how to grow Points Path. We thought you might like an inside look into how investors and mentors coach founders. Hope you enjoy the show!We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Paul is wondering when members of the public will have their first "A-HA!" moment with AI. He's also wondering if AirPods are his answer to a self-perceived loss of hearing.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Apple made a small change to contact sharing that aid customer privacy. It's causing people to lose their minds.And, Google now has the rule book for how a judge will enforce competition with the Google Play Store.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Google, Amazon and Microsoft are all using AI credits to pick winners and losers in the startup ecosystem.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Paul has been quietly fundraising for Strata and is finally ready to talk about the entire process. If you have additional questions for Paul, e-mail us at [email protected] and he'll answer them live on a future show.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Amazon is requiring all employees to return to the office 5 days a week starting in January. Is this for culture or to force some employees to move on to their next opportunity? AI laws rolling out in California cause us to ask a lot of questions right now. We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Klarna's CEO is back in the news again with the announcement that they plan to rip out Salesforce and Workday. And, a long article details a number of ways that companies may inadvertently run afoul of risky issues involving AI. Lastly, check out my travel podcast Miles to Go for free access to a new tool that helps you figure out whether you should use cash or miles the next time you buy an airline ticket. We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Klarna is back to cutting headcount with AI, now up to 50% of their 2022 headcount. And, Sea-Tac is struggling with a massive data breach.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Paul and Ed are breaking down the math of a recent acquisition to illustrate headline numbers are not always exciting. Here's the full scoop on the Truepill acquisition.Plus, where are all the good tech employees?We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Paul and Ed are breaking down the math of a recent acquisition to illustrate headline numbers are not always exciting. Here's the full scoop on the Truepill acquisition.Plus, where are all the good tech employees?We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Duolingo is the epitome of success when it comes to the Freemium model. Paul and Ed are breaking down some of the success that helped them achieve a multi-billion dollar public value.And, alternative app stores are now a reality. Epic Games wades into this brave new world on both Apple and Android platforms.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Paul reached out to Ed to ask about travel strategy for work and for family. They decided to turn it into a show. Ed brings his expertise from his travel world to help Paul make some decisions.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Google has announced that they're changing direction on cookies. Instead of eliminating third-party tracking cookies, they're going to make it easier for customers to disable them.Meanwhile, the market has already shifted away from a direct attribution model. That presents a number of challenges for both founders and their investors.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Part 2 of our Figma discussion. Figma rolled out a new product and quickly took it off the market. The AI landscape is changing quickly, and products like this are detailing how complicated the upcoming months will be as the technology develops.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Figma rolled out a new product and quickly took it off the market, seemingly due to some disturbing issues involving infringement on other company's products. Paul and Ed are digging into this in a 2-part episode.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!As social media has expanded into the workplace, "employee influencers" have become more of a reality We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!An interesting trend from recent YC companies has us wondering if founders are changing how they fundraise.Are smaller raises (for higher valuations) the new norm? What are the positives and negatives of this strategy for founders.How should investors think about this development?We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Paul and Ed are discussing the value of miles and points. Also, did AI just have an Apple Moment?

Watch us on YouTube!Paul is quizzing Ed on why there's no Mint.com equivalent in the travel space. Paul and Ed are looking at an interesting development, VCs involved in AI deals selling shares on the secondary market in SPVs. And, OpenAI seems to be coming clean a bit more on their exit agreements with employees. We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Scarlett Johansson appears to be pretty surprised that the new voice for ChatGPT sounds remarkably like her.If you work at OpenAI, you better not say bad things about the company.OpenTable has walked back their previous bad decision on customer privacy.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!A cautionary tale about accelerators gone awry. And, Reddit notches another AI deal. Is this a good thing for Redditors? We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Reddit is getting serious about AI and the data Redditors create on the site.And, there's plenty of outrage over this new Apple ad. Paul and Ed are sharing their view.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

A bit of a surprise, noncompetes have been banned for most people nationwide. Paul and Ed are digging into this development.They're also debating whether a recent change to the tax code that will drastically impact some startups and how they need to account for their development costs. This one is bound to trip up some founders who don't budget for this shift.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Watch us on YouTube!Paul and Ed are talking about AI agents and how founders might be able to find early (and worthwhile) exits by selling to the kingmakers of AI earlier in their growth curve. Then, to wrap up, Paul and Ed really mix it up on the story of Hopin, and whether the founder did right by their employees.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.https://youtu.be/TX7bVG2M2l8

This tweet about journalism helps support the notion that AI won't necessarily eliminate jobs. It'll enhance many jobs and may eliminate those that were already destined for failure.As a founder, one of your jobs is to build trust in your product. Open Table's latest actions teach us a lot about the wrong way to do this.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.https://youtu.be/TX7bVG2M2l8

Paul is back from Lubbock, Texas where he caught up with their startup community. He's recapping the visit, including his table pounding moment and some opportunities he sees to invest.Paul and Ed also discuss a concept that came up on the new BG Squared podcast that we also discussed on Results Junkies a couple of months ago. Companies like Microsoft and Google are monopolizing the compute assets necessary to build a LLM or AI startup. How much will that impact the ability of startups to grow in this new ecosystem?We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

Carta released some head count data that's very revealing about last few years of hiring and layoffs in the startup world.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

A breakdown of the lawsuit between NY Times and Open AI is very revealing. Open AI comments about their new Sora platform are damaging. But Sora.....Sora is something to behold. The next wave of AI is pretty incredible.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.

After some legal setbacks in Europe, Apple is making some new decisions in regards to their app store in Europe.We'd love it if you'd leave us a rating. It takes less than a minute and really helps us out. Just click here!If you've got a comment or question for the show, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. You can find Paul and Ed online @paulsingh and @pizzainmotion.