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Practical Venture Capital 37 Episodes Oct 9, 2026

A podcast about venture capital secondaries, broken unicorns, and busted carry. It covers the messy side of VC investing with a candid and humorous tone.

Episodes

Anthropic S1 Leaked, ElevenLabs Hits $22B, Oura Pulls $2.2B IPO & How Midterms Will Impact AI
Anthropic S1 Leaked, ElevenLabs Hits $22B, Oura Pulls $2.2B IPO & How Midterms Will Impact AI Oct 9, 2026 01:30:46 $518B in compute commitments and 80 pages of risk factorsThese are just some of the surprising numbers from Anthropic’s leaked S1. In this episode of Trading Places, Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break it all down. Will their $2T IPO still happen before Thanksgiving? Plus, the 10-year Treasury broke 5% for the first time in nearly 20 years — what that means for the IPO market. They also cover the d
Meta's Muse Agent Hits #1, Anthropic Eyes a $2T IPO, a Fed Hike & Shield AI at $20B | Trading Places Podcast Ep49 ft. Dan Gray (Odin)
Meta's Muse Agent Hits #1, Anthropic Eyes a $2T IPO, a Fed Hike & Shield AI at $20B | Trading Places Podcast Ep49 ft. Dan Gray (Odin) Sep 24, 2026 01:23:30 In this episode of Trading Places, Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down the week's biggest stories in tech and venture. First, the Fed's first rate hike under new chair Warsh and what >$90 oil could mean for the midterms. Then they get into Anthropic moving its IPO to November, OpenAI's potential $1.2 trillion pre-IPO round, and Aman's theory on the real reason AI giants are
AI Giants Hit the Breaks, Harvey AI Hits $15.5B, Oura Files for a $16B IPO and more w/ Dave McClure & Aman Verjee
AI Giants Hit the Breaks, Harvey AI Hits $15.5B, Oura Files for a $16B IPO and more w/ Dave McClure & Aman Verjee Sep 18, 2026 01:01:37 Dario Amodei says the industry needs to "pace the frontier." Sam Altman and Elon agreed. Dave and Aman aren't buying the official story. They break down why slowing down might be good for business, and why they would welcome government regulation.The macro backdrop compounds things. Oil's back over $100, the 10-year just touched 5% for the first time since 2023, and the national
Anthropic's $30T Claim, NVIDIA's Blowout, and the AI Bubble Debate
Anthropic's $30T Claim, NVIDIA's Blowout, and the AI Bubble Debate Sep 3, 2026 01:37:01 Anthropic had a massive week. The company is targeting $30 trillion in potential revenue, roughly the size of US GDP. A federal judge also struck down the Trump administration's attempt to label Anthropic a "supply chain risk,” a major hurdle cleared ahead of its IPO. The company also locked in a $45B compute deal with Enscale. Its AI infrastructure spending now tops $150B.Nvidia had a bi
NVIDIA's AI Empire: Chips, Startups, and Jensen Huang's Endgame
NVIDIA's AI Empire: Chips, Startups, and Jensen Huang's Endgame Aug 28, 2026 01:16:03 This week on Trading Places, Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down Nvidia's expanding AI ecosystem, a billion-dollar stake plus exclusive licensing with Poolside, an investment in data supplier Mercor at $20B, and a bet on Perplexity as it raises at $30B. Plus: OpenAI's CFO signals a 2027 IPO, Chinese open-weight models overtake closed models in usage, the Cursor and OpenRouter deals off
Anthropic vs. OpenAI: Inside the $2 Trillion IPO Race
Anthropic vs. OpenAI: Inside the $2 Trillion IPO Race Aug 19, 2026 00:37:49 This week on Trading Places, Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down the Anthropic roadshow numbers and leaked internal forecasts, Nvidia securing a $500B financing coalition of six Wall Street giants, and the SpaceX $60B acquisition of Cursor. Plus: the Canva growth slowdown rattles its IPO case, Databricks becomes a top-5 private company at $190B, and Aman celebrates the NYC launch of his new bo
Bending Spoons at $30B: Brilliant Roll-Up or Overvalued? + SpaceX, Airtable & VC News
Bending Spoons at $30B: Brilliant Roll-Up or Overvalued? + SpaceX, Airtable & VC News Aug 13, 2026 00:58:04 Is Bending Spoons really worth nearly $30 billion?This week on Trading Places, Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down the Italian software roll-up after its $2.25B acquisition of Airtable — and ask whether buying challenged SaaS companies at 3–4x revenue can justify Bending Spoons trading around 10x revenue.Timestamps:00:39 - [ tech and vc news ]02:00 - historic Q2 earnings💲05:18 - SpaceX stock r
Can Helsing Become Europe’s Anduril? Inside Its $18B Valuation
Can Helsing Become Europe’s Anduril? Inside Its $18B Valuation Aug 6, 2026 01:14:45 Is Helsing becoming Europe’s answer to Anduril?In this episode of Trading Places, Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down the German defense technology company’s new $18 billion valuation, its AI-powered autonomous systems, its battlefield testing in Ukraine, and the growing pressure on Europe to build its own defense capabilities.Aman compares Helsing’s software-first model with Anduril’s vertica
SpaceX's First Earnings Report as a Public Company 🚨 SPECIAL EPISODE
SpaceX's First Earnings Report as a Public Company 🚨 SPECIAL EPISODE Aug 5, 2026 00:24:08 SpaceX just reported earnings for the first time since going public — and the numbers were a rollercoaster. Revenue beat estimates by a mile (+92% YoY), EBITDA came in strong, and every business segment posted growth. So why did the stock give up its gains and drop 8% after hours?In this special breakdown, Dave and Aman dig into:0:27 SpaceX first earnings report 🚀5:45 how SpaceX makes money 💸6:38
Anduril Hits $100B, Saronic Hits $9B 💥 Inside the Defense Tech Boom w/ Dave McClure and Aman Verjee
Anduril Hits $100B, Saronic Hits $9B 💥 Inside the Defense Tech Boom w/ Dave McClure and Aman Verjee Jul 28, 2026 00:48:14 Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down why venture capital is pouring into autonomous defense companies, how Anduril, Shield AI, Saronic and a new generation of startups are challenging the traditional defense primes, and why expanding military budgets outside the United States could create an enormous new market.They also discuss the growing threat Chinese open-weight AI models pose to OpenAI an
US vs. China AI: OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek & Moonshot Go to War
US vs. China AI: OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek & Moonshot Go to War Jul 22, 2026 01:05:45 The AI arms race just got a lot more interesting. Moonshot's Kimi K3 is topping leaderboards ahead of proprietary US models, DeepSeek is raising at a $71B valuation ahead of its own IPO, and Anthropic is quietly lining up bankers for a Q4 listing that could value the company at $2-3 trillion. Meanwhile SpaceX has broken its IPO price, Stripe just made a $53B run at PayPal, and European defense
Can Jeff Bezos Catch Elon Musk? Blue Origin at $130B | Reflection AI vs. DeepSeek | Interview with Shawn Bercuson
Can Jeff Bezos Catch Elon Musk? Blue Origin at $130B | Reflection AI vs. DeepSeek | Interview with Shawn Bercuson Jul 15, 2026 01:11:53 Welcome back to Trading Places, the weekly show covering the biggest stories in venture capital, private markets, AI, IPOs, and secondaries.This week, Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin make headlines with a $10B raise at a $130B valuation, igniting the next chapter in the battle with Elon Musk and SpaceX. We also break down OpenAI’s new multi-model strategy, the growing threat from open-weight AI models,

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