TBPN: Diet TBPN – October 21, 2025
Hosts: John Coogan & Jordi Hays
Date: October 21, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode dives deep into breaking tech news with a primary focus on OpenAI’s newly announced "Atlas" browser, major industry dynamics in AI and tech, strategic acquisitions, outages, and cultural moments—delivered in the fast, high-energy banter Coogan & Hays are known for. Notable discussions include OpenAI’s strategic ambitions, venture capital dynamics, infrastructure vulnerabilities, and a humorous touch on industry personalities and viral moments.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. OpenAI Launches the "Atlas" Browser
Timestamps: 00:09–02:27
- Announcement: OpenAI has officially launched a browser named "Atlas," fueling the ongoing browser wars after weeks of speculation.
- Functionality: The hosts describe the trailer’s sound cues and test use cases like using AI for online research and summarization.
- Comparison to Current Browsers:
- Jordi (A): “Atlas in its current form might be 1.1 times better than Chrome. And that will not be enough to get large scale consumer adoption. I'm not super bullish, but I think it's great that they're taking a big shot.” [01:54]
- John (B): “Will this be successful?” [01:37]
Notable Quote
- Jordi (A): “I believe that ChatGPT, especially once it had some close to live search, was five to ten times better than Google search for a lot of searches.” [01:41]
2. Sam Altman’s Deal-Making & Leverage in Tech
Timestamps: 02:28–05:16
- Sam Altman's Deal Prowess: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is positioned as the “preeminent deals guy of the modern tech era.”
- John (B): "He's like, the deals are so big and they're coming so quickly that a lot of people are asking, is [he] so good at deals that all the counterparties are actually making mistakes by tying their fortunes to OpenAI?" [02:49]
- Leverage from Success: Massive user growth and adoption of OpenAI products place unique pressure on other tech giants (AMD, Nvidia, Oracle) to partner or risk irrelevance.
- Jordi (A): “When you have the breakout consumer product of a generational tech trend, yes, you have a lot of leverage if you're running AMD or Nvidia or Oracle.” [03:45]
- Ecosystem Value Over Model Supremacy: Most end-users care more about the platform/ecosystem than the specific AI model powering their experience.
- John (B): “At the end of the day, most of the users aren't there for the model, they're there for the app, they're there for the ecosystem…” [04:17]
- Citing Joel Spolsky: The "commoditize your compliments" strategy and open-sourcing to drive platform growth is discussed.
3. The Ongoing AI & Chip Industry Saga
Timestamps: 05:16–06:36
- Nvidia’s Position: Only Nvidia, led by Jensen Huang, is “printing” money, while the rest of the industry struggles for profitability, leading to strategic attempts to counterbalance Nvidia’s dominance.
- Jordi (A): “Sam's looking at that margin profile just being like Jensen, I'm so happy the whole industry is losing money.” [05:16]
Notable Quote
- Jordi (A): “If only there were another plate that we could eat off of. Jensen's just there with the massive Thanksgiving dinner on his plate.” [05:28]
4. Venture Capital and Portfolio Company Rivalry
Timestamps: 06:20–07:32
- VC Dilemmas: Discussion on how VC firms manage investing in both foundational AI labs and their product competitors.
- Historical Precedent: Compared to Databricks and Palantir, with overlapping investors and eventual partnerships.
Notable Insight
- Jordi (A): “Venture investors want to invest in companies that become so successful that they launch products that ultimately compete... with their portfolio companies. That is what success looks like.” [07:00]
5. Infrastructure & Service Outages
Timestamps: 08:02–08:55
- AWS Outage Analysis:
- Incident caused by a DNS misconfiguration for DynamoDB, highlighting extreme industry reliance on single points of failure within cloud infrastructure.
- Jordi (A): “Really exposed insane dependency.” [08:42]
- Tongue-in-Cheek Reaction: Return to "on prem" and “pen and paper” joked as the antidote to all-encompassing tech reliance.
6. Major Acquisitions & Startup News
Timestamps: 09:16–11:44
- Coinbase Acquires Echo: $375 million deal for a crypto group-investment platform.
- Jordi (A): “You can think of this as effectively a $400 million acquisition.” [09:30]
- Stripe Atlas & Fundraising: Stripe's business formation product is now enabling integrated fundraising. Stripe Atlas is responsible for a “double digit percentage of all C Corps created.” [11:07]
7. Tech Nation-States & Power Shifts
Timestamps: 11:59–12:45
- Analogy: Big tech companies, particularly OpenAI, are starting to resemble nation-states given their budget, influence, and global infrastructure needs.
- Jordi (A): “If you start thinking of OpenAI in the context of a nation state... we're going to need trillions of dollars, we're going to need a huge amount of energy...” [11:59]
- Governance Reflection: US government still seen as “top of the stack,” yet tech’s influence continues to grow.
- John (B): “Still feels like the US government is at the top of the stack. And the tech companies answer to the US government. But wonder if there's some element of flipping that will happen at some point or has already happened.” [12:24]
8. Industry Personality & Pop Culture Moments
Timestamps: 12:45–13:16
- OpenAI Biopic Rumors: Potential film with Joseph Gordon-Levitt rumored to be cast as Ilya Sutskever.
- Jordi (A): “It would make sense they would film in San Francisco.” [13:07]
- John (B): “It's probably gonna be a brutal hit piece.” [13:10]
9. Apple, Buffett, and the “Community” Question
Timestamps: 13:21–14:45
- New Apple Ad: Emotional MacBook spot narrated by Jane Goodall, noted for its poignancy after her recent passing.
- Buffett’s Apple Trade: Warren Buffett’s decision to sell Apple stock "too early" cost him potentially $50 billion in missed gains.
- John (B): “He might have made more money than any investment manager ever with that trade.” [13:36]
- Airbnb Community Thread: Is Airbnb still a “community” or just a booking tool?
- John (B): “Once I was traveling and I was staying in an Airbnb in New York and... the owner wanted to meet me... I kind of don't want to make a new friend. You seem cool, but like, I'm good.” [10:34]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “Atlas in its current form might be 1.1 times better than Chrome. And that will not be enough to get large scale consumer adoption.” — Jordi Hays [01:54]
- “Sam Altman is kind of becoming the preeminent deals guy of the modern tech era...” — John Coogan [02:49]
- “OpenAI could swap out the underlying model and still accrue the vast majority of value.” — John Coogan [04:17]
- “If only there were another plate that we could eat off of. Jensen's just there with the massive Thanksgiving dinner on his plate.” — Jordi Hays [05:28]
- “Venture investors want to invest in companies that become so successful that they launch products that ultimately compete... That is what success looks like.” — Jordi Hays [07:00]
- “Really exposed insane dependency.” — Jordi Hays [08:42]
Episode Flow & Tone
The hosts maintain their signature blend of sharp analysis, humor, industry-insider references, and cultural commentary throughout, fostering both accessibility and depth. They weave back and forth between big-picture industry strategy and the quirks of tech personalities, offering both actionable insight and entertaining industry gossip.
Useful Timestamps
- 00:09 – OpenAI Atlas browser launch
- 02:28 – Sam Altman’s dealmaking and leverage
- 05:16 – Nvidia’s dominance and industry responses
- 06:20 – VC investments and portfolio dynamics
- 08:02 – AWS/DynamoDB outage analysis
- 09:16 – Coinbase acquires Echo; startup fundraising discussion
- 11:59 – Tech companies as digital nation states
- 12:45 – OpenAI biopic pop culture moment
- 13:21 – Apple ad and Warren Buffett’s missed gains
Final Note
This episode captures the accelerating, interlocking pace of technology, investing, and culture—from browser launches to infrastructural dependencies, blockbuster deals, and digital myth-making. Coogan & Hays keep listeners both informed and entertained, layering acute strategic commentary with an ever-present sense of how weird, wild, and unpredictable the tech world remains.