Podcasts about 500b

Just ahead of Oracle's (ORCL) earnings after Wednesday's close, Steven Dickens says the company's backlog will be the biggest metric to watch, along with how it converts it all into revenue. How Oracle builds out AI infrastructure and balancing it with future CapEx are also paramount to Steven, though he doesn't see it as a concern. He calls Oracle the "fourth hyperscaler" and sees the company competing against existing giants in Alphabet (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Amazon (AMZN). ======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/ About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

One out of every four loans in 2026 will be non-agency. Are you positioned to compete for all of them — or just three out of four? In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Tom Davis, Chief Sales Officer at Deephaven Mortgage, for a data-heavy, no-fluff conversation on where the non-QM and non-agency markets are headed, why the equity opportunity is generational, and what loan officers need to do right now to stay relevant. Tom brings a front-row view of what's actually happening across borrower demand, product innovation, and liquidity — and he doesn't sugarcoat what originators are leaving on the table by not having a full suite of non-agency products. In this episode: • Why non-QM is on pace to hit $150–180B in 2026 — an all-time record The $400–500B total non-agency market and why missing it means only accessing 75% of your opportunity • Who the non-QM borrower really is: self-employed, investor, credit event, foreign national — and why they're actually lower risk than you think • Why 30% of all 2025 transactions were investor deals — and what a full investor product suite looks like • The home equity opportunity: $35 trillion in equity, 80% of homeowners locked into sub-5% rates, and $600B in renovation originations projected for 2026 • HELOCs, closed-end seconds, and how Deephaven built a Jumbo HELOC up to $1M with alt-doc features • Why waiting for rates to drop is a losing strategy — and what LOs should be doing instead • How servicers are stealing your past clients at a 90% retention rate — and how equity products stop the bleed Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

Send us Fan MailWhen GPT-4 rendered Ali Dastjerdi's product obsolete overnight, most founders would have doubled down. He paused everything, rebuilt from first principles, and landed in a market managing $500 billion in AUM. The lesson isn't about pivoting - it's about building for the model that doesn't exist yet, so every new AI release accelerates your business instead of threatening it.What You Will LearnHow to know when to stop fighting your existing product and rebuild from zeroWhy the investor who believed first — not the largest fund — is the one worth chasingWhat it means to build a company that cheers at AI announcements instead of fearing themHow Ali's own customer led his Series A and what that signals about product-market fitWhy raising money is about finding people who already believe — not convincing the scepticalAbout the GuestAli Dastjerdi is co-founder and CEO of Raylu, an AI-native deal flow platform now serving over 60 funds managing approximately $500 billion in combined AUM, including four of the world's top 25 private equity firms. Before founding Raylu, Ali spent four years as an investor at Insight Partners. Raylu builds AI agents that automate the full lifecycle of proprietary deal sourcing for private market funds. Connect with Ali on LinkedIn and follow RayluTimestamps 00:00 — Three friends, one WeWork office, and no product-market fit 03:19 — The night GPT-4 made everything they built obsolete 06:25 — 12 months of pivots and the moment the team started breaking 09:05 — How a Paul Graham lecture led them to the $500B opportunity 11:25 — What Raylu actually does and why private markets need it now 15:39 — How their own customer led their Series A 17:46 — What Highland X was actually betting onAbout the GuestAli's LinkedInRaylu AI WebsiteConnect with HinaHina's WebsiteHina's LinkedInHina's InstagramHina's Youtube Channel Hina's Email Production Credit: Produced by @the32collective_ / https://www.the32collective.co/

Creator Economy vs College in 2026: Why I Wouldn't Go to College if I was 16 AgainIf I were 16–18 right now in 2026… I wouldn't go to college.The Old WayGo to school.Get a degree.Get a job.Spend:• 4–6 years• $50K–$200K+The creator economy is projected to reach $500B by 2027.And yet? Less than 4% of creators make full-time income.Not because we can't…But because no one taught them how.If I were starting today?I'd create skills + systems + income in real time.Substack https://creatorbestie.substack.com/p/creator-economy-vs-college-in-2026Creator School

Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike dig into the Redpoint Ventures 2026 Software and AI Market Update - a 69-page report built on proprietary CIO survey data from 141 respondents, plus public market data from Qatalyst, Pitchbook, Goldman Sachs, RBC, and McKinsey. Big report with even bigger implications. Ray and Dave unpack the data that matter most for B2B SaaS and AI-native software operators.WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODEThe AI Build-Out Is Real and It's Not the Dot-Com BubbleHyperscaler CapEx is projected to hit $765B in 2026, up nearly 50% year over year. More than 90% of new data center capacity is already pre-committed. Compare that to the dot-com era when fiber utilization was under 3%. The other critical difference: today's infrastructure spend is funded primarily by free cash flow, not debt. The more important signal is demand. AI has reached 1 billion monthly active users in four years. The internet took far longer to reach 70 million. The demand is real. The risk of speculative overbuild is also real.The Agent Maturity Curve and Why Most of the Value Is Still AheadPage 7 of the report maps the four phases of agent maturity by runtime: co-pilots (seconds), task agents (minutes), workflow agents (hours), autonomous agents (days). Co-pilots represent roughly $500B in software spend. Task agents, where coding tools live today, push that to $1.2T. Workflow agents expand the TAM to $2.8T. Autonomous agents take it to $6.1T. Coding has been the beachhead use case for good reasons: structured training data, instant verification, self-improving feedback loops. The real enterprise revenue opportunity is still in phases three and four.What the CIO Survey Actually Says This is the buried lead of the report. 54% of CIOs are actively consolidating vendors. 45% of AI budgets are coming from existing software budgets, not net-new spend. 58% say AI feature additions are the top driver of incremental software spend. 54% prefer to stay with incumbent vendors if they deliver on AI. Only 13% have a strong preference for AI-native software. The 33% who are neutral are the swing vote. Incumbents are winning the preference battle but losing the execution battle — the CIO feedback on Agentforce, Copilot, and ServiceNow AI in the survey is not flattering.Terminal Value Is the Real SaaS Valuation StoryThe public SaaS median NTM revenue multiple sits at 4.1x (Meritech says 3.1x), the lowest since the global financial crisis. In a SaaS DCF, 85 to 95% of enterprise value comes from terminal value, not the five-year forecast. The implied long-term growth rate embedded in current SaaS valuations has collapsed from 4.7% to 1.1%. Short-term beats like ServiceNow's recent quarter do almost nothing to move the stock because the market's concern is not next year. It's year ten and beyond. That is a terminal value story, not a growth story.ARR Per Employee - The Benchmark EvolvesCursor and Anthropic hit $100M ARR in roughly two years. Slack took three. Salesforce and Adobe took four to five. ServiceNow took seven to eight. AI-native companies have made $1M revenue per FTE the new floor. The P&L transformation model in slide 39 projects R&D costs down 15 to 20%, sales costs down 15 to 20%, COGS increasing due to inference spend but offset by reductions in customer support and customer success. Net result: potential EBITDA expansion of 100 to 250% on the same revenue base over three to five years.Private Markets Are in an AI Love FestAI-native deals represent nearly 100% of new VC activity in Q1 2026. Deal concentration is accelerating: the top 20 deals captured 44% of total funding in 2025, up from 31% in 2024 and 7% in 2022. At the model layer, dollars and valuations are concentrated while deal volume belongs to the application layer (61% of deals). The model competition is effectively over. The only question is rank order. The application layer is where the volume plays out, and AI-native vendors are winning that battle.Redpoint 2026 Software and AI Market Update: https://www.redpoint.com/reports/2026-market-updateABOUT THE METRICS BROTHERS Ray Rike is the Founder and CEO of Benchmarkit, the leading B2B SaaS and AI-native software benchmarking company. Dave Kellogg is an EIR at Balderton Capital, independent consultant, and author of Kellblog. Together they bring a CFO-meets-GTM lens to the metrics and benchmarks that drive efficient revenue growth and enterprise value.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

China's 15th Five-Year Plan just made AI-powered robots the centerpiece of its industrial strategy. 54% of the world's industrial robots already deploy in China but the real play isn't humanoids dancing on TV. It's traditional industrial robotics turbocharged by AI, targeting full adoption within 5 to 10 years.Meanwhile, the zero-tariff Africa policy (now 5 days in) is revealing its true geometry: a 44% surge in Chinese FDI into the continent signals supply-chain anchoring, not just market opening. Rwandan chili farms scale from 15 to 300 hectares. Kenyan avocado oil rides the SGR rail to Chinese ports.Holiday consumption hit record highs, but the 500B yuan trade-in subsidy program is the hidden engine. Will it renew in H2?And 9 days out from Trump-Xi, Beijing bans drone sales citywide and frames Taiwan as the "biggest risk factor."

Master the $500B Cloud Marketplace Engine Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX:https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this compelling discussion, Vince Menzione sits down with Dexter Hardy, founder of Ntegral and the visionary behind Spark, to deconstruct the massive transformation happening within the cloud ecosystem. Dexter shares his journey of evolving from a traditional systems integrator to a marketplace powerhouse with over 300 solutions and customers in 100 countries, revealing the “Marketplace Operating System” that drives global sales without a massive headcount. They dive deep into the Spark GTM methodology, discussing how companies can bridge the gap between building a solution and actually driving “Get It Now” transactions while navigating the $500 billion committed cloud-spend landscape. From the nuances of multi-party private offers to the critical role of AI in becoming a “frontier firm,” this episode provides a high-level masterclass for any partner looking to turn the marketplace into their most effective revenue stream. https://youtu.be/VLkkuHPpYuk?si=x03Odt2UsCjhtVf4 Key Takeaways The cloud marketplace represents a potential $500 billion in committed spend that partners cannot access without MAC-eligible, transactable solutions. Marketplace as a Service (MaaS) helps traditional SIs pivot to becoming SDCs or ISVs by providing a strategic roadmap for IP conversion. Successful marketplace strategy requires a “Marketplace Operating System” that aligns digital sales with your internal operations and business goals. The “Get It Now” economy allows for 24-hour global sales and lead generation without the need for traditional manual email or phone chains. Becoming a “Frontier Firm” means combining human experience with AI to do things faster, better, and more efficiently than the competition. Co-selling is evolving beyond just the hyperscalers to include rich, multi-party private offers involving resellers and distributors. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags: Integral, Spark, Marketplace as a Service, MaaS, Marketplace Operating System, Marketplace Strategy, Transactable Offers, Get It Now button, SI to ISV pivot, SDC, Microsoft Marketplace, AWS Marketplace, Google Cloud Marketplace, IP Co-sell, MAC eligible, Multi-party private offers, REO, Reseller enabled offers, Cloud Committed Spend, Frontier Firm, AI agents, Spark GTM methodology, Marketplace Optimization, Digital Sales Flywheel. Transcript: Dexter Hardy Audio Episode [00:00:00] Dexter Hardy: AI in the hands of someone who has no idea what they’re doing is just a, it’s a faster way to failure, right? Yeah. ’cause they have, they [00:00:06] Vince Menzione: still don’t understand the concepts. [00:00:11] Vince Menzione: We just finished Ultimate Partners Winter Retreat here in beautiful Boca to a sold out crowd. Today I’m joined by Dexter Hardy, the founder of Integral for a compelling discussion. Dexter, welcome back to the podcast. Great to be here, Vince. It’s [00:00:29] Dexter Hardy: always a pleasure. [00:00:30] Vince Menzione: It is so good to have you back in Boca. [00:00:33] Vince Menzione: Uh, we just wrapped up our ultimate partner executive winter retreat. We call it the Winter Retreat now. [00:00:39] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:00:39] Vince Menzione: It’s still February when this airs. It’ll probably be March or April. [00:00:43] Dexter Hardy: Okay. [00:00:43] Vince Menzione: But, um, yeah, the weather in the north has been, they’ve had a tough winter. [00:00:49] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. It’s been brutal [00:00:50] Vince Menzione: for, it’s been brutal. Even, even Atlanta where you are. [00:00:53] Vince Menzione: Had a little bit of winter this year as well. [00:00:54] Dexter Hardy: I was happy to get on the flight. Yeah. It was like 29 degrees the day out, so, [00:00:59] Vince Menzione: so, um, this is your second time Yeah. On Ultimate Partner. And we’ve been friends for, we’re just talking about this. You’ve been to every single one of our Ultimate Partner events. [00:01:10] Vince Menzione: Nine events, [00:01:12] Dexter Hardy: yep. [00:01:12] Vince Menzione: Three times here in Boca and then in other cities like Dallas and Las Colinas. Seattle, Seattle and Reston. Oh my goodness. And we’re back in Seattle again in May. So, uh, we’ve been, we’ve been busy. We’ve been busy. Both of us have [00:01:27] Dexter Hardy: Scott Myer [00:01:28] Vince Menzione: up and we’ve been, and we were introduced. We’ve been friends and worked together. [00:01:31] Vince Menzione: And so I would love to get caught up on you and Integral. [00:01:35] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:01:36] Vince Menzione: Um, the first time we sat down, we talked about Integral as a marketplace. Uh, customer base or, or, or vendor supporting the marketplace. [00:01:45] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:01:46] Vince Menzione: And you were, you’ve been, uh, showcased at Microsoft with the Marketplace organization. You’ve done some astounding things in terms of driving business without like a big sales force, you know, and driving marketplace sales, uh, to very high levels. [00:02:02] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:02:03] Vince Menzione: And, uh, and now you, I’ll call it a little bit of a twist and turn, but now. You’ve taken all the great learnings, and I’m probably sharing some of your thunder here, but you’ve taken all the great learnings that you’ve had in marketplace and your business [00:02:16] Dexter Hardy: mm-hmm. [00:02:16] Vince Menzione: And now you’re like looking at all these other companies, they’re probably trying to do the same thing and finding ways to help them. [00:02:21] Vince Menzione: So let’s, let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about where you’re going. [00:02:25] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. So, so thanks for that. And it’s always a pleasure to be, you know, in the room with you, especially on the podcast, uh, seeing it grow over the years. And, um, to kind of double click on. How did we get to where we are with, uh, spark Bi Integral? [00:02:40] Dexter Hardy: Um, it’s our marketplace as a service offering. Um, we [00:02:46] Vince Menzione: marketplace as a service. You get that? I just wanna make sure people are listening and watching. Get that. That’s a, that’s a new acronym for me. [00:02:53] Dexter Hardy: That’s a new one. But, but what we, how do we get there? So to your point, yes, we. We’re a, um, marketplace first organization looking at the digital sales leaned in heavily on marketplace. [00:03:08] Dexter Hardy: Um, and what we were doing internally was we created our marketplace operating system. Like literally, how do we run our business? How do we digitize, how do we get those, uh, how do we turn the marketplace into our 24 hour sales guy? Yeah. Taking all those lessons learned how you deal with the hyperscale or how do you understand, you know, the, the signals that’s happening in the market. [00:03:33] Dexter Hardy: Uh, coupling that with, because we’ve been a member of this wonderful organization and getting into the partner community ecosystem, we get asked a million times, I bet. What do you do? How do you do it? That’s help us understand marketplace and so what we. What we saw there was an opportunity to both lean into the challenges that other partners are facing. [00:04:00] Dexter Hardy: If you’re an SI that’s trying to pivot [00:04:02] Vince Menzione: yep, [00:04:03] Dexter Hardy: and be in the marketplace, you’re already established company, how do you create Transactable offers? How do we take the the marketplace opportunity and leverage AI and put our agents in the marketplace? Our aha moment was this is, this is an en enablement opportunity that we can get into and basically be the first ones in because we leaned into it, we understand it. [00:04:35] Dexter Hardy: What makes us different from the other companies is we actually use that methodology every day. [00:04:43] Vince Menzione: For those who maybe didn’t listen to the last podcast we did together, I know this story, but I want others to know the context of it. Tell us about your transformation to a marketplace firm. [00:04:54] Dexter Hardy: Okay, for sure. [00:04:56] Vince Menzione: Maybe the shorter version. [00:04:57] Dexter Hardy: The shorter version, [00:04:57] Vince Menzione: but I, I do know that there was some, you were in business for a long time before this became the business strategy. [00:05:03] Dexter Hardy: Yeah, so the shortened version business founded 2002, Microsoft partner for many years. Yep. 2020. Si. Si as an si. 2020 COVID. [00:05:16] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:05:16] Dexter Hardy: Consulting 2.0. [00:05:17] Dexter Hardy: How do you do what you do at scale for others? Taking your ip, converting it. We did that at 2020. Embraced the marketplace. We created our solutions, deploy them to the marketplace. The rest is history. We leaned in how [00:05:32] Vince Menzione: many solutions in the [00:05:33] Dexter Hardy: marketplace, over 300 solutions. I wanna [00:05:35] Vince Menzione: make sure people [00:05:35] Dexter Hardy: got that. [00:05:35] Dexter Hardy: Over a hundred, 300 [00:05:36] Vince Menzione: solutions. [00:05:37] Dexter Hardy: Over 300 solutions. Yeah. Uh, we have. Customers in over a hundred countries. I mean, and [00:05:42] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:05:43] Dexter Hardy: You know, continuing to build and expand our customer base on a daily basis. And so, [00:05:48] Vince Menzione: and they’re, and they’re buying when you, while you sleep. I mean, we, we’ve known each other pretty well for a number of years. [00:05:54] Vince Menzione: And [00:05:54] Dexter Hardy: yeah, [00:05:54] Vince Menzione: you have customers like, um, I’ll throw out a number, like 25,000 customers, probably, maybe beyond that. And these customers are buying your solutions. All hours of the day and night, [00:06:06] Dexter Hardy: right? Yeah. I I love the get it now button in the marketplace. Literally all they have to do to work with us or transact with us is click on, get It Now, and that’s the transactable offer that everyone, there’s this mystique around. [00:06:19] Dexter Hardy: People are like, well, we don’t have any leads. We can, you know, our, we have an offer in the marketplace and nobody’s clicking on it. And I’m like, Hmm, [00:06:27] Vince Menzione: yeah, [00:06:27] Dexter Hardy: we can help you with that. Right? And so, um, you know, that’s how we. Our, our story with that, our background with that was it’s our 24 hour sales guy. We drive our campaigns, we align with the solution plays. [00:06:41] Dexter Hardy: We’re getting those clicks with, to your point, without this huge army of people. Yeah. And so now we’re saying from a marketplace strategic advisory, a lot of people were saying it earlier, like, you know, marketplace isn’t this adjacent thing to business. How do you strategically think about it as. Um, part of your business all up. [00:07:03] Dexter Hardy: How do you add that as a revenue stream, uh, for your organization? And yeah, there may be some changes that you need to make, you know, how do you incorporate the channel? How do you add in all of the things that you’re currently doing, but create that as a flywheel for this. Get it now economy. [00:07:22] Vince Menzione: So all the, I’m, I’m thinking out loud, like there’s probably a lot of people watching you up on stage at these events talking about how you evolved your company and grew it. [00:07:31] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:07:32] Vince Menzione: Going, that’s me. [00:07:33] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:07:33] Vince Menzione: That’s me. The old, the old version of you absolutely is them. [00:07:37] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:07:38] Vince Menzione: And they all, they all want help. [00:07:39] Dexter Hardy: They all, [00:07:40] Vince Menzione: everybody wants help in marketplace. [00:07:41] Dexter Hardy: Right. And [00:07:43] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:07:43] Dexter Hardy: And, and to that end. Because I was them. I understand how their mind, it’s a mindset shift, right? You’re saying, okay, we have these traditional sales, we’re a systems integrator, we have all this ip, these, there are all these things that we can do. [00:07:57] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:07:58] Dexter Hardy: I don’t, how do we convert this to transact ability? How do we get our sales teams enabled to sell it? And I was, and my, my feedback and my response to that is, well, one, we have a service for that. It’s our marketplace advisor services. I’m sorry for the plug, but not sorry. [00:08:16] Vince Menzione: No, we’re, no, we’re gonna plug today as well. [00:08:18] Vince Menzione: Much as you want. [00:08:19] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:08:20] Vince Menzione: And then I think about this too, because a lot of these sis are developing, we’re just, uh, talking with Agua about MSPs, developing agents for their customers and then making ’em repeatable. [00:08:30] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:08:31] Vince Menzione: And so you have other sis that are creating AI tools and agents. Microsoft is created and the, and so has AWS and Google, they’ve created space in their marketplaces for agent AI tools. [00:08:44] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:08:45] Vince Menzione: And so now you’ve got all these companies that were traditional sis that are now becoming what we would call ISVs or, or SDCs. And they need help in getting these solutions to the marketplace. [00:08:57] Dexter Hardy: Absolutely. [00:08:58] Vince Menzione: So, so talk about what you’re doing with Spark. [00:09:00] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. So our concept with Spark is. When you look at enablement, so you’ll have platforms that are enablers and a lot of people will say, well, what makes Spark different? [00:09:12] Dexter Hardy: Why? Why you versus Tackle Or Sugar? [00:09:15] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:09:15] Dexter Hardy: Any of the other work span. Work span or any, they’re all friendlys to us because we’re meeting you where you are. Right. In order for you to use their platform, you gotta already have the solution together. [00:09:29] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:09:30] Dexter Hardy: Right. They can help you deploy. There’s Deploy. They are a deployment firm or [00:09:35] Vince Menzione: Right. [00:09:36] Dexter Hardy: Um, platforms We’re saying [00:09:38] Vince Menzione: they’re middleware in many respects. Correct. Between the, they’re, [00:09:41] Dexter Hardy: they’re integrated into the marketplace. They’re highly embedded into the systems behind it, and we’re saying what happens before that? I have no idea what solution to build. I have no idea how we’re gonna take advantage of Marketplace. [00:09:58] Dexter Hardy: How is Marketplace gonna change? Again, we had these conversations at dinner. Um, [00:10:04] Vince Menzione: yeah, [00:10:04] Dexter Hardy: all of the big players are saying, we have channel, we have our sales teams, we have all these things already. How does marketplace play into that for us? And so that Marketplace strategic advisory goes into it and says, here’s how. [00:10:19] Dexter Hardy: Right. We have a. Our Spark GTM methodology goes into how do those things play together? What are your KPIs or what are your business goals as an organization all up? And then we marry this, basically a Venn diagram of how we marry marketplace with your current objectives. Okay. To not just be this, uh, ubiquitous thing that’s kind of sitting over on the side, like, let’s just put it in marketplace because we need to, and nobody knows it’s there and nobody knows it’s there. [00:10:49] Dexter Hardy: It’s part of. Everything all up. Your messaging, your sales organization, your, um, documentation that you have for your organization. So now everyone understands, not just you as the, let’s say you’re an SI that you were, but you, the si with your agents and how that plays into your bigger value proposition. [00:11:10] Dexter Hardy: So take [00:11:10] Vince Menzione: us through the, go to the methodology you described the Spark methodology. [00:11:15] Dexter Hardy: Yep. So, um, a lot of people, when they think about. The methodology, you’ll say we’re a, we’re an si. I’m just going to use an example. You’re an si. How, how do I get somebody to click on my, my opportunity? How do I get somebody to understand what we have as a value proposition? [00:11:39] Dexter Hardy: And I’d say to people, well, there’s this, it’s part of the methodology. There’s product viability. Can you build something? Versus should you build something. Right. [00:11:50] Vince Menzione: Interesting. [00:11:51] Dexter Hardy: If you are, if you are out there today and you’re saying, I mean, everybody’s seeing Claude, the agents, you can, you can ask AI to build you pretty much anything. [00:12:00] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:12:00] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:12:01] Dexter Hardy: Now the question scary and that, that’s a, that, that introduces a new problem. But it’s, can you do it or should you do it? [00:12:08] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:12:09] Dexter Hardy: And and what I’ll tell people is part of our advisory, so the steps are. What is your North Star right now and what is the software that would enable you to get on that AI rocket ship to propel you even further with where you are? [00:12:27] Dexter Hardy: Those are the solutions that we would try to [00:12:29] Vince Menzione: Okay. [00:12:30] Dexter Hardy: That out, pull out of, uh, as part of that marketplace. Um, advisory Second, what partner or partner organizations are you a member of? Is it Microsoft? Is it the AWS? Is it, you know, Google Cloud? Google Cloud, what have you, and let’s say Microsoft. What are solution plays? [00:12:51] Dexter Hardy: What is Microsoft focused on? How does what you’re doing as an organization align with that go to market? Mm-hmm. Because now you have that jet power of what they’re, um, promoting along with your organization. [00:13:06] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:13:07] Dexter Hardy: And then the final piece is, well, now that you’ve done that, how do I get it into market? [00:13:12] Dexter Hardy: How do I, uh, get people to click on it? And that’s where some of the secret sauce that I won’t divulge on this, [00:13:19] Vince Menzione: uh, [00:13:20] Dexter Hardy: but there is some secret sauce to getting the ICPs to lean in, getting the [00:13:25] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:13:25] Dexter Hardy: You know, you’re listing to light up inside of that. And so that’s. You know, that’s at a high level. That’s kind of how the marketplace, [00:13:32] Vince Menzione: I think what you’re alluding to, and I, I don’t wanna put words in your mouth, but I do think you’ve done a very good job on what I would call maybe digital marketing, maybe. [00:13:41] Vince Menzione: Would that be the right terminology? Yeah. To make your solutions discoverable, to make people understand that they’re out there and to lean in and be able to purchase them. [00:13:51] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:13:52] Vince Menzione: Which I think I would say that’s probably part of the secret sauce, probably of Spark. That is what you’re saying because a lot of organizations struggle here. [00:13:59] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:14:00] Vince Menzione: They put something in the marketplace and nothing ever happens with it. Even even big companies do that. They don’t know how to do it. [00:14:06] Dexter Hardy: So, so yeah. Without divulging the secret sauce, I had a gentleman ask me yesterday, um, during the conference, so how is this different from SEO? I said, good question. [00:14:20] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. Is is SEOS? Is, is SEO involved? Sure, but that’s not the final answer. Because you could do SEO, that doesn’t mean anybody. That just gets you, doesn’t mean anything. Doesn’t mean anything. And so. That’s why I keep going back to this methodology of really aligning it with, uh, what it is you’re trying to accomplish, who it is you’re trying to get to lean in, and then what is the value proposition? [00:14:42] Dexter Hardy: Because at the end of the day, Vince, I think even with any service, like I said, we did our first offerings with our R zero offerings and now we’re doing this. It’s what is the value, right? Um, it’s a hard. Thing to do to really wrap your brain around how your, how your business is going to change from, if you’re doing direct sales and you got your bag and you’re out there selling to now, you mean I don’t have to pick up the phone and call you? [00:15:15] Dexter Hardy: There’s not an email chain that goes out. It’s literally people are just clicking on Get it now to get it [00:15:21] Vince Menzione: and getting it. [00:15:22] Dexter Hardy: That’s a, that’s a mind shift change and that’s. To your point, there is some market, there is some marketing expertise that is required. [00:15:29] Vince Menzione: And we’ve also talked about, I know you and I went down a journey on the co-sell business [00:15:34] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:15:34] Vince Menzione: And how difficult it can be to get a, a seller from a Microsoft or a Google and Amazon involved, unless it’s, you know, a $10 million transaction, they don’t want to get involved. [00:15:45] Dexter Hardy: Right. [00:15:46] Vince Menzione: Uh, you really wanna reach the customer. Because you know, the hyperscalers is great. If you’re driving a ServiceNow or an ADO a big solution, it’s gonna be tens of millions of dollars. [00:15:56] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:15:57] Vince Menzione: But if you are an SI and you’re selling this as part of maybe a services offering, or you’re selling it as, you know, you’re just selling as a standalone. [00:16:04] Dexter Hardy: Right? [00:16:05] Vince Menzione: Um, you want as much eyeballs and transactions as possible and you’re not gonna get that just going co-selling. [00:16:12] Dexter Hardy: Right. And, and the other part of that I will say about co-sell. [00:16:17] Dexter Hardy: I think co-sell has gotten like a dirty rap or bad rap around it. Co-sell is with the hyperscaler, but it’s with other partners too. [00:16:28] Vince Menzione: Sure, [00:16:28] Dexter Hardy: right? Oh yeah, absolutely. So, um, being in the marketplace gives you the option of co-selling would, not just the hyperscaler, but co-selling with other orgs. And so now anytime that you’ve give, you’ve given yourself that X factor on top of your existing ability to deliver. [00:16:44] Dexter Hardy: That’s where you’re seeing the true power of marketplace. [00:16:47] Vince Menzione: And yesterday you were on stage with Jason Rook. [00:16:50] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:16:51] Vince Menzione: And this was part of the conversation. It was you, Jason Rook and Amit Sinha at, at uh, work Span. [00:16:58] Dexter Hardy: Mm-hmm. [00:16:58] Vince Menzione: And part of the conversation was around the, uh, reseller enabled offers. And I think what that’s somewhat of what you’re alluding to is that you have other wait routes to market channels to market. [00:17:10] Dexter Hardy: Right [00:17:11] Vince Menzione: through building other partnerships for co-selling. Yeah. That what you, you were alluding to. Yeah. [00:17:15] Dexter Hardy: So, so yeah, there, there are a million ways to, once you’re in, once you have a transactable offer, that’s when you get the magic unlocks. Right. You, the barrier to entry is being in marketplace with a transactable offer. [00:17:31] Dexter Hardy: And if you’re outside of that loop, again, the REO. You’re not available. Guess who? Guess who can’t do that? [00:17:39] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:17:40] Dexter Hardy: If you’re not in the marketplace, you can’t do that. [00:17:41] Vince Menzione: Can’t do that. [00:17:43] Dexter Hardy: Multi-party private offers can’t do that. ’cause you’re not in the marketplace. [00:17:47] Vince Menzione: No. [00:17:48] Dexter Hardy: Right. And so what we’re saying is think about all up, how you’re missing out on. [00:17:56] Dexter Hardy: All of these wonderful opportunities to, I think, I think the number got thrown out a couple of times. Jason ran away from it when you said it’s like a $300 billion number on, he [00:18:07] Vince Menzione: didn’t want, he didn’t, he didn’t want me sharing or he wasn’t, he, he didn’t want to, uh, what, what did he say? Validate that that was the right number, but $300 billion in potential cloud budgets. [00:18:21] Vince Menzione: That you could have access to. We know the number across the three hyperscalers is north of 500 billion. [00:18:27] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:18:27] Vince Menzione: It’s just that Microsoft doesn’t break out their numbers and make them public, and so we, you know, [00:18:32] Dexter Hardy: and, and [00:18:33] Vince Menzione: estimates. [00:18:33] Dexter Hardy: What I would tell everyone that’s listening, I would invite you to consider [00:18:37] Vince Menzione: Yeah, [00:18:38] Dexter Hardy: the following. [00:18:39] Dexter Hardy: If you’re not in the marketplace with a IP, co-sale or MAC eligible solution, you’re not eligible for that. [00:18:49] Vince Menzione: That’s right. [00:18:50] Dexter Hardy: Spend. And so is that worth it for you as an organization to say, yes, we need to figure out this and get involved with that? [00:19:01] Vince Menzione: So I’m an SI and I raise my hand. I’m like, Dexter, help me. [00:19:06] Vince Menzione: What happens next? [00:19:08] Dexter Hardy: I would say. Let me introduce you to my team. [00:19:12] Vince Menzione: I love it. I love it. [00:19:13] Dexter Hardy: Um, [00:19:14] Vince Menzione: and you’ve been building your team since, uh, we go back now four years, but like yeah. You, you’ve been growing your business, hired some incredible people in your [00:19:22] Dexter Hardy: team. Yeah, we have some rock stars on our team. I’m really, really happy with my team. [00:19:25] Dexter Hardy: Uh, you know, we’re still growing and it’s, it’s a wonderful thing to be in this economy and still growing. Yes. Um, and like I said, yes, we, I would introduce you to my team and my team would then help you, uh, through. The marketplace advisory. We can help you with the health check. We can do the strategic advisory, the alignment around, here’s what we’re doing. [00:19:47] Dexter Hardy: Another thing that I’ll go ahead and put in here, if you already have listings in the marketplace and people aren’t clicking on them, we have marketplace optimization as well. [00:19:58] Vince Menzione: I love that [00:19:59] Dexter Hardy: because we, again, that conversation comes up all the time. Yeah. We put, we, we invested in Marketplace and we have our listing out there. [00:20:08] Dexter Hardy: Nobody’s clicking on it. Well, we can help you with that too. [00:20:11] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:20:12] Dexter Hardy: Right, because to your point, it’s not just building an ar, arbitrarily writing something about it, putting it in marketplace. Right. That’s, that’s an arbitrary approach. We’re saying how do you turn those into a lead gen, revenue gen, um, operation arm of your business. [00:20:29] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:20:29] Dexter Hardy: Which is what we call market marketplace operating system. [00:20:33] Vince Menzione: Marketplace operating. Okay. So we got another, I got another word I need to learn. Another acronym I need to learn. [00:20:38] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. You know, I [00:20:39] Vince Menzione: less, [00:20:40] Dexter Hardy: I’ve been around Microsoft too long, I guess. [00:20:42] Vince Menzione: Yes. I [00:20:42] Dexter Hardy: created all these, [00:20:45] Vince Menzione: so, um, just perspective could, because you’ve been in the marketplace since we talked about COVID. [00:20:50] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:20:51] Vince Menzione: Really. So that’s five years. Five [00:20:52] Dexter Hardy: years. Yeah. [00:20:54] Vince Menzione: Um, talk about how it’s changed from your perspective. I mean, I, we talk about it all. We talk, we have leaders like Jason and Cyril comes here and. Does, uh, speaks about some changes going on, but tell us your perspective on how it’s evolved. [00:21:08] Dexter Hardy: Um, so the marketplace is always evolving really. [00:21:12] Dexter Hardy: Um, from, from when we got in early in the marketplace. Uh, REO didn’t exist. Multi, multi-party. Private offers didn’t exist. The amount of committed spend on hyperscalers little was, wasn’t there. Um, the seller, the field sellers within the hyperscalers. Marketplace wasn’t part of their thing. So, um, you know, when that, when that frontier, not just that, not to confuse terms when that frontier opened up Yeah. [00:21:43] Dexter Hardy: Like there were, you know, it, it really wasn’t a clear path on how do you channel, how do you do sales, how do you integrate with the team? Um, and now there’s a lot more options, uh, for organizations that want to keep some of those motions together. Disti are now able to get involved with the conversation. [00:22:05] Dexter Hardy: They were kinda locked out for a while, but now with the s and the multi-party private offers and disti are in the conversation, [00:22:12] Vince Menzione: it’s lit up the disti like crazy. Yeah. In fact, we were, we just spent time with a few and some friends there and [00:22:19] Dexter Hardy: yeah. [00:22:19] Vince Menzione: Yeah, it’s been wild to watch this. [00:22:21] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:22:21] Vince Menzione: We haven’t talked about AI very much. [00:22:24] Vince Menzione: I mean, we talked about it from a solution and something you put in the, the market as an agent. But we haven’t talked about the change in a big way. Um, what’s your perspective for the partners out there and how they need to think about AI and embracing it and where they are in the journey? [00:22:41] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. Um, I really, AUL said something, uh, in his, in the panel discussion that he had the other day and it, it just really resonated with me. [00:22:53] Dexter Hardy: Uh, will AI take your job? Probably not. The person who’s using AI [00:23:00] Vince Menzione: will take [00:23:00] Dexter Hardy: the job. Will take you [00:23:01] Vince Menzione: job. Yes. [00:23:02] Dexter Hardy: Same thing. That’s really [00:23:04] Vince Menzione: so true. [00:23:05] Dexter Hardy: Same thing for, same thing for companies. Yeah. If you don’t have, and I, I’ll, I’m, I, I’m really gonna ask, I should have asked Jason this question. Why isn’t there a badge for frontier firms for SDCs? [00:23:21] Dexter Hardy: That’s a solution. Partner badge, not a frontier firm. [00:23:24] Vince Menzione: Yeah, [00:23:24] Dexter Hardy: but I’ll say if your company isn’t investing in combining people and ai, you’re missing the boat. [00:23:36] Vince Menzione: Yeah. So be a frontier firm. [00:23:37] Dexter Hardy: Be a frontier firm where it doesn’t matter if you’re an si, SDC, if you are not leveraging that superpower of how do we do things faster, better, quicker. [00:23:50] Dexter Hardy: Make that part of your go to market and your operating total operations, you’re going to get left behind. [00:23:57] Vince Menzione: Yeah. We’re hearing it loud and clear. I mean, all the sessions we had yesterday. [00:24:02] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:24:02] Vince Menzione: All the people like yourself that have been here are all frontier firms. They’re all companies that have leaned in, in a big way. [00:24:07] Dexter Hardy: Right. [00:24:08] Vince Menzione: Um, and in some respect, I mean, we we’re, I’m, I’m saying proceed with caution because I, I know by 2030 our world is gonna look very radically different than it looks today. [00:24:17] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:24:18] Vince Menzione: Uh, we just, I need to make sure we have the security and the governance and the data structure the right way so that we just don’t, things don’t just go crazy in some respects. [00:24:27] Vince Menzione: Right? [00:24:27] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. And I, I do think that, um, to your point, you have to, we still have to keep the human factor in everything that we’re doing. Um, there is, again, it’s AI plus your experience that makes you better. [00:24:46] Vince Menzione: Yeah, agreed. [00:24:47] Dexter Hardy: AI in the hands of someone who has no idea what they’re doing is just a, it’s a faster way to failure, right? [00:24:53] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. Because they have, they still don’t understand the concepts. And so I really want to make sure that, you know, when you think about ai, think about it from the context of experience, right? Yeah. [00:25:06] Vince Menzione: And yeah, we can go, we can go down a, a whole discussion point here about ethics and what I’ll call AI for good. [00:25:14] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. Like I said, having the right approach, having an ethical approach. We talked about Microsoft on stage yesterday with people like Brad Smith, who, uh, there’s people that have this, this right philosophy and approach to ai. Right. That [00:25:29] Dexter Hardy: right. [00:25:29] Vince Menzione: It will do good for the world and not bad for the world. [00:25:32] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:25:33] Dexter Hardy: And I think that has to be, well, I’ll just speak for myself. Can you do something and should you do something [00:25:42] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:25:43] Dexter Hardy: You have to, that should be a question that you’re asking yourself. You should be evaluating and you have to have whatever your moral compass is that has to align with your moral compass. [00:25:53] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. Because they’re, you know, because with AI the can you do something becomes a lot bigger. Yeah. [00:26:02] Vince Menzione: Good point. Good point. [00:26:03] Dexter Hardy: Should you do it well, you know, greater good. I think as a, as a collective, one of the things that’s. If it hasn’t rained true. Uh, we all live on this planet. We all are part of the, we’re all in part of a connected ecosystem. [00:26:21] Dexter Hardy: Um, and so can we do it? Should we do it? Those are questions that we need to, you know, really think about as we continue to leverage AI and do the things that we’re doing. I mean, there’s, there’s a lot of opportunities. [00:26:36] Vince Menzione: Good points, good points. So for partners watching, listening today, um, two, couple things. [00:26:43] Vince Menzione: First of all, it’s changing fast. We need like, what would be, we’re at the beginning of 2026. We’re the first quarter, 2026, maybe the end of the first quarter at this point. [00:26:53] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:26:54] Vince Menzione: What is the one or two or three things that partners need to go do differently or better? And then, um, what would you say to them about marketplace and embracing marketplace? [00:27:09] Dexter Hardy: So I’m gonna answer the second question first. [00:27:12] Vince Menzione: Okay. Sounds good. [00:27:14] Dexter Hardy: Get in the marketplace. [00:27:15] Vince Menzione: Get in the marketplace, [00:27:17] Dexter Hardy: period. [00:27:17] Vince Menzione: Like why wouldn’t you be in the marketplace? [00:27:20] Dexter Hardy: Every hyperscaler has doubled down, tripled down. Yeah. On their marketplace. Microsoft had multiple marketplaces, now it’s just one. [00:27:28] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:27:29] Dexter Hardy: Writing should be all over the wall. Not that [00:27:31] Vince Menzione: one. There is, there is no market without marketplace. I mean, literally today, the old way, days of selling, the old days of co-selling are gone. [00:27:39] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:27:39] Vince Menzione: Like the days when we, we got pos and we, we sent a, an Excel spreadsheet to Microsoft to tell ’em about the deals that were co-sell. [00:27:47] Vince Menzione: Ready? Those days are gone. So you’re saying we’ve gotta be in the marketplace now and then, what would you say maybe the one thing that’s, let’s limit it to one for all of our amazing viewers, listeners, and ultimate partner guests, when when you, when I see you in Bellevue again, ’cause you’re gonna be in Bellevue, May 11th to the 13th again. [00:28:08] Vince Menzione: Absolutely. With us helping lead the marketplace conversation. What do they need to be doing now? Right now? Besides getting the marketplace? [00:28:18] Dexter Hardy: Besides getting the marketplace, I, I would, I would do a hard look at operations. [00:28:24] Vince Menzione: Operations. [00:28:25] Dexter Hardy: Like a lot of companies, they’re growing and they, what is it? How are we looking internally in our organizations to figure out again, can we do it? [00:28:34] Dexter Hardy: Should we do it? Companies need to focus on their superpower, even, even the big ones, right? Um, being. Not having the focus, not look, looking at or listening to your why as an organization can, can put you in a, in a really weird space. And so, uh, with everyone being able to grow and do what we’re doing, I would say lean into your why, [00:29:01] Vince Menzione: like into your why. [00:29:02] Dexter Hardy: Lean into your why. [00:29:03] Vince Menzione: I think too, I think what you, what you’re saying here, and I’m, my, my reaction to it too is that, uh, we’re, we’re so caught up in the moment right now. And things are changing, so it feels like they’re changing so fast, like coming back to philanthropic and [00:29:20] Dexter Hardy: yeah. [00:29:20] Vince Menzione: What’s evolved just in the last month or so that people are taking their eye off the why or the wall, so to speak and reacting? [00:29:29] Vince Menzione: Is that, is that your point? [00:29:31] Dexter Hardy: Yeah, that’s my point and, and I’ll give you an example. So AI is different from the following technology, but. And I both were around for the blockchain, blockchain, blockchain conversation. [00:29:45] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:29:45] Dexter Hardy: And if you weren’t doing blockchain, you weren’t part of the conversation. I invite you to consider how many conversations have you heard about blockchain do? [00:29:56] Dexter Hardy: Again, AI is a little bit different because it’s, it’s an enabler. It’s, it’s, it’s, it, it does a lot more than that. But I, I will say. AI is gonna become table stakes. And that’s why I say you have to, you have to embrace it as an organization. Yeah. And if you’re not, you’re gonna get left behind. [00:30:13] Vince Menzione: Okay. It’s a drop. [00:30:14] Vince Menzione: Drop the mic moment there. So drop the mic. I’m gonna ask you one more question, personal question. Yeah. I’d love to ask this of every single one of my guests. [00:30:22] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:30:23] Vince Menzione: I probably have asked this to you before, but I’m gonna ask it to you again. [00:30:26] Dexter Hardy: Yes. [00:30:28] Vince Menzione: You are hosting a dinner party. You can have this dinner party anywhere in the world. [00:30:32] Vince Menzione: We could talk about locations as well, and you can invite any three guests from the present or the past to this amazing dinner party. [00:30:41] Dexter Hardy: Mm-hmm. [00:30:42] Vince Menzione: Whom would you invite today and why? [00:30:48] Dexter Hardy: Wow. So the last time I answered that question, for those who didn’t hear the first podcast, it was Barack Obama. [00:30:56] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Nelson [00:30:57] Dexter Hardy: Mandela. [00:30:58] Dexter Hardy: And my great-grandparents. [00:30:59] Vince Menzione: Your great-grandparents. I remember your great-grandparents [00:31:02] Dexter Hardy: In this conversation, it’s gonna be more than three people. I’m sorry. [00:31:07] Vince Menzione: All right. But [00:31:07] Dexter Hardy: it make [00:31:08] Vince Menzione: some exceptions here. We’ll make them. [00:31:10] Dexter Hardy: It would be my great-grandparents. Still [00:31:13] Vince Menzione: nice. [00:31:14] Dexter Hardy: My parents and my children. [00:31:18] Vince Menzione: Very cool. [00:31:19] Dexter Hardy: Because I want to look back and let them see the same reason that I had them there before. [00:31:25] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:26] Dexter Hardy: Look at what you started. [00:31:27] Vince Menzione: Nice. I love that. [00:31:29] Dexter Hardy: Look at the continuation of your legacy in my parents. [00:31:32] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:32] Dexter Hardy: Look at what I have been able to build because of the investments and the things that you’ve poured into the love, the energy, the effort, the sacrifice, and then the sacrifices that I’m making to pass into that legacy. [00:31:46] Dexter Hardy: The next legacy. So this would be a. This is why I would say leaning to your why, like understand the importance of family. [00:31:54] Vince Menzione: Tell us about your great, your great grandparents. You told me about this on the last podcast for those who didn’t, didn’t listen in. [00:32:01] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:32:02] Vince Menzione: And don’t have the inclination to go back. [00:32:05] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:32:05] Vince Menzione: But I think it’s a great story. [00:32:06] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. So, you know, growing up in the south [00:32:10] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:32:10] Dexter Hardy: Alabama specifically, uh, my great grandparents were part of, you know, slavery era. [00:32:16] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:32:16] Dexter Hardy: Jim Crow. Jim Crow. Crow. Yeah. The whole. [00:32:21] Dexter Hardy: The history of the United States and what, how it was built, you know, [00:32:26] Vince Menzione: an important part of the history of the United States, by the way, that we all should never forget. [00:32:29] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. So again, some of those, some of the ceilings that are out there now, there wasn’t even an option for. [00:32:36] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:32:36] Dexter Hardy: And so that’s why I really wanted them to, I would really want them to be here to see something that they probably could never even conceive as an option of, of it being. [00:32:47] Dexter Hardy: Uh, to be able to see where things are and then to, you know, why my kids, if this is where we are right now, I want you to dream big. The same amount of energy it takes to think small is the same amount [00:33:04] Vince Menzione: of energy it takes to think big. Dream big. Dream big. Dream. [00:33:09] Dexter Hardy: Dream big. [00:33:10] Vince Menzione: I think we’re gonna leave on that message. [00:33:12] Dexter Hardy: Yeah, [00:33:12] Vince Menzione: that’s a great message. [00:33:13] Dexter Hardy: Awesome. [00:33:14] Vince Menzione: So great to see you, my friend. It’s [00:33:16] Dexter Hardy: always a pleasure [00:33:16] Vince Menzione: to be with you, so always a real pleasure for me as well. [00:33:19] Dexter Hardy: Yeah, [00:33:19] Vince Menzione: and I want to thank you for watching and listening and being part of Ultimate Partner and the Ultimate Partner YouTube channel and our great guest and friend, Dexter Hardy. [00:33:30] Vince Menzione: Great to see you again. [00:33:31] Dexter Hardy: Always a pleasure us. Thank you, [00:33:33] Vince Menzione: sir. [00:33:33] Dexter Hardy: All right. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks. [00:33:35] Vince Menzione: Don’t forget, ultimate Partner Live is coming soon, May 11th through the 13th in beautiful Bellevue, Washington. I hope to see you there.

Tired of the back-and-forth trying to secure a business loan? Small-business owners don't live a 9-to-5 life—and your funding shouldn't either. Today, we're joined by Kunal Bhasin ], who understands that frustration and is here to share practical ways to get the capital you need without the runaround. Let's dive in.”Kunal Bhasin is the Founder & CEO of 1West, a financial technology and services firm dedicated to helping small and mid-sized businesses grow through customized capital solutions. He and his team work closely with clients to deliver transparent, flexible funding options that support long-term success. The company also emphasizes speed, service and trust; values that have helped it stand out in a crowded and often impersonal market. Just like the small business innovators, change-makers, and entrepreneurs they serve, 1West is a team of restless, uncommon, and constructive contrarians from all backgrounds — united in their talent for turning the lending process inside out. Premiering ABLE which stands for Automated Business Lending Engine which provides businesses to be able to apply for finances on their terms, 24 hours a day. Why? Because business isn't 9 to 5.CONTACT DETAILS: Business: 1WestWebsite: https://www.1west.com/ Social MediaLinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/company/1west/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/1WestFinanceLLC Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/1westfinance/ X - https://x.com/Finance1westRemember to SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss "Information That You Can Use." Share Just Minding My Business with your family, friends, and colleagues. Engage with us by leaving a review or comment on my Google Business Page. https://g.page/r/CVKSq-IsFaY9EBM/review Your support keeps this podcast going and growing.Visit Just Minding My Business Media™ LLC at https://jmmbmediallc.com/ to learn how we can help you get more visibility on your products and services.

Can Nvidia Hit $500 BILLION?

In this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross breaks down the so-called “SaaSpocalypse” after $1 trillion in SaaS market cap vanished in a single week. While headlines scream that “AI will replace SaaS,” Ross argues the reality is far more nuanced. He introduces a three-part framework ; Exposed, Embedded, Evolved , and outlines the strategic shifts founders and marketers must make to survive and compound in the age of AI agents. Key Takeaways and Insights: 1. The $1 Trillion Wake-Up Call -SaaS stocks were crushed in early 2026, triggering fear across markets. -AI agents, LLM advancements, and disappointing earnings accelerated the correction. -The dominant narrative says AI will replace SaaS , but the situation is more complex. -Market fear is loud. Structural change is quieter, but very real. 2.AI Agents, Vibe Coding & the Death of Per-Seat Pricing? -AI agents interacting directly with APIs challenge traditional SaaS interfaces. -“Vibe coding” demonstrates how quickly software can now be replicated. -Per-seat pricing models are under pressure as automation scales output. -The interface is shifting from dashboards to conversations. 3.The Data Reality Most People Ignore -Global SaaS spending is projected to grow from $318B (2025) to $500B+ (2028). -Enterprise contracts and deep dependencies don't disappear overnight. -Pricing models may change. Market leaders may change. -Software demand isn't vanishing, it's evolving. 4.The Extinction Stack: Exposed, Embedded, Evolved -SaaS companies fall into three survival tiers. -Not all SaaS companies face equal risk. -Your future depends on depth of integration and data moat. -Operators must identify where they sit, now. 5.Type 1: The Exposed -Horizontal point solutions with weak moats and low switching costs. -Easily replicated with AI tools in days or weeks. -Rely on habit rather than proprietary advantage. -Most vulnerable to margin compression and churn. 6.Type 2: The Embedded -Deeply integrated systems of record inside enterprises. -Painful and complex to replace due to migration risk. -The risk isn't extinction ,it's interface disruption. -Must become AI-first before agents abstract them away. 7. Type 3: The Evolved -AI-native or aggressively AI-integrated platforms. -Built on proprietary data, regulatory moats, and deep user memory. -AI increases the value of their data advantage. -Positioned not just to survive, but accelerate. 8.Distribution Is the New Defensive Moat -AI can replicate features. It cannot replicate trust. -Brand equity, audience relationships, and distribution compound. -As product development gets cheaper, distribution becomes the advantage. -This is the moment to double down on quality and amplification. 9.From Time-Based to Outcome-Based Thinking -Per-seat and time-based pricing models face structural pressure. -The future favors outcome-driven pricing and accountability. -Buyers will demand measurable impact, not access. -Service businesses must shift from hours sold to results delivered. 10. Intentional AI vs Fear-Based AI -Two types of teams are emerging: intentional adopters and reactive adopters. -AI without process creates noise, not leverage. -10,000 mediocre AI assets won't move the needle. -10 strategic, AI-enabled assets can change a business trajectory. —

In this episode of The Milk Road Show, Brian Foster explains how Coinbase has become the backbone for banks, asset managers, fintechs, and payment providers moving their operations onchain. We cover why Coinbase now custodies over $500B in assets, how stablecoins are turning into global payment rails, what “Stablecoin as a Service” means for institutions, and how tokenization of stocks, treasuries, and real-world assets is accelerating. Brian also shares why public blockchains are winning and how tokenized assets will eventually connect with DeFi.~~~~~⁠⁠⁠

What if the real reason Walmart dominates isn't price—but clarity?Walmart didn't become a $500B powerhouse by trying to be everything to everyone. They won by choosing two things—operational excellence and cost efficiency—and executing them relentlessly for decades. In this episode, you'll unpack what Walmart's success really teaches sales and business leaders, why most companies struggle to stand out, and how unclear positioning quietly kills growth long before competitors do.By listening, you'll discover:The two core strategies that powered Walmart's growth—and why copying price alone misses the pointHow to identify what your business should be known for in a crowded marketPractical ideas to align your sales experience so every customer interaction reinforces your competitive edgeHit play to learn how to sharpen your positioning, focus your sales strategy, and turn clarity into a repeatable advantage that drives growth.New episodes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.Grow Your Sales By 25% - Book in for a FREE 30-minute Sales Process Audit and walk out with 3 rapid actions that will GROW your SalesTo see how we've helped business grow their sales:Read Client ResultsWatch TestimonialsOr email Ben if you would like to get in touch: hello@strongersalesteams.comThis podcast helps the entrepreneur, founder, CEO, and business owner in the trade, construction and industry segments, regain focus, build confidence, and achieve measurable results through powerful sales training, effective sales strategy, and expert sales coaching—guiding every sales leader, sales manager, and sales team in mastering the sales process, optimizing the sales pipeline, and driving business growth while fostering leadership, balance, and freedom amidst overwhelm, stress, and potential burnout, creating lasting peace of mind and smarter decision making for every California business and Australia business ready to scale up with excellence in sales management.

00:00 Intro01:03 US Gets $500B Taiwan Investment for 5% Tariff Cut03:21 Canada, China Slash EV, Canola Tariffs to Reset Ties05:16 CIA Recruiting Chinese Spies06:11 26 People Charged in Scheme to Rig NCAA Games07:48 China Unveils Portable System to Jam Starlink08:53 US Approves $1.5B Proposal for Naval Base in Peru10:13 Some European Nations Send Troops to Greenland12:27 Why President Trump Wants US Control of Greenland15:11 ‘Are You Dead?' Chinese ‘Loneliness' App Removed16:12 Why the ‘Are You Dead' App is Going Viral in China17:00 Growing Scrutiny Over China-Linked Online Scam Ads

Change how you look at unsold inventory in this episode with Amrita Bhasin of Sotira, joining the show to break down how poor inventory forecasting is crushing CPG brands, why nearly a quarter of all retail and e-commerce inventory never sells, and how excess inventory liquidation has become one of the biggest supply chain challenges today! We dive deeper into how Sotira is using AI to power a tech-driven reverse logistics marketplace that connects sellers, buyers, and donation partners while protecting brand equity, enforcing expiration and regional compliance laws, and improving recovery rates, how integrated freight optimization APIs help control transportation costs, why mismanaged forecasting leads to millions in deadstock, and how smarter liquidation strategies can reduce waste, unlock tax benefits, and keep inventory moving.   About Amrita Bhasin Amrita Bhasin is the co-founder and CEO of Sotira, an award winning reverse logistics company that enables retailers, manufacturers and brands to discreetly monetize and donate unsold inventory.  Amrita was named to the 2026 Forbes 30 under 30 list and the 2025 Mayfield AI List. Amrita has been invited to speak on national and international broadcast networks including CBS, Fox, ABC, Scripps, and CGTN and has been profiled in Forbes, TechCrunch, and Business Insider. She is regularly quoted as an expert by leading publications such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Wired, Fortune, CNBC, Glossy, Huffington Post, Sourcing Journal, Reader's Digest, Modern Retail, AP, Yahoo Finance, and FreightWaves. Amrita has spoken about reverse logistics at leading conferences and trade shows such as TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, Home Delivery World 2025, HumanX 2025, ReTHINK Retail 2025 and Groceryshop 2025. Amrita was a delegate speaker at the 2025 One Young World Summit in Munich, Germany. She is an upcoming speaker at Manifest 2026 and Food Waste Summit 2026.  Amrita was a 1st place winner at Shoptalk 2025 and 1st place winner at Reverse Logistics Conference and Expo 2025. Amrita has been recognized by the State of California and Stop Waste for contributions to reducing enterprise waste via reverse logistics automation.   Connect with Amrita LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amrita-bhasin/  Website: https://www.sotira.co/  Email: amrita@sotira.co  

This Week In Startups is made possible by:Netsuite - https://www.netsuite.com/twistLumaAi - https://lumalabs.ai/twistSquarespace - https://squarespace.com/twistToday's show: Government fraud and waste has become a prominent issue in the last month.That's what we are looking at.On Today's episode of TWiST, Jason interviews Alex Shieh of the The Antifraud Company.Under the False Claims Act, enterprising Americans, like Alex, can receive up to 30% of fraud dollars they uncover! Jason digs into the business of fraud with Alex Shieh and how a generational company could be built around it!PLUS Alex Wilhelm and Marcus Brotman take a look at the history of BOOM, $1.5 Billion dollar startup bringing back supersonic commercial travel!Jason first interviewed Blake Scholl almost 10 years ago in 2016. Back then, BOOM was a dream to bringing back supersonic travel. The Concorde's failure, and why BOOM is different, is central to Blake's thinking. What is fascinating is Blake's mindset and vision for the early stages of this future unicorn startup.THEN, Jason answers live Q/A at Founder University Tokyo! In partnership with JETRO, Jason and the LAUNCH team are bringing Founder University to 35 Japanese startups over the next 9 weeks!Timestamps:(00:00) Why the Concorde failed and how BOOM Supersonic is bringing back faster than light travel(08:34) The 30% efficiency rule for Mach 2 flights(11:46) Netsuite - Get the free business guide Demystifying AI at https://www.netsuite.com/twist(17:12) Building million dollar planes on a startup budget(20:22) Luma AI - Stop guessing and start directing with Ray3 Modify from Luma AI, the AI-powered post production tool. Explore it at: https://lumalabs.ai/twist(24:11) The Checklist Manifesto: Lessons for pilots and founders!(26:02) How to build a team that can go supersonic(32:49) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://squarespace.com/twist(33:55) Private Sector Doge: The Anti Fraud Company(38:48) The $500B in Fraud uncovered(48:34) How Alex Shieh's team uses AI to hunt down fraud(52:48) How you can win 30% of exposed fraud with the false claims Act(56:27) Founder University Tokyo Q&ASubscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.comCheck out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.comSubscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp*Follow Lon:X: https://x.com/lons*Follow Alex:X: https://x.com/alexLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm/*Follow Jason:X: https://twitter.com/JasonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis/*Thank you to our partners:(11:46) Netsuite - Get the free business guide Demystifying AI at https://www.netsuite.com/twist(20:22) Luma AI - Stop guessing and start directing with Ray3 Modify from Luma AI, the AI-powered post production tool. Explore it at: https://lumalabs.ai/twist(32:49) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://squarespace.com/twistCheck out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Bryan Clark joins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bryan Clark joins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The pod signs off for the year with its final episode—a sharp, chaotic recap of last year's predictions and a fresh round of hot takes for 2026. Sam and Dave, unsurprisingly, wing it: Sam calls a single $500B+ IPO (SpaceX), Google up, NVIDIA down, and Meta hitting new highs on AI-powered ads. Jess warns that AI-driven efficiency will fuel layoffs (especially in journalism) and that CapEx hype is outrunning reality. Dave predicts a boom in third places and games-first IP, while Britt bets on an Apple comeback, AI wearables as daily “life summarizers,” a breakout AI-native social app, and a celebrity licensing their AI twin. True to form, the crew goes off script to debate Amazon's rumored $10B OpenAI deal, AI as the new UI, which model builders survive, regulation looming over prediction markets, “slop” as word of the year, GLP-1s going mainstream, creators eyeing Emmys, and much more. Chapters:01:50 Morin's “Nauti or Nice” Holiday Card04:06 Sam's 2025 Predictions: Bitcoin, Solana ETFs, Crypto Government Adoption05:16 Britt's 2025 Predictions: Amazon Marketplace, Elon's “TITS,” Swift Engagement07:52 Dave's 2025 Predictions: Data Centers, Material Flow Robotics, Crypto Clarity10:18 Jess's 2025 Predictions: TikTok U.S., Vertical Stacks, Media Copyright, GLP-1s11:40 2025 Themes: “Slop,” AI Talent Wars, Government–Tech Ties12:58 Big Tech Check-In: Apple Loses Ground, Google's Delta13:41 Amazon's $10B OpenAI Bet and Chip Diplomacy16:16 Britt's 2026 Predictions: Apple Comeback, Wearable Agents, AI Talent Deals21:45 Jess's 2026 Predictions: AI-Driven Layoffs, Liquidity Wave, Prediction Market Regulation28:57 Dave's 2026 Predictions: Third Places, Games-First IP, Roblox Scrutiny36:17 Sam's 2026 Predictions: One $500B+ IPO, Nvidia Down, Google Up, Meta ATH44:13 AI Is the New UI: SaaS UX Moats Under Pressure49:35 Does AI Adult Content Go Mainstream?50:04 Dave on Google Doppl and AI Try-On Tech51:28 Britt's Pop Corner: Taylor Swift Album and Pregnancy Speculation52:19 Industry Wish List: More DPI, Kids' Mental Health, Waymos EverywhereWe're also on ↓X: https://twitter.com/moreorlesspodInstagram: https://instagram.com/moreorlessYouTube: https://youtu.be/ehO3wIio7NwConnect with us here:1) Sam Lessin: https://x.com/lessin2) Dave Morin: https://x.com/davemorin3) Jessica Lessin: https://x.com/Jessicalessin4) Brit Morin: https://x.com/brit

What if the secret to explosive sales growth was obsession—with your customer?Amazon didn't just win by being first. They built one of the world's most successful companies by relentlessly improving the customer experience—and there's a lesson in that for every sales team.In this episode, you'll discover:How Amazon went from online bookstore to $500B+ global empire with a single core principle.What “customer obsession” actually looks like—and why most sales leaders get it wrong.Practical ways to shift your sales process from transactional to transformational, starting today.Press play now to learn how customer-first thinking can help you close more deals and build long-term sales momentum.New episodes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.Grow Your Sales By 25% - Book in for a FREE 30-minute Sales Process Audit and walk out with 3 rapid actions that will GROW your SalesTo see how we've helped business grow their sales: Read Client ResultsWatch TestimonialsOr email Ben if you would like to get in touch: hello@strongersalesteams.comThis podcast helps the entrepreneur, founder, CEO, and business owner in the trade, construction and industry segments, regain focus, build confidence, and achieve measurable results through powerful sales training, effective sales strategy, and expert sales coaching—guiding every sales leader, sales manager, and sales team in mastering the sales process, optimizing the sales pipeline, and driving business growth while fostering leadership, balance, and freedom amidst overwhelm, stress, and potential burnout, creating lasting peace of mind and smarter decision making for every California business and Australia business ready to scale up with excellence in sales management.

Sébastien Page is Chief Investment Officer at T. Rowe Price and author of “The Psychology of Leadership.” In this interview, Sébastien discusses what he has learned about sports psychology that applies to leading in the corporate environment and in the management of $500B in assets at T. Rowe Price. The conversation continues as Sébastien dives into the psychological principles that distinguish truly great leaders from good ones and how leaders can use positive psychology to better run their teams. Sébastien also talks about how relationship development and trust creation are crucial to thriving in an economy enhanced by artificial intelligence. Sébastien concludes the interview by providing tips on stress management, sharing how to avoid goal-induced blindness, and giving advice for people who want to lead their guide their team members a rapidly-changing future. Sébastien Page is Head of Global Multi-Asset and Chief Investment Officer at T. Rowe Price. He oversees a team of investment professionals actively managing over $500 billion in assets under management. Sébastien won research paper awards from The Journal of Portfolio Management in 2003, 2010, 2011, and 2022 and the Financial Analysts Journal in 2010 and 2014. In addition to The Psychology of Leadership, he is the author of Beyond Diversification: What Every Investor Needs to Know About Asset Allocation (McGraw Hill, 2020) and the coauthor of Factor Investing and Asset Allocation (CFA Institute Research Foundation, 2016).Sébastien is also a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Portfolio Management and the Financial Analysts Journal, and the Board of Directors of the Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance (Q Group). He regularly appears in the media, including Bloomberg TV and CNBC, and was recently named amongst the 15 Top Voices in Finance by LinkedIn.

In this episode, Tara breaks down the real math behind Trump's claim that tariffs could eliminate the income tax — and why, despite the Founders' original vision, that dream is impossible with today's bloated federal government. From trillion-dollar spending to missing billions, from Supreme Court battles to Costco jumping the line with tariff lawsuits, Tara exposes the truth behind the numbers politicians won't touch. Clear, sharp, and brutally honest — this episode cuts through the noise with facts, history, and a reality check America needs.

Once again NVIDIA had a record earnings quarter (Q3FY26), but the strength of their on-going success will be dependent on many factors that may or may not be within their control. Let's explore those broader factors.SHOW: 978SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #978 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:[TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast[Mailtrap] Try Mailtrap for free[Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.SHOW NOTES:NVIDIA Earnings (Q3FY2026 - November 2025)WHAT WILL BE THE NEW METRICS AND MILESTONES TO TRACK?Customer Revenues (e.g. CoreWeave, OpenAI)“Alternatives” Revenues (e.g. Google/TPUs, AMD, China, etc.)Customer Success Stories (%ROI, Business Differentiation, Business Acceleration)Growth of Data Centers (e.g. buildouts, zoning approvals, etc.)Electricity Buildouts (e.g. nuclear, coal, alternative, regulatory changes, municipality adoption)Accounting Deep-Dives into NVIDIA (not fraud, but days receivables, inventory buybacks, etc.)$500B in back orders (Oracle, Microsoft, OpenAI, GrokAI)FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter/X: @cloudcastpodBlueSky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.socialInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod

US equity futures point to a strong open, with S&P 500 futures up about 1.2%. Asian markets traded mostly higher, and European equities also opened firmer. Nvidia delivered another beat-and-raise and reiterated expectations for more than $500B in Blackwell and Rubin revenue through 2026, with guidance assuming no China contribution due to ongoing restrictions; Furthermore, the October FOMC minutes showed “many” participants supported keeping rates unchanged for the rest of the year, reinforcing a divided policy outlook and keeping attention on December cut odds; In addition, geopolitical attention rose after reports that US and Russian officials drafted a new plan to end the Ukraine war that includes territorial concessions and a rental-fee framework, adding another layer of uncertainty to global risk sentiment.Companies Mentioned: Palo Alto Networks, Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, Dominion Energy

In this post–Election Week episode of The Liquidity Event, AJ and Shane dive into New York City's new mayor, former rapper Zohran Mamdani, and what his win could mean for taxes, wages, and city life. AJ shares her marathon weekend adventures and Halloween highlights, while Shane talks about biking through Manhattan gridlock, watching Tame Impala, and catching the World Series. They unpack NASCAR champ Kyle Busch's $8.5 million insurance lawsuit, OpenAI's new public benefit status, and the latest push for a global wealth tax. The conversation covers billionaire carveouts, the "Teach for America for failed politicians" idea, and closes with thoughts on fairness, community, and the economics of a changing New York. Timestamps: (00:00) Welcome to The Liquidity Event, marathon weekends, and mime makeup (04:30) Zoran Mammadani wins NYC, a new era (and some saber-rattling) (06:00) AJ's "Teach for America, but for failed politicians" proposal (07:30) Shane's Tame Impala flex, Game 7 chaos, and fall weekend vibes (09:30) NASCAR's Kyle Busch sues Pacific Life, insurance gone wild (14:00) OpenAI's $500B milestone and the rise of "too big to fail" tech (20:00) The great wealth tax debate, guillotines, Birkins, and billionaire tears (27:00) Universal healthcare dreams and the Brooklyn FI insurance saga (32:00) Mamdani's 2% millionaire tax, free buses, and grocery-store wars (39:00) Closing thoughts, fairness, optimism, and five-star requests

Rob Holmes is a private investigator. He works with major luxury-watch brands to track down fakes and stop them from getting to market.⁣ ⁣ Rob's Links⁣ https://linktr.ee/holmespi⁣ https://mi33.co/⁣ ⁣

Bitcoin has fallen below $102,000. “Uptober” ended in blood. But while retail traders are terrified, institutional conversations are heating up. In this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins are joined by Teddy Fusaro, President of Bitwise, to unpack the week's market turmoil. They dig into why institutions are finally comfortable allocating to bitcoin, how Ripple is building an ecosystem that can't be ignored, and whether Tether's staggering $500 billion valuation makes sense. Plus: the shrinking odds of the CLARITY Act, the merging of TradFi and crypto rails, and why the competition in the payments space is so hot. Sponsors: Binance Mantle Hosts: Ram Ahluwalia, CFA, CEO and Founder of Lumida Austin Campbell, NYU Stern professor and founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting Christopher Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund Guest: Teddy Fusaro, President of Bitwise Links: Unchained:  Ripple Hits $4B Investment Milestone With Palisade Deal Extreme Fear Returns to Market as Bitcoin Breaks $104k Support Solana ETFs Draw $44 Million as Bitcoin Funds Bleed $191 Million Stablecoin Volume on Ethereum Breaks $2.8 Trillion Record in October Bitcoin ETFs Record $470 Million Outflows Amid Fed Rate Decision DL News: Clarity Act has 80% chance of passing by 2026: Bitwise The Block: Tether's annual profits top $10 billion as Treasury holdings swell Timestamps:

Kevin Hincks reports from the Cboe Global Markets to highlight moves happening in the U.S. and abroad. He maintains that the Mag 7 earnings hitting markets Wednesday and Thursday will remain monumental for the bull run. Internationally, Kevin breaks down the proposed $500 billion trade deal between the U.S. and Japan.======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

Airbnb democratized hospitality. Uber democratized transportation. Now, ThumzUp Media (NASDAQ: TZUP) is democratizing advertising — paying everyday people 

In this episode, I sit down with Frank Kendall, former Secretary of the Air Force and Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. Frank shares what's really happening behind the scenes of the newly announced $175 billion “Golden Dome” program—a reboot of Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative that could balloon to $500 billion. We talk about what this means for government contracting, the risks of rushing massive programs, and his firsthand look at managing $170 billion budgets and 700,000 personnel in the Air and Space Force. Key Takeaways: The Golden Dome could open unprecedented government contract opportunities across defense and space sectors. Rushing a $175B program risks massive waste and inefficiency—potentially doubling its cost to $500B. The Air Force's 2050 vision focuses on AI, autonomy, and long-range power projection to counter China's military buildup. Learn more: https://federalhelpcenter.com/ https://govcongiants.org/ 

AI is not just hype, it's the next economic revolution. In this solo episode, we break down the game-changing insights of Jordi Visser, macro investor and founder of @VisserLabs, as he unpacks how AI is reshaping global markets, jobs, and the financial system. We'll explore why AI is driving trillions in new capital investment, how it's changing labor markets, and why Bitcoin (BTC) may be the “purest AI investment play.” Plus, I share my real-world experiences using AI agents, n8n workflows, and automation tools to streamline work and build new digital products.  Key Takeaways Jordi Visser says betting against AI = betting against innovation. $500B+ in AI infrastructure investment coming by 2026. Bitcoin could be the ultimate AI hedge. Massive white-collar job disruption ahead — but also opportunity. AI empowers entrepreneurs to build products and income streams rapidly.   Jordi's Substack: Substack/@visserlabs Visser Labs YouTube Channel: YouYube/@visserlabs Jordi Visser Bio: With over 30 years of Wall Street expertise in traditional finance and macroeconomics, I guide you through the evolving landscape of investments, from conventional assets to cryptocurrencies and AI-driven technologies.

Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠Join The Normandy For Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here: ⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠Join Analytic Dreamz on Notorious Mass Effect for a deep dive into EA's historic $55 billion buyout by Saudi PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners. Analytic Dreamz unpacks the largest private equity LBO ever, with $20B debt and $210/share premium. Explore EA's $7.5B revenue, franchises like EA Sports FC, and risks of layoffs, microtransaction focus, and creative stagnation. Analytic Dreamz breaks down analyst views, gamer backlash, ethical concerns, and AI-driven shifts, offering a data-rich look at gaming's biggest deal and its impact on the $500B industry. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/analytic-dreamz-notorious-mass-effect/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In today's episode, we put you in the boardroom and show exactly why the current stack can't answer the ROI question—then we install an operating system. What you'll learn: • The ~$500B blind spot: marketing without an OS • How a PESO Model© OS creates clarity, efficiency, and revenue attribution • The cost of waiting (and what early adopters are seeing) • A Boardroom Checklist you can use this quarter

Sports Geek Rapid Rundown is a daily sports business podcast curated by Sports Geek Reads. We publish it on Sports Geek twice per week. In this episode: Today's episode covers the NBA's Australian expansion efforts and revolutionary AI analytics partnership, OpenAI's massive $500 billion valuation milestone, MLB's record-breaking viewership success, and concerning gambling industry practices around stolen funds - all curated by Sports Geek Reads. Subscribe at https://sportsgeekhq.com/rapidrundown

Episode 684: Neal and Toby wrap up the week taking a look at the astronomical rise of OpenAI and how they have reached a $500B valuation. And Tesla reports thats sales are up thanks to an EV tax credit. Next up, the guys share their stock of the week (Fico) and dog of the week (Reddit). Then, Taylor Swift releases the Life of a Show Girl. Finally the headlines you need to know heading into this weekend.  Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn Ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Check out https://www.linkedIn.com/mbd for more. Get your MBD live show tickets here! https://www.tinyurl.com/MBD-HOLIDAY  Vote for MBD in the Signal Awards!  Best Daily Podcast: http://bit.ly/3W4e5ik  Best Commute Podcast: https://bit.ly/4pxZidv Best Business Podcast: https://bit.ly/3IE7lEP  Subscribe to Morning Brew Daily for more of the news you need to start your day. Share the show with a friend, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. Listen to Morning Brew Daily Here:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.swap.fm/l/mbd-note⁠⁠⁠ Watch Morning Brew Daily Here:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@MorningBrewDailyShow⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's episode of the Rich Habits Radar, Robert Croak and Austin Hankwitz talk Apple's new smart glasses, OpenAI becoming the world's most valuable privately-held company, and the government shutdown. ---✅ Ready to start investing? Open a brokerage account on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Public.com/richhabits⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get a FREE 1% match on all IRA deposits, transfers, and rollovers!---‼️ Have feedback to share? Please let us a comment on Spotify! We're excited to mold these new weekly episodes to be exactly what our listeners want. ---

Story of the Week (DR):War against women continues: Uber Not Responsible for Sex Assault, Jury Finds, as More Cases FollowEthan P. Schulman, the judge presiding over the California state court cases, told jurors that Uber would be responsible for the woman's harm if the company was negligent in using adequate safety measures and the negligence was a “substantial factor” in causing the harm.In its decision, the jury unanimously agreed that Uber had been negligent in its general safety practices when the incident occurred in 2016 — but that the negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the attack. The jury's foreman: “We felt that they could have done more back in the early days of Uber, rather than just focusing on growth,”Meet Lisa Monaco, the 57-year-old Microsoft executive Trump wants fired“Corrupt and Totally Trump Deranged Lisa Monaco (A purported pawn of Legal Lightweight Andrew Weissmann), was a senior National Security aide under Barack Hussein Obama. Monaco has been shockingly hired as the President of Global Affairs for Microsoft, in a very senior role with access to Highly Sensitive Information. Monaco's having that kind of access is unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to stand.”Monaco helped coordinate the Justice Department's response to the Jan. 6th attacks on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters in 2021. In January 2022, Monaco publicly announced that the Justice Department was investigating the Trump fake electors plotMilitary women fear losing 'every bit of ground' as Hegseth looks backward to the 1990sDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that he wants to review Defense Department standards that have changed since the 1990s, a time when military women saw far less support for their service and met drastically lower physical standards than today: "The 1990s test is simple. What were the military standards in 1990? And if they have changed, tell me why. Was it necessary change based on the evolving landscape of combat? Or was the change due to a softening, weakening, or gender-based pursuit of other priorities? 1990s seems to be as good a place to start as any."PGA of America CEO apologizes for Ryder Cup missteps, but group's president denies problemThe Misogynistic Abuse Towards Rory McIlroy's Wife at the Ryder Cup Is Deeper Than Golf. It shows a cultural shift, one in which men feel emboldened to attack women in public without shame or consequence. The abuse and taunts were so unrelenting that Stoll was spotted with “tears streaming down her face”PGA of America President Don Rea took a different approach on Sunday in a BBC interview where he downplayed the severity of the crowd's behavior: “Well, you have 50,000 people there that are really excited, and heck, you can go to a youth soccer game and get some people who say the wrong things,” Rea said. When asked about the abuse directed at McIlroy, he responded, “I haven't heard some of that. I'm sure it's happened … Rory understands things like that are going to happen.”Fake billionaire manbaby “retirements” continue DRSpotify CEO Daniel Ek to Step Down. The Stock Is Falling.Spotify founder steps down amid controversy over defence linksIt comes after Mr Ek has faced fierce scrutiny for investing around €700m (£612m) in defence company Helsing through his venture capital fund. Munich-based Helsing sells AI software for military use and has expanded into weapons manufacturing following an investment by the founder of Spotify.Spotify has said that it is “totally separate” from HelsingSpotify founder Ek Daniel to step down as CEO; says: I will be more involved than a typical US chairmanGustav Söderström and Alex Norström under founder/former CEO/Executive Chair Daniel Ek (43%) (Ted Sarandos on this board)Spotify founder Daniel Ek once said he was the ‘least powerful person' at the company. Here's how he built it into a $145 billion music empireThe rise of the bro co-CEO: Lila MacLellanCEOs and Trump love affair continuesTrump, Pfizer agree to lower U.S. drug prices, exempt company from pharma tariffsTrump announces 'TrumpRx' drug-buying website alongside Pfizer CEOPartnering with Pfizer, beginning in 2026 the federal government will have a website, TrumpRx.gov, through which Pfizer's prescription drugs can be sold directly to consumers at discounts, without the intermediaries of pharmacy benefit managers such as CVS Health's Caremark and UnitedHealthcare-owned OptumRx46% against Say on Pay in 2025Proxy adviser ISS recommended against the compensation proposalCEO/Chair Albert BourlaOther board members include: former Vanguard CEO/Chair Mortimer J. Buckley, OpenAI (2024-) board member and former Meta (2013-2019) board member Susan Desmond-Hellmann; former Deloitte CEO Joseph J. Echevarria; Adobe CEO/Chair Shantanu Narayen; former Goldman Sachs Vice Chair Suzanne Nora Johnson; Coca-Cola CEO/Chair James Quincey; former State Street Global Advisor CEO Cyrus Taraporevala; Compensation Committee chair (James Smith, former Thomson Reuters CEO) received 93% supportOnly 23% women; 5 top NEOs all menTrump Adviser Admits Larry Ellison Is “Shadow President of the United States” Larry Ellison once predicted ‘citizens will be on their best behavior' amid constant recording. Now his company will pay a key role in social mediaElon Musk fighting for attention:Elon Musk speaks out on controversial $1 trillion Tesla pay package: 'It's not about compensation'"It's not about 'compensation,' but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots.”Elon Musk makes history as first person ever to hit $500B net worth milestoneNew Evidence Links Elon Musk to Epstein's IslandElon Musk Calls Wikipedia “Too Woke,” Announces His Own GrokipediaElon Musk implores people "Cancel Netflix" over a canceled TV show because of wokeMore Dummies from DealBook:Talking A.I. With CEO William Stone of SS&C, a major investment fund administrator and transfer agency, acquired the automation software company Blue Prism for around $1.6 billion in 2022:How do you personally use A.I.? “I'm interested in horse racing, and I own horses. I use A.I. to track how they're doing. There are all kinds of statistics, like how far can they travel before their performance starts to deteriorate: If they're in Kentucky, can they go to California? Can they go to New York?”Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):DR: Gavin Newson [sic] Signs Law Cracking Down on AI IndustryCalifornia governor Gavin Newsom signed what proponents say is the first AI safety and transparency law in the US. The Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, also known as SB 53, requires AI companies with over $500 million in revenue to publicly disclose their safety and security protocols in fairly granular detailMM: F.D.A. Approves a New Generic Abortion Pill DR MMMM: Activist Investor Wants Target's Brian Cornell Completely OutMM: One line from this story about Tesla's advising sleepy drivers to stay away by enabling Full Self Driving: Tesla's cars can't actually drive themselves without close human supervision. Nonetheless, the automaker labels its most advanced driving mode “Full Self-Driving” (FSD), while its CEO and chief overpromiser Elon Musk explicitly says that they do, in fact, “drive themselves” seemingly every other week.Assholiest of the Week Biggest Loser (MM):US WomenThe rise of the bro-co-CEOMilitary women fear losing 'every bit of ground' as Hegseth looks backward to the 1990sUber Not Responsible for Sex Assault, Jury Finds, as More Cases FollowKKR Appoints Former Eaton CEO Craig Arnold to Board of Directors, Increasing Independent Seats to ElevenContinues a trend - from 29% to 26% female by adding another dude through board expansionMeanwhile…Share of female execs at major Japan firms rises to 18.4%Spineless companiesDisney's image tanks among Republicans, Democrats after Jimmy Kimmel controversyCracker Barrel Drops Firm Behind Ill-Fated Logo ChangeInvestorsU.S. States are shedding shareholder protections. That's an advantage for CanadaPreparing the board for 2026: More than half of directors want a peer replaced, survey findsFedEx shareholders elect Richard Smith, son of founder Fred Smith, to board of directorsEveryone elseGodfather of AI Says We're Barreling Straight Toward Human ExtinctionOpenAI says it's worried about ‘doomscrolling, addiction, isolation, and … sloptimized feeds' as it rolls out Sora social media appMeta won't allow users to opt out of targeted ads based on AI chatsElon Musk Calls Wikipedia “Too Woke,” Announces His Own GrokipediaLarry Ellison once predicted ‘citizens will be on their best behavior' amid constant recording. Now his company will pay a key role in social mediaThe wealth of the top 1% reaches a record $52 trillionThe climateNew BP Chair Urges Faster Pivot to Oil and GasDuke Energy backs off renewables after North Carolina cuts climate goalTrump administration cancels nearly $8 billion in climate funding to blue states: VoughtMAGA comes for the ‘woke pope' after pontiff blesses block of ice in climate change gestureOpenAI's New Data Centers Will Draw More Power Than the Entirety of New York City, Sam Altman SaysHeadliniest of the WeekDR: New Poll: 94% of Gen Z Youth Report Experiencing Regular Mental Health ChallengesMM: Police Pull Over Waymo to Check for Drunk DrivingWho Won the Week?DR: Daniel Ek: the dude who got rich by devaluing artists, then used his billionaire ego to create a vanity money-spending company with the pretentious name Prima Materia (“formless primeval substance regarded as the original material of the universe”).Prima Materia says it wants to “partner with exceptional people to build companies that leverage technology to help solve meaningful problems for society.”He set it up with Shakil Khan — a fellow Spotify investor and close personal friend with a criminal past, who was accused of hiding his real role at Spotify during its IPO.Khan doesn't appear in any of Spotify's filing documents, even though he's been publicly described as: 1) “head of special projects,” 2) “advisor to Daniel Ek,” 3) “personal advisor to the Spotify CEO,” 4) “investor in Spotify,” 5) “founder,” 6) “consigliere,” 7) “second-in-command,” and 8) “prominent public role” — apparently to avoid scaring investors.Khan cites Mark Zuckerberg as the American leader he admires most.Now their company invests (and Ek chairs) in literal weapon building (Helsing/military strike drones, etc.) and nonsense like Neko Health, the so-called “Apple of healthcare” that charges £300 for preventative screenings like mole checks — giving Daniel Ek more time to feel super important and potentially destroy the world while getting richer?MM: Ron Sugar, who TWICE has had his age limit restriction waived on the Apple board, will turn out a-okay: Dr. Ronald Sugar and Gilman Louie join Ursa Major's Board of DirectorsPredictionsDR: Daniel Ek's Prima Materia leads €600 million Series D strategic financing round for Moodify, an AI-supported app that will “end depression” by pushing algorithmically-optimized dopamine ads 24/7, think TikTok for sadnessMM: LAY UP: After reading this - Apollo Global Management director Pauline Richards resigns from board - the board is now 4 women and 10 men (Marc Rowan owns 63% of board influence, so no one really matters). I predict Pauline Richards will be replaced by a male director, going from 33% female to 27% female in one fell swoop. Side note: Apollo's fun joke was to have a “sustainability committee” on the board they take so seriously, it's the committee with 3 women and and anti-woke anti-ESG ex-Senator Patrick Toomey

On day two of the government shutdown, Carl Quintanilla, Courtney Reagan and Michael Santoli explored the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting new record highs. The tech sector surged to new all-time highs sparked by the AI trade -- in reaction to OpenAI's valuation jumping to $500 billion. Tesla shares in volatile trading after the EV maker posted record deliveries for the third quarter, while rival Rivian lowered its annual deliveries forecast. Also in focus: Government shutdown developments including the delay of jobless claims data  — and what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC about the potential impact of the shutdown on GDP, Berkshire Hathaway agrees to acquire Occidental Petroleum's chemicals unit for $9.7 billion in cash.Squawk on the Street Disclaimer Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week, the Hivemind team discusses their current market outlook as crypto starts to recover after a large leverage flush last week. We deep dive into why are SOL DAT volumes so low, the Plasma token launch, Tether's $500B valuation, the perp DEX wars & more. Enjoy! -- Follow Ceteris: ⁠https://x.com/ceterispar1bus⁠ Follow Duncan: https://x.com/FloodCapital Follow Yan: ⁠https://x.com/YanLiberman⁠ Follow Jose: ⁠https://x.com/ZeMariaMacedo⁠ Follow Empire: ⁠https://x.com/theempirepod⁠ -- Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://bit.ly/4jYEkBx⁠ Subscribe on Apple: ⁠https://bit.ly/3ECSmJ3⁠ Subscribe on Spotify: ⁠https://bit.ly/4hzy9lH⁠ Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: ⁠https://blockworks.co/newsletter/⁠ -- Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (01:25) State Of The Market (07:42) Why Are SOL DAT Volumes So Low? (12:24) Tether Raising $20B At A $500B Valuation (19:46) Stablecoin Chains (24:42) Flying Tulip's $200m Seed Round (28:20) What Is DoubleZero? (36:46) The Perp DEX Wars (40:37) Hyperliquid (52:16) Tokenization -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, the Hivemind team, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this week's episode of the Coin Stories News Block powered exclusively by Ledn, we cover these major headlines related to Bitcoin, macroeconomics, and global finance: Bitcoin's Recent Price Volatility Explained - Is Another "Uptober" Ahead? Markets React as Government Shutdown Fears Rise Bloomberg: Tether Raising Up to $20B on $500B Valuation Will Stablecoins Help Run U.S. Deficits? U.K. Approves Mandatory Digital IDs for Workers OranjeBTC Launches Largest Bitcoin Treasury in Latin America Vanguard To Finally Approve Bitcoin ETFs? ---- The News Block is powered exclusively by Ledn – the global leader in Bitcoin-backed loans, issuing over $9 billion in loans since 2018, and they were the first to offer proof of reserves. With Ledn, you get custody loans, no credit checks, no monthly payments, and more. My followers get .25% off their first loan. Learn more at www.ledn.io/natalie  ---- Read every story in the News Block with visuals and charts! Join our mailing list and subscribe to our free Bitcoin newsletter: https://thenewsblock.substack.com  ---- References mentioned in the episode: Bitcoin's 90-day Volatility Hits 8-Year Low $300B in Long Positions Liquidated in Price Crash Who'll Lose When the Government Shuts Down? Fidelity Research on Bitcoin's Volatility Trump to Meet With Democrats to Avoid Shutdown CRFB Article on Government Shutdown President Trump's Post on Powell Getting Fired Tether's USAT Promotional Video Tether In talks to Raise at $500B Valuation Bessent Aims to Reduce Bank Capital Requirements Britain to Approve Mandatory Digital IDs for Workers Bessent Says Stablecoins Could Increase Treasury Demand Michael Shellenberger's Article on Digital IDs Vanguard Eyes Crypto ETFs on Platform Kamala Harris Calls out Ross Ulbricht Ross Ulbricht Responds to Kamala Harris OranjeBTC Launches as Largest BTC Holder in LATAM Michael Saylor's Speech on Treasury Companies ---- Upcoming Events: Bitcoin 2026 will be here before you know it. Get 10% off Early Bird passes using the code HODL: https://tickets.b.tc/event/bitcoin-2026?promoCodeTask=apply&promoCodeInput=  Your Bitcoin oasis awaits at Camp Nakamoto: A retreat for Bitcoiners, by Bitcoiners. Code HODL for discounted passes: https://massadoptionbtc.ticketspice.com/camp-nakamoto      ---- This podcast is for educational purposes and should not be construed as official investment advice. ---- VALUE FOR VALUE — SUPPORT NATALIE'S SHOWS Strike ID https://strike.me/coinstoriesnat/ Cash App $CoinStories #money #Bitcoin #investing

In this week's Friday Five, we dive into Tether's jaw-dropping $500B valuation bid, the SEC's surprise innovation exemption, bipartisan momentum on a market structure bill, Ethereum's latest Wall Street narrative, and breaking news that even Vanguard is finally letting customers buy crypto ETFs. Plus, what Bitcoin's bloody September tells us about the cycle ahead. Enjoying this content? SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast: https://pod.link/1438693620 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakdownBW Subscribe to the newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thebreakdown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join the discussion: https://discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8 Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownBW

 Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week, we're joined by Farooq Malik, co-founder and CEO of Rain, as two parallel wars erupt across crypto: the Perp DEX war between Hyperliquid and the CZ-backed Aster, and the deepening battle for stablecoin dominance. As Aster rockets to $30B in daily volume, we debate whether it's real adoption or points-fueled froth — and what it means for Hyperliquid's lead. Then we dive into Tether's shocking $500B valuation play, Circle's shrinking moat, and how Rain is building real-world rails for stablecoin payments. If crypto has two new battlegrounds — trading venues and money itself — this is where the future is getting drawn. Show highlights

In this week's Weekly Rollup, we break down “Downtemper” market moves as Bitcoin and Ethereum slide, and examine why Vitalik Buterin is calling low-risk DeFi Ethereum's true backbone. We highlight Tether's ambitious $500B raise, Polymarket's mainstream moment on South Park, and Gary Gensler's testy CNBC appearance. We also cover Paul Atkins' push for pro-crypto regulation, the heated debate over whether Base should be regulated like Nasdaq, and the surprising deletion of 86 million bank accounts in Vietnam as digital ID mandates expand. ------

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:  We review the Coin Center dinner Tether is going out to raise at $500b Cloudflare wants to launch a stablecoin for agentic payments and launches the 402 protocol Circle is thinking about reversible transactions BitGo files for an S1 Strive acquires Semler Scientific The SEC is looking into 200 DATs for insider trading 9 major European banks are looking to launch a MiCA stablecoin The Bank Policy Institute thinks stablecoins threaten banks Senate Finance Cmte is looking at crypto taxes  Naver is looking to acquire Upbit

This week we're back to discuss the top stories of the week. We deep dive into the state of markets, Tether looking to raise $20B at a $500B valuation, Aster vs Hyperliquid, crypto IPOs in 2025-26 & more. Enjoy! -- Follow Santi: https://x.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod -- Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from David Canellis. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts -- Ansem's outlook on markets: https://x.com/blknoiz06/status/1970107553079079341 -- Crypto's premiere institutional conference returns to London in October 2025. Use code EMPIRE100 for £100 off at checkout: https://blockworks.co/event/digital-asset-summit-2025-london -- Crypto-native institutions and developers demand institutional-grade infrastructure with regulatory clarity and full asset control. Blockdaemon's Earn Stack is a non-custodial platform combining high-performance staking rewards and seamless DeFi integration with no intermediate smart contract or vaults. Programmatically access leading Ethereum & Solana staking rewards, plus DeFi opportunities across lending protocols, DEXs, and AMMs. Book a Demo! -- peaq, the Machine Economy Computer, proudly sponsors the Empire podcast. peaq is home to 60+ apps across 20+ industries and millions of devices, machines, and onchain robots. It powers the world's first tokenized robo-farm, launching soon in Hong Kong, and has launched the Machine Economy Free Zone in Dubai as a Web3 x Robotics x AI innovation hub. For more about peaq, check out www.peaq.xyz -- Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (02:32) Are Markets A Little Too Frothy? (06:43) The Stablecoin Thesis (10:43) Takeaways From The Origin Summit (13:53) Ansem's Outlook On Markets (22:49) Tether Raising $20B at $500B Valuation (26:26) Ads (Blockdaemon, Peaq) (27:26) Aster vs Hyperliquid (39:23) BitGo Files Their S-1 (50:28) Ads (Blockdaemon, Peaq) (51:36) Crypto IPOs In 2026 (55:02) Cloudflare Issuing A Stablecoin (59:06) Zerohash Raises $100M At $1B Valuation (01:01:48) Content Of The Week -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Tether is reportedly looking to raise up to $20B. Can they hit $500B valuation? Tether is looking to raise between $15 billion and $20 billion for about a 3% stake in the company through a private placement, according to a report from Bloomberg. The raise would bring its valuation to around $500 billion, putting it in the same league as OpenAI and SpaceX. CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie hosts “CoinDesk Daily.” - Break the cycle of exploitation. Break down the barriers to truth. Break into the next generation of privacy. Break Free. Free to scroll without being monetized. Free from censorship. Freedom without fear. We deserve more when it comes to privacy. Experience the next generation of blockchain that is private and inclusive by design. Break free with Midnight, visit midnight.network/break-free - This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

Can AI stocks beat Big Tech? In this episode, I discuss OpenAI and its decision to expand a secondary share sale that lets insiders sell about $10.3 billion of stock at roughly a $500 billion valuation. Although skeptical at first, the calculations reveal there is a path for OpenAI to deliver outsized returns.I cover:(0:00) The $500B question (01:11) Why the Nasdaq Index is the benchmark (03:35) Inside the OpenAI-Microsoft deal (05:50) The bull case: OpenAI's trillion-dollar path (09:33) The AI market explosion (12:39) The bear case: Competition and constraints (17:13) Exploring the models of tomorrow (20:58) The disruption premium (23:21) Where will OpenAI's revenue come from? (29:14) The final verdict

The Trump administration is weighing a massive Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac IPO that could value the mortgage giants at $500 billion. What would this mean for real estate investors, housing finance, and mortgage rates? In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down the potential risks and opportunities, from investor windfalls to housing affordability concerns, and why the outcome could reshape U.S. housing markets for decades. JOIN RealWealth® FOR FREE https://realwealth.com/join-step-1  FOLLOW OUR PODCASTS Real Wealth Show: Real Estate Investing Podcast https://link.chtbl.com/RWS

Today's Headlines: Putin wants to meet with Trump next week to talk about ending the war in Ukraine, and Trump says he's hoping to follow that up with a three-way summit with Zelensky. While that's brewing, Trump's playing tariff hardball—he just doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50% to punish them for buying Russian oil (which… they already said they were going to keep doing). He also announced 100% tariffs on imported semiconductor chips unless companies build in the US, but Apple's apparently promised $100B in US investments, so they're cool. In Georgia, a 28-year-old Army sergeant shot five fellow soldiers at Fort Stewart before being tackled by other troops. Everyone's expected to recover, and the Army's investigating. The Library of Congress had to admit that major sections of the Constitution—like habeas corpus and the emoluments clause—were missing from their site due to a “coding error.” Sure. RFK Jr., now head of Health & Human Services, just canceled $500B in contracts for mRNA vaccine development because he doesn't trust the science. Meanwhile, OpenAI inked a $1 deal to give the federal government access to its AI tools next year. And for some good news: crime in the U.S. hit a 20-year low in 2024, and early 2025 data says it's still going down. Resources/Articles mentioned in this episode: Axios: Putin proposed summit with Trump: White House AP News: Trump to put additional 25% import taxes on India, bringing combined tariffs to 50% WSJ: Trump Exempts Tech Companies That Invest in U.S. From 100% Chip Tariffs AP News: Army sergeant shot 5 soldiers before he was tackled and arrested at Fort Stewart, officials say Axios: Library of Congress blames "coding error" for missing sections of online Constitution NBC News: RFK Jr. cuts $500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts, dealing major blow to promising area of research Wired: OpenAI Announces Massive US Government Partnership Axios: Nation's violent crime rate fell in 2024 to lowest in 20 years: FBI Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices