trading places

a very bad 💩podcast about VC secondaries broken unicorns ❤️‍🩹🦄 & busted carry 📉🙈

trading places is a business podcast hosted by Practical Venture Capital, with 45 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Practical Venture Capital hosts trading places, a business show with 45 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #45

  Anthropic vs. OpenAI: Inside the $2 Trillion IPO Race

  Aug 19, 202638 min

  This week on Trading Places, Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down the Anthropic roadshow numbers and leaked internal forecasts, Nvidia securing a $500B financing coalition of six Wall Street giants, and the SpaceX $60B acquisition of Cursor. Plus: the Canva growth slowdown rattles its IPO case, Databricks becomes a top-5 private company at $190B, and Aman celebrates the NYC launch of his new book, A Brief History of Financial Bubbles . 00:00 – cold open 00:45 – [ tech and vc news ] 00:56 – Aman’s “History of Financial Bubbles” book launch 01:20 – are we in a bubble right now? 02:00 – Anthropic IPO in Sept/Oct? ⏳️ 05:30 – ⁠⁠Nvidia mobilizes $500B with 6 Finance Giants 11:22 – AI race: Anthropic is Secretariat, OpenAI is Twice a Prince 12:06 – potential timeline for OpenAI IPO ‍♂️ 14:22 – SpaceX acquires Cursor for $60B 16:11 – Canva growth rates slow down, valuation cut 20:55 – Stripe acquires OpenRouter for $7B 22:41 – Silver Lake takes Workday private 24:26 – Databricks valued at $190B 26:17 – Kalshi and Cognition raise at $40B valuation each 29:02 – [ valuation corner: Hadrian @ $8B ] 33:00 – solving long-standing problems in weapons manufacturing 33:28 – can set up new production lines in months, not years 35:00 – signed massive contract with US Navy [ links ] [ invest = https://practicalvc.com ] [ trading places socials = www.linktr.ee/tradingplacespod ] [ aman verjee = https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-verjee | https://x.com/amanverjee ] [ dave mcclure = https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemcclure | https://x.com/davemcclure ] Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. We may hold positions in companies discussed. Do your own research. #Anthropic #IPO #VentureCapital #DefenseTech #PrivateMarkets

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  Episode #44

  Bending Spoons at $30B: Brilliant Roll-Up or Overvalued? + SpaceX, Airtable & VC News

  Aug 13, 202658 min

  Is Bending Spoons really worth nearly $30 billion? This week on Trading Places , Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down the Italian software roll-up after its $2.25B acquisition of Airtable — and ask whether buying challenged SaaS companies at 3–4x revenue can justify Bending Spoons trading around 10x revenue. Timestamps: 00:39 - [ tech and vc news ] 02:00 - historic Q2 earnings 05:18 - SpaceX stock rises 09:53 - ⁠Elon scores AI wins after Grok 'miss' 11:44 - Nvidia partners with Elon 15:55 - Elon is planning the largest building in the world 18:10 - SpaceX buys Cursor 19:47 - OpenAI slashes prices 22:34 - Pitchbook Q2 report on VC Secondary Market 29:54 - Zach Dell starts energy company: Base Power @$13B 30:38 - defense-tech startup Hadrian on the rise @8B 31:06 - AI power crunch fuels Valar Atomics @$6B ⚛️ 34:45 - Palmer Luckey joins Elon, Bezos and Dorsey 37:57 - Bending Spoons buys Airtable 42:14 - the SaaSpocalypse is real ‍♂️ 47:25 - [ valuation corner: Bending Spoons, Luca Ferrari ] 49:09 - unconventional background of Milan-based founder Luca Ferrari 50:03 - buying up famous internet names 50:38 - determining if their current value is justified 52:26 - recent acquisition of Airtable 54:14 - why the Bending Spoons business model makes sense 57:35 - second takes [ links ] [ invest = https://practicalvc.com ] [ trading places socials = www.linktr.ee/tradingplacespod ] [ aman verjee = https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-verjee | https://x.com/amanverjee ] [ dave mcclure = https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemcclure | https://x.com/davemcclure ] Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. We may hold positions in companies discussed. Do your own research.

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  Episode #43

  Can Helsing Become Europe’s Anduril? Inside Its $18B Valuation

  Aug 6, 20261h 15m

  Is Helsing becoming Europe’s answer to Anduril? In this episode of Trading Places, Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down the German defense technology company’s new $18 billion valuation, its AI-powered autonomous systems, its battlefield testing in Ukraine, and the growing pressure on Europe to build its own defense capabilities. Aman compares Helsing’s software-first model with Anduril’s vertically integrated hardware-and-software approach—and explains why Helsing’s limited access to the U.S. defense market may be the biggest factor determining whether its valuation is justified. Dave also sits down with Kelly Rodriques, CEO of Forge Global, now part of Charles Schwab, to discuss the rapidly expanding private secondary market. 00:00 – cold open 00:47 – [ tech and vc news ] 02:41 – The Fed votes to hold rates steady 07:20 – Q2 Earnings Week: how big tech did last quarter 09:22 – how big tech makes their money - diagramed 12:08 – Situational Awareness - Aschenbrenner loses his shirt 16:11 – the highly volatile Korean stock market 18:14 – SpaceX shares unlock August 6 22:14 – Anthropic and OpenAI models hack into systems of other companies 25:37 – Big Tech employee tender offers 29:44 – Uber founder's new company and jet ski commute 32:51 – [ intvw: Kelly Rodrigues, Forge Global ] 33:19 – his journey into private markets 35:57 – why companies stay private longer now 37:00 – the new secondary market "middle world" 40:20 – the Forge customer type ‍♂️ 46:30 – how to buy private companies on Forge 49:00 – why Charles Schwab bought them out 57:04 – what SpaceX IPO can teach AI giants ️ 1:05:15 – predictions for markets in coming year 1:06:58 – [ valuation corner: Helsing @ $18B ] 1:07:12 – the Munich-based company raised $1.8B 1:07:45 – inspired by Clausewitz 1:11:45 – how military budgets are changing 1:12:32 – how Helsing compares to Anduril and Saronic Trading Places is the world’s worst podcast about VC secondaries, private markets and high-growth technology companies. Subscribe for weekly coverage of private-company valuations, tender offers, secondary transactions, IPOs and venture capital liquidity.[ links ] [ invest = https://practicalvc.com ] [ trading places socials = www.linktr.ee/tradingplacespod ][ kelly rodriques = https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-rodriques-9b49418 | https://x.com/frgeglobal ] [ aman verjee = https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-verjee | https://x.com/amanverjee ] [ dave mcclure = https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemcclure | https://x.com/davemcclure ] Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. We may hold positions in companies discussed. Do your own research. #Helsing #DefenseTech #VentureCapital #PrivateMarkets #Anduril #SpaceX #ForgeGlobal

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  trading places

  SpaceX's First Earnings Report as a Public Company SPECIAL EPISODE

  Aug 5, 202624 min

  SpaceX just reported earnings for the first time since going public — and the numbers were a rollercoaster. Revenue beat estimates by a mile (+92% YoY), EBITDA came in strong, and every business segment posted growth. So why did the stock give up its gains and drop 8% after hours? In this special breakdown, Dave and Aman dig into: 0:27 SpaceX first earnings report 5:45 how SpaceX makes money 6:38 the importance of EBITDA 8:04 detailing SpaceX revenue 12:55 bull and bear case for SpaceX stock 17:13 chances of a SpaceX-Tesla merger 23:40 Dave’s 60th birthday This is a special one-off episode — full episode with our regular format comes out tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in! [ links ] [ invest = https://practicalvc.com ] [ trading places socials = www.linktr.ee/tradingplacespod ] [ aman verjee = https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-verjee | https://x.com/amanverjee ] [ dave mcclure = https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemcclure | https://x.com/davemcclure ] Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. We may hold positions in companies discussed. Do your own research.

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  Episode #42

  Anduril Hits $100B, Saronic Hits $9B Inside the Defense Tech Boom w/ Dave McClure and Aman Verjee

  Jul 28, 202648 min

  Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down why venture capital is pouring into autonomous defense companies, how Anduril, Shield AI, Saronic and a new generation of startups are challenging the traditional defense primes, and why expanding military budgets outside the United States could create an enormous new market. They also discuss the growing threat Chinese open-weight AI models pose to OpenAI and Anthropic, including Kimi K3’s near-frontier performance at a fraction of the apparent cost. Could cheaper open models force the leading American AI labs to compete harder—or will Washington restrict access? 00:45 - [ tech and vc news ] 01:51 - the Iran war: will it ever end? ️ 03:15 - Google: first negative cash-flow quarter ever 09:55 - SpaceX continues to fall 12:21 - Chinese open-source AI vs. American AI ‍♂️ 16:47 - When will Anthropic go public? 22:32 - most recent Chinese IPOs 26:17 - massive valuation for Databricks 27:06 - Where is the IPO market headed? 31:57 - [ valuation corner: defense tech on the rise ] 32:03 - Anduril seeking $100B valuation 33:53 - why defense tech is soaring 35:37 - military-tech leaders: the new generation 38:04 - how military budgets are changing 47:49 - second takes [ links ] [ invest = https://practicalvc.com ] [ trading places socials = www.linktr.ee/tradingplacespod ] [ aman verjee = https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-verjee | https://x.com/amanverjee ] [ dave mcclure = https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemcclure | https://x.com/davemcclure ] Thank you for watching! #Anduril #saronic #shieldai #defensetech #venturecapital

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