Welcome to this week's edition of "Last Week in Podcast"! This week we've got summaries of the latest episodes of All-In Podcast, Lex Fridman Podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, The Diary of A CEO, and This Week in Startups.

Get the most out of your podcast time with our episode summaries, top picks and recommendations. Let's dive in!

All-In Podcast (Episode 114)

In this episode, four besties Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg discussed the current state of the stock market and its potential implications for the venture capital and startup markets. They discussed topics such as the Fed's rate hike, the recent jobs report, the risk of reigniting inflation, the efficiency of tech companies, and the potential for a 'mass extinction event' and 'VC reckoning'. They also touched on the lack of success in the current crop of venture capitalists, the potential impact of AI companies, and the need for startups to focus on their bottom line.

• Macro Picture: The four friends discussed the Fed's recent 25 basis point rate hike and the jobs data from this morning which was much higher than expected at 517,000 jobs added. They believe that the Fed will likely only raise rates by another 25 basis points before pausing. They also discussed how tax loss harvesting at the end of last year has led to a lot of systematic buying and how this may be reminiscent of the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019 when Powell tried to stick the landing. They also discussed how the US needs to have a 5-6% jobless rate for 5 years in order for inflation to remain under control, and that if the stock market keeps going up and liquidity increases, there is a risk of reigniting inflation.

• Startup Mass Extinction Event: They discussed about Tom Loverio's tweet about a mass extinction event coming for early and mid-stage companies in late 23 and 24 due to a survey of 450 founders by January Ventures. Mark Suster from Upfront Ventures also replied with an internal analysis that estimated 50 out of 5000 seed, A and B companies funded in the last 4 years will go out of business.

• Transition of Facebook: They talked about Facebook's transition to an 'X Growth Company', and how this could result in a return of hundreds of billions of dollars of shareholder value over the next 5 years.

• VC Reckoning: The record amount of venture capital raised in the past few years and the evolution of venture capital investing was also in the discussion. They explored how companies like Facebook are responding to increased pressure from investors by cutting layers of middle management and becoming more efficient. The takeaway is that companies will need to be more resilient and selective in order to survive the 'mass extinction event' of venture capital and that investors will need to re-evaluate their strategies in order to remain competitive.

Lex Fridman Podcast

In this episode, Lex Fridman and Tim Dodd talked about SpaceX's starship rocket engine and the future of space travel. They talked about the progress of the Falcon 9 and the achievements of SpaceX. They discussed progress of Falcon 9, the mission behind the starship, and preparation for space travel. They also talked about the differences between Soviet and American space race. Here are some highlights:

• Evolution of the Falcon 9: Lex and Tim discussed a brief history of SpaceX Rockets, from the Falcon 1 to the Falcon 9, Dragon Capsules, and Starship. They explain the importance of reusability in order to make interplanetary missions financially viable and discuss the innovations that SpaceX has implemented in order to achieve this goal.

• Culture of SpaceX: Tim then explained how Elon Musk's approach of questioning constraints has inspired him to challenge his own limits. They also discussed how SpaceX has pushed the boundaries of reusability and cost reduction in space travel, opening up potential for colonizing Mars.

• Future Without Elon Musk: Tim then discussed what would happen if Elon Musk were not around anymore. Lex and Tim agreed that Elon's drive for Mars is essential for the success of SpaceX and that it would be hard to uphold without him.

They also talked about Soviet vs American Space Race, the Moon landing, long-term space travel, and others.

The Tim Ferriss Show

In this episode, Elan Lee, the co-creator and CEO of Exploding Kittens, shares his experiences of creating a game and raising millions on Kickstarter. He talks about the process of creating the game Poetry for Neanderthals and how he collaborated with Matt Inman to launch the game on Kickstarter. He also discusses best practices for running a successful Kickstarter campaign, such as not making assumptions and spotlighting their backers. The team stresses the importance of creating a product that people will fall in love with and that will last for years.

• Creating Poetry for Neanderthals: Elan Lee talked about the process of creating the game Poetry for Neanderthals. Lee and two game designers, Jacob and Francesca, came up with the concept of a game where players had to learn a new language and were restricted to single syllable words. After a year of trial and error, they simplified the game to its core gameplay loop of having one player give cues in single syllable words for the other players to guess. With the help of Matt Inman, they named it Poetry for Neanderthals.

• Raising Money On Kickstarter: After refining the core gameplay loop and adding elements to enhance the experience, Elan and the team launched the game on Kickstarter with a target of $10,000, but they ended up raising almost nine million dollars, becoming the most backed Kickstarter project at the time. This success was attributed to their background, Matt and The Oatmeal's followers, and their ability to refine the core gameplay loop to create an entertaining experience.

• Raising Millions on Kickstarter: In this part, Elan Lee talks about his experience with creating games and how he raised millions on Kickstarter by shifting from direct-to-consumer sales to using distributors and getting placement at places like Walmart or Target. He speaks about hobby stores which sell more hardcore games as well as working with middle managers when dealing with them. He then talks about his approach when designing games - using conversation as part of it - as well as play-testing it with one question in mind: did they want to play again? He also talks about his company's guiding principles when it comes to game design such as two-player versus three or four players.

Elan Lee also talked about Creating Super Fans, Game Design & Production, Social Game, etc.

The Diary of A CEO

Steven Bartlett and Giles Yeo had a lively discussion about the misconceptions around calories, dieting and losing weight. They discussed topics such as veganism, Keto diets, the importance of understanding the quality of food, and the need for governments to put resources in the right places to address the obesity epidemic. They both agree that making healthier food cheaper and finding ways to destigmatize obesity are key steps in helping to solve the problem.

• The Lies We've Been Told About Calories, Dieting & Losing Weight: Giles explained that different foods can have different caloric availability, and that counting calories is a useful tool to get an idea of how much food you are eating, but it does not tell you anything about the quality of the food. He also talked about the conflicting advice on diets that can be found on Instagram.

• Veganism is Not Necessary for Everyone to Become Healthy: Giles believes that while veganism is a healthy diet, it is not suitable for everyone and that it is important to supplement certain vitamins and minerals when following a plant-based diet.

• The Brain Works to Keep Us at Our Default Base Weight: They mention the 'obese gene', leptin, and mc4r, which are all responsible for regulating body weight.

This Week in Startups

In this week's episode of This Week in Startups, Jason Calacanis and Molly Wood discussed various news and topics related to AI technology, including Anthropic's $5 billion valuation, OpenAI hiring 1000 contractors, Baidu creating a GPT-3 version, Mr. Beast's latest video and the need to address healthcare, and Project Veritas.

• Anthropic's $5B Valuation: Jason and Molly discussed Anthropic's recent raise at a $5 billion valuation and their focus on AI technology. Jason believes that much of the conversation around AI safety is marketing and that Anthropic is likely building similar products to OpenAI. They discussed how contractors may be used to teach AI technology and the potential benefits and dangers of AI.

• OpenAI Hiring 1000 Contractors: OpenAI's recent decision to hire 1000 contractors for data labeling was also mentioned. They discussed how developers are becoming more efficient with AI and the debate around code protection. They also mentioned IBM's use of contractors to teach Watson and how Anthropic may be doing something similar.

• Baidu Creating a GPT-3 Version: Molly mentioned Baidu's efforts to create their own version of GPT-3 and the potential dystopian implications if used for surveillance. Jason and Molly discussed the potential of AI technology to steer people in both positive and negative directions.

• Mr. Beast's Latest Video: Jason and Molly discussed Mr. Beast's latest video, in which he pays for the surgery of 1000 people suffering from blindness. They talked about the varied reactions to the video, including criticism of exploitation and admiration for generosity. They concluded that the video raises questions about the current state of healthcare and the tendency to monetize suffering.

I hope you enjoyed it. See you next week!