Silicon Zombies

Yves Béhar designed the Jawbone, the Snoo, and the August Smart Lock. Shaun Lopez has been selling solar on Maui for 20 years and chases 60-foot waves. They met surfing in Fiji, and this conversation connects the two worlds. They talk about how big-wave surfers manage fear (breathing, preparation, a good safety team), why the same mindset applies to startups, and how Yves has partnered with more than 100 startups instead of working for fees. Shaun also gives a plain look at solar, where the panels haven’t changed much in 20 years but prices have dropped.You also get the origin of the Telo mini electric truck, why a nuclear reactor founder is asking designers to make it beautiful, and what each guest thinks about AI as a tool. If you’re building something risky, or you’re curious how surfers, designers, and founders think about fear, this one is for you.Big thanks to our sponsors: TUOM, Necodex, and Truebinding.⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – Trailer01:02 – Welcome to Silicon Zombies at the Park James Hotel02:00 – Meet the Guests: Shaun’s Maui Solar Company & Yves’s Fuse Project02:58 – Where Yves’s Design Ideas Come From05:51 – Big-Wave Surfing: What It’s Like to Paddle Into a 60-Foot Wave06:19 – Managing Fear: Breathing, Visualization & Risk Assessment07:46 – Shaun’s Dad as Safety Lead & Why Seniority Matters08:31 – What Surfing Does for Your Mental Health & Performance11:01 – Chase What Scares You: The Cloudbreak Wave Story12:28 – Solar Today: What Has Actually Improved in 20 Years?13:35 – Why Hawaii Is the Best Market for Solar14:52 – The Cost Per Watt: Maui vs. the Mainland vs. the World16:20 – Yves’s Question: How Do You Know When to Jump Ship on a Startup?18:50 – Timing, Overfunding & What Predicts Startup Failure19:32 – Surfing & Startups: You Have to Love Punishment20:43 – The Nemo Fish & the Whale Encounter22:24 – Shaun’s Dolphin Dive in Fiji23:49 – Audience Q&A Begins24:07 – The Origin of the Telo Mini Truck27:54 – Telo Specs: 350-Mile Range, Price & Release Timeline28:52 – Solar for Vehicles: What’s Realistic30:09 – Why Should a Nuclear Reactor Look Beautiful?32:01 – Building Small Reactors for Medical Isotopes33:32 – What’s Next for Yves: Zero-Emission Ceramics & Designing Toilet Paper36:02 – How to Work With Yves37:46 – What Does “Style” Mean in Surfing & in Startups?39:17 – Wind Energy: Does It Work?41:05 – Corporate Structure Advice for a Pre-Seed Startup42:52 – Why Yves Became a Partner Instead of a Service Provider46:11 – AI: Threat or Tool? Preserving Empathy in Design48:59 – What Both Guests Are Excited About50:14 – Where Yves Invests Time & Capital52:02 – Why Shaun’s Most Valuable Investment Is Time52:36 – Surfing as Meditation: Staying Present in the Water54:35 – How to Connect With the Guests55:24 – Closing📍 About Silicon Zombies:Silicon Zombies is a Top 5% global podcast for AI, Venture Capital & Tech Innovation, hosted by Nick Larson. 🧟 Straight from the heart of Silicon Valley, we bring you weekly deep-dives with elite AI engineers, VCs, and longevity innovators shaping the next decade. We cut through the hype vs. reality of emerging tech, SaaS, biohacking, and start-up investing, no fluff, just real insight. Whether you're a founder building your network, an engineer chasing technical depth, or simply staying ahead of the curve, we bridge the gap. Insider access to the world's brightest tech minds. Weekly live streams with a global community across 100+ countries.🚀 Connect with Us:Instagram: @siliconzombiesX (Twitter): @siliconzombiesTikTok: @siliconzombiesSpotify: @siliconzombiesNewsletter: https://shorturl.at/31mUxSubscribe so you don't miss the conversations defining what comes next.

The market just wiped 12% off Google 😮 Here is why that might be a major opportunity 💡 • Custom TPUs second only to Nvidia’s stack• GCP scaling rapidly beyond $30B • Latest models reclaiming top benchmark spots• Owning 14% of Anthropic + an equity stake in SpaceX• YouTube as an untouchable training data moatIn 2 minutes, we break down why the panic doesn't match the infrastructure realities; and why this remains a high-conviction 2–3 year hold (not financial advice).Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Seven years ago, Jose Joaquin Bitar was in the darkest place of his life. His company was collapsing, he had to lay off 120 people who felt like family, and he couldn’t see a way out. Then a friend handed him a piece of chocolate over coffee, and 20 minutes later he felt calm and something close to joy for the first time in months. That moment sent him into years of research on the plants and molecules our ancestors used to balance their moods, and it became the idea behind TUOM.In this episode, Jose tells the full story and explains why he believes emotions drive decisions, and why changing how we feel can change the choices we make. His partner joins to talk through the natural ingredients behind the science and a real story of someone who used it before a dream job interview. If you’ve ever made a bad call while stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed, this one’s for you.Big thanks to our sponsors: TUOM, Necodex, and Truebinding.⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – Trailer00:49 – How a Bite of Chocolate and a Sip of Coffee Changed My Life00:56 – Seven Years Ago: A Company Collapsing01:11 – Laying Off 120 People Who Felt Like Family01:47 – The Coffee Shop & the Chocolate Bar02:19 – The 20-Minute Miracle02:35 – “The Answer Is in Nature”: The Research Begins02:59 – How Our Ancestors Used Plants, Roots & Flowers for Mood03:16 – The Question That Created TUOM03:30 – Emotional Pocket Alchemy03:48 – The First Product: SEMJA04:01 – Why Emotions Drive Decisions04:41 – Calm Strategic Choices vs. Stressed Defensive Choices05:02 – The Dream Job Interview Scenario05:25 – Showing Up Fully in the Moments That Matter05:31 – Handing It Over to the Partner05:40 – Why Fitting Your Emotions in Your Pocket Resonates06:25 – The Real Story: Manuela Soto’s Dream Job06:56 – The Science: Natural, Not Dangerous Chemicals07:18 – Lavender, Theobromine & Chocolate07:34 – Rhodiola, Ginseng, Saffron, Peppermint & Rosemary07:51 – Closing: Transform Your Emotions, Transform Your Judgement📍 About Silicon Zombies:Silicon Zombies is a Top 5% global podcast for AI, Venture Capital & Tech Innovation, hosted by Nick Larson. 🧟 Straight from the heart of Silicon Valley, we bring you weekly deep-dives with elite AI engineers, VCs, and longevity innovators shaping the next decade. We cut through the hype vs. reality of emerging tech, SaaS, biohacking, and start-up investing, no fluff, just real insight. Whether you're a founder building your network, an engineer chasing technical depth, or simply staying ahead of the curve, we bridge the gap. Insider access to the world's brightest tech minds. Weekly live streams with a global community across 100+ countries.🚀 Connect with Us:Instagram: @siliconzombiesX (Twitter): @siliconzombiesTikTok: @siliconzombiesSpotify: @siliconzombiesNewsletter: https://shorturl.at/31mUxSubscribe so you don't miss the conversations defining what comes next.

Longevity is one of the hottest categories in tech right now, but Max Marchione, founder of Superpower, argues the word itself is vague and unhelpful. In this talk he breaks the whole space down into two kinds of companies, consumer and biotech, and lays out the short-term playbook, the medium-term risks, and the long-term path for each. Along the way he explains why growth can matter more than product, how companies like Hims find a paid-ads arbitrage, and why the best ones eventually vertically integrate, build a brand, or become a platform.If you’re building, investing in, or just trying to make sense of the longevity boom, this gives you a clear framework for telling the real businesses from the noise. He also walks through Superpower and Moderna as case studies of how each path plays out.Thanks to our sponsors: @tuomglobal@necodex@truebindinginc⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – What Actually Is a Longevity Company?00:08 – Why “Longevity” Is a Vague Category00:20 – Four Very Different Kinds of Diagnostics Companies00:45 – The Simplification: Consumer vs. Biotech01:02 – Two Pathways to Success for Each01:34 – Consumer Longevity: The Short-Term Playbook02:15 – Product vs. Growth: Which Matters More?02:21 – Contribution Margin Greater Than CAC03:04 – Finding a CAC Arbitrage With Paid Ads03:36 – Medium-Term Risks: Margin Compression & Critics04:01 – Long-Term Option 1: Vertical Integration (Apple & Hims)04:46 – Long-Term Option 2: Building a Brand05:00 – Long-Term Option 3: Becoming a Platform05:23 – The Secret Formula for Consumer Longevity05:31 – Case Study: Superpower and the Scale Problem06:35 – Biotech Longevity: The Short-Term Playbook06:51 – Biotech Risks: Pharma Dependence & Obsolescence07:24 – Long-Term Paths: Platform or Vertical Integration07:32 – Case Study: How Moderna Became Pharma📍 About Silicon Zombies:Silicon Zombies is a Top 5% global podcast for AI, Venture Capital & Tech Innovation, hosted by Nick Larson. 🧟 Straight from the heart of Silicon Valley, we bring you weekly deep-dives with elite AI engineers, VCs, and longevity innovators shaping the next decade. We cut through the hype vs. reality of emerging tech, SaaS, biohacking, and start-up investing, no fluff, just real insight. Whether you're a founder building your network, an engineer chasing technical depth, or simply staying ahead of the curve, we bridge the gap. Insider access to the world's brightest tech minds. Weekly live streams with a global community across 100+ countries.🚀 Connect with Us:Instagram: @siliconzombiesX (Twitter): @siliconzombiesTikTok: @siliconzombiesSpotify: @siliconzombiesNewsletter: https://shorturl.at/31mUxSubscribe so you don't miss the conversations defining what comes next.

David Pogue spent years covering Apple from the outside, and in this one he pulls back the curtain on Steve Jobs, the Titan submersible, and what it’s like to be a journalist who gets screamed at by one of the most demanding CEOs in tech. He talks about the screenshot feature Apple refused to hand him, the 400-screenshot favor that followed, and why he thinks Tim Cook has quietly turned the Apple Watch into a medical device. He also shares what it was like to ride the Titan down to the wreck site, why he’s not convinced being a jerk is necessary to succeed, and a few stories about Steve’s private kindness that never made it into the mythology.This one is for anyone who’s ever wondered what Apple was really like behind the keynote, and for founders trying to figure out whether they need to be the toughest person in the room to win.Thanks to our sponsors: TUOM, Necodex, and Truebinding and WinstonTaylor.⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – Trailer01:36 – Welcome to Silicon Zombies & Introducing David Pogue02:00 – Apple’s 50th Anniversary & the Book Launch03:05 – Signed Bookplates for Viewers03:15 – David’s Background: From Broadway Dreams to Tech Reviewer05:05 – CBS Sunday Morning & Twenty Years on Air06:08 – Apple Book Access: Why Apple Said Yes07:05 – The iPhone Screenshot Feature & the 400-Screenshot Favor09:02 – The Secret Behind Apple’s “David Pogue Feature”09:15 – Are Steve Jobs-Style CEOs Necessary to Succeed?10:47 – The Titan Submersible: Three Strikes and a Dive Aborted13:01 – Inside the Countdown Rituals & the Stop Check14:24 – Tim Cook: Nerdy Number Cruncher or Product Guy?16:02 – Services, Growth, and Apple’s Business Scale16:31 – Apple Watch as a Medical Device: Atrial Fibrillation17:12 – Audience Show of Hands: Lives Saved by Apple Watch18:04 – Sleep Apnea, Hypertension, and Snoring Features18:08 – Why David Got the iPhone Wrong in 200619:17 – Singular Carrier, Secret Prototypes & the iPhone Launch20:03 – The Movie Critic’s Question: Steve Jobs on Screen21:21 – The Famous Imposter Keynote & “One More Thing”22:05 – Wi-Fi, Mouse, and Forgotten Apple Firsts23:22 – Inside Apple: Trust, Access & Culture24:29 – Face ID Testing: Masks, Twins & Makeup Mondays26:21 – Steve’s Phone Call Over iMovie27:50 – Apple’s Hidden Workforce & Alumni in the Crowd28:18 – Live Performance: Song Parodies About Apple35:38 – Q&A Begins: Steve Jobs’s Temper & Journalism37:03 – What the Smartphone Looks Like in 10 Years39:40 – Should We Be Concerned About AI?42:23 – Empathy in Steve Jobs & the Products of Tomorrow44:31 – Secret Acts of Kindness: Bill Atkinson, Pixar, Scott Forstall46:42 – The Last Conversation With Steve Jobs47:24 – Books, Reading & the Magic Trick49:11 – Where to Buy the Book49:37 – Closing Song & Goodbye📍 About Silicon Zombies:Silicon Zombies is a Top 5% global podcast for AI, Venture Capital & Tech Innovation, hosted by Nick Larson. 🧟 Straight from the heart of Silicon Valley, we bring you weekly deep-dives with elite AI engineers, VCs, and longevity innovators shaping the next decade. We cut through the hype vs. reality of emerging tech, SaaS, biohacking, and start-up investing, no fluff, just real insight. Whether you're a founder building your network, an engineer chasing technical depth, or simply staying ahead of the curve, we bridge the gap. Insider access to the world's brightest tech minds. Weekly live streams with a global community across 100+ countries.🚀 Connect with Us:Instagram: @siliconzombiesX (Twitter): @siliconzombiesTikTok: @siliconzombiesSpotify: @siliconzombiesNewsletter: https://shorturl.at/31mUxSubscribe so you don't miss the conversations defining what comes next.

Mike Maples passed on Airbnb because of a cereal box meeting, and he’s still thinking about it. His fund, Floodgate, has backed Twitter, Lyft, and a long list of companies that looked like bad bets at the time. In this one he breaks down why he deliberately aims for 100x outcomes, why most of his best returns came from pivots nobody predicted, and why a startup wins by turning the incumbent’s greatest strength into its weakness. He also gets into what he looks for in a founder, how AI is changing the way he evaluates deals, and why the best startup ideas make some people angry.This one is for founders trying to stand out in a crowded market, and for anyone who has ever second-guessed a decision they could have made differently.Thanks to our sponsors: TUOM, Necodex, and Truebinding.⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – Trailer01:05 – Welcome to Silicon Zombies & Introducing Mike Maples01:30 – Mike’s Background: Calligrapher to Floodgate02:17 – Twitter, Podcasting & the Early Bet03:16 – Voicemail 2.0 & Why Twitter Had No Business Model04:19 – Getting In at South by Southwest05:02 – Lyft’s Illegal Launch & Why Asking Permission Would Have Killed It07:05 – The Airbnb Cereal Box Meeting09:05 – Why Passing on Airbnb Cost 6000x10:03 – Floodgate’s Rule: Being Wrong Is the Price of Admission11:08 – The Power Law: 85% Miss Rate12:03 – Floodgate’s Math: 20x and 100x Targets13:04 – Startups Win by Changing the Subject14:11 – Four Seasons vs. Airbnb: Turning Strength Into Weakness15:11 – Inflections: Why Timing Is Everything17:00 – Why Now? The iPhone 4S and Lyft18:05 – Pattern Breakers: Limits in Your Own Head20:07 – Be Different, Not Better: The Cybertruck Lesson21:16 – Force a Choice, Don’t Invite a Comparison22:21 – Remembering Mike’s Father & the Fishing Lesson24:29 – Q&A Begins: AI and Startup Acceleration25:23 – Why AI Startups Don’t Fit Floodgate’s Thesis26:21 – AI as a Force Multiplier for Small Funds27:17 – Time Capsules: What Did Airbnb’s Signal Look Like?29:01 – Disagreement Is a Feature, Not a Bug30:31 – Nurturing Early True Believers33:04 – Founders Need Co-Conspirators, Not Customers35:05 – Does Business Model Matter?36:14 – The Founder as Artist37:30 – Coachable vs. Disagreeable Founders & Mike’s Law39:00 – Turning Strength Into Weakness: Microsoft Example41:01 – Nurturing Contrarian Thinkers43:15 – Handling Being Wrong 85% of the Time44:31 – Current Inflections: Vertical Software & Mass Cognition46:35 – Live Pitch: The Outdoor Gear Rental Platform49:01 – Specificity Is a Superpower50:59 – The Thunder Lizard Concept52:59 – How the Community Can Help53:36 – Closing📍 About Silicon Zombies:Silicon Zombies is a Top 5% global podcast for AI, Venture Capital & Tech Innovation, hosted by Nick Larson. 🧟 Straight from the heart of Silicon Valley, we bring you weekly deep-dives with elite AI engineers, VCs, and longevity innovators shaping the next decade. We cut through the hype vs. reality of emerging tech, SaaS, biohacking, and start-up investing, no fluff, just real insight. Whether you're a founder building your network, an engineer chasing technical depth, or simply staying ahead of the curve, we bridge the gap. Insider access to the world's brightest tech minds. Weekly live streams with a global community across 100+ countries.🚀 Connect with Us:Instagram: @siliconzombiesX (Twitter): @siliconzombiesTikTok: @siliconzombiesSpotify: @siliconzombiesSubscribe so you don't miss the conversations defining what comes next.

The Real Reason Your Brain Makes You Dream Every Night | Dr. David EaglemanDr. David Eagleman is a Stanford neuroscientist, author, and host of the Intercosmos podcast. He explains why your brain is a team of rivals and not one single you. He covers why time seems to slow down in a crash, and why dreams exist at all. His theory is that dreaming protects your visual cortex from being taken over by the other senses.He also talks about brain-computer interfaces, new senses for deaf people, and rehabilitation over punishment in the courts. He gets into sleepwalking murders, lucid dreaming, Alzheimer's, psychics, and the biggest open mystery in neuroscience: consciousness. The episode ends with audience Q&A from the live room.A big thank you to our sponsors for making this one possible:@truebindinginc@necodex@tuomglobal⏰ Timestamps00:00 Trailer01:08 Welcome to episode 19701:45 Who is David Eagleman02:26 The brain as a team of rivals03:56 The Ulysses contract05:00 Brain-computer interfaces06:29 Can bad decision makers change07:22 Why time slows down in a crash10:15 Sleep and memory11:15 Brain fog12:17 How he hacks his own brain13:30 Creating new senses for humans15:01 The brain and the law17:08 Hallucinogens without the drug18:38 Why prison reform is stuck19:40 The brain and literature21:07 Why we dream24:26 Lucid dreaming25:07 Murder while sleepwalking26:31 Why everyone hates Zoom27:16 Audience Q&A begins31:04 Neurofeedback and magnetic stimulation39:00 The biggest mystery: consciousness40:05 Alzheimer's and living longer41:46 Old ideas about the brain44:49 Psychics and the brain45:27 Consciousness Explained46:53 Monks and party tricks49:23 Social media and polarization51:02 Does the heart think52:33 Locked-in syndrome56:33 Near-death experiences58:01 Where to find David📍 About Silicon Zombies:Silicon Zombies is a Top 5% global podcast for AI, Venture Capital & Tech Innovation, hosted by Nick Larson. 🧟 Straight from the heart of Silicon Valley, we bring you weekly deep-dives with elite AI engineers, VCs, and longevity innovators shaping the next decade. We cut through the hype vs. reality of emerging tech, SaaS, biohacking, and start-up investing, no fluff, just real insight. Whether you're a founder building your network, an engineer chasing technical depth, or simply staying ahead of the curve, we bridge the gap. Insider access to the world's brightest tech minds. Weekly live streams with a global community across 100+ countries.🚀 Connect with Us:Instagram: @siliconzombiesX (Twitter): @siliconzombiesTikTok: @siliconzombiesSpotify: @siliconzombiesSubscribe so you don't miss the conversations defining what comes next.

Dr. Hillary Lin is calling out the longevity world. Smart, driven people are the worst at health because they defend bad decisions harder than anyone else. They measure everything. They chase peptides and NAD. They copy whatever Bryan Johnson or Andrew Huberman does without thinking.Here's what actually matters: the basics. Sleep enough. Move enough. Know your numbers. That's 80% of the work. Everything else is noise.Then she walks you through the four traps that kill your protocol. Measurement obsession. Majoring in minors. Copying someone else's homework. And protocol inertia — doing the same thing in your 50s that worked in your 30s.She gives you the CORE framework to evaluate any longevity intervention before you waste time or money on it.A big thank you to our sponsors for making this one possible:@tuomglobal@necodex@truebindinginc⏰ Timestamps00:00 Trailer01:15 Welcome to Dr. Hillary Lin03:36 The four traps05:59 Trap #3 deep dive (copying homework)06:00 Trap #4 (protocol inertia)08:09 What actually works (first principles)08:32 The longevity hierarchy09:42 Tier 1: preventative care (the 80%)10:31 Tier 2 & 3: where most people fail10:52 The CORE framework (how to evaluate anything)14:03 NAD: is it worth it?15:50 Final message: stop rearranging deck chairs📍 About Silicon Zombies:Silicon Zombies is a Top 5% global podcast for AI, Venture Capital & Tech Innovation, hosted by Nick Larson. 🧟 Straight from the heart of Silicon Valley, we bring you weekly deep-dives with elite AI engineers, VCs, and longevity innovators shaping the next decade. We cut through the hype vs. reality of emerging tech, SaaS, biohacking, and start-up investing, no fluff, just real insight. Whether you're a founder building your network, an engineer chasing technical depth, or simply staying ahead of the curve, we bridge the gap. Insider access to the world's brightest tech minds. Weekly live streams with a global community across 100+ countries.🚀 Connect with Us:Instagram: @siliconzombiesX (Twitter): @siliconzombiesTikTok: @siliconzombiesSpotify: @siliconzombiesSubscribe so you don't miss the conversations defining what comes next.

Dr. Vint Cerf is the closest thing tech has to a founding father. Along with Bob Kahn, he co-designed the actual protocols the Internet runs on, back in the 1970s, long before any of us were born into it. These days he's Google's Chief Internet Evangelist, but in this one he's just talking, openly, with host Nick Larson, alongside Chris Kelly and Human Khalili, in DC. He gets into the mistakes he'd fix if he could go back (IPv6 address space, mainly), the time he did a striptease down to a T-shirt that said "IP on everything" to settle an argument at a standards meeting, and why he thinks privacy might just be a side effect of small towns not existing anymore. Then it gets personal: he grew up with hearing loss, his wife Sigrid has been deaf since childhood, and he tells the story of the moment her cochlear implant let them talk on the phone for the first time in 30 years of marriage. From there the conversation moves into AI, where Cerf is genuinely optimistic but also blunt about the risks, especially around AI agents acting on their own with nobody able to trace who's accountable when things go wrong.Part history lesson, part love story, part "here's what actually worries the guy who built the thing." Worth your full attention on this one.A big thank you to our sponsors for making this one possible:@bancofcalifornia@truebindinginc@necodex@tuomglobal🕒 Timestamps00:00 – Trailer01:26 – Welcome to Silicon Zombies with Nick Larson01:37 – Introducing Dr. Vint Cerf, "Father of the Internet"02:11 – Is Privacy Just an Anomaly? Revisiting the 2013 Quote06:11 – The Security Trade-offs Cerf Wishes He'd Made Differently10:17 – ARPANET vs. Internet: Setting the Record Straight13:49 – The IPv6 Address Space Regret16:17 – The "IP on Everything" T-Shirt Story18:40 – Growing Up With Hearing Loss19:59 – How Vint Met Sigrid23:58 – Sigrid's Cochlear Implant and the First Phone Call in 30 Years27:43 – Why Email Became an Obsession29:02 – What Sigrid Would Say the World Misunderstands About Vint30:10 – When Cerf Knew the Internet Would Be Monumental37:04 – Joining Google: The "Archduke" Job Title Story39:08 – Is AI Going to Kill Us All? Cerf's Honest Take41:42 – Why AI Agents Need Audit Trails and Accountability46:47 – Should the Government Nationalize Frontier AI Labs?50:48 – AI, Trust, and Teaching People to Think Critically57:58 – Cyber-Physical Systems and the Future of Agent Autonomy60:39 – Nation-States, Borders, and the Internet's Limits65:28 – Building the Interplanetary Internet66:25 – Vint Cerf's Career Advice After 65 Years📍 About Silicon Zombies:Silicon Zombies is a Top 5% global podcast for AI, Venture Capital & Tech Innovation, hosted by Nick Larson. 🧟 Straight from the heart of Silicon Valley, we bring you weekly deep-dives with elite AI engineers, VCs, and longevity innovators shaping the next decade. We cut through the hype vs. reality of emerging tech, SaaS, biohacking, and startup investing — no fluff, just real insight. Whether you're a founder building your network, an engineer chasing technical depth, or simply staying ahead of the curve, we bridge the gap. Insider access to the world's brightest tech minds. Weekly live streams with a global community across 100+ countries.🚀 Connect with Us:Instagram: @siliconzombiesX (Twitter): @siliconzombiesTikTok: @siliconzombiesSpotify: @siliconzombiesSubscribe so you don't miss the conversations defining what comes next.

VC Insiders Expose Silicon Valley: No IPOs, Fake Valuations & The Money GameBrian Mac Mahon has invested in over 260 companies and calls the top level of venture capital "a cancer destroying entrepreneurship." Kim Kolt spent years at Goldman Sachs taking companies public before starting her own funds. In this live episode, they get into why the IPO market is basically dead, how private valuations get passed around and marked up between the same group of investors, and why Kim said no to SpaceX every single year. Brian explains why he's finally leaving LA for the Bay, what a $12 billion pre-seed round says about where the money is going, and why he thinks founders are taught to beg instead of build. Then the audience jumps in with questions on interest rates, secondaries, and whether any of this ends well.A big thank you to our sponsors for making this one possible:@bancofcalifornia@truebindinginc@necodex@tuomglobal⏰ Timestamps00:00 – Trailer01:28 – Welcome to Silicon Zombies02:21 – Who Are Kim Kolt & Brian Mac Mahon05:04 – Why Investors Still Come to the Bay05:33 – Why Brian Is Done With LA06:54 – This Is Rome: The Case for Silicon Valley08:44 – What Keeps Kim Coming Back to SF11:17 – Where LA Politics Went Wrong13:04 – Founders Are Taught to Beg, Not Build14:34 – How Kim Spots a Real Founder vs a Good Pitch17:55 – The Glacier Grid Deal: Why She Changed Her Mind19:27 – Brian's Rule: Only Work With Good People21:57 – The $12 Billion Pre-Seed Round Problem23:00 – The Greatest Fraud Nobody Talks About24:19 – What Wall Street Gets Wrong About Startups28:14 – Kim's Biggest Miss: Passing on SpaceX30:26 – DeepSeek, Anthropic & Inflated Valuations32:05 – How Brian Invested in 266 Companies34:44 – The $100 Billion Secondary Market35:26 – Empathism: Brian's Answer to Capitalism37:50 – Audience Q&A: Interest Rates & the Dollar41:52 – Is This the Next 2008?44:57 – Mission-Locked Companies & the Patagonia Model47:48 – Born Into Modern Slavery: The System Explained50:02 – What Jobs Matter in the Next 15 Years52:10 – Why Emotional Intelligence Wins in the AI Era53:34 – The Loneliness Epidemic & Human Connection55:28 – Mamdani, New York vs SF & Women's Health59:34 – How to Connect With Kim & BrianAbout Silicon Zombies:Silicon Zombies is a Top 5% global podcast for AI, Venture Capital & Tech Innovation. 🏆 Straight from the heart of Silicon Valley, we bring you weekly deep-dives with elite AI engineers, VCs, and longevity innovators shaping the next decade. We cut through the hype vs. reality of emerging tech, SaaS, biohacking, and startup investing — no fluff, just real insight. Whether you're a founder building your network, an engineer chasing technical depth, or simply staying ahead of the curve, we bridge the gap. Insider access to the world's brightest tech minds. Weekly live streams with a global community across 100+ countries.🚀 Connect with Us:Follow Silicon Zombies on social media:Instagram: @siliconzombiesX (Twitter): @siliconzombiesTikTok: @siliconzombiesSubscribe so you don't miss the conversations defining what comes next.