NVIDIA Chip Export Debate with Aaron Ginn, Apple Building a Robotic Siri | Delian Asparouhov, Jen Bucci, Ben Kennedy, Jessica Wu, Parag Agrawal, Eric Simons, Matt George
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Exploring Autonomous Transportation and NASCAR Innovations
This chapter explores the economic dynamics of labor costs in the transportation sector, comparing ride-sharing services like Uber to traditional flights, while also introducing the innovation of autonomous flying through Merlin Labs. The speakers share their enthusiasm for an upcoming interview with Anduril Industries, discussing the unveiling of the Anduril 250 and the unique context of NASCAR racing on a military base.
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Episode notes
- (08:42) - NVIDIA Chip Export Debate w/ Aaron Ginn. Aaron Ginn is a technology entrepreneur and policy analyst known for his insights into artificial intelligence (AI) and U.S.-China relations. In the conversation, he critiques the notion that restricting Chinese access to Nvidia's AI hardware will hinder China's AI progress, suggesting it may instead accelerate their development of domestic alternatives. He also discusses the inefficacy of U.S. export controls, emphasizing that such measures might not effectively impede China's AI advancements.
- (49:43) - Apple is Building a Robotic Siri For Your Home
- (01:11:50) - Timeline
- (01:28:42) - Delian Asparouhov is a Bulgarian-born entrepreneur and investor who is a Partner at Founders Fund and the Co-founder and President of Varda Space Industries, which builds space factories to manufacture pharmaceuticals in microgravity. He previously founded the healthcare app Nightingale, led growth at Teespring, and served as a Principal at Khosla Ventures.
- (02:03:05) - Jen Bucci is the Head of Design at Anduril Industries, where she leads the company's design identity across brand and product. In the conversation, she discusses the design elements of Anduril's NASCAR paint scheme, highlighting the use of black and safety yellow to reflect the company's core colors and their application in product design. She also emphasizes the synergy between Anduril's identity and NASCAR's bold graphics and high-visibility colors.
- (02:09:17) - Timeline
- (02:18:45) - Ben Kennedy, NASCAR's Executive Vice President and Chief Venue & Racing Innovations Officer, discusses the upcoming "Race on the Base" event scheduled for June 19-21, 2026, at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego. This historic event will feature NASCAR's top three series—the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Craftsman Truck Series—racing on a temporary three-mile circuit winding through the base, including the tarmac and past aircraft carriers. Kennedy highlights the partnership with Anduril, emphasizing their shared values of precision, speed, and innovation, and invites interested technology companies to explore collaboration opportunities with NASCAR.
- (02:25:28) - Jessica Wu, co-founder and CEO of Sola, an agentic process automation platform, discusses how Sola leverages AI to automate complex operational workflows by mimicking human actions across various platforms. She highlights the platform's application in logistics, where it integrates with internal portals, external systems, and spreadsheets to manage end-to-end shipment processes, reducing manual labor. Wu also announces Sola's recent $17 million Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with continued support from Conviction and Y Combinator.
- (02:33:36) - Parag Agrawal, former CEO of Twitter, has founded Parallel Web Systems, an AI startup developing infrastructure for AI applications to utilize web data. In the conversation, Agrawal discusses the launch of Parallel's Deep Research API, which enables enterprises to integrate advanced AI-driven web data analysis into their workflows, outperforming existing models in quality and accuracy. He also highlights the company's focus on optimizing the balance between cost and performance, aiming to provide superior AI solutions across various industries.
- (02:43:41) - Eric Simons is the founder and CEO of StackBlitz, the company behind Bolt, a web-based AI coding agent that rapidly grew from zero to $40 million in annual recurring revenue within five months. In the conversation, he discusses Bolt's transition to a new business model, emphasizing that as margins on AI prompting decrease, the company plans to generate revenue by hosting websites and applications. He also highlights the importance of offering the best services and workflows to customers, focusing on hosting services and collaborative product development tools to ensure high retention rates.
- (02:52:23) - Matt George, founder and CEO of Merlin, discusses the company's development of the Merlin Pilot, an advanced automation system for aircraft, and their recent announcement to go public, marking a significant milestone as one of the first defense startups to do so. He explains that this move will enable Merlin to raise capital for executing large contracts, particularly with the U.S. Air Force, and facilitate mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, George highlights the potential of their technology to reduce the number of pilots required per aircraft, leading to substantial cost savings for the airline industry and enhancing mission management capabilities for military operations.
- (02:59:06) - U.S. Plans Potential Equity Backing For Intel.
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