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Slop vs. Steel Showdown w/ Delian & Everett, GPT-5 Backlash, Trump Eyes Intel Stake | Bill Bishop, Jimmy Goodrich, Lennart Heim, David Stout, Cameron Schiller, Cyriac Roeding, NFM Live

26 snips
Aug 15, 2025
Delian Asparouhov, a venture capitalist from Founders Fund, and Everett Randle of Kleiner Perkins engage in a lively debate on high-margin software versus capital-intensive reindustrialization. They delve into the GPT-5 backlash and its implications for AI development. Bill Bishop critiques U.S. tech policies towards China, while Jimmy Goodrich discusses the geopolitical stakes in semiconductor export controls. The conversation extends to revitalizing American manufacturing and innovative tech solutions in cancer detection led by Cyriac Roeding, highlighting the intersection of investment and technology.
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Terminal EBITDA Beats Early Gross Margin

  • Delian argues terminal EBITDA matters more than early gross margin when valuing startups and monopolistic power drives long-term margins.
  • Hardware or capital-intensive winners with enduring monopolies can outcompete high-gross-margin SaaS in ultimate profitability.
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Competitive Power Trumps Business Form

  • Everett frames winning businesses as those that accumulate durable 'powers' (network effects, scale) to sustain above-market ROIC.
  • Digital products often more naturally build these powers, but great atom-based businesses can too.
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Inference Costs Reshape SaaS Economics

  • Everett says inference costs and fierce competition change SaaS economics compared with the 2010s; product power and whether you need frontier inference matter most.
  • Companies that can price above marginal token cost or offload to cheaper models will be advantaged.
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