The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch 20VC: GPT5: Sam Altman's Masterplan or a Gift To Anthropic | Palantir & Shopify Crush Earnings | Monday & Datadog Perform But Hit Hard by Wall St | Should Perplexity Buy Chrome for $34.5BN |
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Aug 14, 2025 
Jason Lemkin, founder of SaaStr and a SaaS expert, joins Rory O’Driscoll, a partner at Scale Venture Partners, to dissect the latest in tech finance. They explore whether GPT-5 was the biggest AI letdown and dissect OpenAI's strategies toward Anthropic. The duo analyzes the remarkable performance of Palantir and Shopify in the B2B arena, alongside the unpredictable stock reactions to Datadog's stellar earnings. They also tackle the potential implications of Perplexity's rumored acquisition of Chrome and the evolving job market influenced by automation.
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From AGI Hype To Business Grind
- GPT-5's underwhelming launch signals a shift from AGI hype to business-driven product iteration.
- OpenAI appears to be targeting commercial token-revenue competition with cheaper, competitive models.
Price Pressure On High-End Models
- OpenAI's GPT-5 pricing and product moves directly pressure Anthropic's high-end token business.
- Lower-cost entrants force customers to choose cheaper models for margin-sensitive use cases.
Distribution Beats Pure Model Quality
- If you own a browser asset, plug an AI backend to monetize users directly.
- Prioritize distribution (Chrome) over raw model quality for rapid consumer reach.