Tech Today with Eric Tarczynski

Isaiah Taylor, founder and CEO of Valar Atomics, dives into President Trump's executive orders to revive U.S. nuclear energy. He emphasizes the importance of uranium independence and discusses how America lost its lead in the global nuclear race. Taylor highlights the need for regulatory changes to accelerate nuclear innovation and the urgency of developing advanced reactors to meet national security challenges. The conversation also touches on AI's impact on energy demand and the shifting dynamics in the semiconductor market.

Charley Ma, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Pathlight VC, shares insights from his experience with early-stage investments and his time at Plaid and Ramp. He discusses the rise of young founders leading AI startups tailored for SMBs, emphasizing their fast iteration and customer-centric approaches. Charley highlights the untapped GovTech market, with local governments now more receptive to new tech. Plus, he explores the latest advancements from Google and OpenAI, showcasing the dynamic evolution of the AI landscape.

Today, Rex Woodbury, Founder and Managing Partner at Daybreak Ventures, joins Kyle Harrison to share his reactions to new AI product announcements at Google I/O, OpenAI’s $6.4B acquisition of Jony Ive’s “LoveFrom,” design studio, as well as his thoughts on the future of consumer AI products.They discuss the competitive landscape between tech incumbents and AI startups, the consumer product areas ripe for disruption, and the potential for AI to bridge human’s need for social connection and emotional support.We also covered OpenAI’s Jony Ive acquisition, Klarna’s latest earnings report presented by an AI-generated avatar, Chatbot Arena’s latest raise and Mercado Libre’s leadership changes.

Kian Sadeghi, founder and CEO of Nucleus Genomics, joins the show to unpack the fall of 23andMe and what its $256M acquisition by Regeneron means for the future of consumer DNA testing.We talk about what 23andMe got wrong—from its business model to its reliance on outdated genotyping tech—and how a new generation of genomic startups like Nucleus are taking a different approach: full genome sequencing, HIPAA compliance, and consumer empowerment.We also covered Klarna’s rising credit losses, JPMorgan’s AI-driven hiring slowdown, Waymo’s expansion into San Jose, and Zoox’s new test market in Atlanta.

In today’s episode, Lucas Harrington — co-founder and president of Mammoth Biosciences — joins Eric to discuss a groundbreaking moment for gene editing: the successful treatment of an infant, K.J. Muldoon, using a custom CRISPR therapy developed in just six months. Lucas walks us through how this came together, what made it possible, and why this case could mark the beginning of a new era in personalized medicine.They also explore the technical and regulatory infrastructure that enabled the treatment, the challenges of in vivo gene editing beyond the liver, and why Lucas believes the brain is the next frontier. As one of the original minds behind Mammoth and a close collaborator of CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna, Lucas brings deep insight into where the field is headed.We also covered Google’s latest solar deal, Regeneron’s acquisition of 23andMe, AMD’s ZT Systems divestiture, and Grok 3 coming to Azure.

Kyle Harrison, a General Partner at Contrary, shares his expertise on the future of venture capital for founders. He discusses critical shifts in the VC landscape, emphasizing the distinction between large capital managers and specialized funds. Kyle advises entrepreneurs to align with investors who share their vision, particularly favoring smaller, more deliberate funds. The conversation also covers recent tech updates, including Airbnb's new services and Anthropic's Claude models, weaving in valuable insights for navigating investor expectations.

For the last 30 years, globalization was the default—especially in tech. But as the world fractures, we’re seeing something new: deglobalization driven by national security, digital sovereignty, and geopolitical competition.Today, Lux Capital’s Danny Crichton joins us to break down the new industrial policy era. We discuss how the tech world is fragmenting into national stacks, why most countries will never build their own search engines or operating systems, and how this shift is creating both opportunity and chaos.We also covered Elon Musk’s Neuralink trial in the UAE, Pathos AI’s $365M raise for cancer drug trials, Harvey’s potential $5B valuation, and a major customer data breach at Coinbase.

Today on Tech Today, Eric is joined by TJ Parker, Founder of PillPack and Amazon Pharmacy, to break down the current state of drug pricing in the U.S. and the significance of Trump’s recent executive order on prescription drugs. TJ walks through the supply chain mechanics behind inflated out-of-pocket prices and explains why consumers often pay far more than insurers for the same drug.They discuss how middlemen like PBMs distort prices, why rebates have made the system so opaque, and how a “most favored nation” pricing clause could finally give Americans access to net prices at the pharmacy counter. TJ also lays out what a consumer-first drug supply chain could look like—and why it might resemble a retail e-commerce experience more than anything else.We also covered Uber’s new fixed-route commuter shuttles, GM’s next-gen battery chemistry, advances to Tesla’s Optimus, and Anthropic’s upcoming reasoning-first models.

Today, Eight Sleep co-founder and CEO Matteo Franceschetti joins us to talk about sleep science, recovery, and how better sleep might be the greatest untapped lever for improving human performance.He broke down why sleep matters more than fitness or nutrition, how deep and REM sleep drive mental and physical recovery, and how new tools are helping people fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Matteo also shares Eight Sleep’s broader vision — from smart beds and thermoregulation to eventually compressing total sleep time without sacrificing recovery.We also covered Harvey's shift to Google and Anthropic models, Chime's IPO filing, SpaceX’s rocket reuse milestone, and a potential Amtrak partnership with The Boring Company.

Danny Crichton, Head of Editorial & Riskgaming at Lux Capital, joins the podcast to break down the state of U.S. export bans on AI chips — and whether they’re actually working. Danny explains why NVIDIA is so central to the policy debate, how sales are still finding their way to China through workarounds like Singapore, and why the U.S. may not be able to stop China from achieving AI parity if their models keep catching up in performance.We also discuss the tension between national security and commercial success, the importance of measuring output rather than input when it comes to China’s AI capabilities, and what it really means for the U.S. to "stay ahead."Finally, we covered Klarna’s reversal on AI-only customer support, Google’s new AI Futures Fund, a biotech startup linked to Elizabeth Holmes, and Omada Health’s IPO filing.