Description
Maya woke up to Happy New Years texts from people she hadn’t heard from in awhile. She thought it was really special till she realized she texted them first the night before and forgot. Including Anika and Priya who got 5 Happy New Years texts from her each. Another year, and the same friends. The pod talks about 2026 as an IPO comeback year and highlight SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cerebras. Maya gives her hot take on why SpaceX’s Starlink numbers look better than they are because their EBITDA hides how much depreciation their satellite business has. Anika explains why she’s still bullish. Next they discuss why OpenAI and Anthropic are considering a 2026 IPO. The trio breaks down why both companies are sprinting toward IPOs and how many $Bs they’re spending each quarter. Priya draws a comparison to Uber IPO-ing pre-profitability, but model technical growth may mean the product catches up with the spend in this case. Lastly, is Cerebras, the AI chip company with a previously attempted IPO. The group explains why having one customer account may be tough in the public markets. They also discuss the recent Groq <> Nvidia deal’s impact on the company. The episode then pivots into full scale political discourse with the California billionaire tax debate. What started as a policy discussion on X quickly turned into tech billionaires threatening to move to Austin and Ro Khanna who was once their go to guy joking that he doesn’t care if they leave. The pod talks about the right way to tax wealth and if they think there will actually be an exodus to Austin. Priya also debriefs the why behind Austin’s cheap housing. Finally, this week the “Get the Check” segment goes global with Arya.ag , a company helping Indian farmers store grain, access cheaper loans, and use AI to improve crop yields. Maya and Anika are bias on this one because it reminds them of a Parafin and Fay combo. 00:00 Intro 02:35 Companies that are predicted to IPO in 2026 03:23 SpaceX’s IPO 06:37 Data centers in space 12:05 OpenAI and Anthropic’s race to IPO 22:52 Cerebras take two on an IPO 23:40 Cerebras G42 Controversy 28:06 Debate on X about billionaire tax in California 39:14 SF vs. Austin future tech hub debate 44:09 Would Arya.ag “Get the Check”?