Coverage
Venture Capital
The venture conversation: founders, GPs, and the allocators who fund what comes next. Sentiment and coverage from the shows where venture capital talks to itself.
Refreshed nightly · readings through September 19, 2026
What this page measures
We transcribe every episode of the venture capital shows listed below and score what gets said in them. Not what analysts predict, and not what a survey panel reports after the fact. What practitioners tell each other while the quarter is still running.
Podcast interviews are unusually good evidence for this. The guest is a working operator, the format is long enough that talking points run out, and nobody is answering a multiple-choice question. When sentiment in a sector turns, it tends to show up in how people talk months before it reaches a published number.
The scores below run 0 to 100 against a 50 neutral baseline, weighted by how much reach an episode has. Readings refresh nightly across a trailing 30-day window. A cut this narrow can go thin in a quiet month, and when it does we say so rather than publishing a number built on four episodes. Full methodology.
What the Venture Capital conversation reads like
Sentiment across the five topics we score, measured only on venture capital shows. Trailing 30 days against the same window a quarter ago; thin cuts fall back to a 90-day read.
Future Outlook
77.6
Economy
47.4
Industry Forecast
69.2
AI
61.5
Innovation
80.1
Future Outlook
12-mo avg 80.2 · points from average
Economy
12-mo avg 46.6 · points from average
Industry Forecast
12-mo avg 71.5 · points from average
AI
12-mo avg 69.3 · points from average
Innovation
12-mo avg 83.7 · points from average
Each topic against its own 12-month average (the zero line), within venture capital shows only. Above means the conversation is running hotter than normal for that topic; below, cooler.
Latest in Venture Capital
newest across the tracked shows
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Sep 19, 2026
Bill Gurley: Searching for Feynman
Bill Gurley, legendary venture capitalist and early backer of Uber and Zillow, delivers a keynote address at the All-In Summit comparing the investigative response to major catastrophes (Surfside condo collapse, Boeing 737 MAX crashes, Hurricane Katrina, Fukushima, Challenger shuttle disaster) with the near-complete absence of a rigorous root-cause investigation into COVID-19's origins. He argues that despite COVID causing 15 million deaths and $45 trillion in economic damage—3,000 times larger than all five other catastrophes combined—there has been no committed newsroom investigation, no bipartisan congressional committee, no independent commission comparable to the Rogers Commission, and no major lawsuit discovery process. Gurley contends that five prominent virologists (Francis Collins, Anthony Fauci, Peter Daszak, Jeremy Farrar, Ralph Baric) functioned as institutional blockers rather than objective experts, suppressing inquiry into lab-leak hypotheses through a coordinated misinformation campaign that weaponized the term "conspiracy theorist." He highlights the DEFUSE proposal—an EcoHealth Alliance grant application to insert a furin cleavage site into bat coronaviruses—as primary-source evidence that should have triggered immediate investigation under CAPA (Corrective and Preventive Action) principles used in aviation, pharma, and medical devices. Gurley calls for newsrooms to emulate the investigative heroism of journalists who won Pulitzers for other disasters, and urges the formation of an independent COVID origins commission led by someone with Feynman's or Kurokawa's integrity, arguing that prevention of future pandemics is impossible without root-cause determination.
Equity
Sep 18, 2026
Automattic's 33-Hour coup, and can AI labs police themselves?
TechCrunch's Equity podcast panel discusses Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's proposal to "pace the frontier" of AI development through independent safety evaluators and coordination between labs, examining whether industry self-regulation can work and who benefits from the status quo. The hosts also cover Automattic's chaotic 33-hour boardroom coup that returned CEO Matt Mullenweg to power with increased control, May Mobility's SPAC merger to go public as the first autonomous ride-hailing company, and DoorDash's $425 million investment in Wonder, a ghost kitchen delivery platform.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Sep 18, 2026
Jared Isaacman: A New Era for NASA and American Space Exploration
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman outlines NASA's strategic pivot toward human space exploration, nuclear propulsion, and lunar development under the Trump administration's national space policy. He discusses the urgency of the second space race with China, the Artemis program's accelerated timeline to return Americans to the moon by 2028, and the development of nuclear-powered spacecraft for Mars missions. Isaacman emphasizes NASA's refocus on core competencies, the establishment of a lunar base as a proving ground for Mars, and the role of commercial partnerships in sustaining American space leadership.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Sep 18, 2026
Nick Shirley: Exposing Government Fraud, Suing California & Taking on the Media
Nick Shirley, an independent investigative journalist, discusses his viral exposé of California's high-speed rail project—which has spent $15 billion over 18 years with virtually nothing to show—and his ongoing work uncovering government fraud across welfare programs, daycares, and immigration services. He describes California's passage of AB 2624 (the "Stop Nick Shirley Act"), a law designed to restrict his ability to record and expose fraud at facilities receiving government funding, which he is currently challenging in court. Shirley explains how he transitioned from vlogging to full-time investigative journalism, funded through audience support, and discusses the broader landscape of selective journalism and media capture that has enabled him to emerge as a unique voice exposing corruption.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Sep 17, 2026
Meta's Dina Powell McCormick: The Case for Data Centers, Backlash, AI Job Boom & Meta's Future
Dina Powell McCormick, President and Vice Chairwoman of Meta, discusses Meta's $5 billion data center investment in Richland Parish, Louisiana, and its transformative economic impact on rural communities, including $50,000 teacher bonuses and job creation. She addresses common concerns about data center environmental impacts and unveils America's Workforce Academy, a training program that has already graduated 250 workers with a 90% retention rate for infrastructure jobs. McCormick also covers Meta's new teen safety agreement with 52 state attorneys general, Meta Glasses' accessibility features for blind veterans, and Meta's AI strategy under Mark Zuckerberg's philosophy of democratizing artificial intelligence.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Sep 17, 2026
Brad Gerstner: No AI Bubble, Semis Eat the Nasdaq & AI's Take Off Problem
Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital, delivers a comprehensive market and technology analysis covering AI infrastructure, semiconductor valuations, and revenue dynamics. He argues the AI market is not in a bubble, with semiconductors driving 70% of the Nasdaq's returns, and focuses on whether AI lab revenues can scale sufficiently to justify the massive capex buildout. Gerstner identifies three key risks—regulation, power/energy constraints, and rising interest rates—and presents a framework for portfolio positioning based on monthly AI lab revenue trends and macro conditions.
The Venture Capital roster
6 shows
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
Jason Calacanis covers startups, tech, markets, media, and all the hottest topics in business and technology. He also interviews the world's greatest founders, operators,…
Equity
TechCrunch
The intersection of technology, startups, and venture capital touches everything now. That’s why Equity, TechCrunch's flagship podcast, digs into the business of startups for…
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
All-In Podcast, LLC
Industry veterans, degenerate gamblers & besties Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks & David Friedberg cover all things economic, tech, political, social & poker.
Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers
Samir Kaji
Venture Unlocked offers unique insider insights into venture capital through our Podcast and writings.
BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley
BG2Pod
Open Source bi-weekly conversation with Brad Gerstner (@altcap) & Bill Gurley (@bgurley) on all things tech, markets, investing & capitalism
Need this cut deeper?
Term-level trends, competitor mentions, and custom segments within the venture capital conversation are available as custom research. See the Conversation Index or get in touch.