Ben recalls a Utah State grad who spammed his LinkedIn with cringe motivational posts about a cookie company he was starting. That kid was Sawyer, Crumbl's COO, now on track to be a billionaire.
“And, uh, and it was Sawyer, the founder, the COO of, uh, of Crumble. And, uh, this kid who just posted cringe to my LinkedIn timeline is now gonna be billionaire.”
Ben recaps the 2023 tech layoff wave: more than 150,000 workers cut in six months, including 12,000 at Google, 18,000 at Amazon, 11,000 at Meta, and 10,000 at Microsoft.
“More than 150,000 tech workers have already been laid off in the last 6 months. That includes 12,000 at Google, 18,000 at Amazon, 11,000 at Meta, 10,000 at Microsoft.”
Ben notes that ChatGPT could now pass the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam and a University of Pennsylvania Wharton MBA exam (it scored a B), an early-2023 marker of how capable the model had become.
“ChatGPT can pass a bunch of tests now. It can pass the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam and it passed a test from the Wharton MBA program at the University of Pennsylvania.”
The hosts react to Justin Bieber selling his share of his music back catalog to an investor for $200 million.
“Justin Bieber, uh, sold his share of his back catalog for $200 million to an investor. Smart move.”
A study on the income needed to be a top 1% earner by state: $850,000 in California, ~$930,000 in Connecticut (the highest), and $370,000/year in West Virginia (the lowest).
“$850,000 in California, New York, Connecticut is tops actually, surprisingly, with $930,000. The bottom is West Virginia with $370,000 per year to be in the top 1%.”
Ben recounts being blown away that the pro tier of a podcast-recording SaaS wasn't 10x the normal plan but 100x, costing $100,000+ per month for top enterprise features.
“But I assumed that the pro tier that Rob was talking about would be like 10x what a normal plan was. And it was like 100x. It was like It was like $100,000 plus a month for, um, a month, a month, a month for some of these pro features.”