Lego's Near-Death & Anthropic's Insane Growth: Lessons in Focus, Culture & Strategy

from Napkin Math · host Charlie & Sabba

How Lego nearly went bankrupt by losing sight of its core product and what it teaches us about culture, focus, and CEO decisions. Plus, a breakdown of Anthropic's jaw-dropping $30B run rate and what's fuelling it.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro02:04 - Lego deep dive - origin, near-bankruptcy & recovery lessons19:15 - The "wrong CEO" trap & staying focused as you scale34:49 - Anthropic culture - Dario's 40–50% time investment37:22 - Anthropic's growth: $3B → $9B → $30B in one year41:17 - Why the "focus on coding" strategy is winning49:36 - OpenAI acquires TBPN - what's the real play?

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Apr 14, 2026

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Lego's Near-Death & Anthropic's Insane Growth: Lessons in Focus, Culture & Strategy

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