SpaceX Surges, Anthropic Stumbles, and Bezos Bets $12B episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 23, 2026 · 52 MIN

SpaceX Surges, Anthropic Stumbles, and Bezos Bets $12B

from trading places · host Practical Venture Capital

SpaceX just finished its first week as a public company. Anthropic just had its newest model frozen by the US government. And Jeff Bezos just raised $12B for a startup that's been alive for about a year.Dave and Aman break it all down — from SpaceX IPO mechanics and gamma squeeze risk, to the Dario vs. Washington standoff that could derail the Anthropic IPO, to Bezos's $41B physical AI bet, a massive Salesforce acquisition of a 500 Startups alum, and why Mistral and Cohere just became the Dr. Pepper of AI.Plus: the Valuation Corner returns with Powerlaw (PWRL) — the new retail-accessible VC fund from Ben Black and Mike Dinsdale backed by Acadian. Dave and Aman break down the portfolio, the price-to-NAV, and whether it's worth the ride.00:48 - [ tech news and vc ]02:58 - oil down, defense up 🚀10:31 - SpaceX week one on the tape 📈15:15 - Anthropic gets frozen 🧊30:30 - SaaS enters valuation winter ❄️33:42 - Bezos bets $12B on an AI engineer 🤖36:30 - Mistral doubles to $23B 💸42:15 - Saronic unmanned ship saves lives 🛟43:20 - [ val corner: PWRL Ben Black ]how Power Law gives retail a chance 🙏46:06 - portfolio breakdown 💼47:15 - strategy pros and cons 👍👎49:29 - manager accolades 💐[ links ][ invest = https://practicalvc.com ][ trading places socials = www.linktr.ee/tradingplacespod ][ aman verjee = https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-verjee | https://x.com/amanverjee ][ dave mcclure = https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemcclure | https://x.com/davemcclure ]Thank you for watching#spacex #anthropic #mistralai #secondaries #venturecapital

SpaceX just finished its first week as a public company. Anthropic just had its newest model frozen by the US government. And Jeff Bezos just raised $12B for a startup that's been alive for about a year.Dave and Aman break it all down — from SpaceX IPO mechanics and gamma squeeze risk, to the Dario vs. Washington standoff that could derail the Anthropic IPO, to Bezos's $41B physical AI bet, a massive Salesforce acquisition of a 500 Startups alum, and why Mistral and Cohere just became the Dr. Pepper of AI.Plus: the Valuation Corner returns with Powerlaw (PWRL) — the new retail-accessible VC fund from Ben Black and Mike Dinsdale backed by Acadian. Dave and Aman break down the portfolio, the price-to-NAV, and whether it's worth the ride.00:48 - [ tech news and vc ]02:58 - oil down, defense up 🚀10:31 - SpaceX week one on the tape 📈15:15 - Anthropic gets frozen 🧊30:30 - SaaS enters valuation winter ❄️33:42 - Bezos bets $12B on an AI engineer 🤖36:30 - Mistral doubles to $23B 💸42:15 - Saronic unmanned ship saves lives 🛟43:20 - [ val corner: PWRL Ben Black ]how Power Law gives retail a chance 🙏46:06 - portfolio breakdown 💼47:15 - strategy pros and cons 👍👎49:29 - manager accolades 💐[ links ][ invest = https://practicalvc.com ][ trading places socials = www.linktr.ee/tradingplacespod ][ aman verjee = https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-verjee | https://x.com/amanverjee ][ dave mcclure = https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemcclure | https://x.com/davemcclure ]Thank you for watching#spacex #anthropic #mistralai #secondaries #venturecapital

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SpaceX Surges, Anthropic Stumbles, and Bezos Bets $12B

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This episode was published on June 23, 2026.

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SpaceX just finished its first week as a public company. Anthropic just had its newest model frozen by the US government. And Jeff Bezos just raised $12B for a startup that's been alive for about a year.Dave and Aman break it all down — from SpaceX...

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