TP1: a VERY BAD💩 podcast on VC 2️⃣NDRY, BROKEN❤️‍🩹 unicorns🦄 & BUSTED carry😱

in this inaugural ep of [trading places], dave mcclure & aman verjee welcome david zhou (super clusters) to talk secondary markets, ai bubbles, and why your DPI might be total bswe go deep on:– openai’s $500B tender– canvas vs databricks valuations– LP/GP dynamics– when to sell in secondaries– spv food fights– and the ghost of rap battles pastalso: mean VC, VC trading cards, and the most painful vc math lesson you’ll hear this year.subscribe for more pod pain.Timestamps:00:00 — cold open43:10 — welcome to a very bad podcast about vc secondaries00:01:00 — what is a secondary? (not just pre-ipo shares)00:04:05 — how to think about valuation: revenue vs hype00:06:07 —  openai at $500B — overpriced or fair?00:10:48 — canva vs databricks — who’s actually worth it?00:12:58 — is AI in a bubble? we argue both sides00:15:33 — the SPV food fight begins00:18:00 — why companies hate multi-layered SPVs00:19:40 — guest intro: david zhou of super clusters00:21:58 — how david became an LP by accident00:23:46 — the rap origin story of erik torenberg00:27:05 — what is DPI and when should GPs sell?00:32:47 — the tradeoffs of selling winners too early00:37:00 — are we living in an “overmarked” AI cycle?00:40:56 — why pricing efficiency matters in secondaries00:44:00 — the myth of public-like liquidity in secondaries00:48:33 — valuation corner: databricks vs snowflake00:54:12 — OPP spotlight: yohei nakajima & the rise of mean VC01:01:09 — mark suster ep2 teaser01:01:41 — bloopersreferenced links:https://cupofzhou.com/the-non-obvious-emerging-lp-playbook/https://cupofzhou.com/the-science-of-selling/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/technology/openai-chatgpt-stock-sale-valuation.htmlhttps://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/what-is-deepseek-why-is-it-disrupting-ai-sector-2025-01-27/https://africa.businessinsider.com/news/anthropic-seeing-voracious-demand-for-shares-is-clamping-down-on-a-certain-kind-of/4g25zywhttps://openai.com/policies/unauthorized-openai-equity-transactions/https://www.investopedia.com/terms/1/2000-investor-limit.aspfind us at: www.linktr.ee/tradingplacespod [david zhou > https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjzhou | https://x.com/cupazhou ]  [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 ]