PODCAST · business
Unqualified Advice
by Sean Filipow and Daniel Hatke
A Podcast for a More Reasonable Tomorrow
Episodes
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Analysts of the Vibe
Dear Show Notes Readers, It's decorative gourd season, motherfuckers! Fall has finally arrived in Houston, and Sean has taken the opportunity to accumulate a frankly unreasonable number of pumpkins and decorative gourds. Dan has returned from Telluride, where the fall colors were spectacular and...
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Agency All the Way Down
Programming Note: Off next week for fall break. We'll miss you! What happens when AI makes building an idea almost free? This week we introduce two projects born directly out of last week's podcast: Sean's Vibe Index, an attempt to quantify market and social sentiment from volatility, credit…
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Where Are the Humans?
Dear show notes readers, This week we accidentally spend most of an hour asking the same question in several completely different ways: Where are the humans? We start with personal AI agents and what happens when they begin doing more of our searching, shopping, comparing, emailing, and general...
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The Chicken Salad Index
Dear Show Notes Readers, This episode begins with Halloween costumes and ends with copper on the Moon. Somehow, it makes sense. Dan's kids have reached the age where putting on a costume doesn't mean pretending to be something. For a little while, you simply are that thing. A dinosaur. Elsa....
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The Demographics of Midtopia
Notes From a Man Who Did Not Shave Dear Show Notes Readers, If demographics are destiny, what happens when some of the participants in the economy aren't actually people? That's where we start this week. Population decline has traditionally meant fewer workers, less economic activity, less…
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Artificial Laziness
Hello dear show notes readers! Dan started with a question about AI agents: how do you stop a thing that keeps writing down its own rules from going rigid? He was picturing a government. I was picturing red tape, and the policy documents I'd spent the week wrestling with. In the end, you wind up...
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Our Submissions to the Library of Alexandria.
The Horse Hello dear show notes readers! On this week's episode I tell Dan about something that had been haunting me. The events in the Strait of Hormuz feel eerily similar to a story captured 2,800 years ago. I had just seen Nolan's version of The Odyssey and been left with the feeling that…
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Roll Your Own Problems
The 7:30 PM Tuesday Problem Hello dear show notes readers! This one starts with a website. I spent a good chunk of the weekend finishing the rebuild of Howard Home Realty — Lindsay Howard's brokerage — and it went live the morning we recorded. Twenty to twenty-five hours all in, about ninety-five...
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It's Memes That Keep Us Together
Bag Six of Twenty Hello dear show notes readers! Dan opened this one by telling me he'd cracked back open a Land Rover Defender Lego set he bought two and a half years ago. It came with twenty bags full of bricks, he'd made it to bag six, and then life turned upside down and it sat there. He's up...
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You Have Died from Excessive Chatbotting
The Mirror and the Force Hello dear show notes readers! Substack spent the week scanning everyone's prose for robot fingerprints with Pangram, the AI detector now built into the platform. We discuss the uncomfortable truth that a word-order detector can tell you how something was written but not…
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Gen Why-Am-I 40?
The New Midlife Menu Hello dear show notes readers! This week Dan walked in with a Substack essay and an idea that's been rattling around his head: the millennial midlife crisis is going to be a barbell. The boomer version of the midlife crisis had some memorable flavors: the sports car, the...
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The Easiest $250 I've Ever Lost
Easy Come, Easier Go Hello dear show notes readers! Happy 250th, America! I spent the Fourth in Dallas watching Egypt and Australia go to penalty kicks in front of seventy-some thousand people. Nothing like getting full value for the ticket. In our increasingly small world, I randomly found a...
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There is No Such Thing as Free Admission
Talking to God for a Couple of Days Hello dear show notes readers! I came into this one buzzing. I'd just stood in a roaring crowd at the World Cup fan fest in Houston watching Team USA put four past Paraguay, and I wanted to talk about what that kind of communal energy actually costs — who pays...
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No Movies About the Maintenance Team
The Averaging Machine Hello dear show notes readers! Dan's wife and kids were off camping leaving him time to watch the whole of Glengarry Glen Ross in a single sitting. Why does nobody make movies like that anymore? Scale homogenizes. Once a film has to sell in China and Germany and everywhere…
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Gone Building
Hello dear show notes readers! This I ask Dan if he's been building anything lately, and we spend the hour discussing the ins and outs of building new tools and products. Two guys, exploring niches. That's the whole episode. Dan is launching Kabu (kabu research dot substack dot com, link below) —…
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Frameworks in the Atom Economy
Hello dear show notes readers! This week Dan and I open on the image that everyone seems to have fixated on — Jensen Huang in his black leather jacket on the Anchorage tarmac, allegedly traveling with just a backpack — and from there we slide into the actual substance of what happened at the...
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The Canary in the Gig Mine
Three Weeks to Get Numb Hello dear show notes readers! This week Dan and I sit with a question that's been quietly bothering both of us: have we all just gotten numb? Dan says it only takes three weeks to get numb to anything. I had to agree. Once we saw two data points for the same trend, the…
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Rules for Thee, Alpha for Me
Two Hundred Bucks and a Stock Tip Hello dear show notes readers! This week Dan and I sit with a question that has been bothering me for a while and got sharper this week thanks to a perfect natural experiment: a US Army NCO got charged for making four hundred thousand dollars on Polymarket…
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Prometheus Politicking
Stealing Fire for the People Hello dear show notes readers! Dan's been thinking about Prometheus — not as a myth, but as a political archetype. The person who steals fire and hands it to the people is a very different animal than the one who steals it and keeps it for themselves. That framing…
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Sold Down the River
Hello dear show notes readers! This week on Unqualified Advice, we started looking at the phrase "Sold down the river." The phrase's dark history goes back to the cotton gin, 1793, and the horrific expansion of slavery that followed. It was an unfortunate example of Jevons Paradox in action…
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Because Molecules
Hello dear show notes readers! This week on Unqualified Advice, Dan and I dove headfirst into the Hormuz Strait crisis — and what started as a conversation about oil prices turned into something much bigger. The strait went from 120 ships a day to about 5. The cascade from that single chokepoint...
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The Rich Dentist and the Housing Divide
Hello dear show notes readers! This week on Unqualified Advice, we did something we don't usually do — we took a victory lap. Sort of. Back in January 2025, on Episode 22 ("Showing off Our Big Shiny Crystal Balls"), I said on the record that we'd see a sizable scandal grow within private credit...
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The Economics of Power
Hello dear show notes readers! This week on Unqualified Advice, we opened with a deceptively simple question: how's the oil market? Turns out, the Strait of Hormuz isn't flowing oil, and that particular "simple" problem unravels into one of the most complex cascades of consequence we've talked...
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Hallucinations are Creativity
Hello dear show notes readers! This week Dan and I tackle a question that's been bugging both of us since Christmas: what if hallucinations—those supposedly broken outputs that make AI unreliable—are actually just creativity in disguise? It's the kind of reframe that changes how you work with…
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Be Viciously Mediocre or... Get the F**** After It!
Hello dear show notes readers! This week on Unqualified Advice, the energy was all over the place — and we kind of loved it. Dan opens with a Jeremy Piven mantra about getting the f*** after it, and it turns out that's basically the thesis for the whole hour. We start in the Fourth Turning...
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Welcome to Flow City
Welcome to Flow City Hello dear show notes readers! This week on Unqualified Advice, Dan's been writing again. His latest Prometheus Dispatch essay on pseudo events — manufactured moments designed to create energy rather than report on it — kicks us off and leads to a conversation neither of us...
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Riches in the Niches
Dan and Sean kick off 2026 with a look back at their 2025 predictions—what hit, what missed, and what's carrying over into the new year. From government shutdowns to Big Tech dominance to the DEI pendulum swing, they grade their calls before diving into what's ahead. The big theme for 2026?...
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Panda Diplomacy
What starts as a travel recap turns into a wide-ranging conversation about manufacturing, geopolitics, surveillance, and the quiet signals of national confidence. Sean is back stateside after several weeks in China and Japan, where he was auditing suppliers and rethinking what tariffs, supply...
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I Guess We Doin Cooperation Now
After an unintended "summer break" that didn't feel much like one, Dan and Sean are back at the mics. This episode ranges from the personal to the global: burnout, survivor's guilt, therapy culture, and the constant tug-of-war between staying informed and staying sane. On the business and…
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Oikos and Nomos: What Is the Economy, Really?
This week, Dan and Sean dive into the deep end of economic uncertainty—from the philosophical origins of "the economy" to the lived reality of layoffs, inflation, and shifting trade routes. Why do oil rigs in North Dakota matter to the price of cheese? Are we witnessing demand destruction or just...
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Calling All Mental Nomads
Dan and Sean return to the mic with a message for the wanderers, the misfits, and the intellectually restless. This episode explores what it means to seek challenge instead of comfort, to embrace unfinished thoughts, and to carve out space for messy, real-time reflection. If you've ever felt like…
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The Buyer's Market is Real (and Zillow is the Worst)
Hello show notes readers! This week, we're trying something new in our mission to bring you insights from the world of entrepenuership. We're bringing in an outside expert to exlpore an area of entrepeneurship that some of you may have thought about - real estate! This week, we're joined by…
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Say No to Ferrets: The NAFTA Myth and the Dresden Reality
🧵 Episode Summary In this episode, Dan and Sean delve into the complexities of tariffs, the decline of U.S. manufacturing, and the philosophical underpinnings of leadership. They challenge conventional narratives around NAFTA, explore the historical impact of events like the bombing of Dresden,...
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Don't Be a Numbass
In this episode, Dan and Sean navigate through numbness, nuance, and the uncomfortable edges of modern life. From tariffs and fentanyl policy to the messy mechanics of entrepreneurship, they discuss the complicated reality of staying engaged in a world that often feels overwhelming. Also on deck:...
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Manifesting Abundance: The Quarter, The Algorithm, and The Belief
Hello show notes readers, What is writing? What is art? Did I create this or did a robot and how would you be able to tell the difference? This week we coin the term "adverbious", hoping to prove we aren't robots and also to give you a tool to figure out who the robots are. We can't define it but...
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Crude Realities: The Organization Breathes
Hello show notes readers! This week, Sean and Dan look into the rhythms of the oil and gas world — how things speed up, slow down, and sometimes just stop. They talk about layoffs making headlines, how organizations expand and contract like they're breathing, and what it feels like to be on the...
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The Sovereign Individual: A Book for the 1% (of Readers Who Finish It)
Hello dear show notes reader, We're 25 episodes in! Woo hoo! (Imagine Leslie Knope. Now read the italicized bit again.) As the author of these show notes, I feel like 25 should be a significant number, but I also don't have any valid reason why. Nonetheless, I felt inspired to make these show…
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Overwork, Curiosity, and Sympathy: Technology and Modern Vices
Hello dear show notes readers! In this episode of Unqualified Advice we discuss our recent experiences writing code for building websites and apps with Cursor. In short, we're having a blast working with these new tools and have a few tips for those just getting started. We've recommended it...
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Millennials and Zoomers Lost in the Matrix
Hello dear show notes readers! Welcome to another episode of Unqualified Advice. We recorded this one on Inauguration Day, so a few viewpoints have already been proven wildly-off or dead-on. We hit a lot of topics this week, as we catch up on our recent podcast addiction (The Telepathy Tapes) and...
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There's Nobody in the Forecasters Hall of Fame
Hello my dear show notes readers, Welcome back for another episode advice. This one starts of personal for me as I explain how I've been getting into lifting weights. In the process, life reminded me of the old adage "experience is what you get, when you don't get what you want." In short, I try…
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We're in an Age of Build
Hello, Show Notes Readers We find ourselves neck-deep in a discussion about stated versus revealed preferences for the half of the show, as I take us on a trip down memory lane after doing my Christmas shopping. Nostalgia alert! Dan explains his theory on capital flight and we come to the...
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Showing off Our Big Shiny Crystal Balls 🔮🔮
Hello my dear show notes readers! I've missed you so. We took a little longer than expected break this time, because someone recently turned 40 and hit it a little too hard in the fine city of New Orleans. Have you ever been? If not, you really must go. One night is not enough. Two nights are...
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Radical Acceptance and Other Goals
Hello dear show notes readers! Resolutions are for wusses! This week we're goal setting!? Yeah, we're not really sure what the difference is either, but we hope you listen-in and help hold us accountable in the year to come. Here's a summary of how we want to improve ouselve in 2025: Dan's Goals...
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Sovereign Individuals and Broken Incentives
Hello Show Notes Readers! This week, turned into a bit of a bookclub episode. We compare our notes on the start of Sovereign Individual and talk about areas where the authors imaginations hit or missed the mark. The one thing we both agree on, so far: it's a long book. The discussion turns…
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Eastern Wisdom, Western Routines, and the Art of Being Present
Hello show notes readers! This week, Billy Pilgrim is becoming unstuck in time as we talk about how "the daily routine" is simultaneously a blessing and a curse. We explore the importance of marking life's milestones - "punctuations in time" - and how they shape our sense of memory and progress.…
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Embracing the Chaos Monkey
Hello show notes readers! I hope this episode finds you well. We are dabbling with a weekly release schedule here this quarter and hope you enjoy a little extra content. This week on Unqualified Advice: Dan flys to Cebu and I drive up the Pacific Coast Highway and we arrive at the same point: Nat...
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Do You Have Time to Feel Like 💩?
Hello to the readers of the show notes! This time around, Dan braves Denver traffic to bring us insights from the Smart Marketer conference he attended in October, including a very poignant question from keynote speaker Gabby Bernstein. We ruminate on his takeaways before diving into the…
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Broken Segues and Segways: From Chips to Dips in the Market
Hello show notes readers! This time we dive into markets, media, and misinformation. We discuss TSMC's record setting Arizona fab and its impact on semiconductor production, national security, and the Pheonix water market. I tell Dan why the Schiller PE ratio has been haunting me, as we ponder…
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The Many Deaths of Life: On Progress, Not Perfection
Hello show notes readers! Sorry for the late episode! Someone forgot the difference between November and December when scheduling this one to post. I just tried to give myself sideeye... not sure how effective it was. In this episode of Unqualified Advice, we talk about our perspectives on...
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Supply Chains are the Butter in the Croissant
Hello dear show notes readers! This week, the rubber meets the road—literally! Sean dives into stories from his travels to industrial sites where rubber is produced, giving a glimpse into the gritty reality of this essential material's manufacturing. Meanwhile, Dan shares insights into how he's...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A Podcast for a More Reasonable Tomorrow
HOSTED BY
Sean Filipow and Daniel Hatke
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Unqualified Advice have?
Unqualified Advice currently has 61 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Unqualified Advice about?
A Podcast for a More Reasonable Tomorrow
How often does Unqualified Advice release new episodes?
Unqualified Advice has 61 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Unqualified Advice?
You can listen to Unqualified Advice on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Unqualified Advice?
Unqualified Advice is created and hosted by Sean Filipow and Daniel Hatke.
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