\n<\/p>\n
This fall, after a historic bull run, markets started to wobble\u2014in part due to fears of an AI bubble<\/a>. At the same time, the hosts began to process feedback that they appeared to be blindly pro-tech. \u201cThe normie write-up on TBPN<\/em> so far has been like, \u2018It\u2019s SportsCenter<\/em> for tech. And they just love tech and they just sit here all the time, like, \u2018Tech good!\u2019\u2009\u201d Hays said in a November interview, pretending to clap like a seal.<\/p>\n They say they\u2019re not afraid to question overinflated valuations or unrealistic revenue projections. \u201cWe\u2019re in a position where we feel responsible to call out the big players, even the players that come on our show,\u201d says Hays. They have also begun to weigh in more often on the negative externalities of technological progress, like chatbot<\/a>-induced psychosis, AI labor displacement, and the industry\u2019s overeagerness to lean into adult content and gambling.<\/p>\n \u201cFinding that line of, \u2018Technology is good, but we can still have real concerns around humanity\u2019\u2009\u201d is the goal, says Hays. \u201cWe both have, between us, five kids under five. We care not just about what data center development looks like in the next 12 months. We actually care about what\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cData center development looks like in the next 12 years!\u201d Coogan interrupts, unable to resist a punch line.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, like, what is education going to look like in 12 years,\u201d says the more serious Hays.<\/p>\n I wondered aloud how long they would realistically ride out the show before getting bored. Coogan stopped me, dead serious, from the back seat of a Maybach an intern was chauffeuring us around in. \u201cI would be shocked if the show isn\u2019t 90 percent of [our] income, or net worth, in a few years.\u201d<\/p>\n For the last few years, All-In<\/em><\/a> has been the rising star of the tech media universe. Four entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in their 40s and 50s offer commentary on the day\u2019s tech news, markets, and\u2014increasingly\u2014politics. But as the middle-aged podcasters grew whinier, less self-aware, and more consumed by the kind of culture war bugaboos you\u2019d expect to see from your great-aunt on Facebook, a gap opened up in the market. Combined with the powerful divorced-dad energy emanating from Elon Musk<\/a> and the cringey midlife crisis makeovers of Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos<\/a>, it started to look like getting filthy rich off technology was, well, not a very cool thing to do.<\/p>\n Coogan and Hays never watch playback of their own show. For them, the only metric of success is asking themselves, \u201cHow do you feel at the end of that three hours?\u201d says Coogan. \u201cDo you feel happy? Were you laughing?\u201d For now, the answer is consistently yes. Youthful, well-dressed, and charismatic, TBPN<\/em> is making Silicon Valley wealth look fun again.<\/p>\n They know they\u2019re no saints\u2014one of them runs an addictive nicotine company. But they have drawn certain lines in the sand. They don\u2019t swear on air, they try to avoid vulgarity, and they don\u2019t promote alcohol or drug use\u2014mostly because they\u2019re not big drinkers themselves. Perhaps most importantly, \u201cThis show is never going to promote Burning Man,\u201d Hays deadpans.<\/p>\n