Episode Details

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Today's show:

How many startups matter in tech? Fewer than you think. That's why venture capitalists are tripping over themselves to get onto their cap tables, no matter the cost. Why? Footwork's Nikhil Basu Trivedi argues that the Valley has never been more "power-law-pilled" than it is today. Basu Trivedi joined Cendana Capital's Michael Kim and TWiST's Alex Wilhelm to go deep on secondary markets, the state of startup M&A, why the SaaSpocalypse may be temporary, and what could trigger a retrenchment of the AI trade. It's Wednesday, so it's time for our venture capital roundtable to go deep on how VCs are investing today, and where on the horizon they have their eyes fixed!

Guest links:

Nikhil Basu Trivedi https://x.com/nbt

Footwork https://www.footwork.vc/

Michael Kim https://x.com/MKRocks

Cendana Capital https://www.cendanacapital.com/

Show links:

The USVC-Anduril blowup https://x.com/ankurnagpal/status/2072701195714531398

Kline Hill Cendana Partners https://www.secondariesinvestor.com/kline-hill-and-cendana-raise-400m-for-second-vc-secondaries-fund/

GPTZero's exit https://gptzero.me/news/preserving-whats-human/

Salesforce buys Fin https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2026/06/15/salesforce-signs-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-fin/

Vercel buys Better Auth https://vercel.com/blog/vercel-acquires-better-auth

Figma buys Bud https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/07/figma-acquires-team-behind-a-vibe-coding-app/

Protoge https://withprotege.ai/

Windborne https://windbornesystems.com/

Etched https://www.etched.com/

Lovable's reported raise https://sifted.eu/articles/lovable-300m-13-2bn-valuation

Josh Browder https://x.com/Joshuabrowder

Timestamps:

0:00 Introductio