这个播客节目是两位分析师比尔和布拉德参加在圣巴巴拉举行的Co2的“东梅到西”2024年会的讨论。他们深入探讨了会议提出的关键主题和见解，重点关注公开市场和风险投资市场，尤其是在新兴的人工智能革命背景下。 对话一开始，两位主持人总结了会议的开幕致辞，重点关注公开市场。演讲重点提出了两个关键问题：我们是否正处于人工智能泡沫之中？软件是否已死？他们讨论了一项现场投票，该投票显示，去年有很大一部分与会者认为存在人工智能泡沫，但鉴于英伟达等公司的持续崛起，这种情绪似乎有所减弱。这引发了关于当前少数关键参与者在市场上的主导地位是否具有可持续性的讨论，演讲认为英伟达的盈利增长证明了其估值合理，表明我们可能并未处于泡沫之中。 随后，他们过渡到风险投资市场，指出风险资本投资在经历了2021年的过度繁荣后正在恢复正常，预计今年的投资额约为当时的三分之一。专注于人工智能的公司正在吸引比非人工智能公司更高的估值和更大的融资规模，这表明投资者对该领域有着浓厚的兴趣。一个令人担忧的问题是，由于高无风险利率和比特币等具有吸引力的替代选择，大量独角兽公司可能无法获得新的融资。这意味着二级市场的交易价格折价50-75%，暗示估值需要调整。 讨论中，一位演讲者提出，公司需要达到100亿美元的市值才能上市。这引发了关于风险投资支持的公司以及风险投资商业模式的讨论，如果创始人希望实现10亿美元的收入，并且必须筹集5亿到10亿美元才能实现增长。他们讨论了潜在的流动性路径，但最终得出结论，公司上市是为了避免成为小型股。银行家需要专注于让一些收入达到1亿美元的独角兽公司上市。就谈话的主题而言，如果拥有OpenAI这样收入达到40亿美元的公司，你会选择上市吗？ 比尔和布拉德随后深入探讨了技术方面的趣闻轶事，重点介绍了一家18人公司的进步。他们讨论了人类替代技术的进步，以及程序员如何通过接触人工智能技术参与其中。在未能重新发明的情况下，最好的做法是学习如何使用。相反，市场上的输家是谁？是那些迟迟没有采用互联网的公司。 对话随后转向了关于特斯拉的股东投票，指出埃隆·马斯克第二次赢得了投票。讨论涉及机构股东服务公司（Institutional Shareholder Services）和Glass Lewis反对该投票，对话也转向了特拉华州和特斯拉向德克萨斯州迁移的问题。争论的焦点是一家律师事务所要求50亿美元的赔偿，这是否会影响上市。 对话还涉及了劳伦斯·萨默斯，以及未来10-15年世界将会是什么样子。话题深入探讨了去全球化、技能差距，以及关于特朗普最近在为雇主寻找合格候选人方面发表的言论。

The podcast features a discussion between two analysts, Bill and Brad, who are attending the Co2's EastMe to West 2024 conference in Santa Barbara. They delve into the key themes and insights presented at the conference, focusing on the public and venture markets, particularly in the context of the burgeoning AI revolution. The conversation begins with the presenters summarizing the conference's opening remarks, focusing on the public markets. The presentations highlighted two key questions: Are we in an AI bubble, and is software dead? They discussed a live poll that showed a significant portion of attendees believed in an AI bubble last year, a sentiment that has seemingly diminished given the continued rise of companies like Nvidia. This led to a discussion about the sustainability of the current market dominance by a few key players, with the presentations suggesting that Nvidia's earnings growth justifies its valuation, indicating that we may not be in a bubble. They then transitioned to the venture markets, noting that venture capital investment is normalizing after the excesses of 2021, with investments this year expected to be around one-third of those levels. AI-focused companies are attracting significantly higher valuations and larger funding rounds than non-AI companies, indicating a strong investor interest in the space. A point of concern was raised for the large number of unicorns that may not be able to raise new funding rounds due to attractive alternatives like high risk-free rates, and Bitcoin. This implies secondary sales are occurring at prices discounted by 50-75%, with an implication that valuations are in need of adjustment. The discussion touched on a statement by one of the presenters, suggesting that a company needs a $10 billion market cap to go public. This led to debate about the implications for venture-backed companies and the venture capital business model, if founders want to achieve a billion in revenue and have to raise 500 million to a billion to grow to that level. They discussed potential paths to liquidity, but concluded that companies are going to IPO to avoid being micro-caps. A banker needs to focus on taking public some of the unicorns at 100 million revenue. In terms of the topic of the conversation was would you IPO if you had OpenAI at 4 billion in revenue? Bill and Brad then dive deeper into anecdotes on the technological front by highlighting the advancements from 18 person company. They discuss the advancement of human replacement, and how a programmer could get involved by being exposed to AI tech. The best move in failure to reinvent is to learn how to. In contrast, what are the losers in the market, companies who are slow to adopt the internet. The conversation then shifted to the shareholder vote regarding Tesla, noting that Elon Musk won the vote for the second time. The discussion touched on Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis being against that vote, and the conversation moved towards the state of Delaware, and Tesla moving towards Texas. The point of contention was on a legal firm requesting 5 billion dollars in compensation, and if that will impact going public. The conversation touches on Larry Summers, and what the world will look like in the next 10-15 years. The topic delved into de-globalization, skill gaps, and a discussion on recent remarks from Trump in getting qualified candidates for employers.