Hot Takes | 2025
Bryan Johnson, Mike Solana, Packy McCormick, Cyan Banister, Arielle Zuckerberg, Alex Kolicich, Lucy Guo, Michael Mignano, Hunter Walk, JMJ, The Technology Brothers
2025 Hot Takes
In our quest for the most captivating hot takes for 2025, we went straight to source. Gathering the most formative group of tech thought leaders on the earth.
(& must-follows on X - accounts linked below + interviews)
These superhumans included GPs and CEOs such as Bryan Johnson, Mike Solana, Dan Wright, Alex Kolicich, Cyan Banister, Arielle Zuckerberg, Packy McCormick, Erik Torenberg, Daniel, Michael Mignano, Lucy Guo, Ed Lando, Nichole Wischoff, Hunter Walk, Turner Novak, Masha Bucher, Christian Garrett, Jack Raines, Eric Newcomer, Kian Sadeghi, Matt Marlinski, Ritwik Pavan, Richard Socher, Aaron Slodov, Rohit Bhadange, and the Technology Brothers.
The group presented an alluring mix of spicy takes ranging from:
"don’t die," the equestrian market, chaos of the internet, bears, a ‘taste’ renaissance, algorithmic innovations > computational scaling in AI, Starlink, celebrities, empires, privacy as a luxury, ‘right-coded’ shift for climate startups, AGI fluff, advancements in brain health tracking, AI AI AI AI AI, combatting declining fertility rates, YouTube-ification of software development, IPO window opening, DOGE, independent media’s takeover, happiness, uprising of religion, genetics as a tool, flat or declining S&P 500, AI wearables, and a rapid AI-powered litigation.
Special thank you to everyone who participated. Quite the crew.
Let us know your favorite takes in the comments + add your own.. Enjoy!
Sourcery’s Take: DON’T DIE will become the ‘blueprint’ for MAHA
Mike Solana, Founders Fund + Pirate Wires
Read: Pirate Wires 🏴☠️
I can attest, currently working on my polo game. (it’s very expensive.)
Listen: John Coogan, EIR Founders Fund, Founder of Lucy & Soylent | Can Nicotine Increase IQ?
Trae Stephens Next Big Bet | $100M For The New Edge | Dan Wright, CEO Armada
Listen: Alex Kolicich, 8VC | AI & Defense Tech Renaissance Palantir, Anduril, SpaceX, OpenAI
Listen: Exclusive | Alex Kolicich, 8VC: Exodus of Venture Capital, AI Predictions
Read: As I Please
Cyan Banister, Long Journey Ventures
Listen: Cyan Banister & Lee Jacobs Investing in the Magically Weird | SpaceX, Uber, Anduril, Crusoe
Arielle Zuckerberg, Long Journey Ventures
Erik Torenberg, Turpentine Media
Read: Mignano
Wow. Ed might be a genius..
Hunter Walk, Homebrew + Screendoor
Listen: Investing in Emerging Managers & Challenging Traditional VC Fund Models | Hunter Walk, Homebrew & Screendoor
Read + Listen: The Split
Nichole Wischoff, Wischoff Ventures
Masha Bucher, Day One Ventures
Listen: Masha Bucher, Day One Ventures: Investing in The Biggest Ideas Possible $150M Solo GP Fund III, $450M AUM
Listen: Jeff Morris Jr, Chapter One | Difficult Market for VCs - Is it 'so over'?
Christian Garrett, 137 Ventures
*add Barry’s 2x day as well
Listen: How Lucy Guo Is Building A Creator Empire with Shaq, Kygo, & Olivia Dunne Raising $50M in 2 years
Matt Marlinski, The Manhattan Lab
Listen: The Quiet Revolution in DNA Sequencing | Nucleus Genomics | IQ Controversy, Science, & The Business Behind Genomics
Amen to that.
Listen: Are LLMs Hitting a Wall? VC Shifts Focus | Newcomer: Sequoia, Khosla, Reid Hoffman, Meta, OpenAI..
Read: Newcomer
Aaron Slodov, Atomic Industries
Ritwik Pavan, Fragile + Hardware Nation
Read: Hardware Herald
Listen: Fmr Chief Scientist at Salesforce, Richard Socher | You.com $99M Raised, LLMs, AI Agents, Complex Work
Listen: Zamp's Series A: $14M in 15 Months | Fastest Growing FinTech + Multi-Billion-Dollar Opportunity
Ah, not dying, the billionaire’s fool’s errand…
Sure, don’t die, we need more power and wealth consolidation, we need the generous wisdom of the wealthy 🫶
https://open.substack.com/pub/heyslick/p/immortality-the-billionaires-fools-errand?r=4t921l&utm_medium=ios