AI Winners, IPO Hype, and the Future of Engineering Teams With Raj and Immad
In this candid one-on-one episode, Immad and Raj catch up on what's actually happening in tech right now — the AI narratives shifting under everyone's feet, which companies they'd bet on, and how they're thinking about building teams in an AI-native world.
What you'll learn:
- Why Anthropic has taken the AI narrative from OpenAI — and whether that lead will hold
- Immad's take on whether he'd invest in OpenAI or Anthropic at $800B today
- How Anthropic is growing 3x in revenue in three months — and whether it's even possible
- The new engineering team model: fewer engineers, more autonomy, OKR-driven execution
- Why design still matters — and why Mercury embeds designers directly into product teams
- How to time IPO investments: why Raj waits 3-4 months post-listing to buy
- What the SpaceX S-1 signals about the new AI hype cycle
- Why Apple is undervalued (or not) — the edge computing argument
- How good Gemini's travel integration actually is (Raj tested it in Tokyo)
- Why AI real-time translation is still painfully clunky — and what the ideal experience looks like
Where to find Immad and Raj:
[00:00] Data centers in space: skeptical takes
[01:02] Anthropic's moment: why the narrative has shifted
[02:16] OpenAI vs. Anthropic at $800B: where would you invest?
[04:12] Anthropic's 3x revenue growth in 3 months: how is that possible?
[06:10] The future of engineering teams in an AI-native world
[07:37] Design's role in product: why Mercury still embeds designers everywhere
[13:44] SpaceX S-1 and the IPO watch list
[14:37] Why post-IPO hype fades and when to actually buy
[17:01] Gemini in Tokyo: surprisingly good travel integration
[17:43] AI translation fails: what the phoneless experience actually needs
[20:06] Apple's AI opportunity and the edge computing bet
[22:07] Data centers in space: the only scenario it makes sense
[24:19] Xai co-founder exodus and AI researcher retention