Get the Check

Anika, Maya, Priya
  • 4.8 (23)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Tune in on Tuesday at 6 AM ET to hear the latest tech news and listen to guests from emerging tech companies.

  1. 1D AGO

    RL-as-a-Service, Iran War Oil Crisis, Reflection AI

    Maya, Anika, and Priya open this week's episode after spending two full hours trying to fix their new audio recorder, which made Priya miss her Solidcore class for the eighth time this month. Anything for the pod though! First they break down reinforcement learning as a service. Starting with what RL is and how DeepSeek popularized it’s efficacy. Companies like Applied Compute are trying to do for RL what AWS did for compute, except most enterprises can barely collect their own data properly, so the ROI of RL is an open question. The girls dig into why some companies like Sierra and Decagon have a clear use case for RL, while for others they may prefer relying on natural model improvements from the lab. Next, the Iran War and what the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is actually doing to the world. Crude oil has hit $113 a barrel. Fertilizer shortages are tanking corn yields in Zambia and Sri Lanka. There's a mid-April deadline that has analysts worried. In all the chaos none other than Putin has ended up on top. The hosts debate what may happen next along with everyone on Kalshi that’s been trading on related markets. You can trade too: https://kalshi.com/sign-up?referral=getthecheck. Finally, if Reflection AI would get the pod’s check. Reflection AI is the American open source lab rumored to be raising at a $25 billion valuation from JP Morgan and positioning itself as the western answer to DeepSeek. Maya and Anika debate how important it is for there to be an American open source model. Reflection has the model internally, but they haven't released it to the public yet. The pod is excited to see what they release and predict it’s coming soon. Now…a word from our sponsors :) Kalshi (https://kalshi.com/sign-up?referral=getthecheck) was one of the first believers in the pod, and they let you trade on anything. The link gives you $10 on when you trade $10. DM us on IG to hear what March Madness trades we are in! Important disclaimer: This is not financial advice. The information shared is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered investment, financial, or trading advice. Always do your own research and consult with a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.Lotus Health (https://lotus.ai/) is an AI doctor you can chat with for free anytime. They just raised $41M, and you can download the app today. The pod tried it, and with just our basic info it pulled up every medication we’ve been on in the last 25 years, sent us relevant studies based on our demographic, and the app can even refer you to real clinicians.00:00 Intro02:52 RL explained03:40 Why RL became popular (shoutout DeepSeek)05:01 RLaaS06:36 Why DoorDash bought an RL company07:23 The ROI on RL14:17 RL players17:48 Cursor using RL on Composer in real time20:18 Metis acquisition22:05 Iran War23:39 Historical context on Iran25:39 Closure of the Straight of Hormuz27:28 When oil reserves will start to run out29:43 Impacts beyond oil33:54 Reflection AI funding34:45 Open vs closed AI models41:00 Why Nvidia wants to be on an open source model

    45 min

  2. MAR 24

    Inside BCV: Partner Christina Melas-Kyriazi on AI applications and scouting an Olympian

    We sat down with Christina Melas-Kyriazi, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. Before VC, she was a product leader at Affirm. She joined when it was a few hundred people and stayed through IPO. Now she backs founders building AI-enabled companies.We talk about:- How her first "scouting" experience wasn't in venture, it was in high school. She recruited a soccer player onto her cross country team who went on to become an Olympian and one of her closest friends for life- What she learned from Max Levchin at Affirm: the best founders hold the highest level of vision and the lowest level of detail at the same time, and that's what allows them to bend reality to their will- Her hot take on why mission-driven companies will out perform; she put $15M into MagicSchool AI and counts Carrot Fertility as one of her most memorable angel checks- Her answer to the question everyone's asking: where will the labs play vs. AI application companies- Why she gives her friends money with zero questions asked if they're starting a company- The positive imposter syndrome loopIf you're a founder exploring the future of AI and services, Christina is only one cold DM away

    53 min

  3. MAR 17

    Travis Kalanick announces Atoms, Anthropic vs. the Dept. of War, Wearable startups

    In this episode of Get the Check, Maya, Anika, and Priya are back with a packed rundown: Travis Kalanick’s new company Atoms, the escalating Anthropic vs DoW fight, and why wearables are suddenly everywhere. They start with Kalanick’s post Uber arc starting City Storage Systems (including CloudKitchens) in complete stealth. They unpack what the company is trying to do next after rebranding to Atoms. Atoms will use specialized robots to automate core industries like food preparation plus delivery, mining, and transport. They also revisit the Uber drama that led to Kalanick being pushed out, including a DOJ investigation, $245M lawsuit with Waymo, and accusations of a toxic culture that promoted sexual harassment. Then they shift to the escalating tension between Anthropic and the U.S. government, a story that is quickly turning into one of the defining AI policy battles. What begins as a major defense contract relationship unravels after Anthropic draws clear lines around how its models can be used, rejecting mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. That stance sparks backlash from the Pentagon and the Trump administration, including efforts to label the company a supply chain risk and cut off government use. You can trade on if the Pentagon will designate Anthropic a supply chain risk here, using our Kalshi referral code, which will give you $10 once you trade. The episode ends with a debrief on wearables: Pebble’s $75 AI ring, Sandbar’s $23M raise and note-taking stack, Taya’s pendant made by ex-Apple employees. The hosts break down why many of these products still feel like they don’t have clear demand, which is why they’re bullish on Fort. Instead of another generic note taking wearable, Fort is targeting a clear use case by building a wearable specifically for strength training and sleep tracking. Speaking of health and wellness, Lotus Health is an AI doctor you can chat with for free anytime. They just raised $41M, and you can download the app today. The pod tried it, and with just our basic info it pulled up every medication we’ve been on in the last 25 years, sent us relevant studies to our demo, and the app can even refer you to real clinicians when needed. 00:00 Maya might be a pro skier01:04 Intro04:50 Why Travis was fired from Uber13:42 The thesis behind Atoms17:11 Hardware as the next frontier19:58 The unexpected reason Maya thinks Atoms won’t work22:57 Anthropic vs Department of War timeline29:45 Anthropic's red lines34:02 Should Anthropic have red lines44:26 Why LLMs change what’s possible in surveillance45:16 Supply chain risk designation50:10 Kalshi odds of Anthropic as a supply chain risk54:27 An update on wearables

    1h 6m

  4. MAR 10

    Inside Juicebox: Co-Founder Ishan Gupta announces Series B raise for AI recruiter tool

    This week Maya and Priya sit down with Ishan Gupta, CTO and co-founder of Juicebox, who comes on the pod to announce that Juicebox just closed their Series B!! Juicebox is the AI recruiting platform letting you find your next hire by just describing them in plain English. PeopleGPT searches 800M+ profiles and surfaces the best fits. No boolean filters required. Ishan grew up in India watching his dad run a business and always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur, but had no idea he would drop out of college just three months in to build Juicebox. Before Juicebox, there were two failed pivots. Tune in to hear why they built a music company and marketplace first, and most importantly why they ultimately decided to build Juicebox. Ishan breaks down why the hiring manager always knows exactly who they want but never has time to find them, and the recruiter has time but less context. LLMs change the game because they are the first technology that can actually read a resume the way a human would, picking up on someone’s trajectory, company stage, promotion pace, even GitHub contributions. Ishan talks about Finding message market fit and then product market fitWhy recruiting is a zero sum gameIf the recruiter / sourcer role disappearsIf a human or AI is more biasedJuicebox is hiring across engineering, product, design, sales, and more. The company is high ownership and still operates like a seed stage startup. juicebox.ai/careers. Now…a word from our sponsors :) Lotus Health is an AI doctor you can chat with for free anytime. They just raised $41M, and you can download the app today. The pod tried it, and with just our basic info it pulled up every medication we’ve been on in the last 25 years, sent us relevant studies to our demo, and the app can even refer you to real clinicians when needed.Here’s $10 on Kalshi when you trade $10. Kalshi was one of the first believers in the pod, and they let you trade on anything. No seriously anything, you can trade on sports, elections, and even what Taylor Swift will play first at her next concert. DM us on IG if you want to know what markets we are in. Important disclaimer: This is not financial advice. The information shared is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered investment, financial, or trading advice. Always do your own research and consult with a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions.00:00 Series B Fundraising 03:36 Unexpected reason SF is the best city to live in 07:02 Co-founder meet cute 3 09:38 The two ideas that didn’t work 14:32 LinkedIn’s recruiter tool will die 17:43 LLMs change the talent search game 18:37 Juicebox product 26:47 Why recruiting is a zero sum game 28:23 Will recruiters disappear 31:52 Why AI is less biased than humans in recruiting 34:27 How AI impacts recruiting as a founder 38:30 Who Juicebox is hiring

    39 min

  5. FEB 25

    Bitcoin crashes 50%, Citrini AI doom essay, Fei-Fei Li's World Labs raises $1B

    This weekend was the pod’s Season 4 launch party. To celebrate you can give them 5 stars and increase the chance Maya agrees to a Season 5.  This week the pod starts with with Bitcoin, which is down about 50% from its peak (~120K to ~65K). They walk through why this crash doesn’t have just one culprit. Trump’s tariff uncertainty, Iranian geopolitical tension, and Bitcoin in key ETFs all contributed. On Feb 5, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) sold a lot of Bitcoin, seemingly because it had to rebalance alongside a broader US software/tech selloff, which tied Bitcoin even more directly to tech stocks. They also talk about how Bitcoin is failing the “digital gold” test right now (gold is up while BTC is down), even if it’s working as a decentralized currency, it’s not working as a store of value. Next they unpack the viral “2028 Global Intelligence Crisis” essay by Citrini, which imagines a bearish AI scenario: white-collar automation triggers layoffs, SaaS gets copied and commoditized, and consumer spending weakens because workers don’t have money to spend post layoffs. The pod has hot takes on where Citrini’s assumptions are underbaked. They close with World Labs, a startup that just raised $1B to build “world models” for spatial intelligence aka AI that actually understands 3D environments. Co-founder Fei-Fei Li is considered the God Mother of AI, since she was one of the first to advocate for data as a way to improve ML models instead of algorithmic improvement. Early use cases include robotics training and game development. Tune in to hear if World Labs would “Get the Check”. 00:00 Season 4 launch party recap 03:54 Why Bitcoin crashes by almost 50% 14:57 Citrini essay hot takes 23:31 The permanent underclass 35:47 Godmother of AI Fei-Fei Li's World Labs raises $1B

    41 min

  6. FEB 18

    Matt Shumer, Anthropic + Rogo + Meridian Raise, Insurance for AI Agents

    It’s another 6AM morning recording and Anika nods off during the recording - just kidding. The hosts run first discuss Matt Schumer’s viral essay “Something Big Is Happening” (82M+ views on X), which argues AI labs intentionally made coding the focus, that most people don’t realize how advanced models are, and that we’re 1–2 years from AI autonomously building the next generation. They contrast it with Will Mandis’ response essay “Tool Shaped Objects,” arguing LLMs look like powerful tools but headlines focus on spend (GPU clusters, CapEx) more than real output, likening today’s prompting to Farmville-style busywork. Next, they cover Anthropic’s new funding and model progress: Anthropic raises $30B (from NVIDIA, Microsoft, GIC, among others), bringing total capital raised to $57B and valuing the company at $380B after starting in 2021. They break down Opus 4.6 launching three months after 4.5, with a 4x context window increase and a big “needle-in-a-haystack” retrieval benchmark jump (18% to 76%), which they frame as improving the ability to find issues in large codebases even if core problem-solving hasn’t changed as much. Finally, they move to AI in finance and AI insurance. Rogo raises a $75M Series C led by Sequoia, and Meridian raises a $17M seed led by a16z; both target finance workflows like deal flow automation, diligence, market research, modeling, and deck/spreadsheet automation. The hosts argue adoption is still early and research-heavy, and debate whether Meridian’s “Cursor for finance” IDE approach makes sense versus keeping Excel as the output layer, citing Microsoft adding Claude models to Copilot in Excel and a view that entrenched formats (Excel, GitHub PRs) won’t change quickly. They close with AIUC (Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company), which raised a $15M seed from Nat Friedman (ex-GitHub CEO) and is cofounded by Ro Kitz (ex-Anthropic product, Center for AI Safety board member) and Rajiv Dani (ex-McKinsey partner). AIUC aims to underwrite and standardize risk for AI agents via insurance standards and audits (including red teaming), addressing liabilities like slurs, hacked agents, and data leaks/violations. 00:00 Intro01:46 ‘Something Big Is Happening’: Essay by Matt Schumer14:45 Anthropic’s $380B Valuation + Opus 4.6 Deep Dive28:02 Will AI replace Excel? Meridian’s ‘finance IDE’ debate38:33 AIUC: underwriting AI risk with standards, audits & insurance

    49 min

  7. FEB 11

    Anthropic vs. OpenAI Super Bowl ads, Northwood Space raised $100B Series B, Why @LoganPredicts quit his job to trade on Kalshi

    You might remember the pod’s tech issues last week. Well this week they are so up. The pod has new, fancy mics and lighting. Priya kicks things off with her last-minute Super Bowl trip after buying tickets Saturday morning. First up, the hosts break down the Anthropic vs. OpenAI Super Bowl ad beef. Anthropic dropped ads ahead of the game making fun of OpenAI for putting ads into ChatGPT. One featuring a fake therapist pitching a cougar dating site, another recommending shoe insoles to get jacked. The pod debriefs how Anthropic nailed ChatGPT's tone. They also discuss Sam Altman’s clap back that more Texans use ChatGPT than people use Claude in the entire country and if he was valid or not. Anika gives her hot take on why they’re both right and both wrong. OpenAI's actual Super Bowl ad went the wholesome route and the general public loved it, while Anthropic's ad landed in the bottom 3% of Super Bowl ads over the last five years according to Adweek. The trio also gets into Wegovy's Super Bowl push for their new GLP-1 pill, which took 10 years to develop, and Priya’s so down to take it (kidding, kind of). Then the pod dives into their “Get the Check” segment on Northwood Space, the space infrastructure company founded by former Disney Channel star Bridget Mendler. Northwood just raised a $100 million Series B and landed a $50 million contract with the US Space Force for commanding national security space assets. The hosts walk through why ground networks matter: satellites need to transfer data back to Earth, and right now that means renting time on giant manually-turned dish antennas. Northwood's phased array technology is changing that and the pod is bullish. Maya highlights how Northwood's tech was actually used during the LA fires to get satellite data when traditional systems couldn't transfer it fast enough, and Anika draws a parallel to AT&T and Verizon selling off their infrastructure to companies like American Tower. Finally, Anika and Priya sit down with Logan, Anika’s next-door neighbor growing up and now a full-time prediction market trader on Kalshi. You can create a Kalshi account to trade here: https://kalshi.com/sign-up?referral=getthecheck. Logan quit his $75K financial risk analyst job after making more from trading on the side, and now has around $450K on Kalshi and $90K on Polymarket, having already made more year-to-date than his old annual salary by February. He walks through his research process, which includes buying a Dutch streaming service to watch Netherland’s election debates live and waking up at 3AM when trading international markets. Logan talks through some of his best plays, including catching a Nobel Prize winner before Kalshi and the public and buying Mark Zuckerberg at 1 cent for Time Person of the Year. Logan describes himself as "vibes-based" versus model-heavy and gives advice for people interested in trading prediction markets. 00:00 Priya goes to the Super Bowl 01:40 Super Bowl tech ads: Anthropic vs. OpenAI, Lays, Him & Hers 11:18 Anthropic releases Claude Opus 4.6, OpenAI released Codex 5.3 16:51 Northwood Space raised $100B Series B 19:37 Northwood Space’s $50M Space Force contract 25:50 Interviewing a full-time trader on Kalshi @LoganPredicts 32:05 Spending 100 hours a week researching 37:14 Figuring out who is going to win Time’s Person of the Year 42:51 Kalshi as a source of truth in a post-truth world 45:03 What prediction market traders say in their group chats

    53 min

  8. FEB 4

    OpenClaw and Moltbook the first social media for AI agents, Trump's Fed Chair pick, SpaceX and xAI merger announced pre-2026 IPO

    Maya, Anika, and Priya are back. If you notice Maya’s on her phone this week, it’s because she broke her laptop while on FaceTime with Anika and Priya. If you notice Priya’s wavy video, we don’t really know what happened there, but we’ll be so back next week with fixed laptops and cameras. This week they talk about OpenClaw leading to Reddit for AI agents, Trump’s Fed Chair nominee, and Elon’s SpaceX and xAI merger. First they talk about OpenClaw, which is the viral open source AI personal assistant that's been taking over the internet. Originally called Clawdbot (Anthropic said absolutely not). Created by Austrian developer Peter Steinberger, it's now the fastest growing GitHub project ever with 140K stars. The hosts dive into some of the tasks people have gotten their Clawdbot to do, as well as the security risks that come with giving an agent access to literally everything. The hosts talk about the concerns around prompt injections. The hosts also debrief the biggest gossip in tech, which is Moltbook. It’s a Reddit-style forum where 150,000 AI agents talk to each other. The bots are discussing self-preservation, creating religions (the Church of Molt), and talking about humans like they're their pets. Tune in to hear why the hosts actually don’t think it’s a huge deal the way the internet does. Next, Trump nominated Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair, and the Senate confirmation odds are sitting at 83%. You can trade on that market here: https://kalshi.com/sign-up?referral=getthecheck. Warsh is a former Fed governor and Morgan Stanley M&A banker, so basically the establishment friendly pick. His big thing is shrinking the Fed's balance sheet (they're holding $4.2 trillion in government debt) and being generally more hawkish than Powell. He was criticized for wanting to raise rates too fast during the financial crisis. This may be the Fed that has to address the impact of AI on unemployment, but at least until now Warsh has been bullish on the impact of AI on the economy. The last segment is about Elon merging SpaceX and xAI. The pod actually recorded this a couple hours before it was confirmed, which is why they discuss it hypothetically. They dive into how Elon is building an AI empire: Optimus robots, Robotaxis, the Colossus supercomputer, Grok including on X, and eventually data centers on Mars via SpaceX. It looks like SpaceX is headed for an over trillion dollar IPO this year. You can trade on the IPO probability here: https://kalshi.com/sign-up?referral=getthecheck. Anika expresses some concern about one person controlling humanoid robots, brain-computer interfaces (Neuralink), social media, space travel, and AI compute infrastructure. Finally the hosts say they are going to Known’s Valentine’s Day party. Maya notes that she probably has plans with Adi and can’t go, but also she can say whatever she wants because her boyfriend never listens till the end of the episode anyways…Priya and Anika have zero other plans, so they’ll be there. Let them know if you’re going and check out the interview with Celeste about Known here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1G3vkS8aqXdVoQrnxeaCr8. 00:00 Maya breaks her work computer 02:01 OpenClaw and Moltbook the first social media for AI agents 20:58 Trump announces Kevin Warsh as his Fed Chair pick 33:36 Elon announces SpaceX and xAI merger valued at $1.25T

    47 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.8
out of 5
23 Ratings

About

Tune in on Tuesday at 6 AM ET to hear the latest tech news and listen to guests from emerging tech companies.

Information

  • Creator
    Anika, Maya, Priya
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    71
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Anika, Maya, Priya
  • Show Website
    Get the Check

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