Get the Check

Anika, Maya, Priya

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

  1. 3D AGO

    Mercor's 4TB hack, NASA going to the moon, Coefficient Bio's $400M acquisition by Anthropic

    Mercor got hacked, NASA went back to the moon, and Anthropic just dropped $400 million on a nine-person biotech startup. There's a lot to talk about. Maya, Anika, and Priya kick things off with the supply chain attacks that have been all over the news. A North Korean state actor called Team PCP compromised Trivy, an open source security scanner, which then cascaded into LiteLLM and Checkmarx, ultimately leading to 4TB of Mercor's data getting leaked, including biometric data and confidential training projects tied to OpenAI and Meta. They break down how the attack chain actually worked and how Mercor got their data back. They also debrief the future of cyber and why pinning your dependencies matters more than ever. They also look at who's building defenses in this space: Chainguard ($3.5B valuation), Socket (who detected the Axios attack in 6 minutes), and Cogent Security. Then they get into Artemis II, NASA's first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit in 53 years. The real question is why now, and the answer is mostly China, who landed on the far side of the moon in 2019 and says they'll reach the south pole by 2028. They break down the $100 billion the US has spent so far, the heat shield failure that NASA quietly buried for three years, and how SpaceX and Blue Origin ended up fighting over lunar contracts. They also get into the Artemis Accords, why $1.5 trillion in lunar resources has turned the moon into a geopolitical chess match. Finally, the Get the Check segment covers Coefficient Bio, a nine-person team out of Genentech that got acquired by Anthropic for $400 million after just eight months. They get into how transformers apply to protein structure prediction, what AlphaFold unlocked, how the founders' "lab in the loop" paper cut drug discovery timelines by 70%, and what this signals about Anthropic building out a life sciences group. They also look at Chai Discovery (whose model gets 86% of designs to preclinical candidate selection) and Lila Sciences ($235M Series A), plus the Nvidia and Eli Lilly billion-dollar partnership. 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 TBPN's rumored $125M acquisition by OpenAI 04:16 Supply chain attacks 101 10:42 How Mercor got hacked 20:33 Who's building cyber defense 23:03 Artemis II: back to the moon after 53 years 26:26 Why we are going to the moon (hint: China) 28:28 NASA's heat shield cover-up 31:34 $1.5T in lunar resources 33:40 Would we go to space 35:49 Coefficient Bio's $400M exit to Anthropic 36:50 How AI is changing drug discovery 41:46 Lab in the loop 44:34 Predicting a bio talent gold rush

    49 min
  2. MAR 31

    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
  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

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.

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