"The Riff" with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg

By Byrne Hobart, Erik Torenberg

What's "The Riff" with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg about?

Investor and writer of the popular newsletter The Diff, Byrne Hobart, and co-host Erik Torenberg discuss today’s major inflection points in technology, business, and markets – and help listeners build a diversified portfolio of trends and ideas for the future.

Topics covered: Finance, Venture Capital, Tech, AI, Crypto, and Industry Cycles

The Riff is a part of the Turpentine podcast network.

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"The Riff" with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg episodes:

06.27.2024
E34: Chamath & Tinder, Threads API, and the Difficulties of Scaling AI Labs
This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss a lesser-known Chamath Palihapitiya story, the index rebalancing trade as a postmodern part of finance, AI labs, crypto, and more. beehiiv: Head to https://beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your...
06.20.2024
E33: AI Therapy, 4chan, and Why Conferences Are Like Cities
This week, writer Byrne Hobart and investor Erik Torenberg discuss the economics of conferences and cities, rise of meme stocks, future of coding in the age of AI and more. beehiiv: Head to https://beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20%...
06.13.2024
E32: Populism, Elites, and Preparing for AGI
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne discuss populist cycles, why billionaires buy media companies, how to invest if you think AGI is coming soon, and more. beehiiv: Head to https://beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20%...
06.06.2024
E31: Google API Documentation Leak, Apple's Plans for Siri, and Analyzing Texas Instruments
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne discuss Elon Musk's and Yann Lecun's Tweets, what we can learn from Google's API decumentation leaks, how Apple is planning on improving Siri, and more. beehiiv: Head to https://beehiiv.com and...
05.30.2024
E30: xAI Fundraising, Vivek's BuzzFeed Investment, and Ad-Based AI Monetization
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne talk about xAI's fundraising round, Vivek Ramaswamy's investment in BuzzFeed, and the dynamics of using ads to monetize AI. beehiiv: Head to https://beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off...
05.23.2024
E29: Meme Stocks, Reserve Currencies, and the Case Against Home Ownership
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne talk about meme stocks, the nature of reserve currencies, and why you should consider not owning a home in America. beehiiv: Head to https://beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20%...
05.17.2024
E28: Amazon’s Potential for an Airline, Hidden Economic Gains, and the Nature of Equities
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne talk about Amazon’s potential to buy a passenger airline, hidden economic gains, equities, and more. beehiiv: Head to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months....
05.09.2024
E27: Costco's Business Model, Martingale Strategies, and Usage-Based Lock-in for AI
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne talk about how to apply Costco's business model in other industries, the risky business of Martingale strategies, usage as a potential barrier to AI model development, and more. Get Harmonic:...
05.03.2024
E26: Stripe's Unbundling Strategy, What AI Means for Education, and 24-Hour Markets
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne discuss AI & education, Stripe's shift towards unbundling, and the possibility of 24 hour markets. Get Harmonic: Head to https://bit.ly/harmonicturpentine and make sure to mention Turpentine during your demo. ---...
04.25.2024
E25: Lambda School Drama, Meta's Path to AI, and Why Hardware Constraints Protect Your Privacy
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne discuss income sharing agreements, the privacy/security/usability efficient frontier, and how Meta ended up with all their GPUs. Get Harmonic: Head to https://bit.ly/harmonicturpentine and make sure to mention Turpentine during your demo. ---...
04.18.2024
E24: Why Acquisitions Fail, How to Write a Great Memo, and The Fate of ChatGPT Wrappers
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne discuss the acquisition landscape, how to write great business memos, and why it's hard to monetize a successful ChatGPT wrapper. Get Harmonic: Head to https://bit.ly/harmonicturpentine and make sure to mention Turpentine during...
04.11.2024
E23: Hard Tech Pivots, Potato Investing, and When to Enforce the Law
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne discuss pivots in hard tech, cybersecurity and privacy, and the considerations in how often to enforce the law. For listeners watching the video, please note that Erik’s video recording dropped...
04.04.2024
E22: Corporate Espionage, Algorithmic Collusion, and Transitioning through AI
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne delve into corporate espionage, algorithmic collusion, and the lifecycle of companies amidst technological changes. --- This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology,...
03.28.2024
E21: Austin Real Estate, Duolingo’s Bull Case, and Identifying Spurious Correlations
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne discuss Austin real estate, why Duolingo has remained strong post-pandemic, and how to identify spurious correlations during data analysis. --- This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts,...
03.21.2024
E20: Content Moderation, AI in Advertising, and the Future of Social Security
In this episode, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss how technological changes influence markets and business adaptability. They explore the dynamics and challenges of e-commerce roll-ups, the unique economic incentives of large platforms like Facebook and Google, the complexities of...
03.14.2024
E19: Hedging Against Life, Outage Economics, and Open Source vs Proprietary AI
On today’s episode, Byrne Hobart delves into the intricacies of technology-induced market shifts, hedge fund dynamics, Byrne’s post on outage economics, and the evolving landscape of open source and proprietary AI models. --- This show is produced by Turpentine: a...
03.07.2024
E18: Tiger Global, Selling Alpha, and Dating Apps
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne discuss lessons about Tiger Global from Carrie Sun’s book Private Equity, the role of alternative data in investing, and why it’s hard to make a good dating app. --- The...
02.29.2024
E17: How Quants See the World
Byrne and Erik discuss company valuations, short selling, company earnings guidance, market predictions, and the behavior of companies and investors in financial markets. --- The Riff is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: https://turpentine.co --- Check out...
02.22.2024
E16: The Fertility Crisis
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne discuss the fertility crisis, how Walmart is a tool of upward mobility, AI as the last interface, and more. The Riff is sponsored by Brave. Head to https://brave.com/brave-ads/ and mention “MoZ” when...
02.15.2024
E15: Understanding Real Estate with Brad Hargreaves
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne sit down with Brad Hargreaves, founder of General Assembly and Common and editor at real estate publication Thesis Driven. They do a deep dive on everything real estate, from investing to...
02.08.2024
E14: How to Build a Media Empire
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne do a deep dive on the history of media, how technology is impacting the media landscape, and how to build the next media empire. The Riff is sponsored by Shopify:...
02.01.2024
E13: Corporate Mortality, Momentum Investing, and Learning From Extreme Events
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne discuss the mortality of corporations, why momentum investing works, and when to learn from extreme events. The Riff is sponsored by Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period. --- The...
01.25.2024
E12: How Silicon Valley Became Financially Literate
On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik and Byrne discuss factor netural hedge funds, the trend of Silicon Valley becoming more financially literate, the opportunity cost of features, and more. The Riff is sponsored by Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a...
01.18.2024
E11: What Byrne Hobart Thinks about Nearly Everything (Part Two)
This week's episode is the second part of Erik's March 2020 interview with Byrne on Venture Stories from Village Global. Erik and Byrne about generalists vs specialists, how the work of Rene Girard can be used to understand financial bubbles,...
01.11.2024
E10: Prediction markets are a trillion dollar opportunity. Why aren’t they working yet?
This week on The Riff, Erik and Byrne talk about why you should ignore the 2024 presidential election news cycle, the barriers to the success of prediction markets, why the United States can't be a net exporter, and more. The...
01.04.2024
E9: What Byrne Hobart Thinks About Nearly Everything
Today's episode is a throwback to when Erik interviewed Byrne Hobart for the first time on the Venture Stories by Village Global podcast. Byrne and Erik go deep on technological change, debate centralization versus decentralization, discuss mental models for financial...
12.28.2023
E8: Antitrust, the Future of Competition, and Higher Education
This week, writer Byrne Hobart and investor Erik Torenberg discuss the failed acquisition of Figma by Adobe, a deep dive on antitrust, Byrne's take on higher education and viable alternatives, unions, and more. The Riff is sponsored by Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen...
12.21.2023
E7: OpenAI updates, macro predictions, and why McDonald’s is a software company
This week, writer Byrne Hobart and investor Erik Torenberg discuss new updatates from OpenAI, Byrne's macroeconomic predictions, the importance of software for Microsoft, and more. Moment of Zen is sponsored by Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period. --- The...
12.14.2023
E6: How Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett beat the market
This week, writer Byrne Hobart and investor Erik Torenberg discuss the lessons to be learned from the life of the late Charlie Munger. They explore what made Munger a great investor, how he was different from Warren Buffett, and where...
12.07.2023
E5: Hedge Funds, VC, and Finding Alpha
In our 5th episode of The Riff, writer Byrne Hobart and investor Erik Torenberg are joined by Thomas Li, the CEO of Daloopa for a deep dive into the world of hedge funds. They discuss what venture capitalists may not...
11.30.2023
E4: A Closer Look at Demographics, Dating, and Globalization
In our 4th episode of The Riff, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss the complex interplay of technology, economic growth, demographics and investment decisions and the socio-technological implications of dating apps on society. They also debate the impact of political...
11.21.2023
E3: Sam Altman, the Microsoft Bull Case, OpenAI and AI Live Players
In our third episode of The Riff, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss the evolving story of Sam Altman’s ousting at OpenAI and new home at Microsoft, what OpenAI's next pivot could look like, the new competitive landscape for the...
11.16.2023
E2: OpenAI, Investing Bets, and Social Media Paradigms
In our second episode of The Riff, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss the role and influence of companies like OpenAI, AI investment opportunities, the whitespace in the future of social media models, and turning cloud networks into real communities....
11.16.2023
E1: Psychoanalyzing SBF, Crypto Markets, and Byrne's Biggest Influences
In our first episode of The Riff, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss Byrne's writing for his newsletter The DIff, his biggest influences, and the fall of Sam Bankman-Fried. The Riff is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more:...

What's "The Riff" with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

"The Riff" with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg episodes:

E34: Chamath & Tinder, Threads API, and the Difficulties of Scaling AI Labs

E33: AI Therapy, 4chan, and Why Conferences Are Like Cities

E32: Populism, Elites, and Preparing for AGI

E31: Google API Documentation Leak, Apple's Plans for Siri, and Analyzing Texas Instruments

E30: xAI Fundraising, Vivek's BuzzFeed Investment, and Ad-Based AI Monetization

E29: Meme Stocks, Reserve Currencies, and the Case Against Home Ownership

E28: Amazon’s Potential for an Airline, Hidden Economic Gains, and the Nature of Equities

E27: Costco's Business Model, Martingale Strategies, and Usage-Based Lock-in for AI

E26: Stripe's Unbundling Strategy, What AI Means for Education, and 24-Hour Markets

E25: Lambda School Drama, Meta's Path to AI, and Why Hardware Constraints Protect Your Privacy

E24: Why Acquisitions Fail, How to Write a Great Memo, and The Fate of ChatGPT Wrappers

E23: Hard Tech Pivots, Potato Investing, and When to Enforce the Law

E22: Corporate Espionage, Algorithmic Collusion, and Transitioning through AI

E21: Austin Real Estate, Duolingo’s Bull Case, and Identifying Spurious Correlations

E20: Content Moderation, AI in Advertising, and the Future of Social Security

E19: Hedging Against Life, Outage Economics, and Open Source vs Proprietary AI

E18: Tiger Global, Selling Alpha, and Dating Apps

E17: How Quants See the World

E16: The Fertility Crisis

E15: Understanding Real Estate with Brad Hargreaves

E14: How to Build a Media Empire

E13: Corporate Mortality, Momentum Investing, and Learning From Extreme Events

E12: How Silicon Valley Became Financially Literate

E11: What Byrne Hobart Thinks about Nearly Everything (Part Two)

E10: Prediction markets are a trillion dollar opportunity. Why aren’t they working yet?

E9: What Byrne Hobart Thinks About Nearly Everything

E8: Antitrust, the Future of Competition, and Higher Education

E7: OpenAI updates, macro predictions, and why McDonald’s is a software company

E6: How Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett beat the market

E5: Hedge Funds, VC, and Finding Alpha

E4: A Closer Look at Demographics, Dating, and Globalization

E3: Sam Altman, the Microsoft Bull Case, OpenAI and AI Live Players

E2: OpenAI, Investing Bets, and Social Media Paradigms

E1: Psychoanalyzing SBF, Crypto Markets, and Byrne's Biggest Influences