Season 1
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.
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.
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.
E13: Corporate Mortality, Momentum Investing, and Learning From Extre…
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.
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.
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 talk about generalists vs specialists, how the work of Rene Girard can be used to understand financial …
E10: Prediction markets are a trillion dollar opportunity. Why aren’t…
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.
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 …
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.
E7: OpenAI updates, macro predictions, and why McDonald’s is a softwa…
Writer Byrne Hobart and investor Erik Torenberg discuss new updatates from OpenAI, Byrne's macroeconomic predictions, the importance of software for Microsoft, and more.
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 …
E5: Hedge Funds, VC, and Finding Alpha
In our 5th episode of The Riff, Byrne Hobart and 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 know about …
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.
E3: Sam Altman, the Microsoft Bull Case, 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 …
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 companies, and turning cloud networks into real communities.
E1: Psychoanalyzing SBF, Crypto Markets, and Byrne's Biggest Influenc…
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.