Down Round

We're joined by Rowan "Joyride" Dix and Becky "Becky Lucas" Lucas for another round of our annual community shark tank, where we listen to our listeners pitch their startup ideas and decide whether we're going to invest.Go to https://www.downround.net/ to sign up for PREMIUM to hear the other 45 minutes of Shark Tank, get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the inaugural episode of this years holiday special, we rack up Ws as we dissect the predictions we made last silly season for 2025. Go to https://www.downround.net/ to sign up for PREMIUM and get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every week. In this week's premium ep, we make our predictions for 2026, which will almost certainly come true (not financial advice).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A highly requested topic in the Down Round Discord is mental health and mindfulness apps — from meditation platforms like Calm to therapist marketplaces like BetterHelp. That's the topic of today, discussing the boom during the ZIRP era, the peak during COVID, and how it all relates to other engagement platforms like Duolingo.Go to https://www.downround.net/ to sign up for PREMIUM and get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Netflix wants to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount Skydance wants to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. Both for many billions of dollars. Why? We break down the $70 – 100 billion bids, the Ellison–Trump court politics, and why this could mark the final enclosure of the film industry by tech. Also: James chronicles the history of film industry disruption, and Raph reveals his long-awaited top ten movies of 2025 list. We also provide some follow-up on prediction markets after last weeks episode. Go to https://www.downround.net/ to sign up for PREMIUM and get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we're going deep on the rise of prediction markets — the hybrid of futures trading, sports gambling, and economic theology that suddenly seems to have eaten the world. Platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi are booming and an increasingly big part of both tech culture and also gambling culture. We trace the whole arc: from Hayekian fantasies about prices revealing truth, to the far bigger truth: people just really, really like having a punt. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.