The Argument Index
Debate potential by speaker, the highest-scored statement each year, and the companies with the most bearish calls on record. All of it clickable, all of it playable.
People
Average debate potential by speaker
All 38 guests with 5 or more scored statements, ranked. 13 more have fewer than 5, too few for a fair average. Sort or filter below.
| # | Person | Avg debate potential | Statements scored |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joseph Gordon-Levitt Co-founder & CEO, HitRecord | 2.8 | 5 |
| 2 | Blake Robbins Co-founder & Partner, Hidden Capital | 2.62 | 8 |
| 3 | Andrew Marks Co-Founder and Managing Partner, TQ Ventures | 2.6 | 5 |
| 4 | Peter Fenton General Partner, Benchmark | 2.57 | 21 |
| 5 | Charlie Munger Former Vice Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway | 2.56 | 50 |
| 6 | Mark Zuckerberg Founder & CEO, Meta | 2.54 | 46 |
| 7 | Katherine Boyle General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz | 2.44 | 16 |
| 8 | Hamilton Helmer Co-Founder & Co-CIO, Strategy Capital | 2.4 | 10 |
| 9 | Jason Calacanis Founder & CEO, LAUNCH | 2.33 | 24 |
| 10 | Steve Ballmer Owner and Chairman, Los Angeles Clippers | 2.33 | 40 |
| 11 | Anthony Gonzalez Co-CEO, Cobalt Service Partners | 2.3 | 27 |
| 12 | Brendan Eich Co-Founder and CEO, Brave Software | 2.28 | 29 |
| 13 | Mitch Lasky General Partner, Benchmark | 2.19 | 32 |
| 14 | Brinton Johns Co-founder & Portfolio Manager, NZS Capital | 2.16 | 19 |
| 15 | Chenyi Shi Partner, Strategy Capital | 2.14 | 7 |
| 16 | Sam Bankman-Fried Former CEO, FTX | 2.12 | 24 |
| 17 | Howard Marks Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, Oaktree Capital Management | 2.11 | 18 |
| 18 | Morris Chang Founder, TSMC | 2.09 | 43 |
| 19 | Jamie Dimon Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase | 2.07 | 29 |
| 20 | Doug DeMuro Co-founder, Cars & Bids | 2.06 | 51 |
| 21 | Peter Gassner Founder & CEO, Veeva Systems | 2 | 14 |
| 22 | Michael Lewis Author & Financial Journalist | 2 | 10 |
| 23 | Jensen Huang Founder and CEO, NVIDIA | 2 | 36 |
| 24 | Ben Thompson Founder & Author, Stratechery | 1.97 | 32 |
| 25 | Michael Ovitz Chairman, Treville Capital Group | 1.96 | 23 |
| 26 | Daniel Ek Founder & Executive Chairman, Spotify | 1.89 | 46 |
| 27 | Brian Koppelman Screenwriter, Director & Showrunner | 1.89 | 9 |
| 28 | David Senra Host, Founders Podcast | 1.88 | 40 |
| 29 | Eric Yuan Founder & CEO, Zoom | 1.88 | 8 |
| 30 | Howard Schultz Chairman Emeritus, Starbucks | 1.85 | 53 |
| 31 | John Bathgate Investor & Portfolio Manager, NZS Capital | 1.84 | 19 |
| 32 | Michael Mauboussin Head of Consilient Research, Counterpoint Global | 1.81 | 32 |
| 33 | Dara Khosrowshahi CEO, Uber | 1.78 | 23 |
| 34 | Packy McCormick Founder & Writer, Not Boring | 1.78 | 36 |
| 35 | Brad Gerstner Founder & CEO, Altimeter Capital | 1.76 | 38 |
| 36 | Anu Hariharan Founder & Managing Partner, Avra | 1.5 | 10 |
| 37 | Jim Weber Former CEO, Brooks Running | 1.47 | 34 |
| 38 | Mark Canlis Owner and Operator, Canlis | 1.27 | 11 |
Companies
The most bearish calls
Debate potential is an AI score of how much a statement invites disagreement. Bearish counts tally what was said about a company on the show; they describe the conversation, not the company. Every count opens to the exact tape. full disclaimer →
All 275 companies, funds and products with at least one bearish claim on the record.
Highest debate potential, by year
2026
The NFL blackballed Colin Kaepernick following his 2016 national anthem protests
“The NFL blackballed Colin Kaepernick after this.”
Netflix functions as a utility button, not a brand with emotional equity
“The Netflix brand doesn't mean anything to anyone. The Netflix brand is the button that I push on my TV when I want to watch stuff. And sometimes it's great stuff, but if it's not great stuff, whatever. It whizzes by. I don't think one way or another about Net…”
2025
Chang: Tim Cook told me in 2011 that Intel cannot run a foundry
“And anyway, he told me there's nothing to worry about because Intel just does not know how to be a Foundry.”
Dimon: $5B Mortgage Penalties Led Him to Never Trust the Government Again
“They made us pay five billion dollars on the more, the bad mortgages that Bear Stearns had done, and that's what made me make the statement I wouldn't do it again. I wouldn't, put it this way, I don't know how to say this, I wouldn't really trust the governmen…”
2024
Schultz: Coffee in Italy is no longer as good as it once was
“The by and large coffee in Italy is not as good as it once was. There are certain coffee companies that have maintained the standard, but by and large, the coffee is not as good.”
Schultz: Starbucks developed hubris and shifted to playing defense over time
“The worst thing that could happen to a company is believing that you are incapable of doing anything but succeeding, and you deserve the success. But if you start playing defense and don't have the offensive mind, it's not going to go well. And I think over ti…”
2023
2022
Rep. Gonzalez: January 6 was an unforgivable assault inspired by Trump
“My view remains that it's an unforgivable assault on the country. And it was led by the former president who was inspired by him. And ultimately my view, which I think is coming out in this January six commission is that he kind of liked it and kind of liked w…”
2021
Bankman-Fried: FTX's revenue is clean, clear, and completely transparent
“When you talk about, like, recurring revenue, like, there's sort of, like, doesn't exist a clearer example of that than, like, you know, I don't know, we have volume each day, and we charge a transaction fee on it, right? It's incredibly clean, right? People a…”