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 37 guests with 5 or more scored statements, ranked. 0 more have fewer than 5, too few for a fair average, and the host is scored on his own page. Sort or filter below.
| # | Person | Avg debate potential | Statements scored |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Travis Kalanick CEO, Atoms | 2.91 | 34 |
| 2 | Lulu Cheng Meservey Founder and CEO, Rostra | 2.71 | 17 |
| 3 | David Heinemeier Hansson CTO, 37signals | 2.62 | 26 |
| 4 | Jason Fried Co-founder and CEO, 37signals | 2.54 | 46 |
| 5 | Marc Andreessen Co-Founder and General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz | 2.46 | 35 |
| 6 | Dana White CEO and President, UFC | 2.4 | 43 |
| 7 | Micky Malka Founder & Managing Partner, Ribbit Capital | 2.39 | 18 |
| 8 | Torsten Reil Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Helsing | 2.38 | 29 |
| 9 | Sam Altman CEO, OpenAI | 2.38 | 37 |
| 10 | Brian Armstrong Co-Founder & CEO, Coinbase | 2.36 | 36 |
| 11 | Eric Glyman Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Ramp | 2.32 | 19 |
| 12 | Tobi Lütke Co-Founder and CEO, Shopify | 2.32 | 50 |
| 13 | John Mackey Co-Founder & CEO, Love.Life | 2.25 | 28 |
| 14 | Doug Leone Partner, Sequoia Capital | 2.19 | 27 |
| 15 | Steve Stoute Founder & CEO, UnitedMasters | 2.18 | 22 |
| 16 | Jonathan Ross Founder, Groq | 2.15 | 27 |
| 17 | Adam Foroughi Co-Founder & CEO, AppLovin | 2.1 | 29 |
| 18 | Jimmy Iovine Co-founder, Beats Electronics | 2.08 | 38 |
| 19 | Zach Dell Co-Founder and CEO, Base Power | 2.08 | 25 |
| 20 | Evan Spiegel Co-Founder and CEO, Snap Inc. | 2.05 | 42 |
| 21 | James Dyson Founder and Chief Engineer, Dyson | 2.03 | 36 |
| 22 | Ed Catmull Co-Founder, Pixar | 1.95 | 37 |
| 23 | Gustav Söderström Co-CEO, Spotify | 1.94 | 31 |
| 24 | Jeff Zalaznick Co-Founder and Partner, Major Food Group | 1.93 | 15 |
| 25 | Scott Wu Co-founder & CEO, Cognition | 1.91 | 22 |
| 26 | Strauss Zelnick Chairman & CEO, Take-Two Interactive | 1.9 | 30 |
| 27 | Brad Jacobs Chairman & CEO, QXO, Inc. | 1.88 | 26 |
| 28 | Tony Xu Co-Founder and CEO, DoorDash | 1.86 | 29 |
| 29 | Michael Ovitz Chairman, Treville Capital Group | 1.84 | 44 |
| 30 | Patrick O'Shaughnessy Founder & CEO, Positive Sum | 1.84 | 25 |
| 31 | Daniel Ek Founder & Executive Chairman, Spotify | 1.84 | 32 |
| 32 | Rick Rubin Record Producer and Author | 1.82 | 22 |
| 33 | Todd Graves Founder and Co-CEO, Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers | 1.76 | 25 |
| 34 | Mati Staniszewski Co-founder & CEO, ElevenLabs | 1.72 | 39 |
| 35 | Ivanka Trump | 1.62 | 13 |
| 36 | Michael Dell Founder, Chairman & CEO, Dell Technologies | 1.59 | 17 |
| 37 | David Baszucki Co-founder & CEO, Roblox | 1.44 | 50 |
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 78 companies, funds and products with at least one bearish claim on the record.
| Company | Bearish statements | Of which 4–5 |
|---|---|---|
| 37signals company | 11 ↓ | 3 |
| Shopify company | 10 ↓ | — |
| Spotify company | 7 ↓ | 1 |
| Sequoia Capital fund | 7 ↓ | 2 |
| Apple company | 6 ↓ | 2 |
| Uber company | 5 ↓ | 2 |
| Snap Inc. company | 5 ↓ | 1 |
| Pixar company | 5 ↓ | — |
| Facebook company | 4 ↓ | 2 |
| Take Two Interactive company | 3 ↓ | 1 |
| Instagram product | 3 ↓ | 1 |
| Disney company | 3 ↓ | — |
| Windows product | 2 ↓ | 1 |
| Whole Foods Market company | 2 ↓ | — |
| Viacom company | 2 ↓ | 2 |
| TikTok product | 2 ↓ | 1 |
| Roblox company | 2 ↓ | — |
| MTV company | 2 ↓ | 1 |
| Microsoft company | 2 ↓ | 1 |
| ElevenLabs company | 2 ↓ | — |
| Coinbase company | 2 ↓ | 1 |
| Cognition AI company | 2 ↓ | — |
| Benchmark fund | 2 ↓ | 2 |
| Base Power company | 2 ↓ | — |
| AppLovin company | 2 ↓ | — |
| Zoom company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Yahoo company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Warner Communications company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Vacuum Cleaner product | 1 ↓ | — |
| Udio company | 1 ↓ | 1 |
| Twitter company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Tesla company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Suno company | 1 ↓ | 1 |
| Stripe company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Showtime company | 1 ↓ | 1 |
| ServiceNow company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Second Life product | 1 ↓ | — |
| Reebok company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Ramp company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Raising Cane's company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Public company | 1 ↓ | — |
| PowerPoint product | 1 ↓ | — |
| Planet Harvest company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Palantir company | 1 ↓ | — |
| OpenAI company | 1 ↓ | — |
| One FC company | 1 ↓ | 1 |
| NVIDIA company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Nike company | 1 ↓ | — |
| The New York Times company | 1 ↓ | — |
| National Football League company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Mouse product | 1 ↓ | — |
| Major Food Group company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Mac product | 1 ↓ | — |
| Lyft company | 1 ↓ | 1 |
| Luxottica company | 1 ↓ | 1 |
| Linux product | 1 ↓ | — |
| ITunes product | 1 ↓ | — |
| Intuitive Surgical company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Helsing company | 1 ↓ | 1 |
| Groq company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Grand Theft Auto product | 1 ↓ | — |
| Google company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Go Direct The Manifesto product | 1 ↓ | 1 |
| General Electric company | 1 ↓ | 1 |
| E.T. The Extra Terrestrial product | 1 ↓ | — |
| Dyson company | 1 ↓ | 1 |
| DoorDash company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Devin product | 1 ↓ | — |
| Dell Technologies company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Cisco company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Boeing company | 1 ↓ | 1 |
| Beats By Dre company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Basecamp company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Ballbarrow company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Atoms company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Atari company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Amazon Web Services company | 1 ↓ | — |
| Airbnb company | 1 ↓ | — |
Highest debate potential, by year
2026
2025
Dyson: Experienced hires from existing companies bring habits that resist change
“The older you get, the more you try to apply your experience. And if you've come from an existing company, we may have picked up bad habits. I'm not saying we don't have bad habits at Dyson, but I'm saying you picked up the habits of that company, which may no…”