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 23 guests with 5 or more scored statements, ranked. 7 more have fewer than 5, too few for a fair average. Sort or filter below.
| # | Person | Avg debate potential | Statements scored |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josh Wolfe Founder, Lux Capital | 3.4 | 5 |
| 2 | Joanna Coles Chief Content Officer, The Daily Beast | 3.4 | 10 |
| 3 | Vinod Khosla Founder, Khosla Ventures | 3.03 | 30 |
| 4 | Amir Efrati Journalist, The Information | 3 | 9 |
| 5 | Aaron Levie Co-Founder & CEO, Box | 2.96 | 28 |
| 6 | Ben Smith Co-Founder, Semafor | 2.92 | 12 |
| 7 | Adrian Aoun Founder & Investor, aoun.net | 2.77 | 22 |
| 8 | Elad Gil Founder, Gil Capital | 2.59 | 22 |
| 9 | Scott Belsky Partner, A24 | 2.56 | 9 |
| 10 | Anatoly Yakovenko Co-Founder and CEO, Solana Labs | 2.56 | 18 |
| 11 | Scott Stanford Founder, Acme Capital | 2.5 | 6 |
| 12 | Dan Feder | 2.5 | 6 |
| 13 | Ben Lerer Managing Partner, Lerer Hippeau | 2.5 | 6 |
| 14 | Casey Neistat Filmmaker and YouTube Creator | 2.5 | 14 |
| 15 | Tony Conrad Partner, True Ventures | 2.44 | 16 |
| 16 | Guillermo Rauch Founder & CEO, Vercel | 2.39 | 46 |
| 17 | Matt Vascellaro | 2.2 | 5 |
| 18 | Stuart Landesberg CEO, Seneca | 2.18 | 22 |
| 19 | Brian Singerman Partner Emeritus, Founders Fund | 2.17 | 6 |
| 20 | Mike Brown CEO, Teamshares | 2.1 | 21 |
| 21 | Julia Hartz Co-Founder and former CEO, Eventbrite | 1.93 | 14 |
| 22 | Erin Foster Co-Founder, Favorite Daughter | 1.88 | 8 |
| 23 | Sara Foster Co-Founder, Favorite Daughter | 1.43 | 7 |
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 313 companies, funds and products with at least one bearish claim on the record.
Highest debate potential, by year
2026
Sam Lessin: AI eliminates Silicon Valley's advantage over New York finance workers
“I'd actually argue the average person in Silicon Valley is not as smart as like the average person in New York finance, right? They're not the best marketers. They're not the best at anything. The advantage in Silicon Valley was actually knowing how to write t…”
Sam Lessin: AI labs seeking regulatory capture is cynical and anti-American
“I think it's very cynical for these companies to even try to switch the field of play from business to politics, right? Like, I think that's a very cynical, anti-American thing to do, to be like, okay, we're not going to play and compete in capitalism in a fai…”
2025
Brit Morin: Deel CEO allegedly recruited Rippling employee as paid spy
“Keith O'Brien, who was the man allegedly spying for deal while working at Rip Lane had to
Put out an affidavit today, and he basically, like, came forward and just was like, all right, here's the truth.
Alex, how do you pronounce his name?
Boise, Boise, the CE…”
Sam Lessin: Elon Musk and Sam Altman deliberately lie to motivate followers
“I think that Elon and Sam Altman lie, right? I think they say things they know to not be true, to Get people to do things. Right. And like, go on like with them. I just believe that from what I've seen, like, I think they're both way too smart to believe what …”
2024
2023
Lessin: Big tech is better off cutting average nine-to-five engineers
“Most of like the line engineers and people who just kind of like, you know, show up in nine to five and crunch out small projects. They're just not that valuable and you're better off cutting them rather than doing whatever you possibly can to retain them.”