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Travis Kalanick

also referred to as: tk

38 statements across 7 episodes · 19 bullish · 2 bearish · 3 people on the record · first statement Nov 14, 2024 by Jordi Hays · said 76 times in 21 episodes since 2024 · across every show →

On the record as a speaker too: Travis Kalanick's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.

Mentions by year

brought up most by John Coogan (22), Jordi Hays (11), Jon Ma (8)

tap a year for its mentions
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0035610202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 34 mentions in 10 episodes 3 per episode
2025 27 mentions in 5 episodes 5 per episode
2024 15 mentions in 6 episodes 3 per episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about Travis Kalanick, oldest first

Nov 14, 2024 bullish
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Hays: ACS founder Steve Simone will be the Travis Kalanick of defense
“I think I think he's the, gonna be look back as the TK of defense. Like, he's like one of one individual”
Jordi Hays Nov 14, 2024 ▶ 2:20:49 Low T levels at Y-Combinator (ep9)
Dec 14, 2024
Opinion
Hays: The best founders are often controversial like Jobs and Kalanick
“The best founders are often controversial, right? Steve Jobs, Travis Kalanick, Kalanick.”
Jordi Hays Dec 14, 2024 ▶ 14:58 Surviving a VC Holiday Party (ep22)
Mar 13, 2026
Insight
Mastering Direct-Sales LTV-to-CAC for SMBs Is 'Life in Hard Mode'
“When you go from consumer to B to B, the number one mega challenge that you must master is called LTV to CAC. Yes, you can make that argument on consumer, but when you have a sales funnel that starts with, I'm going to talk to customers and I'm going, I have t…”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 10:47 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 bearish
Insight
Specialized Wheeled Robots Vastly Outperform Humanoids in Industrial Applications
“Because if you're gonna do specialized robots, not humanoids, but specialized robots, They need to have wheels. Right? I like to say, like, if you saw the Beijing, in Beijing, they had the humanoid Olympics. And the half marathon, and you're watching the human…”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 17:18 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 positive
Insight
Stealth Startups Need High-EQ Builders Who Can Reject Public Validation
“You build a culture of people that want to build and do not need to be famous when they do it, which basically means emotional intelligence. Now it's a human nature. I want to be acknowledged for the things that I do. I'd like the things I build to be seen and…”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 9:34 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 neutral
Insight
Manufacturing, Real Estate, and Transport Are the Physical Computing Stack
“But if you're treating atoms like bits, digitizing the physical world, CPU manipulates bits, what manipulates atoms? Manufacturing. Storage stores bits, what stores atoms? Real estate. Network moves bits from point A to point B, what moves atoms? Transport, lo…”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 32:04 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026
Disclosure
Atoms Built a Fully Operational Restaurant to Deploy Its First Food Robot
“So my roboticist team in Pittsburgh made a restaurant that is the restaurant that our first robot went into because we had to make sure that we understood how a restaurant worked. We had to make sure that this wasn't just a machine that made food, but a machin…”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 44:17 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 positive
Opinion
Uber's Historical Operational Execution Remains Superior to Modern Tech Startups
“I still think we probably did things better than anybody that some of those things probably are still better than anybody even today. But obviously the check size much bigger.”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 24:30 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 positive
Insight
Job Interviews Should Simulate Actual On-the-Job Collaboration
“When you interview, simulate what it's like working together so that day one is really like week two and you're already pumped because you saw them in action.”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 36:52 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026
Disclosure
Kalanick Forwent a Salary for Four Years Following the Dot-Com Crash
“I didn't pay myself a salary for four years. I was raising money in two in late, 2001 for a networking software company.”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 50:56 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 neutral
Disclosure
Atoms Operates Physical Kitchen Facilities Housing 30 Restaurants Each
“So right now I have these facilities. There's 30 restaurants in each of them.”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 13:31 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 bullish
Opinion
Competing With Atoms Requires Buying $100M of Real Estate Per City
“So like, if you want to compete with us, go buy a hundred million dollars of real estate in every major city in the world. And then we're going to go head to head.”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 14:47 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026
Disclosure
Atoms Is Expanding Beyond Food Into Industrial Mining and Transport
“We're still doing the food thing, but then we're adding mining and transport.”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 17:00 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 positive
Assertion Contradicted
Drew Houston Pioneered Late-Stage Institutional Fundraising for Tech Startups
“I have to give credit to Drew at Dropbox. He was like the first guy in that game.”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 22:39 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 negative
Disclosure
Kalanick Mandates Employees Work From Physical Offices 5 to 7 Days Weekly
“There's a difference between Between remote work where somebody works at home and they're like in boxers and then a suit. Okay. Versus we have an office in every major city in the world and whatever city you're in, you're going to that office every day, five d…”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 33:24 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 positive
Insight
Grocery-Priced Meal Delivery Requires Automated Food Production and Delivery
“A meal that's efficient, you know, so efficient it starts to approach the cost of going to the grocery store. A meal that's prepared and delivered to you. That's real. You must do automated production of food. You must do automated delivery of the meal.”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 16:38 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 positive
Assertion Supported
Selling Red Swoosh for $19M Remains Kalanick's Happiest Day
“And I sold it to Akamai for like, I think it was like nineteen million bucks and probably to this day is still the happiest day of my life.”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 12:48 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 bullish
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Human Labor Will Become Increasingly Valuable Until Super AGI
“Until we get super AGI. Humans are valuable, and they are going to become more and more valuable because they will be the long pole in the tent to progress, and that progress is going to accelerate and get faster and more, you know, more robust, except If you'…”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 26:48 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026
Insight
If a Strategy Feels Easy, You Failed to Maximize Competitive Advantage
“If anybody comes to me and says a strategic thing was easy, I'm like, you messed up. You could have been way better and gone way further. More competitive advantage. More differentiation.”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 53:51 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 positive
Assertion Partly supported
Jason Calacanis Turned a $10,000 Early Uber Check Into $100 Million
“There was like a angel group that I pitched to. There were like 30, 40 people in the room. I think it was like three or four that invested. Okay. The 10 grand check became like a hundred million bucks.”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 43:04 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 13, 2026 bullish
Disclosure
Atoms Is Finalizing an Acquisition of Autonomous Vehicle Startup Pronto
“I was the largest investor in pronto. And then we just were basically right in the final, like, We're checking off the list, maybe closing today or tomorrow on that deal.”
Travis Kalanick Mar 13, 2026 ▶ 38:01 FULL INTERVIEW: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick is Back with a New AI Startup
Mar 14, 2026 neutral
Assertion Supported
Travis Kalanick plots new self-driving venture with Uber and Anthony Levandowski
“The news is Travis Kalanick plots new self-driving venture with Lewandowski and Uber. Kalanick has also been discussing acquiring the startup founded by Anthony Lewandowski, who has been developing autonomous software for mining and other industrial use cases.”
John Coogan Mar 14, 2026 ▶ 10:38 Tall Poppy Syndrome, Bytedance Gets Blackwell Chips, WSJ Mansion Section | Diet TBPN
Mar 16, 2026 positive
Opinion
Hays: A 'Travis-Sized Hole' Existed in Tech Culture After Kalanick Left
“I think that the Travis Kalanick mindset has been missing totally when he kind of left. There was, there's been a Travis sized hole in the industry, in the culture.”
Jordi Hays Mar 16, 2026 ▶ 0:43 AI vs. Dog Cancer, Timothée Chalamet Under Fire, ‘Agents Over Bubbles' | Diet TBPN
Mar 25, 2026 neutral
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Hays: Benchmark is less likely to oust founders after Uber fallout
“I would argue like they are probably less likely to go against the founder given, given how this entire situation has played out.”
Jordi Hays Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 7:36 Benchmark’s Ship of Theseus, OpenAI Kills Sora, SpaceX $2T IPO Buzz | Diet TBPN
Mar 25, 2026 bullish
What-if
Hays: Uber would be worth over $1T if Kalanick remained CEO
“His take, which I totally agree with is it's hard to, if Travis had stayed in the role, It's hard to imagine Uber being worth less than something like a trillion dollars today.”
Jordi Hays Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 1:12 Benchmark’s Ship of Theseus, OpenAI Kills Sora, SpaceX $2T IPO Buzz | Diet TBPN
Jul 22, 2026 positive
Assertion Supported
Travis Kalanick Announces $1.7 Billion Raise for Adams
“I announced earlier today we did a 1.7 billion dollar raise.”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 4:18 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
Jul 22, 2026 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Kalanick Claims Uber Never Pushed Regulations to Advantage Itself
“I never did that. Like we never did that. We basically never ever Proposed or pushed any rule that would be beneficial to us versus somebody else.”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 33:51 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
Jul 22, 2026
Insight
Travis Kalanick: Never Ask Enterprise Customers for a Direct Revenue Cut
“You never go to a customer. I don't care what you're selling. Okay. I don't care if it's enterprise software. I don't care if it's widgets. I don't care what it is. You never go to a customer and say, give me a percentage of your stuff. You go to a customer an…”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 28:52 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
Jul 22, 2026 bullish
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pronto's Autonomous Tech Has Surpassed Human Productivity in Mining
“The pronto technology has got gotten past human productivity, which means you go to a gold mine CEO, you talk about go to market, you go to a gold mine CEO and you say, would you like to have 20% more gold per year?”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 11:53 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
Jul 22, 2026
What-if
Kalanick: 2017 Would Have Been Different If Uber Partnered With a16z
“If we did it business at Uber, my 2017 would have been a different year.”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 42:57 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
Jul 22, 2026
Disclosure
Travis Kalanick Commutes to Work on a Jet Ski
“I mean, I've got a five minute commute to work on a jet ski, unless it's raining.”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 0:26 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
Jul 22, 2026 neutral
Disclosure
Kalanick Consolidated Mining, Transport, and Food AI Ventures into One Holding
“So then what we did is we put the companies together and then sold the equity in a singular entity.”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 6:14 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
Jul 22, 2026 positive
Disclosure
Kalanick on Uber's Growth: 'We Didn't Acquire Shit, We Just Built'
“It's like not, I guess you were, it's different today, but in my world, we didn't acquire shit. We just built.”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 22:10 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
Jul 22, 2026
Insight
Kalanick: Simulating Actual Work During Interviews De-Risks Executive Hiring
“On the interview process, simulate what it's like working together so that day one really feels like week two. And day one, you better be excited. So if you're excited in day one, after simulating what it's like working together in the interview process, then …”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 32:40 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
Jul 22, 2026 positive
Disclosure
Vale Is an Autonomous Mining Customer of Travis Kalanick's Pronto
“Massive iron ore mine that we're operating in there. And you see, like we took, we were there for a couple of days cause we already have customers there. Sure. A customer is called valet. It's a massive mining company.”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 10:03 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
Jul 22, 2026
Insight
Kalanick: Executive Problem-Solving Ability Is More Important Than Organizational Skill
“The problem solving is the most important thing. If you get somebody who organizes and manages well, but cannot solve a problem. They're going to be doing ridiculous stuff in a super organized way.”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 30:54 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
Jul 22, 2026
Insight
Kalanick: Multi-Vertical Startup Fundraising Eases Once One Unit Reaches Profitability
“There has to be a theory of the case of how you put it together, how you allocate capital across, and honestly, once you're starting to get to profitability on one or more, then that conversation starts to get easier.”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 7:47 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
Jul 22, 2026 bullish
Opinion
Kalanick: Adams Automates 2-Million-Pound Machines Rather Than Building Apps
“This is why the Adams thing is cool. Because you're not dropping a fucking app in the app store. You're like, automating a two million pound machine going 35 miles an hour carrying gold.”
Travis Kalanick Jul 22, 2026 ▶ 23:24 Inside Travis Kalanick’s Wild New AI Company
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