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Show notes
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Today's show:
How many startups matter in tech? Fewer than you think. That's why venture capitalists are tripping over themselves to get onto their cap tables, no matter the cost. Why? Footwork's Nikhil Basu Trivedi argues that the Valley has never been more "power-law-pilled" than it is today. Basu Trivedi joined Cendana Capital's Michael Kim and TWiST's Alex Wilhelm to go deep on secondary markets, the state of startup M&A, why the SaaSpocalypse may be temporary, and what could trigger a retrenchment of the AI trade. It's Wednesday, so it's time for our venture capital roundtable to go deep on how VCs are investing today, and where on the horizon they have their eyes fixed!
Guest links:
Nikhil Basu Trivedi https://x.com/nbt
Footwork https://www.footwork.vc/
Michael Kim https://x.com/MKRocks
Cendana Capital https://www.cendanacapital.com/
Show links:
The USVC-Anduril blowup https://x.com/ankurnagpal/status/2072701195714531398
Kline Hill Cendana Partners https://www.secondariesinvestor.com/kline-hill-and-cendana-raise-400m-for-second-vc-secondaries-fund/
GPTZero's exit https://gptzero.me/news/preserving-whats-human/
Salesforce buys Fin https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2026/06/15/salesforce-signs-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-fin/
Vercel buys Better Auth https://vercel.com/blog/vercel-acquires-better-auth
Figma buys Bud https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/07/figma-acquires-team-behind-a-vibe-coding-app/
Protoge https://withprotege.ai/
Windborne https://windbornesystems.com/
Etched https://www.etched.com/
Lovable's reported raise https://sifted.eu/articles/lovable-300m-13-2bn-valuation
Josh Browder https://x.com/Joshuabrowder
Timestamps:
Introduction: Nikhil Basu Trivedi (Footwork) & Michael Kim (Cendana Capital)
The Anduril vs. USVC secondary market blowup
Why Silicon Valley is 'power-law-pilled'
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Information asymmetry in the secondary markets
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