Who is building the TBPN for India?
I've been watching this show and am genuinely impressed by how it has cracked the code on tech media. In just 2 months, Jordi Hays and John Coogan have made TBPN a go-to 'new media' platform for high-profile startup founders, investors and operators.
Marc Andreessen, Aravind Srinivas, Garry Tan, Morgan Housel, Bryan Johnson are some of the guests who've appeared on the show.
What makes TBPN fascinating is its completely fresh format. Unlike traditional weekly tech podcasts that feel increasingly stale, these guys broadcast live for three hours daily in an unfiltered sports talk radio-like structure that feels genuinely new. It's the antithesis of carefully edited, PR-approved tech coverage we've grown accustomed to.
Their secret sauce is speed and authenticity. If there's breaking news in the tech world, TBPN reacts instantly. When Notion launched its AI notetaking feature last week, the very next day they asked Granola's Christopher Pedregal for his views on the move live on the show. That's just one example of how TBPN manages to get the juiciest stories straight from the horse's mouth, a direct consequence of their choice to build the show entirely on X.
This real-time responsiveness makes traditional media look painfully slow in comparison. From day one, they've had a roster of startup sponsors like Ramp and Eight Sleep, showing a willingness to back an untested format to benefit the ecosystem.
Valley biggies Y Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz gave them significant boosts. TBPN set up shop at YC Demo Day as a 'special media partner' to conduct on-the-spot interviews with several founders from the batch and captured the high-energy atmosphere. They also scored a dedicated broadcasting space at the a16z LP Day, hosting an all-star lineup of eight partners. That's serious validation.
There's another angle to this. A new philosophy taking hold in the US that's part of a broader pro-tech media movement is 'going direct' (h/t Lulu Cheng Meservey), which advocates for founders to bypass traditional media and communicate directly to their audiences. TBPN is perfectly situated within this trend.
TBPN also benefits immensely from Silicon Valley's high venture velocity. The sheer volume of news, deals, and notable figures creates an endless stream of potential content. You simply can't run out of guests when there's a new unicorn, funding round, or product launch every day.
The show's tech-optimist stance resonates with the Silicon Valley ethos. They're not looking to take down founders or run hit pieces. This approach, combined with their smart, humorous, and self-deprecating style, has created a space to genuinely celebrate innovation.
While India has great startup coverage, we lack this kind of dynamic, founder-friendly platform that makes high-density tech conversations accessible and exciting. Hope this inspires a version (supported by the right stakeholders) that captures our ecosystem's energy.