Eric Newcomer

Had such a great time chatting with @EricNewcomer!!

The Week in Short AI companies are scrambling for humanities majors and geopolitics experts as they navigate a shifting global landscape. Independent journalist Taylor Lorenz makes the case for the anonymous internet on the podcast. OpenAI, SpaceX, and Meta are all launching new foundation models — with some designed to compete mainly on price. Seed valuations for the top 5% of startups have entered the stratosphere. Chipmaker SambaNova rakes in nine figures. A public twitter spat between USVC and Anduril highlights the precarious nature of SPV share sales. A profile of Andreessen Horowitz’s fixer Mark Dyne highlights the attorney’s behind-the-scenes activities on behalf of multiple high-profile Silicon Valley clients. SpaceX enters the Nasdaq-100 but its shares continue to slide. Fidji Simo steps back from OpenAI.

On the Newcomer Podcast: @TaylorLorenz Unfiltered on Social Media, Free Speech & the Surveillance State youtube.com/watch?v=dAxpLm… @EricNewcomer

We've been hosting a great run of insider media interviews on the Newcomer podcast @TaylorLorenz @karaswisher @semaforben Katie Drummond @WIRED @WeberWest And media critic @aronpingdsouza Here's the latest youtube.com/watch?v=dAxpLm…

Political Risk & Threat Analysis Expertise Are Hot Tickets in Silicon Valley as Trump & AI Shake the World Order newcomer.co/p/political-ri…

Then there’s The Revenge of the Philosophy Majors, as the Times deliciously put it this week. (We like it as a company filled with philosophy majors!) The existential questions around AI risks and ethics are urgent, and it’s logical — if still surprising somehow — that people who have spent their careers thinking about these questions would find that their knowledge is now in demand. All of this gives lie to the dumb and arrogant idea, heavily promoted by David Friedberg of the All-In podcast and endorsed by Elon Musk, that the world can be divided into “makers” and “takers.” At the very least, during the dawn of the AI era, there’s an important place for thinkers too. newcomer.co/p/political-ri…

I spoke to McConnell for about 20 minutes this morning. He said we should end the war with Iran, quit giving aid to Israel, stop spying on Americans without a warrant, and he’s really sorry about how my primary turned out.

my favorite attendees at the Cerebral Valley AI Summit in London... Esther Newcomer, 9 months + @SjoeW

forgive me father for i have made something people didn’t want

who is in the rebel alliance for agentic commerce? going to bring together startups figuring out what the future of online spending looks like at our Machine Earning Summit in September.

@rsg Would love some case studies to report on. Definitely we're interested in this topic at @NewcomerMedia

I’ve heard one too many stories from friends about SPV fraud It’s one of the biggest stories in Venture Capital not being told, in part because it’s embarrassing to admit you got scammed Beyond the usurious fees that have become standard (20 or 30+ percent for mere access). Theres a shocking amount of “ghost shares” being sold by outright fraudsters. In other words: they never had shares to sell to begin with And the stories I’ve heard have all come from sophisticated, professional investors. Not your typical “dumb money” If these people are being scammed, I’m certain the problem is 1,000X worse under the surface I want to blow the lid off this story and drive reform. I’ve never seen such an influx of bad actors into startup investing in the 13 years I’ve been an investor. It’s “Wolf of Wall Street” bad, or worse. More to come on this; but I’m lining up meetings in DC to speak with folks in both the House and Senate on the issue. A few already on the books. I’m serious about this. I’ve never been a big fan of government regulation, but I think it’s needed. And I’d love to speak about this issue on podcasts, traditional media, etc. If you’ve been personally affected, please DM me. I’ll keep your story in confidence Finally: this story isn’t just about fraud. It’s about how the average American investor has been systematically cut out of the upside of our most promising technology companies If you had believed in Apple or Amazon early: you could have just bought shares on the open market Now you have to deal with some of the scummiest middlemen charging usurious fees, selling shares that might not even exist These small investors have few advocates. They’re regularly mocked by VCs as dumb money. All while risking their own hard-earned money, no LPs backing them, no management fees to fall back on. 100% skin-in-the-game They deserve our respect, and a square deal. I’ll always respect someone putting their own money on the line to back something they believe in — no matter how small the check In many ways they’re taking on more risk than the VCs mocking them. It’s pretty easy to take risks with other people’s money versus your own They deserve access, like they had back in the 80’s / 90’s / early 2000’s We turned an open market into a toll road. I’m sure the folks operating the toll booths will not like this post, or the reforms I’m going to try to push. But my DMs are open to anyone who wants to help eliminate the tolls for the average American investor ❤️🇺🇸

Hollywood's AI Anxiety on Full Display as Google's A24 Investment Draws Fire newcomer.co/p/hollywoods-a… @cityofthetown

Good to see Grok siding with me over Elon Musk.

A delight to talk to @EricNewcomer about tech, Washington, & @semafor youtu.be/B2vEAVFsA8o

Really helpless feeling about where we're at. There's a historic (by American standards) level of corruption and looting going on right now and the party that could stop it is fine with it. And since it is cult of personality his supporters cheer it! nytimes.com/2026/06/28/wor…

Good thread. Bottom line: “In light of the tightening of the regulatory system in recent years and the subsequent deterioration in the financial condition of Stabilized housing, I believe Mayor Mamdani’s rent freeze is both irresponsible and an abuse of the system. It will accelerate the deterioration in the financial and maintenance condition of older rent regulated housing.”

Elon, I can give you many, many names of people who have died because of your aid cuts.: *Yamah Freeman was a 23-year-old woman who died in childbirth because you stopped paying for the diesel for ambulances in her part of Liberia. I talked to her parents and sister in their village. *Gbessey Kiadu, age 1, died of malaria because of your cuts in Liberia. I talked to his mom in her village. *Ibrahim Koroma, an infant, died of AIDS in Sierra Leone after you interrupted HIV supplies. I talked to health workers who cared for him. *Achol Deng was an 8-year-old girl with HIV in South Sudan who died when you cut funding for the health care worker who provided her medicines. I talked to him. I could go on and on. In almost every village you go to in South Sudan, Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone or other countries I reported in, you find people dying because of aid cuts. I challenge you: Come with me on a reporting trip, and we'll talk to these moms and dads, and you'll see the dying children themselves. I think if you see the kids whose lives are at stake, maybe you'll change your mind.

Is this just Copenhagen Interpretation of Ethics? Blame the people who noticed a problem and did more than anyone else to help, because they didn't perfectly solve it.

RIP @om. You were my competitor, my mentor, and most importantly my friend. We wanted nothing from each other which made it so easy to spend so much time together. You will be remembered as the fierce journalist and thinker that you truly were. Gone way too soon.