This week on the pod, we’re talking about whether the little guys can actually compete with Big Tech in the AI race. Harry Godfrey, Executive Director of the Little Tech Association, joins us to talk about the advantages smaller AI companies have, whether smaller language models can level the playing field, and whether AI is really lowering the barriers to entry or just shifting where the barriers exist. We also get into a bigger question: if the platforms hosting these startups can see what’s succeeding, should they be allowed to build competing products? Plus, we talk AI startup acquisitions, Chinese open-weight models, national security, and what Harry would do with $10 million to build an AI company from scratch.

Harry Godfrey, Executive Director of the Little Tech Association. He is a Washington veteran who previously served in the office of the Majority Whip, James Clyburn, and the White House Office of Legislative Affairs during the Obama Administration. He spent over a decade working on state and federal policy with disruptive clean tech firms, most recently as Managing Director for Federal Affairs at the trade association Advanced Energy United. He is a graduate of the College of William & Mary and Princeton University.

This week on the pod, we talk with investor, entrepreneur and longtime market strategist Frank Holmes about gold, Bitcoin, geopolitics and one of the oldest forces in economics: scarcity. After more than four decades investing in gold and commodities, Frank was an early investor in Bitcoin and saw it as a digital store of value with some of the same characteristics that made gold valuable for centuries. We dig into what traditional investors missed about Bitcoin, whether gold and Bitcoin are really competitors, and what geopolitical conflict, sanctions, inflation and currency uncertainty can tell us about both assets. We also get into Frank’s bigger thesis: in an increasingly digital economy, the things that become scarce, whether they are gold, Bitcoin, energy or computing power, can become increasingly valuable.

Frank Holmes is an investor, entrepreneur and longtime market strategist with more than four decades of experience in gold, commodities and global markets. He is CEO and Chief Investment Officer of U.S. Global Investors, which he has led since acquiring a controlling interest in 1989. Frank was also an early investor in Bitcoin, recognizing its potential as a digital store of value alongside gold. His involvement later expanded into Bitcoin mining and digital infrastructure. Today, as Executive Chairman of HIVE Digital Technologies, he focuses on the intersection of Bitcoin, high-performance computing and AI, and the growing demand for the power and compute behind them. His career gives him a unique perspective on the evolution from traditional hard assets like gold to digital assets like Bitcoin, and what may become scarce in an increasingly digital economy.

This week on the pod, we talk with Olivier Roth, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of The Swarm, about what happens when AI starts mapping the human relationships behind business.

Companies have mountains of relationship data sitting inside their employees, customers, investors, partners, advisors, CRMs, and inboxes. But knowing that two people have exchanged emails or worked at the same company doesn't necessarily mean one of them would actually pick up the phone. So how do you teach AI the difference between a connection and a real relationship?

Olivier explains how The Swarm uses AI and relationship intelligence to help companies find the people who can actually open doors, rather than relying on LinkedIn searches, cold emails, and endless asking around. We also get into the uncomfortable questions: When does relationship intelligence become creepy? Who actually owns the relationships inside a company? And can AI really understand trust, credibility, and willingness to make an introduction?

If AI can eventually understand not just what we know, but who we know and how those relationships actually work, cold outreach may start to look very different.

Olivier Roth is the Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of The Swarm, a technology company helping businesses find smarter ways to grow through the people and connections they already have. Olivier works at the intersection of AI, relationship intelligence, and business development, helping companies uncover warm introductions, move away from cold outreach, and get more value from tools they already use, including CRMs and Clay.