Anthropic's $44B Revenue Run Rate, SpaceX's $75B IPO Problem, and the Retail VC Trap | Ep 34

trading places · May 14, 2026 · 1h 3m · transcript

Anthropic is now reportedly running at a $44B ARR pace, secondary markets are valuing it north of $1T, and demand is turning into full-scale FOMO.

This week on Trading Places, Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down:

00:00 — cold open

00:39 — [ tech and vc news ]

01:53 — Markets ATH during Iran war 💥

06:45 — SpaceX + Anthropic $4B deal 🤝

10:51 — New NASDAQ rules benefit SpaceX 🔔

15:21 — Anthropic raising $50B @ $900B, ARR accelerating 📈

18:20 — Sam and Elon courtroom drama 🍿

23:21 — Cerebras IPO 20x oversubscribed 🥊

25:14 — SaaS-pocalypse continues ⛈️📉

27:47 — [ valuation corner: retail VC…