In this freeform episode, Logan sits down with Zach Weinberg (Co-Founder and CEO of Curie.Bio) to break down two of the biggest storylines in tech: tariffs and AI.
They banter through the core arguments for and against tariffs, including national security, domestic employment, and negotiation power. Plus, they revisit what’s happened in past trade wars and share predictions on the real economic consequences this time around.
Logan and Zach also discuss OpenAI’s $40B raise and the broader race for AI dominance—can OpenAI maintain its lead against tech giants like Google and Apple? They debate the limits of product defensibility, the power of platform defaults, and the strategic moves OpenAI might need to make to stay ahead.
Topics include:
The arguments for and against tariffs
What happened during past U.S. tariff cycles—and how this one compares
Whether OpenAI can maintain its edge in a world of native AI platforms
A possible playbook for OpenAI to build user lock-in beyond utility
What this era of AI competition means for the U.S.—and what could derail it
https://fdra.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Trade-War-Lessons-from-the-Past-2025.pdf?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosmacro&stream=business
00:00 Intro
01:35 Liberation Day and Global Trade
02:13 Freeform Discussion on Various Topics
02:44 Podcasting and VC Life
03:32 Debating Tariffs and National Security
11:26 Arguments Against Tariffs
22:19 Historical Context of Tariffs
26:58 Economic Predictions and Stagflation
33:39 The Forgotten Lessons of Recessions
36:02 The Fixed vs. Growth Mindset in Economics
37:17 The Democratic Party’s Shift on Economic Policies
42:33 The Rise of Populism and Its Impact
50:28 OpenAI’s Explosive Growth and Challenges
54:28 The Competitive Landscape of AI
58:33 The Future of AI and Consumer Behavior
01:07:20 The Role of Social Networking in AI’s Future
01:10:43 Wildcard: The Role of XAI and Grok
Executive Producer: Rashad Assir
Producer: Leah Clapper
Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky
Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint’s AI Podcast: / @redpointai
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About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures – a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you’re interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.
