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In the season 2 premiere, Scotty and Matt celebrate 34 episodes of bootstrapped survival while diving into the watershed moment for AI in 2026. They explore Claude Opus 4.5's coding dominance as Toby Lutke rebuilds MRI software in hours and Andre Karpathy hacks his own home automation, dissect the bombshell Apple Google partnership putting Gemini inside Siri across every device on the planet, and analyze Meta's $5 billion Manus acquisition proving Zuck can only grow through M&A. Plus: Claude Cowork launching AI agents for non technical users at $200 per month, the GQ declaration that booze is officially back, why 2026 is the year white collar workers either lean in or get left behind, and Matt building a personalized baby words app in one weekend that would have cost $500K at an agency 12 months ago.

Built 2 Scale | Season 2 Episode 1

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Season 2 Welcome: 34 Episodes of Bootstrapped Survival

2:12 GQ Declares Booze is Back After Gen Z Sobriety Era

3:41 Toby Lutke Goes Founder Mode: Rebuilding MRI Software With Claude Code

8:32 Andre Karpathi Hacking Home Automation, Should Be Scotty's Co Founder

13:05 Claude Opus 4.5: The Watershed Moment for AI in 2026

15:36 Why Smart AI Skeptics Are Finally Leaning In

18:56 From Chatbots to True Co Pilots: The White Collar Bricklayer Moment

21:34 Will We Generate Software On the Fly or Keep Shared Understanding Tools?

27:00 Knowledge Workers Who Don't Lean In Will Get Left Behind in 2026

31:47 Claude's Potential $300B Valuation: The New Microsoft?36:12 OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Health: Medical Records Integration Strategy

43:08 Voice Mode Battle: Why Matt Still Uses ChatGPT Over Claude Daily

43:47 Does Mark Zuckerberg Have an Asian Fetish? Meta Acquires Manus for $5B

50:05 Apple Google Partnership: Gemini Powers Siri Across Every Device

54:33 This Could Be Coffin Nail Moment for OpenAI Hardware Strategy

55:42 Tool of the Week: Matt Builds Baby Words Tracking App in One Weekend

58:02 The Age of Personal Software: Building What You Want On Demand

1:02:08 Am I Consuming or Am I Building? The 2026 Productivity Mantra

This Episode Covers:

1. Claude Opus 4.5 establishing coding dominance as Toby Lutke and Andre Karpathy showcase weekend rebuild capabilities
2. Claude Cowork launching AI agents for non technical users, democratizing automation beyond developers
3. The watershed moment for AI in 2026: smart skeptics finally leaning in as technology proves genuine co pilot status
4. Apple Google partnership putting Gemini inside Siri across every iPhone and iPad globally
5. Meta acquiring Manus for $5 billion after $12B Scale AI deal, proving Zuck's M&A only growth strategy
6. Why 2026 is the year white collar workers either lean in to AI tools or get left behind permanently
7. Anthropic's potential $300 billion valuation justified by Claude Cowork's enterprise rollout trajectory
8. OpenAI launching ChatGPT Health with medical records integration despite recent don't use for medical advice disclaimer
9. Matt building personalized baby tracking app in one weekend that would have cost $500K at agency 12 months ago
10. The shift from shared understanding enterprise software to personal on demand software generation
11. Why leadership using AI will create KPI expectations falling down to all staff members
12. Voice mode competition: ChatGPT still winning on phone despite Claude's coding superiority

KEY INSIGHTS:

1. 2026 watershed moment: Smart AI skeptics finally leaning in as Claude Code proves genuine automation beyond chatbot theater. White collar workers face adapt or die inflection point
2. Claude's Microsoft trajectory: $300B...

BUILT 2 SCALE | RECEIPTS OR REGRETS | End of Year Special

Welcome to our brand new segment: Receipts or Regrets. A receipt is something you keep because you're proud of the call. A regret? Well, that's obvious.

Matty and Scotty look back at 32 episodes of bold predictions, hot takes, and occasionally terrible life choices. With help from ChatGPT o1 (the only model that could handle all 32 transcripts), here are the calls that aged like fine wine and the ones that aged like milk.

Let's dive in.

Robots in the Home by 2025: Slop Receipt

Scotty called it early: robots in homes by 2025. The Chinese came through with $20K humanoids you can actually buy. Tesla and Figure didn't deliver, but the ball went in. Wrong pocket, but still counts. Slop receipt kept.

Make Every Australian a Millionaire: Escalate

Australia has $20 trillion in raw materials needed for AI infrastructure. Scotty proposed inviting global companies to build data centers here in exchange for giving Aussies a million dollars each plus free compute for life. The government? Still no AI strategy. No AI czar. Nothing. This isn't a receipt or regret. It's escalate and shout from the rooftops.

AI in the Avocado: Big Receipt

Guzman y Gomez IPO'd at $45 per share with a $5 million valuation per store. Scotty said there must be "AI in the avocado" for that multiple to work. Today? Stock down 55% to $20. Lacks AI in the avocado confirmed. Receipt kept.

Talking to Anna from Sesame AI in Bed: Regret

Matty got caught talking to an AI voice assistant under the sheets. His wife walked in. "Who are you talking to?" "It's a bot!" didn't help. New rule: no bots in the bedroom.

Steve Irwin Tech Talk in Dallas: Big Regret

Scotty invoked Steve Irwin while doing a tech talk in Dallas to lean into his Australian accent. Tough crowd. Too soon. Too much of a stretch. As a now embedded Austin local, even more cringey. Won't be doing that again.

Qantas: Split Decision

Scotty called out Qantas for no Wi-Fi on international flights in 2025 when Starlink exists. Regret. Matty? Qantas fanboy. Status points, flexi tickets, business class upgrades for $3K. He's keeping the receipt. Built 2 Scale will be taking separate flights.

Brett Adcock 200x Apple: Regret

Brett said Figure AI would be worth $800 trillion (200x Apple). Three years in, no product, lots of parties. Figure AI revenue? Near zero. Apple's revenue? $416 billion. Scotty's calling regret until Brett hires those two HR managers.

Limitless Pendant Meets Zuck: Regret

Matty bought the Limitless AI pendant. One year late, terrible battery, no Find My feature. Then got an email changing privacy terms. One hour later? Meta acquired them. Now Zuck has all his data, including the time he argued with his dog Hank and the AI thought Hank was a difficult coworker. Regret.

Dual Carriageway: Apple and Google Ecosystems: Regret

Matty self proclaimed he'd run dual ecosystems. Two laptops, two phones, two lives. Result? Paid $300/month for Google Ultra with no features and watched the Android Gemini phone camera take 10 seconds to open. Converted to Mac. Everyone not on Mac is wrong. Receipt on Mac, regret on Google.

Peak Waymo vs. Tesla: Receipt

Both called Tesla's long game over Waymo's robo taxi approach. Elon can produce a robo taxi for a tenth of the price. Economics win. Waymo might retrofit other OEMs with their tech, which is smart B2B play for the lefties and Euros who won't touch Tesla. But best product wins. Receipt.

First Year ARR is Nonsense: Big Receipt

The bubble frothiness of first year ARR announcements was too much. Monthly subscriptions reported as annual recurring revenue

In the final episode of 2025, Scotty and Matt celebrate 33 episodes of Built 2 Scale by diving into Yann LeCun's ultimate entrepreneurial pivot, raising $3 billion in euros after getting ousted from Meta by Alexander Wang to work on spatial intelligence. They dissect why this is terrible news for Elysium (autonomous homes now have a 10 year delay), celebrate Sergey coding again at Google while the Qantas vs United business class wars rage on, and introduce the year end segment Receipts or Regrets where they review their boldest predictions. From Brett Adcock's 200x Apple claim to robots in homes by 2025, from AI in the avocado to Limitless getting acquired by Zuck with zero notice, they hold nothing back in this year end wrap up featuring domain buying confessions, builder vs coder rants, and why coders should never be called builders.

Built 2 Scale | Episode 33

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Final Episode of 2025: 33 Episodes Complete

2:01 Yann LeCun Raises $3B for Spatial Intelligence Startup

4:06 Why This is Terrible News for Elysium Autonomous Homes

7:00 Brett Adcock's Figure AI Christmas Party: Robot Rave with Deadmau5

9:02 Voice AI Bandwidth Solution: Scotty's 30 Year Long Bet

13:44 Human Like Voice vs Fast Intelligence: What Do You Actually Want?

16:51 Sergey Back Coding at Google: The Return of the Founder

21:57 Receipts or Regrets: Year End Prediction Review Begins

23:41 Matt's Receipt: Robots in Homes by 2025 (Chinese Did It)

25:47 Scotty's Escalate: Make Every Australian a Millionaire With Raw Materials

28:52 Receipt: AI in the Avocado, Guzman y Gomez Down 55%

31:01 Regret: Sesame AI Bot in Bedroom, Wife Not Impressed

33:17 Regret: Steve Irwin Tech Talk in Dallas

35:38 Qantas Fanboy vs United Points: The Business Class Debate

40:09 Receipt: Peak Waymo, Tesla Has Long Game Sewn Up

44:19 Regret: First Year ARR is Nonsense, Y Combinator Circular Economy

46:39 Receipt: OpenAI Wants to Be Apple of AI (Johnny Ive Hire Confirmed It)

52:27 Rant: Coders Shouldn't Be Called Builders, Leave Us That One Term

56:26 Receipt: Just in Time Software Revolution Happening Now

58:52 Matt's Dirty Drunk Habit: Domain Buying, Sold Usainboat.com for $20

1:00:34 Limitless Acquired by Meta: Zuck Now Has All of Scotty's Dog Arguments

This Episode Covers:

1. Yann LeCun raising $3 billion in euros for spatial intelligence after Meta exit, choosing Europe where innovation goes to die
2. Why Yann working on spatial intelligence is terrible news for autonomous homes timeline
3. Brett Adcock throwing robot rave with Deadmau5 while still having no product after 3 years
4. Voice AI bandwidth debate: Human like conversation vs fast accurate intelligence
5. Sergey back coding at Google, spending 90% of time teaching rather than sitting on $500M yacht
6. Year end Receipts or Regrets segment reviewing boldest predictions of 2025
7. Robots in homes by 2025: Chinese delivered with $20K Unitree, not Tesla or Figure
8. AI in the avocado: Guzman y Gomez down 55% from peak, now $2B market cap
9. First year ARR is nonsense: Y Combinator circular economy needs to exclude internal revenue
10. OpenAI wants to be Apple of AI: Johnny Ive hire proved the hardware thesis
11. The builder rant: Coders sitting in Starbucks with Frappuccinos aren't builders, leave us that one term
12. Just in time software: LLMs writing code on the fly rather than predefined workflows
13. Qantas vs United business class points arbitrage strategies

KEY INSIGHTS:

1. Yann's strategic retreat: Raising $3B in Europe for spatial intelligence after Meta exit shows classic researcher move to longer horizon tech when pressure mounts. Europe welcomes unproductive research with...