In this FSD episode, titled A Founder's Founder, Ram spends the first half on Travis Kalanick. After being pushed out of Uber, Travis went quiet for about six years and quietly built a set of businesses that now do around $450 million in revenue. One is a ghost-kitchen operation, and the core is what he calls the wheels business, essentially physical AI, robots with sensors. Uber is reportedly an investor, which Ram calls the ultimate validation when the firm you created cuts a check to back your next act.
Ram uses Travis to make a bigger point about where money is flowing. Venture is shifting from software to hardware, from bits to atoms, and he ties in names like Anduril, Shield AI, and SpaceX as part of that theme. He also explains why he rates Travis so highly. It is not the storytelling, it is the person: the tenacity, the chip on the shoulder, and the discipline to build for years without complaining. Ram is doing homework on Atoms, Travis's new deal, the same way he did before investing in Shield AI, and he asks viewers to share any research they have.
The back half turns to the market. Ram calls the day a junkie, animal-spirits rally and expects some chop ahead, but he still sees good names. He picked up AppLovin, which is growing revenue about 50% with strong earnings, and floats a theory that management talked the stock down to make their share grants more productive. He likes Riley Exploration in energy, a family-owned Permian name he compares to the show Landman, and a mispriced biopharma name he plans to cover in the newsletter. Software is working, with Atlassian jumping on the day, and he sees select opportunities in semis. On the question of Google losing senior engineering leaders, Ram is unbothered: the platform, the data, and the depth of talent are what matter, and he compares the worry to past scares that faded. He closes on Costco as a reminder that valuations matter, and a plug for the Lumida app, with real-time earnings transcripts landing Tuesday.
(00:00) Why today is about founders
(00:42) Travis Kalanick's quiet comeback
(02:12) Physical AI and the shift to hardware
(02:50) What makes a founder's founder
(04:54) Taking a close look at Atoms
(05:24) A junkie rally, but still good names
(05:49) AppLovin: a great quarter and the SBC theory
(06:58) Riley Exploration and a biopharma pick
(08:06) Software and semis: Atlassian jumps
(09:05) Does Google losing engineers matter?
(10:56) Costco, valuations, and what's next
About the show: Non-Consensus Investing is Ram Ahluwalia's running commentary on markets, where he shares how he's actually positioning capital and talks through the ideas most investors ar