More or Less · Topics · Episode #165
Surprise Guest: Suds, 'The Most Connected Gen Zer in California'
Clip from the full recording, 32:34–38:02 · download mp4 · watch at this point on YouTube
Sam's neighbor Suds — recruited on a dance floor two days earlier at a party where Jennifer Hudson asked Sam to dance — crashes the pod. Fund II just closed, first checks into Browserbase and Railway, and a thesis: only invest in what extends Anthropic and OpenAI's revenue; never touch the app layer.
Mid-episode, Sam produces a surprise guest: Suds (Siddarshan), introduced as “the most connected Gen Zer in California right now” — recruited at a fancy party over the weekend (the same one where, Sam insists on the record, Jennifer Hudson asked him to dance, not the other way around). Suds shares earbuds with Sam, gets told repeatedly he makes Sam look tiny, and gives the resume: a founder for seven years (“that did not go that well”), eighty-five angel checks — first money into Reptile, Integral, Browserbase, Railway, Superpower — then Fund I last year and Fund II closed literally yesterday. Sam’s veteran question: did you ever read the paperwork on those 85 checks? Answer: just sign and send, and that was before bots could read the docs for you.
The thesis is the interesting part. Suds does everything except the app layer: AI infra, energy, data centers, networking, agent evals, observability, plus weirder physical stuff like cloud seeding and manufacturing automation. His reasoning is disarmingly honest: “I’m not smart enough to know where the world is going and I’m not smart enough to know what the next set of model capabilities is gonna replace. So invest in anything that enables or extends Anthropic and OpenAI’s revenue, and the hedge is open source.” App-layer companies, by and large, do neither — so he stays away. A Gen Z articulation of the picks-and-shovels position, delivered while a teacher’s call pulls Sam off-camera and Jessica quietly runs the show.
Key points
- Suds' resume: 7-year founder, 85 angel checks (first money into Reptile, Integral, Browserbase, Railway, Superpower), Fund I last year, Fund II closed yesterday.
- Recruited onto the pod at a party two days earlier — the same party where Jennifer Hudson asked Sam to dance.
- The 85-check confession: never read the paperwork. Sign immediately, send the check — before bots could even review the docs.
- The thesis: invest only in what enables or extends Anthropic and OpenAI's revenue; hedge with open source; never touch the app layer.
- The reasoning is epistemic humility: nobody knows what the next model release will vaporize, so don't invest anywhere that depends on knowing.
- Coverage: AI infra, energy, data centers, networking, agent evals, observability — plus cloud seeding and manufacturing automation.
Where they landed
Quotes
“I'm not smart enough to know where the world is going and I'm not smart enough to know what the next set of model capabilities is gonna replace.”— Suds
“Just invest in anything that enables or extends Anthropic and OpenAI's revenue, and the hedge to that would be open source.”— Suds
“To be clear, I didn't ask to dance, but Jennifer Hudson asked to dance with me. And so I wasn't gonna say no.”— Sam
Suggested tweets
New guest thesis on More or Less: invest only in what extends Anthropic and OpenAI's revenue. Hedge with open source. Never touch the app layer.
Tweet this →85 angel checks, zero paperwork read. “Just sign immediately, send the checks.” — Suds, on how early-stage actually works
Tweet this →“I'm not smart enough to know what the next model release will replace.” — the most honest investing thesis of 2026
Tweet this →All topics · Full episode #165 + transcript · Subscribe on YouTube · Spotify