Most AI Is Hype. Here's What Actually Makes Money | Eric Bidinger

After 17 years in private equity, Eric Bidinger switched sides of the table and became a founder. And building companies turned out to be very different from analyzing them.

We talk about the role luck really plays in business, how entrepreneurs can increase their luck surface area, and what years in private equity taught him — and failed to teach him — about actually building a company.

We also dive into the current AI boom: why Eric believes many of the flashiest AI use cases are overhyped, why some of the most boring applications are creating the most value, and how AI could eventually understand a business well enough to underwrite it better than a traditional bank.

We get into why great operators can still lose in bad markets, why Ask Luca is moving toward business financing, what private equity may be getting wrong about AI roll-ups, why clean data matters more than sophisticated AI, and how to handle the extreme highs and lows of entrepreneurship.