# HackingFace, White House $5B AI Science Bet, Travis Kalanick Joins | Veeral Patel, Lin Qiao, Jason Fried, Travis Kalanick, Max Hodak Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/tbpn-7037852/hackingface-white-house-5b-ai-science-bet-travis-kalanick-joins-veeral-patel-lin-qiao-jason-fried-travis-kalanick-max-hodak Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/tbpn-7037852/hackingface-white-house-5b-ai-science-bet-travis-kalanick-joins-veeral-patel-lin-qiao-jason-fried-travis-kalanick-max-hodak.md Podcast: [TBPN](https://stenobird.com/podcast/tbpn-7037852) Published: 2026-07-22T20:56:49+00:00 Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/e6decec8 Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/e6decec8/a49bbb41.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/tbpn-7037852/episodes/hackingface-white-house-5b-ai-science-bet-travis-kalanick-joins-veeral-patel-lin-qiao-jason-fried-travis-kalanick-max-hodak Duration seconds: 9217 ## Resource (01:52) - HackingFace (17:48) - š¯•¸ Timeline Reactions (29:02) - White House Puts $5B into AI Science (33:48) - š¯•¸ Timeline Reactions (44:55) - Veeral Patel, Director of Software Engineering at Ramp, discusses the launch of Ramp Router, a tool developed internally over three years to optimize AI model selection and token cost management. He explains how Ramp Router allows enterprises to dynamically route tasks to the most efficient AI models, balancing factors like latency, cost, and performance. Patel emphasizes that this product aligns with Ramp's mission to help companies save time and money, extending their expertise from expense management to AI token spend optimization. (55:35) - Lin Qiao, co-founder and CEO of Fireworks AI, announced the company's recent $1.5 billion fundraising round, emphasizing their focus on building a specialized intelligence platform that enables enterprises to transform private data into customized AI models optimized for speed and cost. She highlighted the industry's shift from general to specialized AI solutions, stressing the importance of companies maintaining control over their proprietary data to develop durable businesses. Qiao also discussed the challenges of scaling AI applications efficiently, noting that without careful management, even successful products risk scaling into bankruptcy due to high operational costs. (01:05:36) - Jason Fried is the co-founder and CEO of 37signals, a Chicago-based software company known for creating project management and communication tools like Basecamp and HEY. In the conversation, Fried discusses his passion for classic cars, sharing experiences with his 1979 Porsche 928 and reflecting on past decisions regarding vehicle trades. He also touches on the challenges of purchasing vintage cars throughā€¦ ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/tbpn-7037852/episodes/hackingface-white-house-5b-ai-science-bet-travis-kalanick-joins-veeral-patel-lin-qiao-jason-fried-travis-kalanick-max-hodak/transcription-requests` ā€” Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/tbpn-7037852/hackingface-white-house-5b-ai-science-bet-travis-kalanick-joins-veeral-patel-lin-qiao-jason-fried-travis-kalanick-max-hodak.md` ā€” Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.