Comms at @Upstart. Faculty @Columbia @NYUniversity. Contributing writer @Inc. Publisher of Blurring The Lines on @Substack. Opinions are my own.
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Michael Kaye retweeted
New on Cars and Capitalists:
Paul Gu (@paulxgu), CEO and Co-Founder of @Upstart.
@Upstart is an AI lender worth $2.5B today. They did $1B in revenue in 2025, up 64%, grew originations 86%, and were profitable. Paul took over as CEO from co-founder Dave Girouard (@davegirouard) in May.
Before that, Paul was Upstart's CTO and built its first credit models. He's a Thiel Fellow and Yale dropout who came out of quant finance.
In this episode of Cars and Capitalists, we discuss:
0:00 - "The model's gonna suck": why you can't copy Upstart
2:02 - Three sheep, two breeds, one A/B test
8:13 - The core business: 50 million Americans the prime market won't serve
21:20 - Inflating away the debt vs. the hard choices nobody will make
29:58 - Cartoon math: $100 of loans, $5 of contribution, a 20% fund
41:33 - The real moat: Jane Street techniques pointed at consumer credit
58:03 - The golf trip problem, and paying dealers to pick you
1:06:03 - "No one wants to fund a new product. It's like nuclear waste"
1:16:51 - Killing auto refi, the product they were best at
1:24:42 - 2040: relevant to economic history, and unambiguously pro-human
Thanks to our sponsor @rootvc.
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This is Upstart's first brand campaign.
"Money for the moments that matter™" came out of a simple belief: borrowing isn't just about money. It's about finding the support you need, so you can get back to what really matters.
piped.video/watch?v=znWNoWax…
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Want to know what actually makes Gen Z trust a brand? Check out my latest for @Inc: inc.com/michael-kaye/the-bra…
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If you’re interested in why the gender gap in AI leadership is becoming a business risk, read this: inc.com/michael-kaye/linkedi… @Inc @LinkedIn
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Michael Kaye retweeted
Our founder & CEO @kumesh_a shared his thoughts with @MichaelKayePR for @Inc on a blind spot in AI that shows up quickly in regulated industries. The people using these tools often work within rules and constraints the teams building them may never encounter.
The result can be AI that works brilliantly in a demo and not at all in the field.
Read the full story:
inc.com/michael-kaye/linkedi…
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Everyone Wants a Brand Partnership. Most Are Asking the Wrong Question. @Inc inc.com/michael-kaye/everyon…
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Excited to share that I’ve officially joined the communications team at @Upstart! Thanks to @PRWeek for sharing the scoop.
prweek.com/article/1966899/f…
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I wrote about how to translate newsroom experience into the language communications hiring managers want to hear on my #Substack blurringthelineswithmichaelk…
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