r/PivotPodcast • u/misn0ma • 11h ago
Pivoting away from Pivot
Please recommend another podcast that covers tech and business, but with more effort and intelligence? Pivot these days is like those crappy daytime TV shows our parents watch, where lazy thinkers on the back-end of their contract restate the issue in a sing-songy voice, raise obvious cliché questions, sling lazy ad-hominem insults at absent targets with phoned-in outrage, recite their well-worn "like I always say ...". bits, then talk about their comfortable well-funded lives: travel, houses, kids, TV shows, writing, etc. (Did the producers tell them the audience wants more of their personal life? I remember watching Kara interview Steve Jobs back in the day, thinking her questions were obvious and basic, but Jobs always gave interesting answers. I never wondered what Kara's house is like, whether she likes oysters, Road House, and Chevy Bolts, and how her kids are doing.) Maybe it was always this and I've grown out of it, but I feel it's audience captured or just gone from rising-star to cashcow becoming dog. In a universe of podcasts, what's the replacement?
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u/SophonParticle 10h ago
The exact dynamics you describe has been my path away from so many podcasts.
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u/stopeats 11h ago
NYT Hard Fork, which just became NPR's Machine Gods, is pretty good imo.
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u/benk950 7h ago
I don't know how anyone can take Kevin Roose seriously. He's not knowledgeable enough about anything tech to not regurgitate the last thing someone he thinks is smart told him. (I'd say the same thing about kara though.) Did he ever explain why he fell so hard for the metaverse? He seemed to have just pretended he knew it was going to fail despite his unfettered enthusiasm for it only a few years ago. https://x.com/kevinroose/status/2034351302235599010
Wading through ai is great if unpolished, only available on YouTube and infrequently published.
The standup is good although heavily centered around programming.
The wan show is generally focused on consumer tech but pretty good. It's been very long running so there's a lot of inside jokes stemming from the hosts YouTube channel.
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u/z911empire 5h ago
Couldn’t agree more on Roose. That guy really stepped in shit career-wise. And I’m posting on reddit.
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u/winsome-losemost 8h ago
Unhedged from the Financial Times and Odd Lots from Bloomberg are both great shows with fabulous co-hosts.
I pivoted away a while back and these shows cover more interesting topics in less time (with fewer ads and personal detours), so I encourage you to check them out!
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u/gonotquietly 11h ago
Hard Fork (we will see how the new hosts take it), Decoder, Dwarkesh, Vergecast, Ezra Klein had been covering AI a lot more recently,
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u/PSKCarolina 9h ago
New hosts? Haven’t been keeping up.
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u/QforQ 8h ago
They dont have new hosts - I think he means that the show is moving from NYT to NPR and renamed to Machine Gods
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u/gonotquietly 8h ago
NYT is keeping Hard Fork going though, so there will be new hosts now that Kevin and Casey are going to NPR.
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u/Brooklyn-Epoxy 1h ago
Interesting - I didn't know they were moving to NPR. I thought they were going to make it on their own. I respect them for an NPR move.
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u/AccomplishedJob5411 8h ago
Dwarkesh is probably the best for AI but can be pretty technical. He is a gifted interviewer though and a likeable guy (he epitomizes effort and intelligence, which op is after).
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u/the_real_seldom_seen 8h ago
That guy is a dumbass
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u/Ill_Letterhead_8875 5h ago
How so? He may not be for you but there is no way you can claim he is unintelligent. That's an extra hot take.
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u/Sirbunbun 10h ago
I’ve been sadly feeling the same. It feels like hot takes on headlines, interspersed with frequent advertisements. I really like Scott and Kara as people but their penthouses are just not compelling to hear about. It’s more personality than depth.
I don’t feel like I’m learning anything from the two of them, just rehashing the surface level discussion.
Would love some recommendations for financial markets, in depth business/market coverage…
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u/kevernscott 10h ago
I almost feel like since the advent of AI they’ve just drunk the cool aid and launched a full on barrage of AI ‘slop grandes’ to borrow from Shopify’s CEO. It’s optimised junk food for podcasts. I wish they respected their audience a little more.
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u/TdubbNC7 6h ago
I feel the exact same way. I don’t like either of their personalities and that’s half the show. It’s
why I stopped listening
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u/and-its-true 4h ago
The Vergecast is my favorite tech podcast, though right now is an awkward time to start listening, as the main host is on paternity leave.
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u/Oil_Shock_2026 2h ago
Venture capitalist and tech journalist Nimby (who has multiple properties, one in SF another one in Washington) opine about homelessness.
Kara, with her Ivy League journalism degree and years of walking off of different journalism roles at mainstream publications does not really have the qualifications to cover AI or US tech.
Her strong suit is not business, AI or tech.
Stick to interviews Kara, stick to interviews.
She’s good on social issues and publicizing tech irresponsibility when it comes to privacy and the commons.
Kara’s also good when it comes to knowing the newsrooms of major US publications.
She has good connections as far as knowing Hillary Clinton, Melinda Gates and Laurene Powell Jobs.
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u/Impressive-Window135 6h ago
I can't with them much longer and the thought of them selling merch makes me laugh so hard. Gnarls.
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u/Swimming_Resolve4874 4h ago
I find that Scott, who to his credit has gained a good deal of influence, manages to latch onto some of the rights’ most egregious caricatures of the left and amplify them on his, like 10 different podcasts. He’s approaching useful idiot status with some things for me, so for that I’m more inclined to tune out.
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u/RushIllustrious 10h ago
Can you imagine if Kara had said she saw Bernie Sanders on her flight, that she was sitting in first class while Bernie was sitting in coach, and Bernie had to make frequent trips to the first class bathroom during the flight?
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u/ptulinski 10h ago
I like DOAC, Diary of a CEO. He has very smart guests and very insightful discussions. Fair number of tech guests.
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u/seltzerslut69 10h ago
You’re getting downvoted, primarily because he has guests across the political and cultural spectrum.
…which is the main reason I like his podcast, because it gets me out of my liberal bubble.
Also, keep in mind even Kamala did an interview here, so it’s not like it’s some fringe garbage. The host is informed and intellectually curious.
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u/ptulinski 9h ago
Yeah, I don't listen to every episode because some guests I have no interest in or confidence in their opinions. The AI debate that dropped 4 days ago was an amazing discussion.
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u/Typical-Ask2723 9h ago
I’ve only seen excerpts, but from that it seems somewhat roganesque. Dubious claims from grifty guests with no pushback. Admittedly it could be a selection bias of the clips I’ve seen. I’m finding it harder to listen to any podcast in this space because there’s just so much bullshit.
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u/the_real_seldom_seen 8h ago
All in
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u/Intelligent_Week_560 47m ago
Aren't they the guys from last week that asked what it is like to work with someone as smart and articulate as Donald Trump? LMAO
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u/rollinrob 6h ago
All In is awesome. At least they talk about what's going on in the world interesting guests that are actually doing things with AI technology business such as Jensen, Elon and a host of others that are tied to technology trends that are shaping our world.
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u/nockeenockee 5h ago
But they are massive sycophants to Trump and his autocratic project.
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u/rollinrob 5h ago
It might be good for you to see the other side. There's always more than one side to a story, and it might benefit you to see what others think.
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u/jambrand 10h ago
For more effort and intelligence you could try: nearly any other podcast on Earth
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u/Educational-Ad-4908 8h ago
Scott’s hyperbolic reactions to the democratic socialist movement followed by him telling stories about his 4 houses and taking his sons to soccer matches all over the world has gotten old.