Coogan, who cofounded the once-hyped meal replacement startup Soylent, and Hays, the cofounder of a fundraising startup, have since ditched the tech bro T-shirts for crisp suits, big personalities, and even bigger hair. Their daily show, now rebranded as “TBPN,” short for the “Technology Business Programming Network,” has evolved into a sports talk show-like livestream where tech founders and investors call in for 15-minute interview slots.
“The name ‘tech bros’ had been a slur, right?” Hays told Business Insider. “We wanted to reclaim that word in a fun way by saying, ‘No, we’re not tech bros — we’re technology brothers.'”
So far, the show’s guest list has included star venture capitalists like Keith Rabois, Trae Stephens, and Garry Tan, as well as Plaid CEO Zach Perret and Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen. In just a few months, “TBPN” has amassed a few thousand YouTube subscribers while publishing daily on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Its X account has nearly 40,000 followers.
The duo’s calculated charisma has sparked a social storm because of its redux of the podcast, a played-out format in tech and venture capital. Many main character-coded investors and tech luminaries have podcasts of their own — from Harry Stebbings’ “The Twenty Minute VC” to the “All-In Podcast,” where Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg hold court online.
Fans of the show are also driving “TBPN”‘s fame: “None of the men posting these have the courage to call @johncoogan and @jordihays hot outright,” Erika Bricky, who works at a fintech startup, wrote on X. “Which is actually what we’ve been missing in tech pod hosts.”
Not just another tech podcast
Coogan has “never really had a real full time job,” he said, but has built a roster of companies. In 2013, Coogan cofounded Soylent, which quickly amassed a cult following. After Soylent, he cofounded Lucy, which makes nicotine gum and pouches. He’s also an entrepreneur in residence at Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.
“TBPN” isn’t Coogan’s first time running a tech media playbook. He skims The Wall Street Journal in print while lounging in his gym’s sauna every morning and channeled that ritual into content during the pandemic with a news-driven YouTube channel that has nearly half a million subscribers.
In college, Hays built a YouTube ad network to help podcasts monetize. He then started fintech company Party Round, later renamed Capital, which helped startup founders raise money. Capital was acquired by the business banking platform Rho in 2023. Hays also angel invests in early-stage startups and advises others, like Coogan’s Lucy.
The pair decided to take their idea for a founder-friendly talk show more seriously late last year. “We were joking that technology needs a podcast,” Coogan said. “Because, obviously, there’s a ton.”
Two months after their first episode in October 2024, Coogan and Hays were uploading three episodes a week.
In January, they began featuring guests and moved to broadcasting every weekday. Episodes are shot live, and interviews with founders are unedited. On a good day, like last week’s defense tech-focused show, “TBPN” interviews 10 people, though usually they average four to six guests. Coogan and Hays also react to articles of interest, like an Economist story on defense tech’s rise in Silicon Valley.
“TBPN” has not raised any money from venture investors and doesn’t plan to, Coogan said. The company relies on advertising revenue from sponsors like fintech company Ramp and bed cooling system startup Eight Sleep.
The show currently runs lean, with a small crew of editors and three full-time staffers who handle production. Coogan said that, in a bid to level up its content, “TBPN” is close to signing a lease on a Hollywood soundstage.
‘Digitally-native news anchors’
Perhaps “TBPN” has gained appeal because Coogan and Hays are both investors and operators, David Zagaynov, cofounder and CEO of Poseidon Aerospace, wrote to BI in an email. He appeared on “TBPN” on April 1, the day after his company launched out of stealth.
Although “TBPN” is relatively new to the tech podcast scene, a guest appearance has become a signal to some in the startup ecosystem: “I now only respond to VC cold emails/DMs if they’ve been on @tbpn,” Cy Sack, head of business systems at Anduril, wrote on X. “Serious alpha,” Seven Seven Six investor Alexis Ohanian, who has been on the show, responded.
Coogan and Hays don’t pretend to be journalists. They think of themselves as “digitally-native news anchors,” Hays said.
They aren’t venture capitalists either (though they do occasionally angel invest). While some of their tech brethren have raised funds off their podcast momentum (Stebbings, for example, started 20VC’s fund in 2020 after his podcast took off), the pair has different intentions.
“We want to do what we’re doing now for decades,” Hays said. “We’re not doing this so that in a year we can raise a fund.”
