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.

Upstart's CEO: "Here's What Investors Are Missing" On Friday I had a conversation with Upstart Holdings' new CEO Paul Gu. The reason was because I had two important questions that I just wasn't hearing the media or any other investors asking him: 1) Will Upstart's new secured products like Home and Auto loans will be as disruptive as those for unsecured Consumer loans? In other words, will your AI models also have an edge in these new markets too? 2) How does Upstart intend to use its new banking charter as a competitive advantage rather than as a distraction to its relationship with regional banking customers? His answers clarified their strategy and they made a ton of sense. This short, 15 minute conversation is a must-watch for any investor who owns - or may soon own - shares of $UPST. @paulxgu @Upstart @7investing youtube.com/watch?v=boRJWSGU…