Conferences are fun for journalists because the private chatter flows. Business Insider’s The Long Play in San Francisco was no exception.
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Biohacker Bryan Johnson urged founders to bang, not build. Carina Hong dished on the AI talent wars. Joanna Strober reflected on her late, great friend Susan Wojcicki. Jason Blum described the horror of making AI movie shorts with Meta. That’s what we reported from the stage. Here’s what else I heard:
A tech CEO recalled being interviewed last year by a big newspaper about a possible AI bubble. She gave a nuanced answer and didn’t make it into the article. “Bubble is sexy,” she said. “No bubble, not sexy.” That belongs on a T-shirt.
Nearby, another CEO wrestled with how to pay and retain their top executives, while a founder marveled at how sharply San Francisco car break-ins have dropped. Turns out, if you actually try to stop crime, it can go down.
One exec said he regularly pits Grok against Gemini to get stronger AI outputs. On a similar note, Hong cited Elon Musk and Demis Hassabis as leaders she admires, adding that Musk’s tough decisions are sometimes necessary. (Risky for your career in Silicon Valley. She said it anyway).
While recounting fundraising challenges, Strober quipped: Menopause was not hot years ago. It was hot for me, but not for everyone else.
Another joke: Mark Zuckerberg got attention for smoking meat; Bryan Johnson gets attention for getting his meat smoked. Blame Zak for that one.
Several attendees worried they wouldn’t be able to follow Johnson’s advice: work less, sleep more, avoid late eating, and stay off your phone in bed.
One startup exec said she prefers “biojacking” — bad food, too much drinking, and little sleep. As I left, a founder admitted, “I lie awake thinking about how to destroy my competition.”
Later that night, I got a text from a CMO who attended: “I have followed 0% of that longevity guy’s advice over the last several hours.”
Same: I’d just finished a pizza on the couch. Then I went to bed and looked at my phone.
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