Katherine Sayre and Isabella Simonetti

The tech A-listers were giddy. They had visited the White House to sit down with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to talk economics. A podcast served as their hall pass.

"It was one of the best days of my life," said David Friedberg, a former Google executive who is one of the hosts of the "All-In" podcast. "We went to all of the private rooms."

The four tech investors and entrepreneurs who debate economics and tech on "All-In" have amassed outsize influence, first in Silicon Valley and more recently in Washington. Their mix of wonky policy talk and mentions of their affluent lifestyles has gained so much cachet that cabinet secretaries and senators now frequently join.

On Wednesday, President Trump is expected to deliver a major address at a summit on "winning the AI race" that "All-In" is co-hosting with bipartisan group Hill & Valley Forum.

The foursome are in some ways a media manifestation of the MAGA movement's ties to tech -- a place where DOGE cuts, AI and crypto are celebrated. The hosts' proximity to power can draw big-name guests such as Jared Isaacman, whose nomination as NASA administrator Trump had withdrawn, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

It can also come with some difficult moments, such as navigating around their ally Elon Musk's falling out with Trump, or squaring rising deficits with support for a tax bill that the Congressional Budget Office said would massively add to the U.S. debt.

The "All-In" franchise has expanded since its launch five years ago and now spans episodes broadcast on YouTube as well as audio platforms, a slate of live events featuring high-profile speakers and a tequila that retails for $1,200 a bottle.

"All-In," is among the top 100 podcasts in the U.S. Each episode has about 750,000 downloads and views on YouTube, according to market research firm Podscribe.

"There were a lot of executives and people in the podcast industry who sort of expected that coming out of a press-intense election cycle that people would not be interested in political content, but that couldn't have been further from the truth," said Josh Lindgren, the head of the podcast department at Creative Artists Agency.

Some 27% of adults surveyed last year said they get news from podcasts at least sometimes, up 5 percentage points from 2020, according to the Pew Research Center.

Media companies have leaned more heavily into the format. Fox Corp. earlier this year acquired Red Seat Ventures, which helps content creators build brands and media businesses, including podcasts. Fox News this month announced a "new media expansion" that included a licensing deal with "Ruthless," a top-ranked conservative podcast that describes itself as providing "lighter analysis" of the day's news.

Fox and The Wall Street Journal's parent company, News Corp, share common ownership.

"The rise of podcasts is absolute," said John Ashbrook, co-host of "Ruthless." He credits Ruthless's close connection to its audience to an authentic, conversational style.

The 'Besties'

The moderator and leader of the "All-In" pack is Jason Calacanis, an early investor in tech companies such as Uber and Robinhood. Chamath Palihapitiya, once a Facebook executive, invested early in companies such as Slack, which sold to Salesforce, and Yammer, a software company that Microsoft bought. And Friedberg is an investor who sold a company to agriculture-product company Monsanto for $1.1 billion and now heads agriculture technology company Ohalo.

The fourth host is David Sacks, the first chief operating officer of PayPal who is co-founder of Craft Ventures and was an early investor in Uber, SpaceX and Slack. He was appointed by Trump last year to be the White House AI and crypto czar, further elevating the show's profile.

The hosts, who call themselves "the Besties," appear in collared shirts and make buttoned-up jokes, often regarding their wealth and business ventures, before veering into topics such as "IPOs and SPACs Are Back," "Bond Crisis Looming?" and "The Social Security Trap." Their background graphics resemble CNBC broadcasts with charts and text.

The show's stars, who declined to be interviewed for this article, played regular poker games together and launched the podcast in March 2020 during the pandemic.

"You've got four of the most opinionated friends who've never had a boss, who have four different directions they want to take it, and it is a bit chaotic," Calacanis told author and investor Tim Ferriss in a podcast interview in 2022.

In a recent episode, some of the hosts are joined by Keith Rabois, a venture capitalist, and Travis Kalanick, who once helmed Uber. Palihapitiya begins by gushing about a prank he played on his co-host and his vacation at a luxury hotel on Lake Como.

He showed an image of what he left written in the hotel's guest book: "Thank you -- we took everything! The Friedbergs xoxoxo."

After the crack, the hosts and guests riffed on rumors that Kalanick is interested in a deal with autonomous-vehicle startup Pony.ai with help from Uber. Then they veered into a discussion about the potential for Musk to start his own political party and Trump's popularity.

"Being polarizing is an ingredient to being successful, including with people on this show," Rabois said during the episode.

The high-profile fans

Their fan base includes actor Gwyneth Paltrow, who once mentioned her love of the show in a Goop newsletter and was later a guest. Calacanis is part of Musk's inner circle and advised him on his purchase of what was then Twitter. Last year, Musk appeared at the show's summit.

Trump himself appeared on the show last year, complimenting Sacks's house before getting into tax and foreign policy.

In June, after Trump's epic clash with Musk over his spending bill, the tech and media world was eager for "All-In" to weigh in. So far, the hosts have treaded carefully: They initially passed on covering the topic, but brought it up during a July episode after the fight re-escalated.

"Obviously, there's been a bit of back and forth between two of our friends," said Calacanis on a recent episode.

Write to Katherine Sayre at katherine.sayre@wsj.com and Isabella Simonetti at isabella.simonetti@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 22, 2025 05:30 ET (09:30 GMT)

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