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How to get a job in one month and other early career reflections
In this episode, the pod takes a break from analyzing tech and instead analyzes themselves. Anika, Priya, and Maya sit in Priya’s childhood home during Thanksgiving break and walk through their early career paths, their recruiting wins and disasters, and the moments that made them question everything, including the time Anika almost peed her pants at her first job?!Maya breaks down how she landed seven job offers in one month and explains the actual playbook behind getting first rounds at startups. Unlike other career advice you may have gotten, Maya gets tactical. She talks about working with external recruiters, and why cold applying is not dead no matter what LinkedIn says. Priya talks about jumping from data science to TPM to product to finding her niche in cybersecurity. She also shares her hot take on why she doesn’t regret leaving her first job in less than two years, and how sometimes going against traditional advice can truly accelerate your career.They also get into honest thoughts on work life balance, promotions, and negotiating your salary. If you want to bet on yourself listen to this episode, if you want trade on basically anything else, download Kalshi. https://kalshi.com/r/getthecheckFollow us on Instagram @getthecheckpod and DM us any follow up questions about career or anything else :)00:00 Elevator pitches from Maya, Anika, Priya07:04 How Maya got 7 job offers in 1 month17:48 Why 9-9-6 is fake24:27 Embarrassing moments from their first jobs31:09 Underrated skills in the workplace36:24 Career advice they are happy they ignored37:51 Maya on getting told to be “softer” as a woman39:05 How to get paid 20-30% more39:31 How Maya got promoted in less than a year
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48:40
Inside Greptile: Co-founder Daksh on building code review
In this episode, we sit down with Daksh, the CEO and co-founder of Greptile: the AI code-review agent used by thousands of engineering teams and backed by Benchmark. If you don’t know him from Greptile, you probably know him from his viral quote on SF culture that talked about 996, steak and eggs, and marrying early.Daksh tells us how he went from high school musical theater and almost joining a band full-time to discovering early GPT models before anyone else cared, meeting his co-founder through Paul Graham essays, and deciding big-tech stability was actually the wrong path for him. The pod also dives into his lessons as a founder. He talks about why you shouldn’t hire until you can say joining your company would be the best career decision someone could make.On the product side, the hosts unpack the origin story of Greptile. How it started as a codebase chat tool and why code review is as or more important than code gen going forward. Daksh explains how AI-generated code mandates an independent verification layer to keep code bug free. He also chats about the growth side of his org and the crazy stunts they have pulled off.Finally we deep dive into culture: Daksh on the current San Francisco vibe, why he doesn’t drink, the most controversial thing he’s ever posted on X, and how Greptile ended up making a Steve Ballmer cookie box that plays developers, developers, developers when you open it.00:00 Intro00:37 Going full-time on music04:24 Building Greptile and finding product-market fit07:16 ChatGPT’s release29:52 Waiting to hire31:31 Reviewing a billion lines of code a month35:53 The future of software development48:49 Hot takes on SF culture
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1:00:12
Google’s Project Suncatcher, new AI model releases, Xania Monet, OpenAI calls for a government “backstop”
This week's episode is brought to you by Kalshi :) trade on anything! Receive a bonus after trading 100 contracts: https://kalshi.com/r/getthecheck In this episode of Get the Check, Maya, Anika, and Priya break down the biggest stories in AI this week, from Google’s latest moonshot to the rise of AI-generated music.They start with Project Suncatcher, Google’s plan to move AI data centers into space and harness the power of the sun. The hosts explain why Google is doing this, how it fits into the company’s history of moonshots, and what challenges come with putting compute in orbit.Next, they dive into a wave of new model releases, including Moonshot AI’s Kimi K2 Thinking, Cursor’s coding model Composer, and Cartesia’s Sonic 3 voice model. They discuss open vs. closed AI models, why China’s open-weight strategy could shape the future of AI, and how companies like Cursor are racing to build faster, cheaper, and more specialized models.They also explore the rise of AI music, focusing on Xania Monet, the fully AI-generated artist who just landed a record deal, and what her success says about how people actually feel about AI music.Finally, they unpack OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar’s comments about a possible government “backstop,” why it sparked market backlash, and what it reveals about the economics of AI infrastructure. They also dive into Sam Altman’s interview this week where he was asked how OpenAI can ink over a trillion dollars in deals with less than $20B in revenue00:00 Intro04:33 Google’s Project Suncatcher19:03 Update on key AI models29:02 Composer45:43 AI Music and the rise of Xania Monet50:24 OpenAI calls for a government backstop
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1:04:17
Inside the CA-11 race: Saikat Chakrabarti on affordability and running against Pelosi
This week the hosts sit down with Saikat Chakrabarti, who was Stripe’s second engineer and later worked on the Bernie Sanders campaign and served as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s first Chief of Staff. He is now running for California’s 11th House district, which represents San Francisco, against Nancy Pelosi and Scott Wiener. Pelosi has held this seat for nearly four decades.They talk about why Saikat left tech and how to encourage more young and ambitious people to get involved in politics. Saikat shares his vision for a Democratic Party that supports candidates that are builders from different backgrounds and do not take donor money.The conversation dives into key policy issues, including:Public power in SF, and why the city has a legal right to replace PG&E.The housing crisis, and what meaningful affordability solutions could look like.Homelessness, and the potential for models that blend harm reduction, real treatment, and clearer systems of enforcement.They also discuss AI regulation. Saikat argues that focusing only on catastrophic AGI risk overlooks the more immediate concern: concentrated economic power and widespread job displacement.The episode ends with a fun speed round where Saikat responds to his haters including YC CEO Garry Tan.You can learn more about this platform at https://www.saikat.us/en.If you want to bet on Saikat, or on the odds of basically anything else, download Kalshi. You will receive a $40 bonus after trading 100 contracts: https://kalshi.com/r/getthecheck00:00 Intro00:34 From Stripe’s second engineer to a bid for Congress05:31 DOGE09:12 Changing the Democratic Party18:45 Why PG&E shouldn’t exist31:26 The free market and when it fails33:28 How Congressional Reps influence city budgets39:33 Reviewing Daniel Lurie’s first year as mayor42:33 The homelessness problem in SF48:18 AI regulation52:11 Responding to the haters55:32 AOC running for president in 202858:07 How to get involved with Saikat’s campaign
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58:46
Quantum news, David Sacks vs. Anthropic, SB 53 AI bill, Sysco’s impact on American food
Maya, Priya, and Anika start by unpacking why they need to edit the podcast, while their other podcaster friends just upload the raw file.This week they dive into reports that the Trump administration may (or may not?) take a stake in quantum computing companies. The hosts break down what quantum is and what the important use cases are. They dive into Google’s new “Quantum Echo” breakthrough, which is basically the first time a quantum computer has done something verifiably useful and repeatable.Next they talk about the latest X tech drama, which is David Sacks the Crypto Czar arguing with Anthropic about AI regulation like SB 53. The hosts outline SB 53 and discuss whether it actually hurts AI startups like Sacks claims. They also talk about how Trump tried to pass anti-AI regulation in the “Big Beautiful Bill” and what the future of regulation can and should look like.After a brief tangent on cafes in SF, it’s time for the usual Get the Check segment. The girls investigate a viral video accusing food distributor Sysco of ruining American restaurants. While mostly true, the viral video got some key stats wrong.00:00 Intro00:30 Rumors Trump admin is taking stakes in quantum computing03:58 What is quantum computing06:46 What use cases does quantum computing solve12:17 Google's Quantum Echo breakthrough16:22 David Sacks vs. Anthropic on AI regulation23:59 Jack Clark’s essay26:57 SB 1047, Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier AI Act32:11 Our thoughts on the AI regulation debate37:27 State vs. federal AI regulation43:20 Would Sysco “Get the Check”46:09 Side note about coffee shops in SF51:34 Sysco’s company background52:23 Sysco's controversies
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1:01:25