Why check cashing businesses exist
Patrick McKenzie (patio11) reads an essay about the business of check cashing, a misunderstood industry. He explains why cashing a check is actually a "new credit extension" where the bank bets on bot...
5 Feb 38min
Claude Code makes several thousand dollars in 30 minutes, with Patrick McKenzie
Patrick McKenzie (patio11) walks through a coding session with Claude Code to demonstrate what the fuss is about. The business problem: recovering failed subscription payments that required coordinati...
29 Jan 40min
We should stop burning pharma trials’ lab notes, with Ruxandra Teslo
Patrick McKenzie (patio11) is joined by Ruxandra Teslo to discuss why drug development keeps getting more expensive despite revolutionary new treatment modalities from GLP-1 agonists to gene therapies...
22 Jan 1h 17min
Your support rep is also trapped in this call, with Des Traynor of Intercom
Patrick McKenzie (patio11) sits down with Intercom co-founder Des Traynor to examine customer support through the lens of Conway's Law, Goodhart's Law, and several decades of accumulated organizationa...
15 Jan 53min
The magic spell that makes banks give you your money back
Patrick McKenzie (@patio11) reads his latest Bits about Money essay explaining why he “loves Regulation E more than any rational person does.” He explains how Reg E created a privately-administered le...
8 Jan 37min
2025 in review, with Sammy Cottrell
Our annual year-in-review episode covers some recurring themes from 2025 and some behind-the-curtains discussion of running a podcast. Patrick McKenzie (patio11) sits down with producer Sammy Cottrell...
3 Jan 49min
Gift cards and the fraud supply chain
For this week's holiday-inspired Complex Systems, Patrick reads his essay from Bits about Money on the gift card paradox: a legitimate payments rail, yet also a primary vector for fraud that leaves vi...
26 Des 202513min
Understanding perpetual futures
In this episode, Patrick McKenzie (patio11) walks through how perpetual futures work, from funding rates to liquidations to the surprise of automatic deleveraging. Perps are the dominant trading mecha...
11 Des 202524min
