Understanding government procurement, with Luke Farrell
Patrick McKenzie (patio11) and Luke Farrell examine the structural "technical imagination" gap that prevents the US government from delivering high-fidelity digital services. They discuss why states r...
26 Feb 1h 20min
APIs of evil: studying fraud as infrastructure
Patrick McKenzie (patio11) reads an essay about "industrial-scale" fraud and why it should be treated as a professional business process rather than a series of isolated accidents. He explains how fra...
12 Feb 51min
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
